I got this plant from my father in law. He has no idea what it is. It is outgrowing its small pot, and is also planted in stones. I'm not sure it will survive without me finding out exactly how to care for it. A bit of the plant was damaged on transport, and the broken pieces had a lemony smell, reminding me of citronella. Thanks for your help. Jennifer
I am not a plant genius, but it could be a kind of geranium? I used to have a hard time resisting the urge to molest my geranium's leaves because they were so pleasantly lemon-smelling when rubbed.
it looks like it might be in the plectranthus group. possibly p. barbatus. broken (or purposely trimmed) stems will root very easily - either in soil or water. just let the cut dry for a couple of days before potting it or plopping it in water - and some root hormone on the cut end wouldn't hurt either.
Sorry if I misled on the original postings, I'm not worried about cuttings (the damage was to a leaf or two) but on the main plant in general. Thanks for your replies... do I take from the above postings that I should re-pot the outgrown plant in soil? Also, any suggestions on general care - I am worried I may over-water it.
does the container have drainage holes? if it does and there are roots coming out of them, repot going just an inch or two larger. i f the pot does not have drainage holes, unpot it and take a look at the soil and roots. if you see just some roots showing around the edges, then you could repot it in a larger pot or leave it in the same size container - your choice. if you see the roots going all around; basically forming a solid ball of roots that holds the shape of the container it was in, then you need to repot in a larger container. if it hasn't been repotted in 2 years or longer, it will need at the least some fresh soil. you can unpot it; shake off the existing soil and repot with fresh. if it's been that long it will probably be a bit root bound and will need a larger pot. for soil, i'd use cactus mix.
That is so odd that the plant was planted in stones! It sure looks healthy though for being in a pot of rocks! I'd use the same size pot, or one smaller if it fits (you want it snug) Not tight and use plenty of draining material like "Perlite" found at any of the box stores. Otherwise, the roots could easily rot after being in stones where there is plenty of air space for the roots to breath.
i completely missed the 'planted in stones' comment! oops!! a lot of succulents and cacti are planted in stones and do very, very well. reason being that they don't like their feet (roots) wet. if it's currently in stones and is doing as well as it is, i would keep it that way. they do provide excellent drainage and most succulents love that! for my desert cacti and succulents i use a mix that is mostly small stones - i do mix in a bit of cactus soil or sand (depending on what species as their needs can be different). i one jade that hasn't been repotted yet (should have done that last year) and that's in lava rock - absolutely no soil. it's done very well enough. i'll be mixing in some cactus soil with the lava though as it's not grown as much as it could have. that's the one downfall to all rock - you do need to fertilize more often because they really don't pull too much from the rock because it dries out so fast. with a little bit of soil in there, the fertilizer will stick around a bit and the plant will be able to benefit from it for a few days (until the soil drys) unlike only one day with just rock.
