Swedish Ivy

[mde]

This past spring I took a few slips from a friend's Swedish Ivy (Plectranthus australis) plant, rooted them, and grew it on the patio all summer. Due to space constraints, I took around 8 good slips from that plant, put them in water, and brought them inside for the winter to have another patio plant to start with in the spring again. To my surprise, a few weeks after bringing them in they sent out dozens of spikes of tiny little flowers, that I must say are quite spectacular and amazing in form and coloration. My mom grew a huge specimen sized Swedish Ivy plant for years when I was growing up and I never saw it flower, probably too little light like with our orchid friends. The stored light energy combined with the dramatic drop in light when I brought it indoors must have been the trigger. Each flower is so small it was very hard to get a good picture. I really wanted the purple specks to show up, which they didn't after multiple attempts. Trust me though that the specks/spots of color are indeed a very light purple, almost a lavender color. Here are the photos:





-ME

[Brutal_Dreamer]

Wow Matt, those are neat. How small are the blooms? Do they have a fragrance to them?

Cool!
Cheers!
BD

[mde]

I just realized when you asked about fragrance that I don't usually pay much attention to that. Unless a fragrance fills up the room, I don't go sniffing for it. I'll check these though since you've asked. As far as size, each flower I would estimate at only a little over 1/8 inch wide and maybe 1/2 to 5/8 inches tall at the most, that being the biggest of them. Fortunately they have 1-2 dozen blooms open at any given time, and with around 7-8 spikes of them, it puts on a nice little show.
-ME

[Gin]

I have not seen one of these in a long time . Thanks for sharing it Matt. G

[Lore]

Very nice.