List: Houseplants That Have Red Flowers

The usual disclaimers apply, but let's run through them again just to make sure we're all on the same page:

1) This is not an exhaustive list of red-flowering houseplants; I'm not sure it's even possible to come up with an exhaustive list of red-flowering houseplants. And if it were possible, it probably wouldn't be desirable. This is plenty long as it is.

2) Also, many of the plants on the list are available in multiple cultivars, not all of which necessarily bloom red.

3) I'm approaching these lists from an interior-decorating standpoint, not a botanical one. If the plant has showy red bracts with tiny yellow true flowers, I'm counting it as a red-bloomer, because that's how most people would think of it.

4) As there are no sharp dividing lines between "red," "orange," "pink," and "purple," you may disagree with me about the redness of some of the flowers mentioned here. Which if it's all the same to you, I'm going to see that as more your problem than it is mine.

5) In some cases, I'm going wholly or partly by the results from Google image search for the plants in question. Since people sometimes post misidentified pictures, there is a small chance that some of the plants listed, especially more obscure plants, may be included in error.

Aeschynanthus lobbianus.

Clerodendrum x speciosum. (C. splendens x C. thomsoniae)

Cyclamen persicum NOID.

Episcia 'Silver Skies.'

Hatiora (formerly Rhipsalidopsis) NOID.

Hibiscus rosa-sinensis.

Kalanchoe blossfeldiana NOID.

Neoregelia 'Maria.'

Parodia microsperma. Some other Parodias have red flowers as well, though yellow is more typical.

Tillandsia ionantha. Some other Tillandsias have either red flowers (T. funckiana, T. latifolia) or red bracts (T. juncea, T. abdita, T. vinalesensis, T. boliviensis, T. tenuifolia, T. brachycaulos, T. queroensis, T. leonamiana).
This is a tough list to do recommends / anti-recommends for: for all of these, I either have 1) no experience, 2) exclusively bad experiences, or 3) very mixed experiences. If forced to come up with something, though, I would reluctantly recommend Aeschynanthus, Episcia, and Neoregelia.

My personal experience with Aeschynanthus lobbianus was mostly negative, but I don't think it was the plant's fault: I should have kept up better with the watering. Other Aeschynanthus species have done well for me, enough so that I'd feel comfortable recommending them to other people. The main obstacles to cultivation are light (they need at least bright indirect light, and I'd highly recommend at least some direct sun) and temperature (always above 60F/16C).

I enjoy Episcias, but varieties either tend to do really well for me ('Coco,' 'Suomi,' several NOIDs, 'Faded Jade,' 'Raspberry Parade') or really poorly ('Pink Acajou,' 'Kempenfest,' 'Burning Embers'), without much of a middle ground. 'Silver Skies' is one of the good ones, though it's a bit slower than the others, and stays smaller. Main obstacles to cultivation: temperature (always at least 60F/16C), water (don't let them dry out to the point of wilting) and humidity (higher is better).

I was a huge fan of Neoregelia at one point a few years back; I've cooled off on them somewhat since then, for various reasons, but they're perfectly fine plants if you have the space for them and don't mind getting caught on their sharp marginal spines occasionally. Biggest obstacle: light (at least bright indirect, with some direct sun strongly recommended).

For the anti-recommend, I guess I'll go with Hibiscus, though Cyclamen and Kalanchoe were really close. They all can be grown indoors successfully, but none are particularly well-suited to it. Cyclamen goes in and out of dormancy at erratic intervals and is easily overwatered as a result; Kalanchoe virtually always goes downhill once purchased, because it needs extremely bright light.

Hibiscus has both problems: it defoliates in the winter, to a greater or lesser degree depending on how it's treated, and it's very difficult to rebloom in the house if you don't have a lot of light. (Though it's easier than Kalanchoe.) Hibiscus has one problem that the other two don't, though, which is that they're incredibly appealing to pests. At work, we were always wrestling with spider mites, whitefly, and aphids; I've also had spider mites on plants at home. Hibiscus are gorgeous, obviously, but it's just not worth the hassle to bring them inside for the winter. People with huge windows or small plant collections might find Hibiscus more rewarding than I do.


Not pictured:

• Some Abutilon cvv.
• Acalypha reptans. (pinkish-red)
• Acalypha wilkesiana. (not particularly ornamental; pink-red; small)
• Some Adenium cvv.
• Some Aechmea spp./cvv. (bracts)
• Ananas comosus. (bracts; pink-red; true flowers are blue-purple)
• Some Anthurium hybrids are true red.
• Ascocenda Sweet Pea 'Ruby.' (pinkish red)
• Austrocylindropuntia subulata. (variable, ranges from orange-red to pink; usually closer to pink)
• Some Begonia cvv. (usually more pink or pink-red, though Reigers, wax, and tuberous begonias can all have true red flowers)
• Some Billbergia spp./cvv. have flower stalks with red bracts, though pink is more common. The true flowers are generally some combination of blue, green, and white.
• Some Bougainvillea cvv.
• Bryophyllum daigremontianum.
• Bryophyllum tubiflorum. (orange-red)
• Calliandra emarginata. (pink-red; possibly not actually a houseplant)
• A few orchids in the Cattleya alliance produce flowers that are red to some degree or another; two of the more striking examples are Laeliocattleya Rojo x Cattleya aurantiaca (picture) and Lyonara cv. (Schomburgkia undulata x Sophrolaeliocattleya Rojo) (picture)
• Clerodendrum thomsoniae. (white bracts / red flowers)
• Some Columnea cvv./spp. might qualify, though usually they're more orange or orange-red than red.
• Crassula falcata.
• Dischidia pectinoides. (true red to pink-red; small)
• Echeveria coccinea (red or orange-red; see post) and some other Echeveria cvv. (They're usually pink or orange-pink with a yellow rim/tip, though.)
• Epidendrum Max Valley (orange-red) and some other Epidendrum cvv.
• Some Epiphyllum cvv.
• Some Euphorbia milii cvv.
• Some Euphorbia pulcherrima cvv., though I would never recommend that anybody get a Euphorbia pulcherrima.
• Some Ferocactus spp./cvv.
• Graptopetalum bellum. (pink-red; I don't know if this is cultivated often enough to count for the list)
• Graptopetalum pentandrum var. superbum. (also sometimes called G. superbum; brick red at petal tips)
• Several Guzmania cvv. have red, purple-red, or orange-red bracts.
• Some Heliconia spp./cvv., though I'm not sure Heliconia should qualify as houseplants.
• The spathe of Homalomena 'Perma Press' is red (link). It's arguably not a houseplant either (too big), even though I'm growing it as one.
• Hoya DS-70. (variable: dark red, orange-red, pink, pink-red)
• Hoya polyneura. (dark red / pink-red / purple-red, with white)
• Hoya pubicalyx. (dark red)
• Several Huernia species have red flowers to some degree or another, usually very dark maroon or burgundy. These include: Huernia aspera (dark red), Huernia confusa (dark red), Huernia guttata (dark red), Huernia insigniflora (large red annulus¹ on peach petals), Huernia keniensis (flowers are white or pale yellow with a very dark red interior), Huernia leachii (dark red stripes on pale yellow), Huernia oculata (very, very dark red petals around a central bright white circle; I didn't know about it before this post, but now I want one really badly), Huernia piercii (dark red spots on white), Huernia plowesii (dark red annulus with dark red spots elsewhere), Huernia procumbens (dark red), Huernia schneideriana (dark red), Huernia transvaalensis (dark red annulus), Huernia zebrina (usually dark red annulus, plus dark red stripes on yellow petals, but color varies).
• Justicia carnea (true red) and Justicia spicigera (orange-red). Some Justicia species are grown as houseplants, though I don't know whether J. carnea or J. spicigera are among them to a meaningful degree.
• Kalanchoe tomentosa flowers are hard to describe. See the pictures at this link.
• Some (most?) Kohleria cvv.
• Loropetalum chinensis? (pink-red; uncertain about its suitability as a houseplant)
• Some Mammillaria spp. have pink-red flowers, though they're typically much closer to pink than to red.
• Some Mandevilla cvv. (link)
• Masdevallia schlimii (color varies in photos: brick red, dark orange-red, dark purple-red)
• Maxillaria tenuifolia maybe barely qualifies as red. (dark red-brown)
• Some Miltoniopsis cvv., arguably. (tend to be more pink-red or purple-red than true red)
• Some Musa spp. have some red in their inflorescences, though it isn't usually the main color. Ensete ventricosum has an inflorescence which is primarily dark red.
• The central leaves of several Neoregelias will flush red at the center when blooming, though the actual flowers are usually lavender or blue-purple.
• Some Nerium oleander cvv. (pink-red; suitability as a houseplant is questionable)
• Some orchids in the Oncidium alliance, though there doesn't seem to be a lot of true red: most lean toward either brown or pink. Some of the closer ones: Burrageara Nelly Isler (link; pinkish), Miltassia Charles M. Fitch x Odontocidium Black Beauty link; very dark red), Vuylstekeara Aloha Sparks 'Ruby Eyes' (link; washed-out and orange-red), Wilsonara Lisa Devos (link; brick red and pink), Oncidium Sharry Baby (link; dark red), Miltonidium Bartley Schwartz 'Highlander' (link; dark pink-red)
• A few Opuntia spp./cvv. flowers are red or orange-red, including O. aciculata and O. bergeriana. O. 'Claude Arno' is a dark violet-red.
• Pachira aquatica is not likely to bloom indoors, but the flower has yellow reflexed petals with lots of long, white, red-tipped stamens. You wouldn't look at it and say "now there's a red flower," but there's definitely quite a bit of red involved.
• At least one Pachyphytum sp. or cv. has flowers with dark red interiors, though I don't know which one and it doesn't appear to be typical for the genus.
• Pachypodium baronii has solid-colored, true red flowers; P. namaquanum has yellow flowers with petals that don't open very wide and are red-brown at the tips. All other Pachypodium spp., including the most commonly-grown ones, have white, yellow, or pink flowers.
• A few Pachyveria hybrids have flowers that look reddish in pictures, though pink, yellow, and green are more common.
• Phragmipedium orchids get close to true red once in a while. Closest two I've personally run into were Phragmipedium Sargent Eric 'Timberlane' (pretty true red; a bit orangey) and Phragmipedium Fox Valley 'Fireball' (pretty close to true red, a little pinkish).
• Pedilanthus tithymaloides. (unlikely to bloom indoors)
• Some Pelargonium x hortorum cvv. are true red or dark red.
• Pereskia bleo are either orange-red or red, according to photos; Pereskia flowers are more typically pink/lavender. I don't know P. bleo's suitability for indoor culture, though at least one Pereskia (P. aculeata) does well indoors.
• A few Phalaenopsis orchids tend toward something like red, though I have yet to see any true red phals.
• A handful of Philodendrons produce inflorescences with solid red spathes; the most commonly sold is P. 'Moonlight,' but the species P. eichleri also does. The spathes of P. martianum (aka P. cannifolium) are white with a dark red base.
• A few Pinguicula spp. have true-red flowers, most prominently P. laueana. Maybe also P. caryophyllacea?
• Some Rhododendron cvv. are brilliant true red, though I would argue that they're not houseplants.
• Some Saintpaulia cvv. are dark red or pink-red; I have yet to see true red.
• Salvia elegans.
• Schefflera actinophylla. (dark red, very unlikely indoors)
• Several Schlumbergera cvv. are vivdly red.
• Sedum burrito. (rare; variously pink, coral, or pink-red)
• Sedum morganianum. (rare; photographs show true red, red-orange, dull red, dark red)
• Sempervivum cvv./spp. flowers are typically (but not always) dull red or pink-red.
• Some Sinningia cvv./spp.
• Most Stapelia flowers involve dark red or dark purple-red somewhere, though it's never a particularly vibrant red, and not very many of the flowers give an overall impression of red. Most notable exceptions: Stapelia cedrimontana is black-red with red and yellow stripes near the center; Stapelia hirsuta has very dark red stripes on a peach background, giving the overall impression of dark red; Stapelia leendertziae -- which I also covet -- is solid dark red or dark purple.
• Stenorrhynchos speciosum.
• Stenosarcos Vanguard 'Fireball.' (pink-red)
• Some Streptocarpus cvv. (pink-red)
• Stromanthe sanguinea cvv. (red or pink-red; unlikely to happen indoors)
• Synadenium grantii. (dull dark red, small, unlikely indoors)
• Many Vriesea hybrids, and some of the species (notably V. splendens) produce inflorescences with red bracts.

As usual, I am totally open to it if readers want to make additional suggestions in the comments.

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¹ The annulus is the raised ring around the center of some stapeliad flowers. One is sort of visible in the first picture on this post.

Somewhat last-minute grab bag

Okay, so I spent the first half of yesterday trying to work on yet another post about dyed orchids, because I saw something new about them and had All! These! Ideas! about what that signified. The further I got into writing about it, the more interesting it got, until: I realized that I'd been misreading something, and the whole case I was trying to build fell apart. Some of the post is probably still salvageable, but it may be a while before I can work on it again.

Which means I need something to write about, so here's a grab bag of recent random plant events, new plants that aren't actually new anymore, and unfinished business:


1. Philodendron bipinnatifidum sucker


I'm not sure this signifies anything particularly good; the parent plant (which started out as my mother-in-law's, and she gave it to him twelve years ago) dropped three out of four leaves at about the same time this side shoot began to grow. I worried that this meant it was giving up, but it's since produced a new leaf, so apparently it's going to stick with us a while longer. (The leaf shedding was possibly a response to being cold; it sits on the floor of the plant room.)

This doesn't mean a lot -- I don't intend to try to root the sucker separately or anything -- but it's an event.


2. Tacca chantrieri flower, close-up


Also not hugely significant, but this is the first time I've gotten the chance to take a photo of the flowers when fully open and not yet dying. (Previous attempts.) So that's what they look like.

Yep, still weird.


3. New plant: Euphorbia milii 'Candyland'


This is really stretching the definition of "new plant," since I got it last November. But I hadn't written anything about it yet, and have meant to, so here it is. This is a distinctly different kind of variegation from the other variegated E. milii I've encountered; that one was speckled, and this one has white margins. The flowers -- which I've not yet seen on my own plant -- are red. It's been a little pouty, not growing much since this photo was taken. I suspect it may be unhappy with the amount of light it's getting.


4. Springtails on a dead Cyclamen


The Cyclamen experiment is over. This is also fairly old news; it was pronounced dead on 7 January 2012. The cause of death was probably overwatering during dormancy.

I don't think I'm inclined to try Cyclamen again. It was fun getting it to rebloom the one time, and I do still think they're gorgeous plants, foliage and flowers both. It's just difficult to keep track of when I'm supposed to be watering and when I'm not. Plants with pronounced dormancies are untrustworthy. (The reader may, at this point, wish to pause for a moment to say a short prayer on behalf of my new-as-of-last-fall Amorphophallus konjac bulb.)

Also, this is the best picture I've gotten yet of springtails, which I've run across before, once when they were killing my Anthurium seedlings and baby ferns, and then again when they kept coming out of the drainage hole of our Dracaena sanderiana: I thought I'd posted pictures of the latter but apparently I never considered the photos I got good enough to post. (Also, if you're wondering: the D. sanderiana was originally the husband's, though I've been taking care of it for the past few years. I don't especially like it, and the husband actually has given me permission to throw it out, but it's one of those things: I don't feel like I can get rid of it unless it dies on its own, and it won't die on its own.)


Springtails aren't ordinarily a huge problem for indoor plants. I mean, I don't think there are any situations where they're beneficial, but they eat decaying organic matter, which is basically what potting soil is, so they generally won't do anything much to plants. The Anthurium seedlings and baby ferns suffered only because they were planted in vermiculite, and there was really no organic matter available for the springtails to eat except for the baby plants.


5. Murraya paniculata seed sprouts


Not a shock. We've seen this before, fairly recently, but in this particular case, I labeled the pot when I started the plant, so I know that germination took 28 days to reach this point. (This photo was taken 27 March 2012.)


6. Unfinished business: Furcraea foetida 'Medio-Picta' offsets


Among the plants that have responded strongly to being fertilized regularly are the Furcraeas. These two are both offsets from my parent plant, which I got in June 2009. Whichever one is oldest got started in May 2010, and hadn't really done much as of March 2011. The second one was potted up in July 2011, a year behind the other, which makes it odd that they're both so nearly the same size.


7. Question for the Hive Mind: the new Ficus benjamina


I've noticed that one of the shoots on the new Ficus benjamina has an unusual variegation to it, which none of the rest of the plant seems to have. It's sort of the reverse of the E. milii 'Candyland' situation, in that I've previously only seen marginal variegation on Ficus, not speckling, whereas with the Euphorbia I'd seen speckling, but not marginal.

I'm wondering whether this is a virus. There are, I know, some plant viruses that cause this kind of speckling in their hosts, though I couldn't find any photos of Ficus benjaminas that resembled this. The shoot in question has four leaves, all spotted more or less the same way, and it seems improbable that a virus in one tiny branch of a multi-plant pot would hurt anything much, so I'm inclined to leave it alone (or, possibly, try to propagate it, if it seems robust enough to cut back), but I'm wondering what everybody else thinks about this. Is it a virus? Might it be a virus? If it is a virus, how much should I care? And if it isn't a virus, then what the hell is it?

Walkaways Part 15

A few interesting plants I have declined to buy recently. ("Declined to buy" mostly in the sense of "was incapable of buying.")

Orthophytum gurkenii.
This was tagged "ORTH. GERKIANA." Googling found the correct name. Wholesalers aren't obliged to care, I guess.

This was unusually expensive for a 4-inch plant at the ex-job; I don't remember the precise number but I want to say $13. (A normal 4-inch plant is $7.) This has been happening a lot there, which concerns me because it seemed to begin with the Anthuriums.

What I know about the Orthophytum genus is that there is one, it's in the Bromeliaceae, and one of the species is called O. gurkenii; beyond that, I have nothing. I suppose if I had one, I would probably try to treat it like a Cryptanthus and see how that went, but I'd never even heard of them before, so that's totally a guess.

Striking-looking, though.

Codiaeum variegatum NOID.
I'm not particularly fascinated by crotons, normally, but this was a new type of variegation to me, and I do like it. It didn't make me want to buy the plant -- it's still a croton, whatever flashy new patterns it may be sporting -- but it works for me aesthetically.

Cyclamen persicum NOID.
Not a new plant, and not a particularly new variety of an old plant, either, but I was struck by the leaves; they seem more intricate than the usual Cyclamen leaf.

Cyclamen persicum NOID, close-up of a leaf.
I actually would have bought this -- I've decided that I like Cyclamens, even if they do look crappy for a while after they've bloomed -- but it was still a little pricey ($10, I think), and I don't have a good spot for one right now. But it's not like I'm not going to have other opportunities.

Ficus microcarpa (?), variegated.
I had to look hard at this plant several times before I decided that it probably wasn't a Ficus benjamina. The leaves were too thick and stiff, and the leaf tips seemed wrong in some hard-to-define way.

Ficus microcarpa (?), variegated, close-up.
I think what I was seeing was that the leaf tips are blunter on this plant than on most F. benjaminas, and the branches are less weeping than benjaminas usually are, but investigation in the photo archives shows that it's not quite as clear as that. Microcarpa isn't always blunt-tipped; benjamina isn't always pointed; there's overlap on both ends, and I actually have some plants that grew one type when young and a different type when old. And there's even more variability with the branches, depending on the environment. So I'm left with nothing but my own suspicion that this isn't a benjamina. (I did ask, but the person I asked didn't know.)

It'd either be the first microcarpa I've seen grown to full tree-size and the first variegated microcarpa I've ever seen, or it's the first big variegated benjamina I've seen in a few years. I didn't buy it because I wasn't really interested in buying it, and also because it was $120 (!), but it was interesting.

Philodendron martianum 'Gordo.' (Sold as P. cannifolium 'Gordo.')
I've seen these for sale very occasionally -- Wallace's, in the Quad Cities, has had them before -- but I've been leery about trying one because I didn't know anybody who's tried to grow one.

But! WCW was working the day I visited, and she actually has tried to grow one: apparently hers was just kind of miserable all the time. She said she couldn't figure out when to water it. It seemed to complain whether she did or didn't, and eventually it died, or was discarded, or something. (She didn't actually say what happened to it.)

Steve Lucas's page on P. martianum (warning: much taxonomic discussion at the link; not for the faint of Latin) suggests that she was probably keeping it too wet. They can be grown terrestrially or epiphytically, but prefer to be epiphytes (which might explain the need for the enlarged, water-storing petioles), so in theory they'd be accustomed to drying out relatively quickly and then having to wait for more water. I won't be testing this theory, because they wanted $50 for it, but it's a cool-looking plant either way. Maybe someday.

Finally, I don't have a photo, but I saw a Spathoglottis NOID in a hardware store in Iowa City for $10 something. It was in at least a 6-inch pot, too, which a 6-inch pot of anything for $10 is pretty good outside of a big box store. It didn't have any flowers, or an ID, but its leaves were all still dark green and healthy-looking. I thought about it.

In the end, I wound up buying something else, mostly on the grounds that although the Spathoglottis was an incredible deal and I would likely never ever see one that cheap again in my entire life, I've also never really had any desire to own a Spathoglottis. The ones at work always got bleached, black-spotted leaves after they'd been around a while. (My theory was too much sun or heat or both, but we didn't have them around regularly enough to test that.) Orchids and I are getting along much better since people told me about them needing ammonia-based nitrogen instead of urea-based nitrogen, but I'm not quite ready to open my home to any more of them just yet.

Rumble Among the Jungle, Matches 1.5-1.8

Rules and Stuff
1) It's probably possible to vote more than once per poll, but please don't. If I believe that someone is voting repeatedly, I will throw out those results, repost the poll, and seriously question that person's priorities.
2) If you want to link to a poll on Twitter / Facebook / your blog / whatever and encourage your friends to come and pump up the support for your favorite plants, you are encouraged to do so.
3) You are also encouraged to leave comments on Rumble posts, if so moved.
4) All photos will enlarge if opened in a separate window/tab.
5) You can choose which plant is "best" according to whatever criteria you decide for yourself. My personal process is a bit convoluted.¹
6) All polls will be open for three days.

Match 1.5
Saintpaulia cvv. (African violet) vs. Hemigraphis exotica (purple waffle plant)

Saintpaulia cvv.
Top row, L-R: NOID, assorted NOIDs, NOID.
Middle row, L-R: NOID, NOID, NOID.
Bottom row, L-R: 'Harmony's Red Star,' 'Mellow Magic' close-up, NOID.

Hemigraphis exotica, species.





Match 1.6
Cyclamen persicum (florists' cyclamen) vs. Echinopsis spp.

Assorted NOID Cyclamen persicums.

Unidentified Echinopsis sp. Probably.





Match 1.7
Pachypodium spp. (Madagascar palm) vs. Epipremnum aureum cvv. (pothos)

L-R: P. lamerei, close-up of P. lamerei trunk, NOID.

Clockwise from top left: Epipremnum aureum 'Neon,' 'Marble Queen,' 'N'Joy,' trained on a totem.





Match 1.8
Scindapsus pictus (satin pothos) vs. Crassula ovata/argentea/arborescens (jade plants)

(All Scindapsus pictus, possibly different cvv.)

Clockwise from top left: variegated Crassula ovata, C. ovata 'Gollum,' C. arborescens var. undulatifolia, C. ovata.





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¹ I'm deciding according to a hypothetical situation in which all of my houseplants are gone, as are all the other houseplants of the world, except for one producer/supplier/retailer. Said person is offering to restock me with one or the other of the plants in question but refuses to give me both. Which one would I choose?

Unfinished business: Cyclamen persicum

The Cyclamen has in fact been successfully rebloomed. (It even has more blooms on it than it did when I bought it!) So it can be done.

The plant still makes me kind of nervous -- I'm afraid that at any moment it's going to fall to pieces and I won't know why -- but I never expected to get this far with it, so I'm feeling a sort of anxious pride about this.

Not that I ever feel any other kind of pride, it should be noted.

List: Houseplants Which Have Pink Flowers

"Pink" is a tougher color to define than most, because it shades into a lot of other colors. Differentiating between "pink" and "lavender," "coral," or "red" can be tough sometimes. And then there are the problems with whether "fuchsia" is pink or purple or its own color entirely, and so on. You get the picture. Didn't have these sorts of problems with the yellow-flowers list or the orange-flowers list.¹

As with previous lists like this, I'm looking at the plants from an interior-decorating perspective, not botany. So yes, I know that bracts aren't flowers, but I'm assuming that most people who find this page by Google search or whatever are looking for stuff that works visually, not scientifically.

Adenium obesum cvv. (only some varieties; most fall somewhere on the white-pink-red continuum, though)

Aechmea fasciata (the pink parts are the bracts; the actual flowers are blue-violet)

Cyclamen persicum cvv. (only some cvv.; white, red, lavender, striped, and two-tone flowers are also available)

Dracaena fragrans (seems to vary with culture; I've seen some photos that looked pink and others that looked white or cream-colored)

Euphorbia milii cvv. (The true flowers are yellow-green; the colored parts are bracts. Bracts may be white, yellow, red, or two-toned, though red and pink seem to be the most common)

Episcia cvv. (only some; red seems to be most common, but orange, coral, and yellow are also available)

Gymnocalycium baldianum and other spp. (most are white or very pale pink, though baldianum seems to be the exception)

Mandevilla cvv. (some; most are somewhere along the white-pink-red spectrum, with red being most common as far as I've seen)

Rhododendron cvv. (only some cvv.; most are in the neighborhood of white-pink-red, but lavender also happens. Plants sold for outdoor planting cover a much broader color range than those sold as tabletop plants, in my experience.)

Tradescantia sillamontana. (Always pink as far as I know.)

For recommends and anti-recommends, I've had positive experiences with five of the above (Aechmea, Cyclamen, Dracaena, Euphorbia, Episcia), bad personal experiences with two (Adenium, Tradescantia), bad professional experiences with two (Mandevilla, Rhododendron), and not much experience at all with one (Gymnocalycium).

Assuming that getting flowers out of the plant is important, my top recommendation would be Euphorbia milii: it does require a lot of light and regular fertilizer, but it's otherwise easy to bring into bloom, and a durable, forgiving plant.

Second recommendation would be Episcias. Since they don't all have pink flowers, it's important to be sure you know what you're getting, but once you have one, it should be fairly easy to keep going. (One does have to restart them regularly, but they produce plantlets on runners all the time, so restarting is mainly a matter of cutting off a plantlet and sticking it in a pot.)

Both the Aechmea and Dracaena are wonderful plants, but they don't bloom often, so I'll have to go with Tradescantia sillamontana as the third recommend, even though I've had bad luck with it personally. Again, it needs bright light to flower, and the individual flowers don't last long, but they're normally rugged plants (my experience notwithstanding), and in bright enough light the foliage will also turn pinkish.

For the anti-recommend, I'll go with Rhododendron. No doubt there's someone somewhere who keeps them going indoors for long periods, but the plants that are usually available for sale have been pushed hard to bloom, and consequently provide a very intense but brief show. At work, we mostly had trouble keeping them cool and wet enough. They'll defoliate dramatically if they get too dry, which is really easy to do in a container, and new growth is slow to come back on. They're pretty, but don't get attached.

Not pictured:
(If you know of other plants that would belong in this list, or believe that one of the ones I've included is here by mistake, leave me a comment.)

• Abutilon cvv. (some)
• Acalypha reptans (more of a pinkish-red than a true pink)
• Aeschynanthus 'Thai Pink'
• Aloinopsis sp. (some spp.? Very light pink or white)
• Anacampseros rufescens (pinkish-purple)
• Anthurium cvv. (some)
• Ardisia elliptica (flowers infrequent indoors, and very pale pink)
• Argyroderma spp. (some spp.; pinkish-purple)
• Begonia cvv. (many, esp. cane-types and rhizomatous types, though not all bloom pink, and some are reluctant to bloom at all)
• Bougainvillea cvv. (some; pinkish-purple)
• Brugmansia cvv. (some)
• Bryophyllum tubiflorum (coral-pk? I haven't seen the flowers in person, and Google image search was only somewhat helpful)
• Calliandra emarginata (not sure it really counts as a houseplant, though)
• orchids in the Cattleya alliance (some; they also have a tendency toward pinkish-purple, rather than true pink)
• Ceropegia woodii (both pink and purple)
• Chirita cvv./spp. including C. linearis (most Chiritas tend to be blue or purple, though)
• Cleistocactus spp. (some? pinkish-orange)
• Clerodendrum x speciosum. (the actual flowers are red, but the bracts are pinkish-red)
• Codiaeum variegatum (rarely: usually flowers are white, but sometimes they're light pink. The flowers aren't particularly ornamental either way.)
• Cordyline fruticosa (also not hugely ornamental, but the flowers are pink)
• Crassula alpestris (very light pink)
• Crassula 'Buddha's Temple'
• Crassula coccinea
• Crassula ovata (barely; mostly white, with only a hint of pink)
• Crassula rupestris (sometimes?)
• Crassula sarcocaulis
• Cymbidium cvv. (some cvv.)
• Dendrobium cvv. (some; usually more lavender or pink-purple than straight pink)
• Echeveria cvv. (some; flowers are often pink or pink-orange with a yellow "mouth")
• Echinocereus cvv. (some; those that are pinkish tend to lean to the purple/lavender side)
• Echinopsis cvv. (some; usually either white or very light pink)
• Epiphyllum cvv. (few; most of what's available appear to be white, but there are red and red-pink varieties out there)
• Euphorbia pulcherrima (some; bracts; true flowers are yellowish-green)
• Ferocactus spp. (few; pinkish-purple or pinkish-red)
• Fuchsia cvv. (most; reddish-pink)
• Gasteria cvv. (few; pinkish-orange)
• Gerbera cvv. (some, though I wouldn't necessarily call it suitable as a houseplant)
• Guzmania cvv. (a few varieties have hot pink or pinkish-purple bracts)
• Hatiora cvv. (the ones called "Easter Cactus," and not all of them. These were formerly called Rhipsalis or Rhipsalidopsis.)
• Heliconia cvv. (bracts on a few varieties are pink; usually bracts are red and/or yellow)
• Hibiscus rosa-sinensis (only some varieties)
• Hippeastrum cvv. (some varieties)
• Hoya archboldiana (pink and white)
• Hoya bella (most of the flower is white, but some is pink)
• Hoya carnosa (usually pink and red but variable)
• Hoya compacta
• Hoya darwinii (light pink)
• Hoya davidcummingii (pink and yellow)
• Hoya globulifera
• Hoya megalaster (dark pink)
• Hoya obovata (dark pink and light pink)
• Hoya pubicalyx (variable; flowers are some combination of pinkish-red, dark pink, pale pink, and white)
• Hoya purpureo-fusca (pink and yellow)
• Hoya rubida (dark pink)
• Hydrangea cvv. (sometimes; I wouldn't call it a houseplant, but some people do.)
• Hypoestes phyllostachya (pinkish-purple)
• Impatiens cvv. (some varieties)
• Jasminum spp.? (occasionally, some of the Jasminums we had at work would produce blooms with a slight pinkish tinge to them, but I don't know if that was cultural or a particular variety or what)
• Justicia carnea (maybe not a great houseplant, but flowers are vivid pinkish-red)
• Justicia scheidweileri (the bracts are hot pink; true flowers are purple)
• Kalanchoe blossfeldiana (some varieties)
• Kalanchoe eriophylla (variable; some white or lavender)
• Kohleria cvv. (some varieties, though usually Kohleria flowers are red, orange, or purple)
• Lampranthus blandus (after trying it myself, I'm not convinced that this should count as a houseplant, but the flowers -- which I've never seen in person -- are pinkish-purple)
• Mammillaria spp./cvv. (some varieties are pinkish-purple or dark pink; others flower white)
• Medinilla cvv. (most are pink; lavender and orange also exist)
• Melocactus spp. (most; hot pink)
• Mimosa pudica (arguably more lavender than pink, but sometimes they photograph as pink)
• Miltoniopsis cvv. (most have some pink somewhere, usually dark pink)
• Musa cvv. (few; bracts)
• Nematanthus cvv. (few; pinkish-orange or pinkish-red)
• Neoregelia cvv. (actual flowers are violet-blue, but in some varieties, the leaves at the center of the plant flush hot pink when flowering begins)
• Nerium oleander (some; maybe not really a houseplant, though)
• orchids in the Oncidium alliance (some, though it's not the most common color)
• Opuntia spp. (few; most are yellow)
• Oxalis triangularis (variable between pink, white, and lavender)
• Pachypodium spp. (few; most flower yellow or white)
• Paphiopedilum cvv. (few I'd call true pink; most are white/purple/yellow/brown, but some have smudgy pink areas between white/violet)
• Parodia cvv.? (most are yellow, orange or red)
• Passiflora cv. 'Banana' (maybe other cvv.?)
• Pelargonium cvv. (some)
• Pereskia grandifolia (flowers pinkish-violet, though other Pereskias don't; may or may not be suitable as houseplant)
• Phalaenopsis cvv. (some; more pink-purple than true pink)
• Phragmipedium cvv. (a few)
• Pilea mollis 'Moon Valley'
• Pilosocereus leucocephalus, P. palmeri (pale pink)
• Pinguicula spp. (a few; most are purple, lavender, or blue-violet)
• Pleiospilos nelii (most Pleiospilos flowers are yellow/orange)
• Plumeria cvv. (a few; arguably not a houseplant)
• Portulacaria afra (I was surprised too.)
• Ruellia makoyana (pinkish-purple; have never seen it grown indoors but I'm told people sometimes do)
• Saintpaulia cvv. (some)
• Saxifraga stolonifera (barely: mostly the flowers are white and yellow)
• Schlumbergera cvv. (few, more pinkish-purple or pink-orange than straight pink)
• Sedum burrito (uncertain; there weren't many photos, but the flowers sure looked like a dark pink-purple)
• Sempervivum cvv. (most/all?)
• Sinningia cvv. (few)
• Spathoglottis cvv. (some)
• Stenocereus thurberi
• Streptocarpus cvv. (few; most seem to be white, lavender, purple, or blue)
• Stromanthe sanguinea (dk pk to red; not especially attractive but they still count)
• Tillandsia cvv. (air plants) (I've seen at least one with pink bracts and lavender flowers)
• Tillandsia cyanea (hot pink bracts, blue-violet true flowers)
• Tolmiea menziesii (not ornamental; small and sort of a weird pink-brown color)
• Tradescantia pallida
• Tradescantia zebrina (usually)
• Vanda cvv. (some, pink or pink-purple)
• Zantedeschia cvv. (some; spathes)
• Zingiber malaysianum (bracts vary in color from yel to pk, though blooming is unlikely indoors)

-

¹ The color I will really hate doing is white: I won't have any trouble finding pictures, but the list of houseplants with white flowers is going to be huge.

Random plant event: Cyclamen persicum

It looks like the whole Cyclamen experiment is going to be at least technically successful -- as you can see, all indications are that I'm going to have a rebloom at some point in the next few weeks. I suspect that the story would be different if I hadn't brought the plant downstairs and put it under the shop lights.

In other news, I found a short article in the Iowa City paper about the guy who fell from, and got smushed by, the telephone pole across the street; according to that, he was still alive as of last Sunday, but there were no details about his condition, or even a name. The pole is still lying in the yard across the street from us, and the blood stain is still visible (so I guess they didn't do as good a job washing the street as I'd thought).

One of the weirder aspects of the incident is that since Saturday, we've had a lot of people doing slow drives by our house. Wednesday afternoon, somebody stopped in front of our house, got out of his car, took several pictures of the stain, and then drove off. (I was watching from behind the Synadenium thicket in the living room window.)

I'm not sure how to process this. On the one hand, very little happens here, so it's a big deal when something does, and I can understand that. On the other, it's kind of ghoulish. And on the third hand, some of the people surely have good, occupational-type reasons for coming by. I mean, I'm assuming that someone's going to get sued over this sooner or later, plus the pole needs to be replaced, all that good stuff. So it's hard to be mad at people for driving by, but at the same time, I have this weird feeling that the scene should be private, that people are intruding, by slowing down to look at a spot on a public street. Not sure how to account for the feeling, but it's there anyway.

I did get a picture of the base of the post, not that anybody was clamoring to see.


I can't really tell anything about what happened from looking at this, though I suppose we can rule out beavers, axes, and chainsaws. The husband thinks rot, which is probably correct. (The only other option I can think of is termites or other insect attack, and I don't see any tunnels in there.) Which means that the responsible party would be whoever owns the pole, and I'm not sure who that would be. (City? Utility company? Landowner?)

Anyway. Figured I should add this, since it's more information than I had in Saturday's post, if not by much.

Pretty pictures: Pinkish Red

Pressed for time again -- we were elsewhere for a good chunk of yesterday.

Most of these were taken at the ex-job; the rose was at Lowe's.

Dianthus NOID. I should know what the variety is: it's the same thing we sold during the two springs I worked there. I just forgot, and there's no time to try to look for the ID.

Lamprocapnos x 'King of Hearts.' I regret not getting a clearer photo of the foliage on this one; it seemed different. Not that I'm hugely familiar with bleeding-heart foliage.

NOID Cattleya alliance orchid.

Paeonia 'Hoki.' ('Tis the season.)

Cyclamen persicum NOID. If anybody still remembers my Cyclamen experiment from last fall: it looked worse, and worse, and worse, and worse, and then I moved it to the (cool, humid) basement under shop lights, and it's doing massively better. Among other things, it's growing HUGE leaves. Which I guess is good. I was getting sick of it and considering throwing it out, so it's shaping up just in time, pretty much.

Rosa 'Radtko' (doubled knock-out rose). I'm sure there are roses out there that I could find interesting and exciting, but I haven't run into them at Lowe's. Not that I expected to. I'm just saying.

Dianthus NOID. Dianthus were one of my favorites to sell, at the ex-job; they smelled nice, and I enjoyed deadheading them. I'm not currently growing any, and probably won't in the near future, because we're still working on establishing a raised bed in the backyard, and even if we had a bed already I maybe still wouldn't grow any because I don't know if I'd want to, but they were nice, occupationally speaking.