Unusual plants you tried to grow?

Nothing exotic but I did experiment with growing plants from kitchen garbage and growing cuttings from other people's house plants.

The old avocado pit with toothpicks, citrus fruit seeds, sweet potato vines, etc...

I think it was a throwback to my grandmother who always had something rooting in a glass of water on the window sill above her kitchen sink.
 
I had forgotten about my attempts with avocado pits, and sweet potatoes. (y)

Both grew very easily and well, and were fun and interesting to watch, for quite a while, before they wore out their welcomes,
and became visiting houseguests, who expected too much space, and catering to, etc :LOL:

Thanks for reminding me of those, @Aunt Bea :)

I have Hoya vine plants in pots indoors, which have funny long tendrils that are curvy and reach out around themselves, to lightly, gently grab you, as you walk by them. ;)
Sometimes they have had clusters of small but pretty blooms.

I am sure they would grow much better in Florida, than here in the North. They would probably even like a vacation South, for the entire winter! But if I don't get one, neither do they!

Does anyone have one, (Hoya vine plant)
I wonder if they grow outdoors, in the other warmer milder climates than mine.
 

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I had what I thought was unusual, a succulent rosary vine

iu


And, a Stag Horn fern.

I had no luck at all with Maidenhair ferns or Gardenias.

I had a bay window full of plants, as well as all over the house, but nothing rare. I lost most of them during 2 moves I had to make. Where I live now, I would have 2-4 in the only area I could use, but when it can time to divide or repot, I gave up.

My beautiful Foxtail fern grew so big, as well as it's woody roots and the roots actually broke the large crockey pot in half!

Hoya sounded familiar, tho' I never had one so I looked it up:

Hoya is an Asclepiad genus of 200–300 species of tropical plants in the family Apocynaceae!

The images are just beautiful and I have seen one or two non flowering type at garden centers.

https://duckduckgo.com/?q=hoya&t=ffab&atb=v1-1&iax=images&ia=images
 
RadishRose said:
I had what I thought was unusual, a succulent rosary vine
Click to expand...

I love that picture of the unusual plant. I've seen it in catalogs but not in person.

It isn't as fragile as it seems to appear?
Easy to keep it going?
You noted it's a Succulent, which i hadn't realized,
so it might have been easy to over-water it?

That bay window must have been nice.

I didn't know there were that many different species of Hoya!

In a different thread, a grape ivy plant was mentioned, today. That's another very nice indoor potted plant, and hearty grower, which i had forgotten existed.

I didnt remember how much i forgot. :LOL:
 
I've grown many plants over the years. Two house plants that stand out that aren't the least bit unusual was a snake plant that bloomed like crazy. At the time people told me it takes a very long time to get them to bloom if ever and a cactus that also had beautiful flowers.
 
I have some common house plants but only one that's unusual to me, a night blooming cereus. It came to me as a tiny gift 3 or 4 years ago and has become many times bigger since then. It's a desert plant that only blooms at night once a year with spectacular, fragrant flowers. I've witnessed others blossom but mine hasn't done so, although it seems happy and healthy in the southeast corner windows of my dining room.
 
I grow orchids =been lucky so far 'i have 2 on my kitchen shelf and they dont stop blooming -so pretty and delicate'
I have 3 growing seem to ok so far - strange plant they dont like a lot of water ' and orchid food looks like dry nothing lol..
plus they dont like to be moved I have found .. but light is a must ..
 
Kaila said:
I love that picture of the unusual plant. I've seen it in catalogs but not in person.

It isn't as fragile as it seems to appear?
Easy to keep it going?
You noted it's a Succulent, which i hadn't realized,
so it might have been easy to over-water it?

That bay window must have been nice.

I didn't know there were that many different species of Hoya!

In a different thread, a grape ivy plant was mentioned, today. That's another very nice indoor potted plant, and hearty grower, which i had forgotten existed.

I didnt remember how much i forgot. :LOL:
Click to expand...
I forgot about the Grape ivy I had. Pruned, it bushed out to a beautiful plant. I don't see them anymore. Remember the Swedish ivy? Back in the70's, 80's, houseplants were a craze!
 
Camper6 said:
I had no success with bamboo.

I had a plant from last year that stopped blooming. I kept it alive watering it.
It bloomed again just in time for Christmas.View attachment 82511
Click to expand...
Camper, I love those flowers, even the smell of their leaves. My mother used to take them to the cemetery in Italy and called them "I fiori dei morti" (flowers of the dead). I tried growing one but was not successful, it was either my brown thumbs or the killer heat here in Arizona.
 
The Saguaro is not an unusual plant, but it only grows in the Sonoran Desert and Baja California. I bought this house brand new and it came with a bare back yard. I really wanted a Saguaro, so I bought one, it was perhaps one foot tall and cost me $30. The nursery told me it was 8 years old by then. I've had it for about 11 years now and it's 60 inches tall. They get to be about 60 feet tall and live about 200 years if all goes well. When mine gets to be an adult it will start growing arms like the giant in the photo.

IMG_6997.JPGIMG_8946.JPG
images
 
toffee said:
I grow orchids =been lucky so far 'i have 2 on my kitchen shelf and they dont stop blooming -so pretty and delicate'
I have 3 growing seem to ok so far - strange plant they dont like a lot of water ' and orchid food looks like dry nothing lol..
plus they dont like to be moved I have found .. but light is a must ..
Click to expand...
Funny, just yesterday I watched an episode of Columbo and the killer had a room full of orchid plants. Columbo picked up one and the perp told him it was worth $1,200. One of Queen Victoria's prime ministers also grew them as a hobby. They seem to be very finicky plants. You should be proud that you're successful growing them.
 
PVC said:
Camper, I love those flowers, even the smell of their leaves. My mother used to take them to the cemetery in Italy and called them "I fiori dei morti" (flowers of the dead). I tried growing one but was not successful, it was either my brown thumbs or the killer heat here in Arizona.
Click to expand...
They are chrysthantemums. Very hardy. Only bloom when the days get short.
I like it when the birds build nests in the cactus. Colourful birds.
 
I'm currently propagating an umbrella sedge plant. One of the papyrus type plants.

You cut off the top part of the stem, after it has produced the umbrellas and the circle of "flowers" with about a 4 inch stem and then place it upside down in water.

Eventually, roots will appear from the bit you've placed in the water.

At the moment, I have 2 very thin roots that have appeared.

They are a form of water plant, and will grow well inside or outside, as long as you water them well.
 


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