Hi all. I'm new here. I love tropical plants particularly Calathea, Ctenanthe, Maranta and Stromanthe (Marantaceae) though don't know a lot about them and am having a hard time trying to find accurate info and IDs. Does anyone here grow these or know of a good info site for these plants? As we are only renting I grow most of my plants in pots on our verandas and under shady trees in the garden so don't actually have them inside though do bring the odd one inside occasionally. Many of the plants are still only young and small yet but are growing. I live in a sub-tropical area - summers are hot and can be humid - on average days around 30C to 35C, nights around 18C to 22C. Winters do get cold with the occasional light frost - average night temps are 0C to 3C, day temps 20C to 22C. I don't use a greenhouse (though wouldn't mind one), just kept the more sensitive plants in warmer, protected positions near the house or inside if necessary in winter. Looking forwards to 'talking' about anyone's Marantaceae or other tropicals and will be asking lots of questions! Love to see some pictures too. Here are a couple of mine - Stromanthe 'Magic Star' flowering for the first time and a few of my plants.
I love the Marantaceae (actually, anything from the Zingiberales), and I've found that finding IDs is one of the hardest things. I like the Missouri Botanical Gardens TROPICOS system for IDs - by doing image searches it's easier to narrow them down. For care, I have yet to find a truly reliable site. Of course, it doesn't help that the horticultural trade pins all sorts of inaccurate names on the plants.... I'm also a grower, and I've got more tropical conditions than you do.
I'm another big fan of this group of plants - some of my great fave's to grow, but it's difficult to find many of them in this area and only very rarely do they have actual names, either the botanical one or a cultivar. But I'm always looking to see if I can find new ones. Lovely pic of the Magic Star, I've never seen one of them blooming, only Marantas have bloomed for me as yet. Finding space in my little apartment is always a challenge of course, but I am blessed with good light, west and south, so that helps some. I would welcome any information on these plants, whether culture, ID or where to find such information.
Thanks for the link lorax. I seem to spend a lot of time doing image searches on the net. I've had luck a couple of times with IDs but other times I come across several different names for the one plant... very frustrating! It makes it harder when very few of mine have actually flowered yet so some I don't even know if they are a Ctenanthe, Calathea, Stromanthe or Maranta or even something else. Thanks Furballs. That is my first stromanthe flower though I noticed a couple of days ago that plant also has several more flowers starting. The only other ones to flower so far have been two foliage calatheas and a maranta. I am mostly interested in the foliage varieties and any flowers are a bonus. It is spring here where I live and, though nearly summer, it is still cooler than usual at this time of year so the plants are slower to come on after winter but hopefully will get some more flowers when it warms up more. These pictures are of my Maranta leuconeura erythroneuro flowering last summer. I had only recently bought the plant and wasn't very big. I'll put some more pictures on later. Love to see other peoples pictures!
Have you seen the yellow leaf one which I have so far assumed comes from M. leuconeura erythroneura ? It shows up here now and then, once I saw it with a label stating the cv name was Lemon.. though I've never been able to confirm that. Instead of the red striping, they're a lovely bright yellow in this one, and I think it's very pretty. I had one, but lost it, along with many others, due to a family emergency that kept me away most of the summer. I hope I find another one to replace it soon. I can take my cats with me but finding a good plant sitter is very difficult, paid or not.
I haven't seen the yellow one, sounds interesting so will have to keep a look out for it. Here's another one I have that has flowered. I think it is Calathea veitchiana. It wasn't labelled when I bought it so I have tentatively ID-ed it from pictures. The flowers are small and hard to see, only around 1 to 2cm high, but pretty.
Flowers almost seem unnecessary on such pretty leaves, don't they ? Thanks for the pics ! Awhile back I saw a plant that I think was a calathea of some sort, though I am not sure which one, that was just finishing flowering, in a nursery. It quite dark, wavy edged leaves, on foot long stalks, with the flowers on a very short stalk, not more than a couple of inches tall, tucked down at the base. It was crammed with spent blooms and what looked like seed pods coming along too. Much too expensive to take home, sadly. I think the flowers were an orangey shade. Can't find a pic online, but it somewhat resembles C.crocata, excepting that crocata's flowers are on much taller stalks than the one I saw in the nursery. I'm keeping an eye out for another small potful of 'Lemon'. If I see one I'll certainly buy it and get some pics of it for you. Mostly they seem to sell for the same price as most other small tropicals in four inch pots, not more than $4., so not a huge investment. More a case of being in the right place at the right time to find one. Once I find it, with luck I'll be able to keep it happy in my bedroom window. I just got back from the hardware store with a couple more inexpensive shop light fixtures. I plan to beef up my little light garden. It has four tubes over it now, but I'm going to make it eight tubes, which should keep all my succulents and cacti reasonably happy, and leave me more space by the windows for tropicals like calathea. It's often so dull here in winter, even a south or west window isn't very bright on many days, so the closer to the windows I can place most things, the better they do.
That's a shame that the one like C. crocata was so expensive, if it is anything the crocata it would be very pretty. I've found the ones grown for their flowers are expensive here though the foliage ones are cheaper. I prefer the foliage ones as they look good all year and flowers are a bonus. Though if I saw a flowering one cheap enough I would still buy it! The town I live in only has a couple of plant nurseries and they don't have a lot of different plants so I mainly buy either online or keep a lookout at garage sales and markets. I've managed to pick up a few bargains now, mainly from buyers who don't really know what they are selling. Often the plants look a bit on the sad side but usually with some TLC they pick up nicely. I don't grow many plants inside as I'm inclined to forget to water them but have 100's of pots outside on the verandas and under shady trees. That way I can bring the odd one that is flowering or looking good inside then put it back outside after a week or so. I only have a few succulents, prefer the tropicals, though do have a couple of epiphyllums - a big pink one that has about 17 flower buds on at the moment (will take a picture when flowering), and a white one. I also have an Agave attenuata that one of my kids gave me for mothers day years ago, and a few Kalanchoes - one double pink Calandiva, and common red, orange and yellow ones. I'll have another dig through my pictures and see what other interesting Calatheas, etc I have.
You're both going to hate me in a moment.... I grow everything in-ground, and my friends can't fathom why I like Ctenanthe and Maranta so very much - they're considered to be weeds here.
I am envious lorax... lol. I'm so tempted to move further north to a more tropical climate but the other half and the kids would complain too much. My plants love summer here but winter is a struggle. I have a friend who lives in the tropics and her plants grow so quickly. We often do plant swaps and the ones I send grow much faster and flower much sooner than the poor little ones I have here. I used to have a few of mine in the ground a few years ago until we moved house but we rent now so don't want to leave any behind next time we move. At least we are on approx 2 hectares (5 acres) so lots of room and plenty of shady trees.... and wildlife that doesn't mind having a nibble on the odd plant! Now better have a rummage through some photos and see what else I can find.
A while ago I picked up a couple of what I thought were Stromanthe sanguinea 'Triostar' or 'Tricolour' (I bought them a few weeks apart from different places). At that time I didn't realise that there was another very similar plant, Ctenanthe oppenheimiana 'Triostar' or 'Tricolour' but when I put the plants side by side I noticed they were slightly different - different enough to suspect they weren't the same types. I spent hours on the net getting totally confused with all the conflicting information - some saying that both 'tricolours' were the same plant, others saying they were 2 different plants - I eventually worked out that they were 2 different plants and the easiest way to tell them apart was by their flowers. (I don't understand the science terminology enough to work it out that way). Now I just had to wait for flowers! Both the plants were only young and small so expected a longish wait. Last summer I noticed little white flowers at the base on one of the plants so obviously that one is C. oppenheimiana. The other plant has yet to flower but as it is different to the Ctenanthe I am assuming it is a Stromanthe though will wait until it flowers to be certain. I've attached pictures of the flower and the 2 different plants (photos taken last December) - sorry about quality of the pictures, not as clear as they should be, hoping for more flowers this summer to take better pictures. In the third picture, the one on the right is the Ctenanthe that flowered.
Do pardon me while I wipe up the drool :-). I'd be in heaven to be able to grow stuff like that in the ground. I'd need a conservatory... got to win that lottery one day, right ? Well, only buy the odd ticket, so probably not. But at least maybe here I'll learn something about the things I can find here, nearly all of them are sold without ID of any kind, so it's always fun trying to find out what one has found.
I had a nice surprise this morning when I found my Calathea zebrina starting to flower for the first time - there are two inflorescences. I've never seen the strange looking inflorescence before and looking forwards to seeing the flowers. I've only just potted the plant into a larger pot as the smaller one was a little crowded and there were quite a few small shoots starting to poke through the ground. In a few weeks the plant should be doubled in size.
Gail - if you like the look of this type of inflorescence, check out the related genera Curcuma and some members of Alpinia - they do this but much larger and more showy. Curcuma is also much hardier a plant, and will perform for longer before needing its rhizomes lifted for winter (you can grow it in-ground in Qld).
I noticed the similarity to my Curcuma australasica, Cape York Lily. The photos are the inflorescence at different stages. The first two were taken at my last house when it was planted in the ground. The last photo was a small one I had in a pot last year. My main plants are in a couple of big pots now and they are just starting to flower again.
