Marranta and Pink Philodendron

Oh, I wish I had more luck with Marrantas! I find them to be hit and miss plants, with no reasoning behind the misses sometimes. They can be quite temperamental here.

When mine start looking sad and unhealthy, I trim them right back, put them in the "plant hospital centre" in my shade house and then just keep my fingers crossed.

Success rate for recovery is quite low though, so usually I end up buying another one!!!

Wow! I’m so shocked to hear that in your beautiful, tropical climate! I never thought of Maranta leuconeura as a difficult plant to grow. It’s the easiest of the tropical species to grow outside in San Diego. Ctenanthe, Stromanthe genera (Maranta family) can grow easily outside here if given water, but most Calathea species die pretty fast in winter. Although, the San Diego Zoo has a good selection of Calathea growing outside in protected shade.

Calatheas can be temperamental for me as well. Not entirely sure why both the Marantas and Calatheas behave so, but I suspect it's to do with the contrast between our very heavy, but short wet seasons and the long dry seasons that follow. Some plants handle it fairly well, while others do not.

I think you’re very correct. Long dry seasons are not good for many tropical plants. Most genera in the Marantaceae family are from tropical rainforests. They need a lot of water when in the ground.

I had some beautiful Ctnanthe ‘Burle Marxii’ (which I never knew the correct name) growing under my Phoenix roebellenii (pygmy date palms) for years. It died during a long drought when we were under strict water restrictions.

Here’s a pic. Of course, the name is incorrect. 😂

https://www.growsonyou.com/photo/slideshow/194586-ctenanthe-oppenheimiana-cv-quadricolor-giant-bamburanta/all