# Unusual plants you tried to grow?



## Kaila (Nov 23, 2019)

Have you ever tried to have any unusual plant, 
and to keep it going, either indoors in a pot, or outdoors?

What was it and how did it do?
Any plant that was new for you.


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## Aunt Bea (Nov 23, 2019)

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.


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## Kaila (Nov 23, 2019)

I had forgotten about my attempts with avocado pits, and sweet potatoes. 

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 

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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## JustBonee (Nov 23, 2019)

Not unusual for this area,  but I've tried my luck with miniature  lemon tree ...not so good.


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## RadishRose (Nov 23, 2019)

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







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


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## Kaila (Nov 23, 2019)

RadishRose said:


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



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.


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## ronaldj (Nov 23, 2019)

we have had a garden all our married lives, most of the time just what we need to use or can, once I grew peanuts, they turned out good. we live in Michigan.


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## Ruth n Jersey (Nov 23, 2019)

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.


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## terry123 (Nov 23, 2019)

Tried to grow a pencil plant but did not do well.


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## Catlady (Nov 23, 2019)

I used to have indoor plants, but no longer possible with cats in the house.  I could try hanging plants.  One plant I had in CT was the Spider Plant and I loved it when it had ''babies''.


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## Repondering (Nov 23, 2019)

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.


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## Catlady (Nov 23, 2019)

The night blooming Cereus in Tucson










https://tucson.com/thisistucson/sum...cle_f9230392-914e-11e9-9a7f-07727648889d.html


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## toffee (Nov 24, 2019)

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 ..


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## treeguy64 (Nov 24, 2019)

I grew a Venus Fly Trap, when I was a kid. It never ate flies, and was never very healthy looking. I grew a Golden Pothos that threatened to take over my bedroom, as it expanded some fifteen feet in opposite directions, from its pot. It finally had a big dieback, and became just a "normal" house plant.


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## RadishRose (Nov 24, 2019)

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?
> ...


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!


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## Camper6 (Nov 24, 2019)

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.


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## Catlady (Nov 24, 2019)

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


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.


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## Catlady (Nov 24, 2019)

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.


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## Catlady (Nov 24, 2019)

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 ..


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.


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## RadishRose (Nov 24, 2019)

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


looks like a mum


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## Catlady (Nov 24, 2019)

RadishRose said:


> looks like a mum


HaHa!  That reminded me of a comic named Ziggy who had a mum plant.  He came in the door and said,  "Mum, I'm home".  LOL


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## Camper6 (Nov 24, 2019)

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.


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.


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## grannyjo (Nov 25, 2019)

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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