I will accept person e-mails also. blondiemodo@msn.com any advice would be great. Thank you

When I've wintered mine in the past it's had a tendency to get leggy. Could be a lack of light at this time of year, also the water every other day. Is this a cutting that you rooted or is the original plant in the same pot it's been in? If so, it might be root-bound.

Thank you I have a couple sun lights. I moved it cause I thought it was getting to much. It is the original plant, I will repot it and see if that helps thank you.

Is it in the house or outside? Mine is kept outside in a pot all the time. I'm in zone 9. Last fall it started to look bad and finally looked so bad I just chopped the whole thing down to about 1 foot tall. It came back in the spring, more beautiful than ever.

I have a couple in a pot with Alternanthera and Coleus but the Persian Shield doesn't look very good...mine are in north window (other windows all packed with other plants!). I'll just try and wait until next spring when they go outside again....they'll recover their full color and beauty then. I'm not sure they are well suited for house plants.

I think yours may indeed have needed repotting...how did the roots look? They grow fast here in summer and take full GA sun and heat so I think your sun lights would be great after a few days rest from the repotting. Good Luck. Post again to let us know if repotting helped. josh

I have my PS for 3 years now. I summer it outside and winter it indoors. It flowers in the winter and tends to get leggy with smaller leaves. It usually begins flowering around Thanksgiving and continues through the winter until around the end of April. Come time to put it out I cut back the stems and let it resprout from the roots. It has put up 2 stems each year. The color has never been as deep as the first year, it tends to get more silvery than purple now. Anyway, the smaller leaves and leggy growth seem to indicate that it is ready to flower for me. Also the flower stalk is kind of hairy and smells like cannibis if you bruise it!

Hi
Probably not much help to you as I grow these in a shadehouse as well as yard plants so conditions are quite different. One of my favorite plants so always experimenting.lol the latest is semi hydro with the roots actually growing in an aquarium in natural dappled shade.
It is growing better than with any other method i've tried. Maybe too well as it's way outgrowing it's location
but the intensity of the size and color of the leaves is fantastic.
I'm not sure if there are different cultivars of this plant but there seems to be a lot of variation in how much purple and the "sparkling" effect for lack of a better word.
I use palm fertilizer with trace elements which definitely enhanses the color.
In your case I'm sure the lack of intense light is a factor as well as low humidity. They do seem to eventually cycle out and need to be pruned down and start over.
Have never been able to grow them in direct sun no matter how much water I give them though they do look best with strong light.
When the weather warms i'd move it outside in a shady area and see if it doesn't improve. gary

Hi There:

I have grown P.Sheild for the last three years. They
do best in bright light with shade part of the day. The color of the leaves is more intense in bright light. They
annot stand to dry out and will wilt really fast if dry. I
have a canopy of Oaks which give my garden dappled shade, the P Shield apparently love the conditions. I had one planted where it recieved shade only in late afternoon, and it wilted everyday. I never try to save the previous years
plants. I just get new ones at 2.79 each year. I do the same with my Dragonwing Begonias

Gary, I agree with you..In winter, (depending where one lives) a PS can sit in a south window w/o fear of burning.
In summer, PS should be taken outside in semi-shady spot..if bringing outdoors is impossible, keep in a bright but not intense sunlight.
As PS matures, it should be repotted to larger pot. Or, cut back. If pruned, cuttings will root easily in water, then placed back w/mom.
Though many grow PS as an annual, several ppl keep as a house plant. A light dose of fertilzier should be given, and if one resides in a warmer/sunny area, feeding should be done throughout the yr. Toni

HI All
I love this plant and gave one to a friend early this spring. She loves it too! She got several more and insists that some critter is hauling the leaves off.

Has anyone heard of this? I've lost leaves to too much or too little water, but I have say signs that the leaves were gnawed off or even gnawed upon.

Anyone have that experience??
thank you
cynthia

Cynthia, are you talking about big bites or the size a plant bug would make? In other words do you think it's wildlife or a plant bug? Toni

Hey Cynthia:

I watched a squirrel stand up on it's hind legs and pull leaves off one of my Persian Shields and eat them. This was the first time in years i had seen a Squirrel do this. The same Squirrel also sat on my fence and ate dead leaves off my Clematis. Go figure must have been a real picky eater.

mine is growing really tall, because winter is almost here I have brought mine inside. Never grew one of these in the house or anywhere for that matter. My leaves are turning brown and falling off does that mean too much water or not enough light. I had it in a north bedroom but because I thought the room was too cold brought in in our living room. If I prune it back how far do I cut it back? Just need a little more info on this beautiful plant

Hi kountrykitten! This is one of the plants I have on my foliage blog. Here's what I have experienced...

Strobilanthes dyerianus (Persian shield*) is my favorite PURPLE plant, and is quite the attention-getter, even for non "plant people." It shows its' best color when in dappled light from mid-morning to afternoon, then direct sun earlier or later in the day, like under a large tree with pretty high lowest limbs. Just early morning or late afternoon sun is the next-best thing. When in doubt about its' placement, lean toward more shade. Too much sun will turn the leaves green and/or gray, while less than optimal amounts of sun will just result in smaller leaves and slower growth, with no affect on the color. This is also a thirsty plant, but a bit more forgiving than Coleus, and usually rebounds well from even profound wilting, although that would ideally be avoided. Easy to propagate via water-started cuttings. Roots take 2-5 weeks to form, depending on cut location and weather factors.

Hardy to zone 9 although it will die back to the ground when frosted, or easy to save as a house plant over winter if you don't mind it's nakedness. A potted plant takes up a lot more space and I usually only have one and save the rest as cuttings in water. Even though it's plenty warm in your house, the change of sunlight combined with the dry indoor air almost always cause this (potted) plant to go semi-dormant (sleeping.) If you are going to bring one inside, I recommend removing almost all of the leaves first, because that's easier than picking them up off of the floor later, and they can get crumbly when dry. Leaving 3-5 leaves at each growing tip will be plenty. Let it get a bit more dry than when it was outside actively growing. When frosts are no longer a danger, you'll have a LARGE plant to put outside, and it will fill out with beautiful new purple leaves within a few weeks, especially if repotted when replaced outside. Don't be shy about trimming the roots.

Your plant sounds perfectly normal. HTH!

We keep ours outside in spring and summer and bring it inside for the fall. It seems to get the best purple color when it gets more sunlight, but it also needs to be watered A LOT if it gets lots of sun.

The first year, we overwintered it in a bright room and it did fine but got silvery green instead of purple (less sunlight I suspect) and it got a little leggy but not too terrible.

The second year, we let it die back and kept it in the garage all winter, it went dormant and came back nicely in the spring. It did have a harder time with the heat though and was droopy if it didn't get watered every other day.

I would suggest pruning yours, you could try repotting it if it's never been repotted, and put it in the sunniest spot you can find in your house to keep the colors nice and to help it grow. If you want to cut it way back for winter, it seems to handle that fine too.

Good luck!

I bought a Persian shield off eBay when I got it leaves were curled up bad I have misted it put it on tray of pebbles moved it out of the sun and I want to know if u have any tips to get leaves to flatten out