Gardendaze

It’s almost time to move the house plants outside for their summer vacation. Lately, they get more of a summer vacation than I do–but that’s a whole different story!

The plant shown above is a medinilla magnifica. It has a couple of common names–showy medinilla, Rose Grape, Tropical Rose Grape–you can see that the plant word hasn’t really settled on what to call this lovely plant. I originally heard it called “Chandelier Plant,” but I guess that has fallen out of favor.

The “grape” in the name comes from the berries that the plant makes after it flowers–the flowers turn into a cluster of purple berries (which will stain if they fall and are crushed onto something, so beware! I have a stain on my hardwood floor from such an incident!!)

This less-showy variety is medinilla myriantha. Its leaves and flowers are smaller but it still makes the same, grape-like berries after flowering. And it has had a much more sprawling habit for me, but perhaps I haven’t pruned it appropriately.

Either of these are lovely, easy care house plants for me. I give them morning sun indoors or outside. Because they haven’t been re-potted recently, they are fairly thirsty outside, but they don’t need a lot of water when they are inside. They tolerate my cool home nicely. Normally they each bloom once a season, in the winter and the bloom lasts for months at a time, until they make the grape-like berries.

Both of my plants are fairly mature–at least 10 years old or more. I love them!