Indoor Gardening and Houseplants: New houseplants..cane begonia, grape ivy, passiflora,how to?, 1 by PrairieMoon2

PrairieMoon2 wrote:
Hello :-)

This is my first post to this forum. :-) I just received four plants as a gift, a Begonia 'Good 'n Plenty', a Cissus adenopoda, a Passiflora 'Amethyst' and a Gardenia 'Belmont'. I would like to make sure I am taking care of them correctly. If anyone is caring for any of these plants and have any tips for me, I would appreciate it.

At the present time, I already have a regular angel wing begonia that seems very easy to grow. The new one is a 'Good 'N Plenty' And I just wondered if I should take care of it the same? Which so far has been basically having some afternoon sun about 3ft away from a West window. It is getting watered when the top of the soil is dry to the touch. It must be fairly happy, as it went from a cutting someone gave me in September with two leaves on it and no roots, to 5 leaves and it is flowering already. I have wondered though, that two of the new leaves had holes in them. They just seemed to have one hole each right after they unfurled and it seemed to me it was a defect in the leaf, rather than insect damage of any kind. I thought that was strange and I am waiting for two more new ones that are forming, to unfurl.

For the most part all my houseplants have to make do with a window that faces West, with no humidifier, but I do have pebble trays. If any of these plants won't enjoy the west window, during the winter months, about the only thing I can do is pull them a distance away from the window out of direct sun.

I plan on bringing them all outdoors for the summer and wonder how they will fare between now and then, which will probably be the end of May. They just came from a very warm, humid greenhouse, and I would like them to avoid a 'leaf dropping' adjustment period if I can help it. Any suggestions for how to do that? I was thinking no fertilizing for a few weeks, and misting them every day. Keeping them away from direct sun for about 4 days and then moving them closer to the window after that?

I am not sure how to grow the Cissus. I was looking for a grape ivy for the longest time and couldn't find any. This was the first I had seen. It has gorgeous coloring, but it seems to grow in one long stem. I was remembering grape ivy I had a long time ago that branched a lot and filled a hanging container great. I have seen a photo on the website where I bought the plant that showed them growing it in a clay pot with a wire wreath that they had trained it around. I suppose I could do that, but I don't know where to get that wire form, and I wonder, if they did that because of it's habit of growth isn't branching enough for a hanging basket. I can put it on top of a hutch and allow it to hang down placed about 6ft away from that West window out of direct light. Does anyone else have one of these? Also, I am wondering about pruning it back and trying to root new plants to put three rooted cuttings in a pot together to try to get that full branched effect I was trying for. Or should I just leave it alone to grow for awhile and let it get adjusted?

As for the passiflora, I have never had one. It should be in full sun, right? So I should give it the sunniest position in front of that West window, right up against the window? Until I bring it outdoors the end of May, should I be fertilizing, watering often, misting or leaving it alone? I realize I will have to let them adjust to outdoors when I get to that point.

The last plant is a Gardenia and I hate to bring it up. [g] I have read the suicidal Gardenia thread and still bought one. lol So, if someone has some advice for success with them, I am eager to hear it.

Finally, I am trying to figure out where to place them when I get them outdoors. I know the Passiflora wants as much sun as I have, but not sure on the other three. I have a lot of part sun with either morning sun/afternoon shade, or vice versa. I have some almost full shade, with dappled light. I have a 5-6hr of sun location.

Thank you for reading my long post and any advice you can offer I will be happy to have.
:-)
prairie