My Tradescantia Collection part 2

This time, I want to discuss how I look after my collection of Tradescantia/Commelinaceae family over the winter and how I am currently preparing for the active growing season.

Most of my plants are grown in a long conservatory connected to the house. I heat and insulate it enough to keep it above freezing but it is nowhere near normal room temperature. When grown in the house with central heating, Tradescantias will slow their growth rate slightly during winter, but as mine are kept much cooler, a lot will become dormant and some even die right back. When I first started growing them, I was alarmed at this and thought the plants had died. I now know which species do this. I am however still slightly relieved when I start to see new growth!

As winter approaches, I cut back the plants and tidy them up so I can keep them closer together. I give them one last soak and then I will allow them to almost dry out completely. Any that are in hanging pots are brought down and kept on staging, so they are away from the cold glass. They are then checked periodically and only given a little water if they are really dry. If they are overwatered in this period they can rot. Conversely, if they dry out completely, this will also cause the plant to die. It's taken me years of experience (and trial and error) to learn how best to over-winter my collection. I still make mistakes and there are usually casualties. I have far too many to be able to bring them into the house, but I do bring some in where I know they are particularly temperamental, or where they are rare with an eye watering purchase price!

Now the spring bulbs are popping up and the sun is shining, I’m starting to get my plants ready for the growing season. I start watering them by giving them a bit of a soak in a tray and I remove any dead leaves and stems to give them a general tidy up. They then go back to being re-hung from the ceiling or put in planters on staging. I love to see them start to grow so vigorously. They are mainly grown as a foliage plant, but a lot of them do flower which is an added bonus to these plants. I am hoping to bring some of my cuttings for sale at the annual show.

Martin