Well today is the day, my Prince of Orange Philodendron has bloomed. Big deal for me it is the first time it has bloomed. I fell in love with this plant when visiting a Conservatory a year or two ago and when I came home I searched the local nurseries for one. I found 2 very small ones after checking out all the nurseries in the area. I kept one and gave the other to a friend, she lost hers so I have nothing to compare mine too.
In this shot you can see the flower and 4 different leaf colors. For those of you not familiar with this plant, new leaves start out red and then darken to burnt orange, bronze, and green. Well that's what the colors look like to me.
Here is a picture of the entire plant.
I was wondering if any of you have this plant or one of the other similar Philodendron. I'd like more information on growing these and would appreciate any info you can give me.
I also fell for 'Prince of Orange' philodendron this spring, and have bought seven small plants at Lowe's, visiting four different locations to find them all! I repotted them in a mix of regular potting soil and chopped hardwood bark, and they're responded beautifully. Don't you just love the color, and the color changes? I saw one in a conservatory, and it looks more clumping rather than vining, which is fine for me. I think they will really brighten up dark, winter days. Check Plant Files for more pics and info.
HoosierGreen, Yes, I did check out the plant files. The one I saw in the conservatory was more clumping than mine seems to be. Mine isn't all that vining but it is more that way than the one I saw in the conservatory. I was wondering how to keep it shorter. I have mine in just a potting soil mix, never thought of adding the hardwood bark but that would make sense. I don't re-pot my house plants very often it has been in this pot for about a year now. How long have you had yours?
In this picture you can get a good look at the stem. Somewhat Vinny but not a lot.
Mine are smaller, as I got them in early June. I'll take a photo. They seem to be adjusting and growing quickly. I would imagine one could pinch out the growing tip and the plant would send out side shoots, but I'd wait until you could ask someone. Since I have seven plants, I might try this on one of them.
I went looking back in the my old threads looking for some pictures and to see if I could find out when I actually brought this home. Here is a link to a picture of it back in March 2007. It's sitting on the table right in front in a group of houseplants I was cleaning http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/fp.php?pid=3295641
HollyAnn....Lucky You! I have never seen a bloom on one in my life..How neat..your entire plant is simply stunning..such vivid coloring!
Cedarnest, Thanks, I really love it, I've been looking at a few others with distinct coloring. I think it was Moonlite(?). It was on the yellow side and I thought it would be nice to grow with this one. I've figured out that I probably bought this one around Oct or Nov of 2006.
HoosierGreen, That's a good idea, getting a few more to experiment with. Funny I am still limited on how many houseplants I can reasonably keep so I only have one of each plant. It never even occurred to me to look for another one.
Looks like I have another flower coming on and will post another picture if it does. I noticed that Lin posted pictures of one in the Plant Files. I may D-mail her and see what she can tell me about them. It's been awhile since I posted in this Forum, I picked up quite a few tropicals this spring and they will need to come in this fall. I have no idea where I'll put them. LOL
Holly, gorgeous plant! I've never seen a mounding philo bloom so t his was a real treat for me!
Watch out, philos are addictive. Ask me how I know? ;)
Shanika
I have my eye on a few others. There really are a lot of different varieties. Trying to keep myself in check until I get the greenhouse. I did pick up several new tropical plants this summer that will have to come back in the house and then there are the ones that I put outside for a summer vacation. Some of them have really gotten larger.
Oh Holly, Your Prince of Orange is looking terrific! Great Growing! I still have one of these. Mine doesn't look so great though. When we had our pool re-finished last month the workers got some watery cement stuff all over a lot of my plants. :( I'm still cleaning leaves and trying to get some back to looking normal!
Whatever you are doing, keep it up ... your Philo looks very healthy and happy!
I'm really happy with it they are beautiful plants. I have a few questions about them. First it is getting taller than the ones I saw in the conservatory, they were shorter and fuller. Not that I'm at all ready to do anything to this one yet but would you cut the top off and would that make it grow fuller from the bottom? I've had it for almost 2 years and it seems to be putting on more growth lately than it had been. Also how do you propagate it? If you cut off the top would you cut the stem into pieces, each piece with those little root looking nubs?
I bet if you cut off the top, it would root easily, especially if you used a rooting hormone. It would seem that topping it would stimulate side shoots. Who knows... maybe the ones in the conservatory were topped that way! If you cut off a long shoot, you could probably get more than one new plant from it, but be sure to bury at least half of any cutting. You might even reduce stress by shearing off half of each leaf that remains above the soil line (not half the leaves, but half of each leaf). This would be a great time of the year to do this, with the summer warmth, if you put it outside in the shade of a shrub, or on a screened porch. Let us know how it works out.
The mounding philos, such as this one, are propagated from tissue culture or from division.
Thanks HoosierGreen, I'm not ready to do anything at this time The plant looks good and I am really enjoying it as it is for now. I am mostly wondering what different options I would have later.
GrowHappy, I only have the one stem not anything that I could divide yet. Do they prefer to be root-bound, or should I move it up to a larger pot? I know some do very well when they fill their pots others want more space.
Hi Holly!
Unless it is so severely rootbound that the roots are coming out of the drainage hole, I would hold off on potting up until the roots fill the pot. Spring is the best time to pot up plants. It's preparing to go into a somewhat dormant period now and won't do much growing once it does.
It looks healthy and robust the way it is now, but just my humble opinion.:)
Thank you GrowHappy, The conservatory that inspired my search for my Prince of Orange is the Rawlings Conservatory in Baltimore, do you ever go there?
By any chance are you going to Critters swap/get together on Sept 20th?
Hi Holly!
Yes, I go to the Rawlings Conservatory a few times each year. I used to go to their Easter plant sales, but it since it seems to rain every Easter, I stopped going! I've bought some pretty awesome(and not so awesome:())) plants from there. I still have a Calathea Mackoyana that is doing very well. Most of the other plants I bought there, namely begonias, have died for one reason or another. Anyways, I had thought the Howard Pete Rawlings Conservatory was "the best" until I recently perused the U.S. Botanical Gardens in Washington, D.C. I was in total jaw-dropping awe! Have you ever been? You must put that on your list of places to visit if you have not done so. You will absolutely love it!
I hadn't planned to go to the Mid-Atlantic round-up, but I would love to go. I've only met one person in this area(Gitagal), but would love to meet more. There's a great bunch of folks all over DG. Are you going? I'm going to cruise on over to MidAtlantic forum and see what's going on. Thanks for the headsup.
Shanika
Yes, To both questions. I should be at Critters unless some kind of problem comes up and it would be great to meet you in person.
I was at the U.S. Botanical Gardens years ago and it was a pretty quick trip as I was only in D.C. for a day with a group from work and a few of us spent just a little time there during an afternoon break. I should go back for a visit.
It is very interesting to see your bloom because I Googled the plant looking to buy one, it says it DOES NOT BLOOM
Common name: "Prince of Orange"
Latin name: Philodendron x 'Prince of Orange'
Native to: Man mad hybrid.
Growth habit: A self heading variety usually not over 24" in height or width.
Flowers: No
Temps: Normal indoor temps
Humidity: Not critical.
Pests: Watch for aphids or mealy bug.
Lighting:
Pictured Houseplant:
6" Philodendron Prince of Orange
ooops, this is the URL
http://www.denverplants.com/foliage/html/phiorange.htm
LOL, I think that site meant to say: Man Made Hybrid!
Philodendron's do flower, just not beautiful blooming flowers like some other plants: http://images.google.com/images?hl=en&q=images+of+philodendron+flowers&um=1&ie=UTF-8&sa=X&oi=image_result_group&resnum=1&ct=title
Here's a night time picture of one I have that I think is Prince of Orange. I bought it as a teeny little plantlet from Wal-Mart last year.
Thank you both for the links, I'll be checking those out a little later as my GS is here today. I very much love my Prince there are a couple of others that I hope to get later.
Lynn, Looks like we have more than one plant in common. I just picked up this Croton a month ago while in Fl.
LOL HollyAnn! Yes, I love Croton's too. They are used as landscape plants in some areas here in Florida but mine are all in containers. If they were in the ground and we were to have a freeze it would kill them. We don't have freezes very often but years ago I had some planted in the ground and lost them to the cold.
This is one of my favorites ... I call it "Rasta" because of the curly dread lock type leaves.
Holly: I have that croton in your photo too. When I bought mine, it was labeled "Batik" but I have another small one that had the same label so who knows the correct identity. Crotons are a dime a dozen here in Florida and I think some nurseries put the same labels on different ones.
Here's a little one that had the same label of "Batik", similar foliage shape but more spotted.
This one is Croton "Paint Brush" or I've also heard it called "Picasso's Paintbrush" ... it's very root bound and needs potting up desperately. I lost another one of this because it got shoved in a corner and never got watered. I think I will be a good plant mom and get out there and re-pot it today! I haven't seen this one or the Rasta one for sale around here in the past couple of years.
Another one ... when I got this one it was labeled Croton "Mamey"
These colorful beauties are the next best thing to blooming plants. Check out some of these crotons: http://images.google.com/images?hl=en&q=images+of+codiaeum&um=1&ie=UTF-8&sa=X&oi=image_result_group&resnum=1&ct=title
and here: http://www.croton-mania.com/American_Crotons.htm
and here: http://www.picsearch.com/pictures/plants/garden%20plants/plants%20ch-col/codiaeum.html
Lynn, What is the very dark plant behind your Croton "Mamey"
I quite often pick up plants at Home Depot or WM when I'm in Fl. down there you can get such nice plants cheap that up here are half the size for twice the money. We usually try to get to some public garden when we visit. For me seeing plants that I only know as small house plants used in landscaping is so interesting. Whole hedges of Croton's, entire beds edged with prayer plants and huge Philo's.
There is another Philo that I'm interested in think it's called Moonlight? Much like the Prince of Orange but more yellow.
That's a Philodendron I've had for a few years now. I think it was Identified here a couple of years ago as
edited to add: It was Id'd as Philo 'Rojo Congo'.
My computer has some problems ... losing part of my posts. Yesterday I would type a post and it would start backspacing and erasing everything ... really wonky! I think I have gremlins in my computer!
This message was edited Nov 10, 2008 12:56 PM
I have another large one that is just some green Hybrid Philo. It needs repotting badly ... very root bound!
BTW I love that "Rasta", I'll have to keep my eyes open for one of those the next time I head for Fl.
Rasta has become one of my favorite Croton's! It is so unusual. I wish I had bought a few when I found them at Home Depot a year or so ago ... they went fast! I think they are probably readily available in the southern part of the state where all the nurseries are located!
When you come to Florida for vacation, what area of the state do you visit? I know Croton's and Philo's are plentiful at Home Depot and Wal-Mart Garden Centers around the state in spring and early summer. They usually sell for @ $12.98 for the 2 or 3 gallon size pots! Pretty cheap for large plants.
