Hi John,

Oh yes! They are wonderful plants and great for landscaping, but some of them need plenty of space! I just recently removed a P.hadiensis var. tomentosa - a wonderful hairy-leaved one, but I couldn't handle the size of it in the small space I had for it, it would spread so fast and cover up everything else around it. I stuffed it back into a pot in the hope that it might be growing a bit smaller when restricted.
This tactic works well for P.spicatus - a very succulent, small-leaved species, but planted out in the ground it makes shoots meters long and looks very untidy, but put it in a pot in full sun and only give it the minimum of water, it grows very compact.
I very much like Plectranthus oerthendahlii, I only just recently managed to get a piece of this one. The real 'Swedish Ivy', named after I.A.Oertendahl, former head gardener of the Uppsala University Botanic Garden. It was first described in 1924 from specimens cultivated in Sweden, origin unknown. There was a herbarium specimen from 1936 at Rhodes University, made from a plant grown in Grahamstown, originally collected at Oribi Gorge, but the plant has only been (re)discovered in the wild in 1971!

I also grow P.neochilus, P.tetensis, P.ecklonii, P.verticillatus, the variegated P.madagascariensis and some obscure species. There are also many hybrids around now.
Growing P.venterii too, makes quite a neat shrublet with a fat stem if kept pruned back, but boy does that one stink!

But, being the succulent and caudiciform nut that I am, my absolute favourite is P.ernstii. A true caudiciform, neat, compact, grows fat fast even from cuttings, and flowers readily all summer long.

There is a small booklet by Ernst van Jaarsveld 'The Plectranthus Handbook', available from the NBI.

Maddy

Maddy and John,

A most interesting subject for those of us in mild enough areas to treat them as perennials, relegated to house plants for those with more than mild frost. I am envious of the far greater amount of varieties available to you South Africans. Almost all of the Plectranthus ought to do incredibly well for in southern California, John.

Of those you have both mentioned, I also grow P. neochilus,(quite smelly also), but an indispensible almost everblooming ground cover here, which can get 2 feet tall if given too much water/shade, nice and compact/floriferous in fuller sun and little water. P. zulensis is also blooming year round, but with larger foliage and flowers of a pale lavender,from 2.5 to 4 foot tall. I have several color forms of P. ecklonii, but find that at least mine don't bloom all that well in fairly deep shade, but love it in full sun right on the bay, and will bloom starting in mid summer thru late fall. I don't think they would take full sun except right along the coast in southern California.

I always get the commonly grown houseplant species confused, but also grow several in the garden, particularly the form with whitish fall flowers, and deep purple on the undersides of the leaves. Extremely easy in a shaded and well watered garden, but also very frost sensitive. As Maddy says, most all of them will get much larger than you have space for if treated too well. There is certainly alot of room for more species of Plectrantus to be grown here, and they are unlikely to become pests here because they are tender, and don't seem to self sow from seed, while being incredibly easy to propagate from cuttings.

John, I think that Gary Hammer at Desert to Jungle ought to be able to help you get some of these additional species. the fall blooming P. ecklonii are gorgeous for warm shade, but can also get 6 feet tall by across.

As for the availability of plants in South Africa: you would be amazed to hear how many of our very own plants I have obtained from overseas!
My first Plectranthus ernstii for example I received as a cutting from a friend in Europe! I have never seen this species for sale here anywhere, not even on our local C&S Show - yet it is such a desirable plant and so easy to propagate!
There is definitely a gap in the market here, which I will be trying to fill in the near future - I was just given some SPACE!!!! :-)

maddy

I've got a cultivar called 'Mona Lavender' that has purple flowers and leaves that are dark purple on the reverse. I like it a lot--so far it has formed a small dense dome.

Also have P. zulensis, P. madagascariensis, and a cultivar called 'Behr' that has pink flowers & leaves with bronzey highlights. They are nice plants. I wasn't quite sure whether to plant them in full shade or part sun--which is best?

HoovB,
For me the amount of sun depends on how hot you get. Within coastal fog belts, the ones I grow seem more floriferous with full sun. P. zuluensis has been the best bloomer in the most shade, but it also gets leggier. P. zuluensis can suffer abit in more sun without much summer water, and definitely revives in winter as long as it doesn't freeze. In any case, they all propagate so easily from cuttings, why don't you try both exposures if you have the room?

Where did you find your cultivars, and can you add abit about the P. madagascariensis?

Hello,

I have two neat Plectranthus ernstii plants with fat bases. I love them dearly.:-)

A few days ago, I tried to pollinate some of the flowers of one of them. It seems, I succeeded: The ovaries have clearly fattened up.:-)

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Best regards,

Martin
Denmark

Hello from Sweden, I have som plectranthus, ernestii, fruticosus, plectranthus amboinicus ochre flame, Plectranhus amboinicus spanish thyme, Plectranthus spicatus nelsprutt. I have two other kinds which I don´t know the name yet. One variegaded white and green, and one with hairy leaf.
Anyone who will change cuttings with me?