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| About a month ago I stumbled upon a Plectranthus Mona Lavender at Home Depot and, being the Plectranthus nut that I am, I just couldn't live without it! When I first brought it home, it was loaded with beautiful purple blooms, but then one day last week I walked into my plant room and found that ALL of the blooms had fallen off (still fresh and beautiful, just in a pile on the floor)overnight. I examined the plant today and found that the poor thing is so pot bound that the roots are growing out of the drainage holes and trying to do laps around the saucer underneath the pot. I am very tempted to repot it, but I am not confident that repotting it this time of year would be a good idea. What would you guys do? Repot now? Wait until spring? Pot up temporarily until spring when it's safer to mess with the roots?
Here are some pictures of what it looks like right now: Roots growing out of drainage holes:
Shriveled flower spike
The Plant
Thanks guys! :) |
Follow-Up Postings:
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- Posted by pirate_girl Zone7 NYC (My Page) on Mon, Nov 19, 12 at 17:38
| Sorry, but that does't look like a Plectranthus to me, the leaf shape is wrong. Also, IME folks grow these for the foliage, not the blooms & so they often pinch the blooms off to re-focus the plant's energy onto the foliage (the same way folks pinch back Coleus plants & pinch OFF their flowers when they bloom). |
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- Posted by GreenThumbFaerie (My Page) on Mon, Nov 19, 12 at 18:04
| I am 100% sure it's Plectranthus Mona Lavender. The leaves of Mona Lavender do look different from most other Plectranthus. Take a look at the link I posted below and you will find pictures of plants whose leaves look exactly like mine. The flowers also looked exactly like the plants in the link too...when the plant actually had them. This cultivar of Plectranthus is a HYBRID of P. Ecklonii that was developed for the flowers AS WELL AS the foliage, and is supposed to bloom into late winter. |
Here is a link that might be useful: PlantzAfrica: Plectranthus Mona Lavender
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- Posted by purpleinopp 8b AL (My Page) on Mon, Nov 19, 12 at 18:08
| I'm also pretty sure that's not Mona Lavender, which is a hybrid with fuzzier, lighter-colored leaves. But PG, if you google, this Plec has awesome flowers. Like Mona Lavender, but better! Now I want one too. Although it's interesting to know that genetically this plant is related to that-which-we-will-probably-always-call-Coleus, it's now unnecessarily attached to the new name for Coleus. But besides my affinity for moot yet similar points, I'm making a 2nd mention of it because when Coleus flowers are left on, they do tend to all fall off at once, the slightest breeze or bump. So I'm not sure their fall is any indication of your plants' health or necessity of immediate repotting since it looks rootbound, but also happy and healthy. It's going to want to be pretty dry for winter anyway... I'd be torn too. This place seems to be the makers of Mona Lavender. They offer a separate profile of Plectranthus ecklonii which does not mention Mona Lavender. Was that on the label? |
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- Posted by GreenThumbFaerie none (My Page) on Mon, Nov 19, 12 at 18:59
Yes, "Plectranthus" was on the label. That, and this is what its flowers looked like (when the plant had them):  Uploaded with ImageShack.us |
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- Posted by GreenThumbFaerie none (My Page) on Mon, Nov 19, 12 at 19:05
| Also, the leaves are quite fuzzy, but they're also dark and shiny with purple undersides. |
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- Posted by aseedisapromise z4.5 SD (My Page) on Mon, Nov 19, 12 at 21:58
| I'm no plectranthus maven, but I have a Candle Plant (P. oertendahlii)that just got done with blooming. I always just cut it back after it blooms as it get too rangy for me to like it much if I don't. It doesn't seem to like to be too wet, and it doesn't seem to like to be too dry either. So you have to provide a soil that is moist but still has pore spaces for air around the roots. Anyway, from your photo it seems your plant is really big for the pot it is in, and so you might be giving yourself a really difficult task to keep the plant's water needs met in the situation it is in now. It might be good to pot it up if you aren't going to cut it back, and deal with roots in the spring. But your plant might be different than mine, and if it truly keeps blooming all winter into the spring like your link said, then this maybe isn't the time to be cutting it back. But then maybe my candle plant would keep blooming too, but I always cut it back. It looks like a pretty plant. What will they think of next? Oh- I cut back and repotted my candle plant last year at this time after it bloomed, and it didn't seem to mind at all. |
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| I am positive it is Plectranthus, as well as the name given, P. ecklonii, verified by White Flower Farm several years ago, as one of their offerings in their Gift of the Month selections. |
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