Graptophyllum pictum 'black magic'

I love the colours

I like the darkish leaves with the pink centres. :o)

It will offset the others nicely...is it long lived?

Gardengem posted a green, pink and white variety of this plant last week...I liked it so much I decided to buy this plant 4 days ago...I hope it does well, it is a little late in the year to plant such a tropical plant. I'll see how it progresses through Winter.

Catfinch,

I grew this plant years ago...I think it only lived around 5 or 6 years.
It is a shrub to 8 feet tall...when I grew it years ago it may have been attacked by bugs...I'm not sure though.

Oh goodness it gets really tall...I had a shorter shrub in my imagination..I have trouble here with certain plants outside..i think I forget to see what needs more alkaline soil and do not get the soil amended properly..I need to watch that closer.

I have the same problems with my soil...the soil here is very rocky only about 5 inches down and alkaline...it needs a lot of amending.

I was wondering what yours looked like Delonix. It has much darker foliage. I hope it does well for you this winter. :)

Gardengem,

I'm sure it will do well. It has grown several leaves in the short period of time its been in the ground. I'm hoping by the end of December it will have grown 6 to 8 inches or more.

I heard and read last week Florida experienced an unusual cold-wave. Did it affect your plants in any way?

Yes we had some record-breaking cold weather last week. It got down to the high 30s but didn't freeze. here The plants seem to be ok. My heliconias seem to have a lot more yellow leaves on them right now, but they also have several new leaves on the way. I'm not sure if it is related to the weather, or if it is just because they are recently planted.

My curcumas are all yellow and my caladiums have died off, but I heard that is normal for this time of the year.

Gardengem,

I'm sorry to hear about the cold-wave...I know it can be stressful when growing tropical plants...of course cold weather is their worst enemy. (besides hurricanes). Thank God San Diego has not had a Hurricane in over 150 years! nor a tropical storm in 69 years.

Heliconia species can become yellow in cold weather, or it could be they are not receiving enough nitrogen fertilizer. Heliconia species are very heavy feeders...they almost cannot be over fertilized because of their high nutrient needs. When temperatures go below 50 degree F. plants cannot absorb nitrogen, causing them to yellow.

You are correct...Caladiums naturally die off in the Winter.