Another January 2017 Violet Barn purchase, this is one of my favorite gesneriads! That’s saying a lot since this is probably my favorite plant family. This plant is unusual in that the leaves are very thin and less succulent than most gesneriads. The start I received three years ago was pretty small but once it got settled with the right light (bright indirect) and the right water (self-watering pots to keep it moist work well), it has done very well for me.

Here is a gallery of photos over the years of this plant.

What I love about this plant is the foliage, which can be stunning when healthy and abundant. I also love the flowers and the plant’s generous display of those. This plant bloomed from about March of 2019 until December 2019, when I decided to cut it back and take cuttings of the clippings. As I type this in February 2020, it has buds showing color again! And the cuttings, which may or may not be rooted at this point, have also been blooming!

The challenges with this plant are that it gets a little lanky and rough mid-to-late season, with the leaves looking sickly and old flower and leaf stems hanging on in shades of brown and tan. I feed it with orchid food and organic fertilizer spikes, and that seems to suit it.

Propagation is also a challenge with this one, as the leaves seem too tender for leaf cuttings to be successful. If the cuttings I took from the pruning I did eventually grow, I think I’ll end up with four plants.

My goals for this plant in 2020 are to grow it well so the pots look great. For the cuttings, I will pot them up and grow them on and give them to family, friends, and coworkers.

This is a newer plant–and one of the fun things about online ordering is that you can look up what you ordered and when. I ordered this on January 10, 2017, so I have had this plant for just over three years. I originally bought if for my Lung Association office in South Lake Union, then moved it with me to the Lung Association office in Georgetown, and finally moved it to my new office at TeamChild, where it has settled in very well and bloomed almost nonstop (as have I!).

There is a lot to like about this clone. The leaves are tiny and perfect, as are the rosettes of leaves. It is also pretty prolific. I’ve been able to take cuttings, both stem, and leaf, so I have about six of these clones now in various stages of growth.

Here is a gallery of photos over the years.

The major disappointment with this plant is that the flowers only open part-way–they end up being rather cup-shaped. They are a lovely glowing lavender-blue color, though, and so prolific that they quiet my complaints. Below are recent photos of one of my pots of Teeny Bopper.

My goal with these plants is to keep propagating them and give them away to friends, family, and coworkers. I will keep the original plant well-fed and deadheaded.

Another plant originally from brother Tim, this is a nice, compact geranium with lovely leaves and bright, interesting flowers. I’ve had it in my collection for at least 20 years. By taking cuttings every year, I’ve kept it going even when I haven’t always been careful with individual plants.

The plants I’ve had the longest were gifts–mostly from my brother, Tim. “Petals” is no exception. I’ve had this plant in my collection for over 25 years–but not the same plant. I’ve taken dozens of cuttings and so I always have a few of them to tuck into patio pots in the spring or to brighten up the greenhouse any time.

This cultivar has amazing foliage. The flowers are a nice pink, but it isn’t particularly floriferous for me. It tends to grow very leggy, so I have to pinch ruthlessly to get any kind of shape other than a leafy stick.

My 2020 goals for this plant are to take a few more cuttings, to prune back the plants I have and move them into larger pots with fertile soil. Some of them live in window-box-type pots that I place on the patio and I will topdress those and prune them back hard in the spring.

Abutilons are fun plants to grow from seed. They germinate pretty easily, grow fast, and bloom the first year with impressive blooms. A strain of hybrids called “Bella” came out a decade or so ago and I tried them and ended up with a lovely, large-flowered pink specimen. Later, I purchased more seeds that were not Bella. The results were smaller-flowered, but fun in their own right.

The two greenhouse plants I have of Abutilon are the two pictured above. I have had a few others, as well, which I planted outside and which come up each year and bloom in the autumn.

Abutilons are very forgiving plants. They have survived overwatering and drought and being extremely underpotted and underfed. The worst challenge they pose for me is that they are tough to grow into a pleasing shape. They want to grow whippy, leggy branches. I’ve tried pinching them but that only helps a little –they still don’t branch much. But they are still beautiful when they bloom.

My 2020 goals for these two plants are to repot them in the spring into larger pots with fertile soil and to prune them down to a great starting shape. Then, I’ll just let them grow and bloom, which is what they do best!

Our Day 26 plant has an interesting story. I’ve seen Geranium maderense in books and catalogs for years, so about seven years ago, I finally purchased some seeds. I ended up with only one good seedling.

This plant is supposed to be biennial and somewhat tender, so I wintered it in the greenhouse and then promptly neglected to plant it in the garden or pot it on. The plant kept growing but did not bloom in that second year. I potted it up and then kept in the greenhouse again, and then never planted it in the garden. So, now I have what might be the only seven-year-old Geranium maderense around!

You can see in the above photo how the leaf stems turn down after the leaves die and help support the stem. This is a cool, unusual behavior.

My 2020 goals for this plant are to plop it into a nice spot in the garden early in the spring and hopefully have it grow strongly and bloom before frost.

The Day 25 plants are some very old bulbs that I started from seed about 25 years ago. The seeds came from Thompson and Morgan. The bulbs grew well but didn’t do a lot for several years and I probably didn’t take the best care of them, as I had very little knowledge about bulbous plant care or the genus Albuca. But then they bloomed one year, and not only are the flowers intricate and fascinating, but they are slightly, sweetly scented. Irresistible! I’ve taken better care of them in the last ten years or so and they bloom regularly.

Probably the most unusual feature is the fibrous covering all over the bulbs, even above the soil line. You can see it in the photo above and in the following photo I took of the mostly dormant bulbs just a few days ago.

You can also see that the bulbs have grown and stretched the pot out of shape. After they flower this year I will move them into a larger, nicer pot in a nice succulent mix with some organic matter and organic fertilizer and see how they do.

This is another old-timer. I believe the original plant came from City People’s Mercantile on Madison maybe ten years ago. I have lost the tag or it faded, so I am not clear on the species, but recent research makes me think it is Pelargonium laxum.

I don’t have a lot of photos of this plant, but I have some decent flower pictures–it bloomed for me for the first time in 2019.

The worst thing about researching is that I saw about a dozen other succulent Pelargonium species I would love to try.

Here is a photo from several years ago which gives an idea of the habit the plant displays for me:

As succulent as this plant is, and leaning toward geophytic, it probably would prefer much less water than it gets with me. You can tell from the photo that it is growing a bit rampantly and weakly. Not only is the watering a factor, but in the greenhouse, it doesn’t get the burning bright sun that it would expect in its home in South Africa. But it survives and grows every year.

My 2020 plans for this plant are to pot it into a slightly larger (and heavier) pot and include some sort of stake supports to keep the plant upright. I’ll put 2/3 sand in the pot with 1/3 potting soil. I also want to take some cuttings from the tips of the branches and try to grow them with even more drainage and drier, sunnier conditions to see if it will look a little more bonsai-ish.

My Day 23 plant was a splurge I made at a little nursery that used to be down in Fremont. Brother Tim and I went there about four years ago, just before they closed for good. I found this little scented geranium and had to have it. I’m not sure of the species or the scent, but I know I like the foliage and the flowers. I’ll have to research to see if the tag is still around or if I can find it online.

Here are photos through the last few years:

I’ve taken lots of cuttings from this little plant–they don’t root as easily as typical “geraniums,” but a few of them have taken. In spring, above the original plant, a flight of the fancy, lacy flowers appears and can last for six weeks or more.

My 2020 goals for this plant in 2020 are to repot the original plant after flowering into a larger container and make sure it gets watered and fed appropriately. At the same time, I’ll take a few more cuttings from it and see how I do at propagating it in summer, rather than autumn when I’ve tried before.

Leon bought me a couple of water plants about six years ago. This pitcher plant was the stand-out. It has grown well and easily for me in pots in the greenhouse and has forgiven me even when I forget to add water to the tray in which it sits. I was able to divide the original pot into three divisions a couple of years ago. The leaves are fascinating and the flowers are gorgeous.

My 2020 goals for these plants are to pot them up into bigger containers and do a better job of keeping them well watered with rainwater and appropriately fertilized. There are some fussy ways to grow carnivorous plants, but I am not hoping to spoil these too much–I just want to give them what they need to flower and thrive.