Tradescantia, Moses-in-the-Cradle 'Sitara'

I bought this plant merely because it is a Tradescantia. I have three varieties of US native Tradescantias outside and thought it would ...Read Morebe fun to have one inside. Other than long narrow leaves, there seems to be no similarities.

My experience with this plant was it started dying within a month of purchase. If I remember it was early summer 2015 when I got this. I do not often have success with inside plants, so I wasn't surprised. I let it sit figuring I'll toss it out later, when it started growing again. I have gone long periods of not watering, now I am remembering about once a week. I recently moved it to a different part of the house because I needed the original spot for starting seeds. So far, so good!

One thing I notice is that the leaves closest to the soil tend to die off, but other than that, the plant is thriving. I tend not to be overly concerned by a plant's appearance as long as it overall is doing well. Most of my plants outside are meant to be eaten by bugs, so a few brown leaves are fine inside the house!

Aside from the leaf coloration it is just like a normal tradescantia spathacea. Only difference is that this one needs more (direct) sunl...Read Moreight and is less drought tolerant. They seem to grow slower and stay smaller as well. I personally think the non variegated form gets too big over time , i had plants reaching almost 2 foot in small planters. This variegated form stays small up to 8 or 10 inch, at least that is my experience with this plant.

It somewhat suffers a bit during winter inside the house, sometimes it doesn't seem to use water and gets overwatered (dormant ? ) and other times it cannot stand drought during lower temperatures. i think the best way to water it is through the bottom of the pot or by watering it sparingly with water on room temperature, this plant is a bit stubborn when it comes to watering.

easy to grow from cuttings, also fun to take cuttings every spring and plant those outside. The color can be pretty dramatic when combined with dark or red leaved plants like coleus or heuchera. they seem to grow well with schlumbergera and other christmas cacti.

Picked one up in spring or early summer to give it a try. Previous Rhoeo's I tried almost 20 years ago never did too well,and then would ...Read Morerot out in winter. Well,so far so good into almost December. Its in a pot,on the porch protected from cold rains and I hope, snails. It outgrew that spring pot and is in a 8" for for now,a few shoots filling in. And hopefully, the bay area's run of mild winters will go on..
APRIL 14 EDIT: It made it through the winter on my front porch and is now off and growing new larger growth. It survived a brief deep freeze in December,yet this was our warmest winter on record. Warmest,not mildest,so it must be somewhat cold hardy. BAIT,like you've never baited,and filtered sun works for me. Full sun could be better,I just haven't tried that yet. It looks too good on the porch to move!

Bought this gorgeous plant last Summer out a Home Depot for some shaded gardening I was doing for my Mom, and it was such a standout! It...Read More finally started to have some problems around January this year, but I cut back the dead stuff, and it has begun to grow new shoots again. Great color, but did not get any flowers from it. It's in a small sized container that it came in. Have not fertilized it yet, but from the looks of the pH it tolerates, I might try some Nitrogen based organic stuff later in Spring this year.