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Monday, November 2, 2020

Callisia Repens 'Pink Lady'


I must say comparison to so many Callisia species - This particular one was highly popular and also one of the most fussiest ones to cultivate. 

Literally it can just disintegrated due to root & stem rot (overwatering) and if it did do well - it had a horrible attack with snails and the whole colony patch was disintegrated.  

Taking a deep breath (I bought this again & again and yes.. again) and it died in every account.


Eventually I had given up on this one considering it as a sensitive plant. I have manage to exchange with some of my gardeners' friends - receiving a clump of it for trial basis and even that didn't work out well.

And so - I would like to give my Care Tips on What Not to Do List - in keeping this one a successful garden plant:


Care Tips:

1) Change the Current Medium into Fast Draining Medium. 
I believe most of these will come with cocopeat as medium and may not survive the lowland hot and wet climate -therefore to acclimatize it - you may need to change the soil medium. I find mixing it with 50% sand together with the existing medium really helps for it to rejuvenate and grow better.

2) Water Sparingly
I must say not to put it directly in open sun and rain - though it can tolerate open sun but never the overwatering or rain, if it is heavy down pour that happens for hours - this plant will flatten out and just melt away into rottenness. Unlike other Callisa species - this one is so tender and in miniature - I think it would do best as a terrarium plant (but I'm not sure, yet to see it doing well in glass containers)

I also come across a safer way of watering it is to put a saucer underneath the pot and watering it from the bottom - once the water is absorb - discard the excess water from the saucer and repeat this 3-4 days a time. I realized that they do not like to be watered from the top as they can easily rot when surface water is upon the foliage structure.

3) Light
I also found that this one does not do well in shade - it requires bright indirect light to keep it's pink colors or else it might revert to green - sort of a hybrid mix of the parent plant which is of green and I had seen some of it reverting to green and realized that it is indeed an unstable plant.
(As you can see the pic below - some of the leaves are reverting to green)

However all is not lost. 
If you really love this plant and have the means to care for it properly and diligently - it will reward you with a beautiful bushy crown. I realized those gardeners' who are living in a protect area where there are no pest problems especially snails & slugs - this can do so well on a window side or balcony.

Truly it is a Sensitive Pink Lady.
I had seen many plant vendors mentioning as if it is an easy & resilient plant - I beg to differ: It is Not!

It was popular for sometime and I had noticed that these unsold plants on plant stand slowly succumb to rot and disintegration and when customers sees these conditions of what happens to this plant in long term basis - they refrain from buying and the vendors have to consider the losses.

And so, next time you see this pink lady.. Think about the long term relationship that you may have to commit in caring for her - or else she will indeed punish you for your negligence. 

Picture Below: 
The Last How I saw her until she disappeared literally..


These are what I found in sold nursery - a nice full potted plant in a hanging basket.







 Please click on the Link below for the Main Page
For other basic information of plant Care and Different Types of Callisia Species:
Different Types of Callisia Species

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Can pink ladies be pitted with the purple inch plant?

Anonymous said...

I’m sorry I’m Jamila from Chicago regarding the pink lady combo planting

James David said...

Hi, Jamila from Chicago,

Regarding the pink lady combo planting
Can pink ladies be pitted with the purple inch plant?

I suggest not,
Because the purple inch plant can be very invasive and overwhelm the pink lady.
Pink lady is super slow growing plant.

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Tropical Garden, Batu Caves, Malaysia
My Malaysian Tropical Garden mainly focused on unique and colorful plants ranging from rare to common plants all around the tropical belt across the world. Ideal for inspiration for challenging areas in the garden space - indoor gardening, balcony gardening and small green spaces especially for ariods, bromeliads, begonias, edibles, cascading & vertical garden plants, succulents & cacti, orchids, together with both shade and sun loving plants.

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