Ya, Ya....I am a copycat. I have nothing blooming or really happening, but while blog reading today, I came across this post, and absolutely loved the sideshow, so I had to do my own. Mine is different in the sense that I did a puzzle sort of slide show, so it makes for a bit of a guessing game.
Look for an AV slide show in the days to come too, I just can't resist.
A couple of months ago, I noticed some odd growth on a red philo I had. Mr. S thought it could be a flower, and he was right. It has taken close to three months from the first time I noticed "something", to opening up into a flower like the pic below. It's......umm......different than most flowers I see. It is a pretty cool thing to see, it's the first time in my life I have ever seen a philo flower up close and personal. And it fit so well with this post, being a flower amongst many.
The red Philo flower is probably one of the more unique flowers I have ever seen, but there are so many other plants starting to flower too, and they all need their time in the spotlight too.
I am not sure what happened with my Azalea. It finished flowering a few months back, but has since started to develop buds again. I didn't cut it back after it flowered the last time, and it didn't get a cold period at all either. Most, from what I have read should be pruned right after flowering, or you risk cutting off where it will flower next year. I have also read that they need a cold period to induce flowering, but this one never got that either. All I know is that they like a ton of water and some sun, and they stay pretty happy!
This the bi colored azalea I mentioned over at PATSP in the comments section. The one and only reason I bought this one was because it was pink and white. My other azalea has white flowers, and it isn't doing much lately. It will be interesting to see if the flowers will be like they originally were when they were drown in a greenhouse, or if they change slightly because they are now grown in windowsill conditions.
The plant pictured below, one of my Lipstick plants (Aeschynanthus) has tried to bloom before by growing a few buds here and there, but it always seemed to drop the buds or get a couple flowers at a time. This time there are buds all over the plant. I would say that half of the stems have developed buds. If every one of the buds actually make it to flower, it will be a spectacular display.
My "cupped" African Violet finally opened a flower. I don't think any of my AV's are this pretty, maybe it is just the thrill of the unknown, but WOW, this one almost took my breath away.
It is just so perfect in every way. The purple is bright, and full of sparkles. The white star in the middle is such a perfect star shape. And the pollen sacks form a perfect circle. I have never seen such a perfect arrangement of pollen sacks on any of my AV's.
This is the AV with the weird cup shaped leaves I mentioned in a previous post, and I just love it. I am definitely going to take a couple leaves from this one, and make babies to give away.
I went back tonight to try and get some more shots of this perfect flower, and the petals had started to close. This is another trait I have never seen in any of my AV's. I tried googling it, because I am sure I read somewhere that a few of them do this, but of course, I came up with nothing. It has been a few hours and the flower still has not closed up completely, but it has closed considerably since nightfall. I can't wait to see if it re opens in the morning. If anyone can find info about this particular trait in AV's, please send me a link. I would love to read more about it.
On a final note, I had to mention something I have not seen yet with my philodendrons. It could be that I just don't know as much about them as my other "more loved" plants, and it is a common occurrence, but still, it is new to me.
This philo is much like the "Autumn" cultivar, just a large red philo, that normally throws out a leaf from the central stalk. Not much to talk about, but the other day I noticed that in addition to it's "new" leaf, it has grown a whole new leaf or maybe a branch. Not sure which it is, since it is only "there", and if it is a leaf it has not opened. The point is there is two growth points now, where I have only normally seen one. I have never seen this before, so if there are any philo lovers out there that can tell me about this, again, please leave a link or the info.
My hubby loves Aroids, the more primal and jungle-y, the better. I have come to appreciate them, but they are not one of my favorite plants. We notices a leaf unfurling the other day and we noticed that this one had more splits in it then we have ever seen.
It is just amazing how each plant can grow so uniquely. I hope the rest of the leaves on this plant continue to get more splits. I am very interested to see how large these can get. I have seen one that is humongous, the aerial roots on it must be ten feet in some places. It really is a sight to see.
I don't know a lot about Schlum's and their growth tendencies but boy am I mad at them....lol. This is the first time I have ever grown them but since bringing them home from the store they have dropped all their buds. A few large buds opened for me at home, but the rest........gone.....what else is new? I know they need either darkness or cold to bloom, but I am still wondering if they will produce new buds as we only have about 10 hours of sunlight here right now. Obviously they are not focusing on buds right now as they are all putting on new segment growth.
I don't really have a lot to say about my Hoya Krimson queen, but I just love the foliage especially the pink/white leaves and I had to take a pic.
So I found a space violet at a local greenhouse a couple months ago. Of course I had to have just one. So I picked one up and brought it home. I did not want to re pot it since I figured it was from a decent greenhouse, so it must be okay. Again, my ignorance got the best of me. 
I have only watered it once since I got, so it obviously is not drying out too well. Then, last week I noticed the leaves were looking wilted. When I touched them, they fell off, they were rotting from the bast of the plant. I didn't want to do it, but it had to be re potted, cut down and *sniff* dis budded. Today it still seems to be slightly wilted, but I am hoping over the next week or so for it to perk up.
I decided that one of my plants deserves an award. The "Slowest Growing Ever" Plant. And the award goes to my Pink Princess Philodendron. I have never seen a plant that does so little in my life. I got this early this past summer, at first I kept it inside, but seeing that it did nothing, I put it outside. Well the sun scorched it a bit, and it still didn't grow any. I think in the time I have had it it has put on two new leaves......one per plant as I have 2 plants in the single pot. 
I am wondering maybe if I should re pot it, because it too is in a mix from the same greenhouse, so maybe an airier mix might help. I also have it under fluorescent lights in my living room to give it a little push. Even though this is a beautiful plant with really lovely foliage, it is so freakin' slow growing that I just want to throw it...lol.
Winter is once again here; the snow is here to stay. It gets pretty cold in this house, and my windows ice over when it gets really cold. So as I am looking at my hoya's the other day, I noticed some new growth on a cutting I had, and noticed it's backdrop was a sheet of ice. It was a pretty neat thing to see.
A few months ago I got a cutting of a Monstera Obliqua. This reminds me of a heart leaf philodendron, but with splits in the leaves. This is not to be confused the Monstera deliciosa, which is a kind of like a giant version of the obliqua.
I started the cutting ( 4-5 nodes, 2 leaves) in water and it started to root. Then it fell out of it's glass, and the root dried up. Take 2. Again I put the cutting in water and put it high up on my cupboards, again it started to root. And again it somehow fell out and the root dried up. Take 3. I gave up on the water rooting since it was jinxed from the start. It did have the little white callouses that sometimes become roots, so I was optimistic. Well it has finally rooted quite well, and even put on a couple new leaves. This plant had a rough start so I thought it deserves to be mentioned.
The next thing I want to write about is the mix I use for most of my plants. I have noticed over time that my mix has changed and ratio's have changed.I prefer not to use peat at all because I have an under watering problem and I find it to hard to re wet. In it's place I use coir that is low in sodium content. I also use perlite and lots of it. Lately I have been using Orchid bark as well. I still have some plants that are in very heavy peat mixes mixed with perlite and vermiculite, but over time I am noticing they are not drying out as well, and some have started to rot. They have compacted quite badly and it has only been about a year for them. So here is a pic of the basic mix I use that I mentioned above. Depending on the plants needs, I adjust ingredients slightly, but not too much, and nothing other than what I mentioned.
And last but not least I wanted to capture this little cutie while it bloomed. It is a NOID Mini AV. It is in a one inch pot, much like a Dixie cup, that will give an idea as to how small this one is.
