Trailing Watermelon Begonia - Pellionia repens

If you purchase this plant in a hanging basket from the nursery and will find that the vine tend to overlap one another and give that cascading look of overwhelming burst of growth.Well, it might want to enjoy that "glorious look" while it last and they suddenly tend to change from that condition drastically after few months.

And so what would you want to do to keep the plant alive? Take some cuttings and propagate them separately - sort of training the plant to get hardy in your garden climate. Leave the parent plant alone but have this one as your spare. Later you will find the "spare" tend to do much better than the parent plant.

I got this plant from a friend. It was her pruned pieces - somehow they didn't really thrive nor died. After months of trials and error I finally found a spot for them. They tend to be hardy compared to many plants which I have and so I really have not found their weakness yet. So far, they do great in hanging pots in shady areas. And perhaps they are happy together with their same kind in a collection of pots.

That probably makes the difference in having the few of the same kind together instead of all of different kinds hanged together (I have noticed some of the houses that hangs trailing plants and was wondering what would be the optimum, best presentation would be)

So far, I'm contented with these - they do not require pruning - in fact they don't have the "leggy" problems as some plants where they tend to dry up in the middle or at the root area (on hanging pots) and the whole plant dangles drying up from top to bottom. Flame violets tend to do this.

These can also be planted as ground cover, they do well nicely but you need to watch out for snails and slugs - the damage they cause is disastrous. You might just want to rip the whole half chewed, dangling vine and throw and start with a new strip.
(But hold that feeling - those "naked vine" can be propagated and new shoots do tend to spring back to life - with a little patience, of course)

Once the plant picks up the growth - you will have a lovely bouquet of watermelon skinned coloured leaves adorning your garden. So don't throw away those spend vines if you find them unbearably ugly. Do take that second chance. I did.