The Variegated Thumb

I have two different species of Ctenanthes in my collection - both of which are showing off right now.  One of them (C. lubbersiana) is blooming and the other (C. setosa) just produced it’s first leaf.

I hope you’re not too excited about seeing a lavish bloom, because Ctenanthes don’t do that kind of thing.  Nevertheless, I am really happy to see my C. lubbersiana plant blooming.  It has been sitting in less than ideal conditions for the past couple months and still put out new growth and a flowering bract before being taken outside into the warm sunshine.

When I bought this plant in the Fall, it was root bound in the small pot in which it was planted and had pretty much pushed all of the soil out of the top of the pot.  When I finally removed the plant from the pot it was almost entirely roots.  I used a pair of scissors and cut the plant in two and put each half in a pot larger than the original pot that was containing the whole plant.  I also split off a single stem and roots and potted it up for my mom.  Both of the divisions that I kept continued to grow well throughout the Winter.  The one in the larger of the two pots is sending up more new stems and has the one really long stem (pictured above), which produced the inflorescence (pictured below).

This plant is a vigorous grower in the couple of months that I have had it and I will enjoy continuing to divide it.  It’s always nice to have a plant that you can share freely, without worrying that you will lose your original plant.

You might remember me receiving a very special package from Australia just over a month ago.  That package contained 5 rooted stems of Ctenanthe setosa ‘Grey Star,’ which had been cut off just above ground level.  I planted the stems immediately and the first stem appeared last week, producing a leaf just a couple of days later. The stem below the leaf is only about 3 inches tall.  In the same pot, there are two other stems just breaking through the soil surface.

In my introductory post for this plant, I discussed the species name “setosa,” which means “bristly or hairy.”  Look at the picture below to see that name in action!

The “fur” feature is called pubescence on a plant.  The pubescence on my Ctenanthe almost looks prickly, like a cactus, but it is actually soft to the touch.

Besides having some really cool foliage, Ctenanthes are a good fit for me - enjoying the increased humidity that my house seems to have over the winter and they do fairly well in low light conditions.

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You might think I’ve fallen off my rocker with that title, but it’s true!  There is an exotic rainforest in Siloam Springs, Arkansas.

The “rainforest” is contained in a 24′ by 24′ atrium that is built onto the back of the private home of Aroid collector Steve Lucas.  Steve lived in Florida for a number of years, amassing a large collection of tropical plants which covered the grounds around his house.  When he decided to move to Arkansas, he was determined to continue his hobby of growing tropical plants and take what he could with him.  Others thought he was crazy, but he built a large greenhouse and turned it into a tropical paradise.  It contains somewhere on the order of 300 species of Aroids, a lot of orchids, a blue and gold Macaw, tree frogs, a waterfall and a pond stocked with fish!

Our trip to Steve’s house was something I have been looking forward to for about 6 months now.  Steve is an amateur botanist, though only “amateur” in that his professional training is in another subject.  Steve collaborates on a regular basis with many of the leading researchers focused on the Aroid (Araceae) family, and has a working knowledge of Aroids greater than anyone I know.  It was great to finally meet him after seeing lots of his pictures on his website and reading his passionate descriptions and discussions of Aroids.  Steve took me through his collection, telling me about each plant - the botanical name, commonly mistaken identities, key features, locations where it is found in nature and the story of his particular plant.

Steve has some plants in his collection with particularly interesting stories.  The plant pictured below was one of two plants used by Julius Boos and Drs. Tom Croat and Simon Mayo to write the scientific description of Philodendron xanadu.  Julius Boos gave the plant to Steve as a gift.  That’s a pretty special plant!

Steve also has a Philodendron that is currently unnamed.  He is carefully documenting all new growth and changes that he sees and communicating that information to one of the world’s leading Aroid experts, Dr. Tom Croat of the Missouri Botanical Gardens.  His hope is to have the plant produce an inflorescence this year and soon the plant will be determined to be a distinct species that had not yet been discovered.

I have grown some Aroids for 3 or 4 years, but my collecting of Aroids really just began last Fall.  Steve had loads of information to share with me and was kind enough to give me cuttings of several of his plants.  Any plant that had enough stem to cut away he was willing to share.

Because of his generosity, I have added six new Philodendrons, one Alocasia and one Tillandsia (from the Bromeliad family) to my collection: P. atabapoense, P. billietiae, P. erubescens, P. mayoi, P. mexicanum, P. 69686, A. gageana and T. albida.

Steve has installed an artificial log wrapped in growing medium and mounted with epiphytic plants - ferns, Bromeliads, Orchids and Aroids.  As Steve says, in the rainforest, there are more plants growing on the trees than on the ground.

There is a wealth of information on his website concerning Aroids, orchids and tropical greenhouses.  He also has some wonderful pictures.  Check it out!  www.exoticrainforest.com

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Last week I bid on some plants on eBay.  This was kind of a first for me and I am very satisfied with the quality of the plants and the speed in which I received them.  The auctions ended on Sunday and the plants arrived on my doorstep on Tuesday at lunchtime!

The three plants I bought are all from the Calathea genus (commonly called Peacock plants), from the Marantaceae family (commonly called the Prayer Plants).  Since I am running low on pots, I potted the largest two species together in one medium sized pot.  I think they look pretty neat together and will look even better as they each fill out.

Calathea lancifolia had been on my “to acquire” list for quite a while and I am really glad that I bought such a nice looking specimen.  It seems very healthy and happy.  The plant which was sold as Calathea ‘Mia’ looks to me like a variation of the species C. roseopicta.  I have another color variation of roseopicta, which is called ‘Saturn’ and has the opposite coloring on top of the leaf.  Saturn has light green center and a dark green band around the edge.

The smallest little critter I planted separately in this little pot I found in the garage.  Apparently I painted it for my wife a while back.  It says “Happy Birthday” and is a little bit too much color (in my opinion) for this plant.  I would prefer a simple pot, not to overshadow the colorful foliage of this little plant.  Anyway, that’s where he will stay for now.  Maybe this summer I will move some things around and he will get a new pot.

My collection of plants from the Marantaceae family is growing!  I now have plants from a total of 10 species - 4 Calathea, 3 Ctenanthe, 2 Maranta, and 1 Stromanthe species.  I moved pots around in the house this morning (it’s still too cold to let them get some fresh air outdoors) and decided to move all of these plants to the bathroom counter, where most of them were already.  With the exception of my two large Ctenanthe species, all of Marantaceae plants are sitting together now.  I decided they should probably have a family portrait.

If you missed my other posts concerning Marantaceaes, you can see them here:

• Ctenanthe from Australia
• Plant Find: Calathea, Marantas and Stromanthe
• Trip Report: TLC Florist and Greenhouses
• Trip Report: Myriad Gardens continued

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Earlier this week, I wrote about a plant I was expecting in the mail from Australia.  Well, it arrived yesterday!  Here’s the story:

Back in December I bought a plant at TLC that appeared to be in the Marantaceae family, but I didn’t know the genus.  After doing some research online, I found a match.  My plant was a Ctenanthe lubbersiana (Ctenanthe ‘Brazilian Snow’).  I really like the Maranta family, as I have mentioned recently in a couple of posts, so I did some image searching for other Ctenanthes.  I came across a couple of Ctenanthes with very light white or gray tone leaves with the usual streakings of green and solid red underneath the leaves.  One particular image caught my attention on Flickr.

Going out on a limb, I sent a message to the image owner on Flickr and asked if they owned the plant and were willing to make a plant trade.  It turns out the owner lives in Australia and she was willing to trade with me.  Unfortunately, I didn’t really have any plants that she was wanting, but I did have access to some plants that are a little harder to find in Australia, apparently.  I bought a package of 10 Caladium bulbs of varying colors and she dug up 5 of her Ctenanthe plants, trimmed away the leaves, wrapped the roots and stems in newspaper and boxed them up.  The trade was ready.

We both carefully packaged our goods and sent them in the mail.  The Australian package arrived at my house yesterday!

The Ctenanthe plants were sent as roots only with a leaf and a bloom included so that I could see the plant in person before mine grows.

I looked up the species name “setosa” in my Gardener’s Latin book and found that setosa means “bristly or hairy.”  I first thought this must be a poor name choice for this plant.  Either that or the word “setosa” must have another meaning.  It turns out the stems of this plant are much furrier than they look in the Flickr picture I had seen.

The form of the blooms looks similar to some bromeliad blooms I have seen.  I think other plants in the Marantaceae family have this type of bloom.

I potted three of the five rooted stems in a (unintentionally heavy) hypertufa pot that I made this winter in a mixture of peat moss, rich potting soil and vermiculite.

I potted the other two stems in a large round planter that was the former home of my Coconut palm tree.  I used a slightly sandier soil mixture in this pot with more potting soil than peat moss.

I can’t wait to see my stems sprout and produce leaves like the ones in the Flickr picture.

Thanks a bunch Flickr friend!

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I am fond of plants from the Marantaceae family.  This family includes several genera that are common houseplants, including Calathea (peacock plants) and Maranta (prayer plants), as well as the less common Ctenanthe and Stromanthe.  There are actually about 30 genera in this family, but those 4 are the only ones with which I am familiar.

Generally, plants from this family are grown for their striking colors.  One of the features I enjoy is watching how all of the new leaves unfurl.  Also, mature leaves will retract whenever they dry out.  Marantas tend to fold in half (like praying hands), while Calatheas roll into a scroll.

Last week I added 3 new plants from this family to my collection.  I found a Calathea at Lowe’s for $5 and it was a color variety that I had never seen before.  I figured I should snatch it up in case I never saw it again.  You know how that goes.

When I found myself driving through north Oklahoma City last Tuesday, I decided I should probably stop by my favorite plant nursery, TLC Florist and Greenhouses.  As usual, they had a couple of great plants for a mere $2!  I bought 2 different Marantas.

Marantas have a wonderful, delicate feel.  They are fairly sensitive to soil moisture levels.  I try to not let the soil ever dry out.

Back in January, I added 2 other plants to my Marantaceae collection.  One is Stromanthe sanguinea ‘Triostar’, which I found for a very reasonable price at Lowe’s.  It is a beautiful tri-colored plant that I saw in bloom at the Myriad Gardens last week.

The other plant is a Ctenanthe, which I got at TLC Florist and Greenhouses.  In case you missed my post about TLC, you can see the post here and the photo album here.

I will probably post a more thorough guide to plants from the Marantaceae family in the next couple of months.

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