My interest in indoor houseplants and outdoor gardening has only taken off over the past few years. I'm not particularly good really but I absolutely love it. One genus of plant I've become very attached to, and I now have around 10 of them, is the calathea. There are literally hundreds of varieties and the variation in plant size, form, leaf shape, texture, colour and markings is never ending. I love this plant and over the course of the next few years I aim to get a lot more than 10! They are notoriously temperamental, some would say they're not exactly a starter plant. So I'm over the moon, given my relative inexperience, that I seem to have the magic touch with this plant. All mine are thriving! The conditions in my tropical fish room where I keep them are ideal. It's a north facing room so no direct bright sunlight at all, which is essential. The temperature is constant at around 17-20°C and the humidity is constant around 60%. It hasn't always been plain sailing though. I used to have a heater in my fish room on a timer and the temps and humidity levels would rise and fall, which calatheas hate, and boy did they let me know about it! I firmly believe I've found a bit of a niche for myself. This beautiful plant has truly got a grip on me. I can get them for just a couple of quid each from my garden centre as scrawny young plants in 2" pots. I report them when I get home and then plenty of TLC and they soon come to life. My fascination with calatheas made me wonder. Have any of you guys got a soft spot for a certain plant, to the extent where you have loads of them?
Do you have pictures? I've always been hooked on houseplants. I don't imagine home without plants. Occasionally I lose my mind I used to have over 150 varieties of miniature saintpaulia (african violets). I love them, but I'm not happy if plants are not perfect. And avs were easy to grow, but needed strict watering/repotting regime. Easy but time consuming. That collection gone. I used to have around 10 hoyas for many years. And over the last 2 years and a half I have expanded my collection, I've got over 100 now. It doesn't work perfectly, because my house gets quite cold in the winter time. I'm still learning. It's hit and miss so far to create substrate mix that would work for me. Then I have aroud 20 orchids and other various houseplants. I'm in love with hoyas because of their perfect leaves, and when flowefing many of them are fragrant.
Below are a few pics of my growing collection. The only problem I have with them is that when I get them, typically very very small, they seldom have identification tags in the pots with them. So even though my collection us growing, I don't actually know their names, lol. And some of the online plant identification sites are a little hit and miss. They always get the plant correct, but are hit and miss dith the strain, occasionally offering more than one answer. So, identifying them all is my next task really. If any of you guys have 100% ID's on any if these then let me know! View attachment 203340View attachment 203341
@Esoxlucius you have some great plants there!But I haven't actually grown any myself. I've seen them for sale but never bought any. I used to grow over a 100 Amaryllis bulbs in our flat! I grew them from my own saved seeds as well! Though I've grown them, almost without fail for a great many years, I have only ever bought 3 bulbs, (back in 2001) all the rest came from offshoots or my own seedlings. Though I have been gifted a couple. It all started when a sister of mine gave me my first bulb for Christmas 1981. It came in a box with compost & a pot & I potted it up on Christmas Day '81. It flowered for the first time in February '82. That same year we went back to Spain & I took it with me. It multiplied as fast as rabbits do! I still have photos I took of them. When I came back to the UK in 2001 I couldn't bring them with me so I bought 3 big bulbs in the 1 International Market held here. They were just loose, unnamed bulbs but separated into colours. I got 1 red, 1 white & one red & white. The rest as they say is history! About 3 years ago I nearly lost the lot as they had a heavy infestation of mealy bug. I ended up throwing nearly all but 10 away! Now I'm slowly building up a collection again but I will never let it reach such proportions as before! .
I've got Calathea ornata and some other similar plants, two of which are Marantas and the other one I can't remember the name, but it is very similar. They are lovely plants. You've got a nice collection of them. However the plants I have most of are cacti. I've been collecting them since the 1960s and have a greenhouse full of them. I've got lots of succulents too, enough to fill another greenhouse but they are at the moment crammed into a perspex shelter at the side of my old garage. Also me and my late partner became rather obsessed with Fuchsias, and at one time had nearly 200 different varieties. Most of them have died now - I wasn't able to look after them properly when she became disabled and I became her carer. But I've still got a few survivers.
I've never been able to grow one kind of plant I always find something else grabs my attention. I grew a fair amount of cacti years ago, mostly from seed, but moved onto carnivous plants for a while, trees from seed have always interested me along with shrubs. Anything out of the ordinary or weird mostly, which sums me up as well. Must admit I've never done well with the few calatheas I have tried I'm not great with house plants in general.
Below is a picture of the very first one I bought. It was about 5" tall and looked a little ragged. I have since identified this one as Stromanthe Sanguinea. I had real problems at first, I thought I was going to lose it. When I started researching in an attempt to remedy the problem that's when I discovered that these plants really are fussy. But saying that, if you give them what they want then they'll reward you. I sorted out the temperature and humidity fluctuations in my fish room and things improved dramatically. I also stopped watering with tap water. I only use rainwater on all my indoor plants now. As you can see this plant doesn't look shabby anymore. It's about 2' tall now with a 2' spread.
Here are some photos of mine ... It seems the names Calathea and Maranta are interchangeable. I tend to keep to the ones I first knew the plants by, it saves my brain ! They all belong to the same family. Calathea ornata Maranta tricolor Maranta Makoyana Ctenenthe amagris
I agree, the names can be a little puzzling. That last one I posted, the Stromanthe, is a species in its own right I believe, but is often sold, as in my case, as a Calathea! And yes, the Maranta and the Ctenenthe are others that get called Calatheas. And there are more! They all have a lot in common though. The beautiful leaves and they all come from the same place, the jungles of Central and South America. They thrive under the canopy in high humidity dappled shade. That's why they hate direct sunlight so much. In the wild they actually flower too! what a sight that must be. Yours are spectacular by the way.
I've always liked that Maranta tricolour really special leaf colouring. I did have a plant of the Maranta makoyana for a few years but mine never looked very good so I gave up.
The tricolor photo is old. It subsequently became very big and when I tried repotting it, it fell apart and now I've got 5 of them ! They've been in a propagator all summer and only this morning I've brought them into the house (trying to find room for them now, they are currently in the kitchen sink ) You are welcome to some rooted cuttings of any @pete and @Esoxlucius if you wish ... I've got a few spare.
That's hardcore, lol. I'd leave them there and do the washing up in the bath....or is the bath full of plants too!! Lol. Thanks for the kind offer of the cutting but it'd be hassle for you to send it to me, and even more hassle for me to come and collect, lol. And like I said, I can pick loads of different varieties of calathea and their related brethren up at my garden centre for next to nothing as very small cuttings.
Admin!!! My account has been hacked! This was written by me but it has @pete' s profile I enjoy growing cacti and succulents too, in particular from seeds. It can be a slow job, my six years old Agave Victoria Regina is about two inches tall. It'll get there. Trees from seeds is another passion. It all started with orange trees as a kid, evolved via Avocado and other fruit (has-a-seed-will-pot-up syndrome ) to the current exotic phase from bought seeds. Sadly, most do well for only a couple of years and then start to look less lush and may lose leaves or get bugs in the winter. Or outgrow the house- this was avocado "Jaakko" in 2017 when it still fit in. Two years later I got tired of trimming the top that pushed the ceiling and got rid of the plant. Our Degus still have some dried stems to gnaw. And some snaps I took just now: Bixa Orellana (lipstick tree) is a bit sad this winter but a very healthy plant with attractive, heart shaped leaves. I hope it will perk up in the spring. Morinda has germinated very well, I have tried it before with no success so it's very nice to see the seedlings doing pretty well. And my living room window with a mixture of bought and seed grown cacti and succulents (hardcore zooming would show the aforementioned Agave Vicky ). The pillar cacti are fastest ever from seed, these in the bowl are I think 4 years old. I like curious plants or fun shapes. There is a wonderful variety of all kinds of seed shops online, and in the end this is not that expensive hobby. (My sister owns a sailing boat, that's like flushing €100 bills down the toilet with the lid banging on your head ) Tropical Plant Seeds - World Wonders Gardens - Seed Specialist Seeds - Grow Your Own Tropical Plants - Turn it Tropical Welcome to Surreal Succulents - Surreal Succulents
