They are outside year-round, under some trees. Blooming now. It rains in the winter, but we’ve seen no rain so far unfortunately. Thanks for your reply.

What part of the country are you in? Oversize, sprawling is rather their nature; not sure why grow this plant if you don't care for that.

If you must trim, I'd wait 'til March or so when I see mine put on new flushes of growth.

I watched videos showing how to cross pollinate TCs. Most show how to use a brush, but Martha Stewart just moved the plants near to each other, rubbed the pink stigma of one flower in the pollen of another and coated it. I tried it and it worked! All of my plants are in a screened area, so I really don't know if they will self pollinate. The stigma is quite a bit taller than the pollen.

I, too, have wondered about pruning. My plants are droopy rather than upright. I have found branches on the table or ground and am not sure if they fall off from weight or get knocked off by some wind. I also wondered if some pruning would give me a fuller plant, just like pruning a leggy jade.

This is the main plant in question. And frankly, since we have had some nice cool weather the branches are looking much better, perked up. (And maybe that is answering my question!)

My plants bloom later - I have many buds right now. I get a second flush of flowers in Feb/March. So I assume I should prune after the flowering is done. The weather is warming up then and I'll probably have more success in rooting the clippings, too.

(I really need a plant stand for that plant!!)

Crenda--Last year I pollinated by touching the orange and pink flowers together. I still have 5-6 pods on the plants. This year I'm using a cotton swab because some of the flowers don't reach each other. My fingers are itching to pick them the pods and plant the seeds, but apparently they should be soft and fall off easily, so I wait. I've never done this before, so I hope the seeds will sprout. Do you still have pods on your plants?

How you keep your plant is personal preference. I don't know if pruning would make a fuller plant for you, but it would make a more upright plant. If you want fuller, you might have to put some of those fallen off pieces into the soil as cuttings.

I have never had a second flush. You are doing something right!

As for pruning, I’m looking at the left side of the pink one. Thanks for sharing your plants.

All of my pods were off by the end of August. Most fell off and a couple came with a slight tug - I was investigating! LOL I read that when the pods were a dark red or purple, they were ripe and about ready to fall off. But that wasn't my experience. Three different plants with pods -

The red pod, which happens to be on a scarlet red plant, was red from the get-go. And the green one on the far right stayed green. I got seeds from them all, but maybe they weren't mature.

ALL of my pods developed a hold in them just before falling off. It looks like something took a bite. The first plant happened to rot and die, so I thought that caused the hole. But the other did so as well.

I did recover the seeds and will try to germinate as soon as we warm back up. That smaller pod is the green one from above.

Gee, they look worrisome. Have you watched the youtube videos where the seeds are squeezed out onto a paper towel to dry? Not that I'm saying you should do that. The left one almost looks like an insect nibbled it.

My pods give no indication of wanting to come off, and they are very firm. I'm afraid they will come off when I'm not paying attention and get lost, eaten by a rat, whatever.

I agree. It's weird! I found no pests and I think a rat would have eaten the whole thing. I wonder if it had to do with our high humidity. Since I had a plant rot, I wondered if that contributed to the holes, although the plant with those holes above did not rot.

I did squeeze the seeds out and let them dry. Since the pod already had a hole, I opened it up lengthwise. This is a pod from a rotted plant.

BTW - I had 3 of the scarlet flowered plants. One in a pot by itself and 2 in mixed pots. All of the red plants rotted and died, but none of the others did. Another pinkish red plant was not doing well. It had meager roots. I pruned, separated and repotted it into a few small pots and they are doing well now. All were in the same bark-based mix. Curious!