Is the melanochrysum still considered rare? I've been out of the houseplant loop for several months, really mainly since leaving Reddit and r/houseplants. I've acquired all plants on my wishlist but always loved the pics of the melanochrysum that others posted. I wanted one but didn't think I would ever get my hands on one, so never considered it.

Then I started working at this garden center and they had them marked down at half off. First impulse buy in a while.

I finally managed to pollinate my cherimoya!

For the uninitiated: Pollinating cherimoyas is a bit tricky, because their flowers only bloom for a single day. During this time, they are initially female and can absorb pollen, but only turn male in the evening to harvest pollen from.

To pollinate them successfully, you have to sacrifice at least one flower, take its pollen and hope that the next flower opens before the pollen is no longer viable.

They also develop large velvety leaves:

TLDR: Citrus keeps turning black and oozing resin. But I can't find the problem. I thought it must be root rot, but they look perfectly healthy:

Long version: Because my first and second citrus trees fell victim to root rot, I started using a very airy substrate made of pine bark, perlite and some humus/worm castings in a 5:1:1 ratio for all my plants (figs, pineapple, cherimoya, monstera, etc.) with little adjustment. You may recognize this as 'aroid mix'. But it works surprisingly well in my indoor space with a west-facing window and terracotta planters (and my tendency to overwater).

But I can't wrap my head around citrus.

It always starts with rapid growth, followed by very suddenly dropping and crisping leaves, black stems and finally death.

I thought I must be root rot again, which I need to mind during winter. But today, when I dumped my fifth (!) tree, I found only perfectly healthy roots and nice smelling substrate.

I think it must be a pathogen… but what? I am at a loss. I keep killing my citrus trees and I don't know why. :'(

EDIT: replaced "5:1:1 mix" with "5:1:1 ratio" for clearification.

A photo of a philodendron pink princess with many mostly green leaves with pink highlights and a newly unfurled leaf that is completely pink

The leaves seem larger and darker than any cultivar I've seen, and I'd really like to acquire one.

The one with dark, shiny leaves is Alocasia Cuprea, and the one with pretty stems is Alocasia Zebrina. I do hope they like their new home - had a bit of mixed luck with Alocasias in the past...

My Adansonii bush. Not sure where to go from here. I keep chopping the head off, and it keeps sprouting more nodes, making it look a little unbalanced.

Ideally I’d replant the mature tops into the soil on the bottom, for a bushier plant. But it’s already extremely bushy, running out of room down there.

Open to any ideas on how to manage it. I’m already giving away/propagating my top-chops, so I guess that’s the long term plan?

I actually have an avo tree taller than me that I started this way 10 or so years ago. It is in a pot, and our climate is a bit cold for them, so I move it into the house in winter.

These are normally outside, just hiding from the worst of the winter.

After moving my lotus seedlings into water pots they were not getting enough sunlight. A friend loaned me a grow light tonight.

Before the grow light:

One of my smaller monstera pots keeps growing these little mushrooms and I'm wondering what exactly they are.

They come after every watering and dry off pretty quickly in about half a day or so.

EDIT: They are 'fairy inkcaps'. Thanks to [email protected]!

I might have been a little too ambitious when I set my mind on growing my own wedding bouquet. 2 months after the wedding they are now in bloom. At least they're pretty! 😄🌱

After 15 days of my lotus seeds soaking, I think they and I are ready to plant them. I just ordered two 14” pots with drainage plugs. Now onto finding appropriate substrate for them.

Should I be worried? I was away for 3 days and this thing grew in the soil of my Monstera. Google told me it's a Shaggy Inc Cap Mushroom, but I'm unsure. How would that get in there? I repotted the Monstera back in March with fresh soil from the hardware store.

Any idea what this is? Many leaves are dying on the plant, wondering if there is a way to save it. I have forgotten the name of the plant, but will update when I find it.

Edit Ctenanthe Lubbersiana - thanks @squeezeyerbawdy

Anybody know what creepy crawlies is in my attar of roses pelargonium? Had them a few weeks ago, sprayed with soapy water. They died. This morning they were back. The plant is just a tiny little baby, I'm worried it's something that'll kill the plant.

Update: Thanks everyone! I've done a good round of Google -ing now on springtails. Definitely looks like the case . The plant doesn't seem to mind, but I'll keep in mind not to overwater the little baby . Thank you for your advise!

I was helping a friend move and she said she was having no luck with this plant. She said it barely stays alive and never really does well. She said it might be a hibiscus.

Seek thinks that is a possibility too.

I saved a few other plants recently, hopefully I can save this one too.

I have a dreamcatcher which I thought had a dying leaf or something, but it looks like this could be something like seeds!? There is a second pod which isn't open to the left in the picture.

I don't really know what it is but I'm excited about it. My other aglaonema hasn't grown at all in 2 years!

Rescued some half dead roses from a sale rack last year and they've exploded with a little tlc. 🥰

We are having a pumpking growing competition at work and I live in an apartment, so I'm working with what I have 😆

The plant already produced many male flowers. From what I have read, the male flowers usually come out 10 - 14 days before the female flowers. They open up for a single day and then they close and fall off.

I found out that tey are edible, so I stuffed a few of them with some left overs as a culinary experiment.

And the first female flower has arrived!