4 November 2004

I picked up this Columnea, commonly known as a lipstick plant, sometime during late summer or early fall because I was looking for some interesting flowering plants to put on the windowsill. It's been flowering now for at least a month, putting up an ever increasing number of those nearly three-inch long brilliant red flowers. Since it's a trailing plant, it is ideal for growing in a hanging basket. I'm going to take a bunch of cuttings of it come springtime and I should have a huge basket full of plant by next winter.

I'm surprised these plants aren't more popular, given their Christmas color scheme and their propensity to flower during the wintertime. They're gesneriads, so they are in the same family as African violets and appreciate similar care.

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