Hi all. Just wondering if someone can help me ID a plant. My wife bought it (I don't know where) and she can't remember the name, although she says she has it somewhere. It is a centre stalk with long emerald green leaves equally spaced around and up the stem. The shape and stem of the leaves remind me of purple coneflower, but they are a little lighter green. A month or so ago, it developed a flower at the very top, with additional smaller clusters down a level. The flower is about 5" tall, cylindrically oval (pineapple shaped?), with pink, elongated petals (about an inch long, maybe 1/4" wide at the widest) which grow vertically and then droop over at the tips. There appear to be about two hundred or so petals on the top flower. The entire plant is about 2 feet tall. Any help would be greatly appreciated! Thanks
Hi. It's me again (unregistered) - found it - it's justicia carnea - quite striking, really, but it's now turning yellow - I think it needs a different fertilizer. I've been giving it 20-20-20, but I think the leaves should be a deeper green. Any insight? Thanks
Hi again. It turns out it hasn't been fed for a few months - my wife thought I was doing it and I thought she was, so she gave it dinner yesterday. We just use a no-name general purpose 20-20-20 from the garden centre. It's developing new flower buds now. I guess we'll wait and see how he (she?) responds and then maybe switch to a higher phosphorus fertilizer. Whaddaya think? Thanks Greg (AKA Unregistered)
