Foliage Follow-Up: Basket plant

This basket plant (Callisia fragrans) has never looked so good. Normally by this time of year I only have a couple of good-looking sprigs to bring inside. This year - wowza!

She is loving this week's warm drizzly mix of sun and rain, but she'll definitely want to come inside next week when temps drop into the 40s.

She needs a better stylist, though I think I got most of the dead petunias out of of her crown (hey, the idea seemed legit in spring).

A couple of her clones are broken, because she just fell off her hook. She is heavy, succulent and moist. Her root structure must be massive inside the pot. She weighs a ton.

She would make a great living wall plant, but she would need a lot of support.

I hope I have a spot inside that's big enough to hold her. She's never bloomed, but I have my fingers crossed that maybe she will this year.

This basket full of basket plant started out as one little pup from Diana at Sharing Nature's Garden. Diana calls it "Grandfather's Pipe"; it's also known as "Chain Plant" and "Inch Plant". It's native to Mexico but cultivated all over the world. It bounces back from neglect with ease and reportedly has medicinal properties. Thanks for passing it along, Diana! And thanks to Pam at Digging for hosting Foliage Follow-Up every 16th of the month.

Words and photos © 2009-2018 Caroline Homer for "The Shovel-Ready Garden". Unauthorized reproduction is prohibited.