Chimera Sweet Tea

5 years ago

This plant is a couple years old and has been living under LED strip lights all this time. I really never drink sweet tea (no sugar, thank you) but it was one of my husband's favorites so when I saw the name I had to have it. But beyond the name bringing back sweet memories, I do love those purple and white flowers. It is the only chimera I'm growing - and I can see in my photo how I need to groom it and remove some of those lower leaves! I keep watching for a sucker so I can start a backup baby plant, but wouldn't you know the ones you want to have suckers never do.

Featured Answer

party_music50

5 years ago

That's a beauty! Why don't you try propagating from a flower stem cutting? I took 4 or 5 cuttings from mine and have a small plant growing from the 1st cutting now... the other cuttings came later after I felt more confident. lol! I think it was around 3 months before I was sure I had a new plant growing. I generally followed the instructions I found here, but I also dipped the stem in rooting hormone.

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Comments (6)

aegis1000
5 years ago
Very nice ...
AnneCecilia z5 MI thanked aegis1000
Rosie1949
5 years ago
WOW Anne,,,,that is beautiful !!!! Unfortunately I am one of those that won't grow something I can't readily propagate, and like you said, waiting for a sucker can be a lifelong task !!!! lol Rosie
AnneCecilia z5 MI thanked Rosie1949
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AnneCecilia z5 MI
Original Author
5 years ago
Rosie, I remember you've said before that you don't want to grow a chimera but I think they're cool and I don't really mind not being able to start them by leaves. That's why there are African violets for everyone's tastes, right? :-)

And Party Music, your success is tempting. I certainly have my choice of blossom stems to put down right now. This one has very tiny leaves on those stems so it would be a challenge, that's for sure. I saw someone who clipped off the blooms and left the stems attached for a while to encourage those little leaves to grow larger - but I don't know if I could bring myself to do that! (And I can just imagine Rosie cringing, LOL.) Did you just dip the bottom of the stem in rooting hormone? I thought Irina's tip about Keikigrow was interesting, but as few chimera blossom stems as I would ever try to grow out, it wouldn't be worth spending a lot of money on it. I'll just continue to buy my chimera's as plants I guess.
party_music50
5 years ago
Yes, I dipped the cut end.
AnneCecilia z5 MI thanked party_music50
Paul MI
5 years ago
Gorgeous flowers on that one! I like!
AnneCecilia z5 MI thanked Paul MI