‘Persian Brocade’--Green star leaves intricately laced with
black along the edge.
‘Raspberry Parfait’--Pointed, velvety, olive-green leaves
lighter along the veins; new leaves flushed with bright pink.
[Illustration:
Group of dwarf begonias: _lower left_, ‘China Doll’;
_upper left_, ‘Silver Jewel’; _upper center_,
‘Bow-Chance’; _upper right_, ‘Bow-Arriola’; _lower
right_, ‘Bow-Nigra’; _center_, ‘Chantilly Lace.’]
CARE. Partial sun, moderate warmth, humusy soil kept moist.
PROPAGATION. Rhizome cuttings, leaf cuttings (slow), seeds (for some
species).
MINIATURE REX BEGONIAS
These begonias are also rhizomatous, but the brilliant patterns of
their leaves put them in a class by themselves. Few other foliage
plants have such startling combinations of peacock colors.
‘Baby Rainbow’--Crinkly, jewel-like leaves with bands of royal
purple, emerald green, silver, raspberry, amethyst. Grows and
shows off best in glass.
‘Dew Drop’--Thin, ivy-shaped leaves completely overlaid with
shimmering, lavender-pink mother-of-pearl.
‘It’--Branching, upright rex type with silver-splotched green
leaves, multitudes of large pink flowers. Likes some sunlight.
‘Lorraine Closson,’ ‘Louise Closson,’ ‘Lucille Closson,’ ‘Lucy
Closson’--A group of aristocratic dwarfs with taffeta-textured
leaves in varying patterns of black, purple, red, pink, silvery
green.
‘Pansy’--Small, pointed, deep-green leaves with sharp zone of
lighter metallic green.
‘Peacock’--Jet-black and scarlet leaves on short stems. Stays
small if fed sparingly.
‘Red Berry’--Sheer, shimmering satin leaves of unrelieved claret.
CARE. Little or no sun, warmth, humidity, humusy soil kept moist. Many
rex begonias may go partially or completely dormant in winter, dropping
some or all of their leaves. Simply keep them warm, with the soil
slightly dry, until signs of new growth appear.
PROPAGATION. Rhizome cuttings, leaf cuttings. Seeds will produce an
unpredictable mixture, seldom like the parent plant.
=Bertolonia= _Melastomaceae_
The slowly spreading stems look like fat little top-of-the-soil
rhizomes; but the foliage is like nothing else on earth. Perfect
pointed ovals seem fashioned of sheerest silk; the skeleton of veins
is sunken and strikingly marked. Such daintiness, to be endowed with
bristly whiskers! Wee flowers cluster at the top of short upright
stems. None of the bertolonias are very large; these are the available
miniatures.
_maculata_--Sheer leaves deep green shading to light,
pencilings of silver along the lengthwise veins, wine red
beneath.
_pubescens_--Many veins pucker the leaves like small-scale
seersucker. Colors are copper over green, plum purple down the
center.
CARE. Partial sun, warmth, humidity, humusy soil kept moist.
PROPAGATION. Stem cuttings (in warmth), seeds.
SPECIAL USES. Artificial light, terrariums.
=Boea hygroscopica= _Gesneriaceae_
Six-inch tropical gesneriad with fresh green, quilted leaves and
clusters of violet-like flowers campanula-blue, with yellow centers, on
willow stems.
CARE. Partial sun, moderate warmth, humidity, humusy soil kept
moist.
PROPAGATION. Division of crown, seeds.
=Bouvardia longiflora humboldti= _Rubiaceae_
Two-foot tropical shrub to perfume the dream greenhouse in fall and
winter. The luxuriant, glossy, evergreen leaves are a fine foil for
the celestial white flowers--trumpets with long, slim tubes flaring
out into perfect four-pointed stars. Florists grow the larger-flowered
variety, ‘Albatross,’ for cutting.
CARE. Full sun, moderate warmth, humidity, humusy soil kept wet except
when the plant is resting after bloom.
PROPAGATION. Stem cuttings of new wood with heel (in warmth), root
cuttings in early summer.
SPECIAL USES. Greenhouse shrub.
=Buxus microphylla japonica= _Buxaceae_ Box, Boxwood
Slow-growing boxwood with small, prim, shiny green leaves filling out
the plump shrub shape. It is hardy outdoors, but nice in pots and
frequently found at plant counters in variety stores.
CARE. Full sun, cool temperatures, average soil mixture kept moist.
PROPAGATION. Stem cuttings of half-ripe wood.
SPECIAL USES. Artificial light, dish gardens, model landscapes,
terrariums, indoor bonsai.
CACTI AND SIMILAR SUCCULENTS
Generally, I prefer to grow a spicy variety of plants. But I am
certainly in sympathy with the hobbyists who find enough stimulation
in this one group to keep them collecting for a lifetime. Such a weird
assortment of shapes, from barrels to humping inchworms. Such unusual
patterns and colors of either leaves or stems that have taken on the
shapes and functions of leaves. And such flowers! Some like daisies or
water lilies, in incredible neon-bright colors, sometimes three times
the size of the plant.
Among cacti and similar succulents are some of our smallest plants,
plus plenty more that grow so slowly they’re miniature for many years.
Here are selected samples, only a small portion of the number available
from specialist-growers and other sources.
CARE. Most succulents need full sun, moderate warmth, a sandy
soil mixture (not pure sand) kept on the dry side. They need more water
and warmth in summer, less in winter when they are resting. If soil is
very acid, neutralize with lime.
PROPAGATION. Stem cuttings, leaf cuttings, division of root or crown,
seeds.
SPECIAL USES. Dish gardens, model landscapes (with other dry-growing
plants), a few for indoor bonsai.
=Aeonium caespitosum spathulatum= _Crassulaceae_
Clump-forming succulent with rosettes of leaves like the
hen-and-chicks, silvery green sparsely spotted with darker green.
=Agave victoriae-reginae= _Amaryllidaceae_
Miniature “century plant” with a stiff rosette of thick, sharp-pointed
dull-green leaves with white piping along the edge and streaked with
white between. Mature size, six inches.
=Aichryson (Aeonium) domesticum variegatum= _Crassulaceae_
I’m not quite sure how high and wide this pretty succulent will grow
if left to its own devices. Mine has stayed in a two-inch pot for more
than a year, and filled itself out with thin, round green leaves edged
with creamy white, blushing faint pink in warm sun. The leaves huddle
in tight, overlapping rosettes all around the branching stems.
=Aloe= _Liliaceae_
Symmetrical clusters of thick, heavy, sharp-spiny leaves; fall and
winter flowers held aloft like a torch. One of the smaller species is
_A. brevifolia_, with leaf rosettes about three inches across.
_A. variegata_ can eventually reach a foot high, but very slowly;
and its white-marbled leaves are striking in the meantime.
=Aptenia cordifolia (Mesembryanthemum cordifolium)= _Aizoaceae_
Creeping, clustering succulent with thinnish, round-pointed, gray-green
leaves in pairs along the stems; brilliant fuchsia-purple daisy-shaped
flowers. The variety variegata is embellished with creamy-white leaf
edgings.
=Astrophytum= _Cactaceae_ Star Cactus
Thick stem-bodies divided neatly into five sections but still attached
together, growing very slowly to four inches across. Outlandishly
large, flat, daisy flowers in summer. Try _A. myriostigma_, bishop’s
cap, or _A. asterias_, sand dollar, both spineless; or silver-dotted
_A. ornatum_, with swirling lines and tufts of curved spines.
=Cephalocereus senilis= _Cactaceae_ Old Man Cactus
A good bet for beginning collectors. This is a columnar cactus covered
with a shaggy coat of snow-white hairs, growing up to forty feet high
in the desert, but approaching that height at a snail’s pace indoors.
Flowers are rosy-pink, about two inches across.
=Chamaecereus silvestri= _Cactaceae_ Peanut Cactus
Gay ground-hugger, sending out in all directions thick green two-inch
joints with soft white spines, and keeping its miniature proportions
except when it’s top-heavy with long-tubed orange-scarlet flowers.
=Conophytum= _Aizoaceae_
Very tiny succulents with clusters of plump bodies that are, actually,
two leaves joined completely except at the tip. The plant barely
reaches one inch high and is content in a three-inch pot for years.
Ridiculously large and brilliant flowers pop out through small slits
in early fall. Then the leaves look like little dumplings sitting
under a daisy. Of the several species available from specialists,
_C. ornianum_ is light green with darker freckles, lavender-rose
flowers; _C. aureum_ has gold flowers.
=Coryphantha vivipara= _Cactaceae_
Symmetrical two-inch sphere covered with evenly spaced bumps, each
like a miniature sun with white rays and a spine sticking up from the
center. The fringed rosy or carmine flowers pop out on top, in June;
bright-red berries appear in fall. Native to, and hardy in, Manitoba,
down to Texas. In time it will form clustered mounds.
=Crassula= _Crassulaceae_
An oddly assorted group of succulents including many roguish miniatures
of fascinating form. _C. cooperi_ has tufts of small, pointed
leaves with black blotches, little clusters of pale-pink flowers. _C.
lycopodioides_ mimics the club moss of the woodlands, with slim
stems encircled with little needle-like leaves. ‘Morgan’s Pink’ is a
variety of dense clusters of spear-shaped leaves, crinkled like gray
seersucker, coral flowers. _C. schmidti_ makes a three-inch mat of
pointed, pinkish leaves, with generous glowing pink flowers.
=Echeveria= _Crassulaceae_
Perfect rosettes of succulent leaves in many lustrous colors, some
silk-velvety or contrastingly trimmed on the edge. Clusters of
brilliant tubular flowers top short stems. The following grow low, with
four-inch rosettes.
_derenbergi_--painted lady--Translucent green leaves with
silvery sheen, touched with red at the tip, yellow-orange
flowers.
_elegans_--Mexican snowball--Light blue-green leaves
frosted with white, pure white on the edge, coral-pink flowers.
_pulvinata_--chenille plant--Dusty-green leaves of sheer
velvet, trimmed with brick red on the edge, scarlet flowers.
=Echinocereus melanocentrus= _Cactaceae_ Hedgehog Cactus
Small, spiny globes with brilliant carmine flowers from the side of the
ball. At its three-inch maturity, the flowers are still larger than the
plant.
=Echinopsis= _Cactaceae_ Easter Lily Cactus
Small, round plants with thick ribs and formidable spines, the
lily-like flowers usually opening in the evening. A popular species is
_E. kermesiana_, with glowing red flowers. _E. grandiflora_
is described as only two or three inches across, with five-inch
rose-pink flowers.
=Euphorbia= _Euphorbiaceae_
Two small relatives of the poinsettia that show little family
resemblance.
_caput-medusae_--Medusa’s head--Sneaky, snaky-looking plant
with tangles of twisted, gray-green branches, occasionally
tipped with small leaves.
_splendens bojeri_--dwarf crown of thorns--Compared to
the sprawly species that grows four feet tall or more, this
is really a midget. Mine has kept its six-inch bushy contours
for nearly two years. The upright grayish branches are fairly
well supplied with roundish, dark-green leaves; the scarlet
flower-like bracts are plentiful at intervals all summer and
fall.
=Faucaria= _Aizoaceae_ Tiger Jaws
Low, crowded succulents with thick, triangular leaves toothed with
spiny hairs, unmistakably resembling an animal’s mouth. In late summer
or early fall, golden daisy-like flowers pop up and make fun of the
plant’s ferocious appearance.
_tigrina_--Silvery green leaves flecked with white,
two-inch yellow flowers.
_tuberculosa_--Darker green leaves with little white knobs.
=Fenestraria= _Aizoaceae_ Baby Toes
Clusters of cylindrical leaves, larger at the top, like little
flat-tipped baseball bats. The nearly colorless tops feature tiny
transparent “windows.”
_aurantiaca_--Three-inch orange daisy flowers more than
twice as wide as the clustered leaf-colony.
_rhopalophylla_--Leaves more blunt, smaller white flowers.
=Gymnocalycium mihanovichi= _Cactaceae_ Chin Cactus
Just one of many available miniature, globe-shaped cacti with spines
on regular shelves, or “chins.” This one produces chartreuse flowers
bigger than its body, starts to bloom while quite young.
=Haworthia= _Liliaceae_
Tight pinwheels of thick, pointed leaves intricately studded with
varied patterns of pearly pinheads. The whitish flowers are not a main
feature.
_fasciata_--Zebra-striped succulent often seen in dish
gardens.
_margaritifera_--Slightly larger, dark green with a more
scattered pattern of white dots.
=Kalanchoe= _Crassulaceae_
Among these congenial succulents are several that grow to considerable
size in their native homes, but keep pleasantly small in pots or dish
gardens. The leaves are fleshy, with indentations along the edge.
Lantern-shaped flowers appear in winter.
_blossfeldiana_--Well-branched bush with overlapping, fresh
green leaves, flowering in winter when days are short and nights
are long. ‘Tom Thumb’ is a dwarf variety that smothers itself
with scarlet blooms for Christmas. Greenhouses grow it from
seeds sown in spring, and so can you.
_marmorata_--penwiper plant--Leaves fold in around the stem and
are spattered on both sides with purple blotches.
_pumila_--Leaves like a doll’s spoon, notched on the edge and
sugar-frosted; plum-colored pitcher flowers.
_tomentosa_--panda plant--Fat leaves covered with white felt,
distinctly marked with chocolate at the teeth on the edge.
(_Kitchingia_) _uniflora_--Miniature creeper or dangler for
small hanging baskets, with round green leaves marching up and
down the stem and rosy or red urn-flowers hanging from thin,
short threads.
=Kleinia= _Compositae_
Curious even among succulents, each of these oddly shaped or strangely
decorated plants has a personality of its own and no need for
daisy-like flower heads to make it interesting.
_pendula_--inchworm plant--Weird, round, leafless stems snake up
and down over the soil; flowers brilliant red.
_repens_--Low and somewhat trailing, with thick leaves like long
canoes, unbelievable blue.
_tomentosa_--Cylindrical cocoon-like leaves tapered to sharp
points and covered with pure-white down; gold or orange flowers.
=Lobivia aurea= _Cactaceae_ Golden Easter Lily
Squat, round, prickly cactus like a small echinopsis, except that this
one opens its friendly water-lily flowers in the daytime. Dozens of
different species and varieties are available.
=Mammillaria= _Cactaceae_ Pincushion Cactus
There are many mighty midgets in this group, and in fascinating
variety. They’re mostly round, from squat to columnar, but all are
primly neat. The spines may be soft or not, but are always arranged in
a perfect pattern. The flowers are not overlarge, but are arranged in a
crown and ripen into attractive, berry-like fruit.
_bocasana_--powder puff--Soft, white-woolly globes, only
one and a half inches across when mature; beige flowers.
_elongata_--golden lace--Small branching pillar, nicknamed
for its tatted pattern of bright-yellow spines.
_hahniana_--old lady--Fond name for a small, white-haired
cushion.
=Notocactus= _Cactaceae_ Ball Cactus
Plump balls with prettily colored spines and large, showy flowers in
late spring.
_apricus_--sun cup--Golden-yellow flowers, Oxford-gray
spines.
_graessneri_--Butter-yellow spines and flowers.
_ottonis_--Indian head--Reddish spines.
_rutilans_--Rosy flowers.
=Opuntia= _Cactaceae_
This is a “crazy, mixed-up” group of cacti. They come in so many sizes,
shapes, and forms that any generalized description is impossible. Many
optunias are hardy even in Northern gardens.
_mamillata_--boxing gloves--Resembles a little tree whose
branches turn into cockscombs at the tip.
_microdasys_--bunny ears--Flat, long-oval pads with tiny
tufts of soft yellow hairs.
=Parodia= _Cactaceae_
Fat little balls covered with glistening spines and sending out
unbelievably large flowers although the plant measures only an inch
across the middle. Even in old age, they’re never larger than three
inches.
_aureispina_--Tom Thumb cactus--Gold spines, orange flowers.
_mutabilis_--Shining yellow flowers.
=Portulacaria afra variegata= _Portulacaceae_ Rainbow Bush
After planting this little tree-like succulent in a dish garden when
it was only three inches tall, and finding it less than half an inch
taller nearly a year later, I was mildly amazed to learn that it is a
version of the twelve-foot elephant bush, or purslane tree, of desert
gardens. It’s difficult to imagine the fat red stems and fleshy,
cream-splashed, red-rimmed leaves ever adorning a plant of such
monstrous proportions.
=Rebutia= _Cactaceae_ Crown Cactus
Flat, fat balls with whiskery spines, spreading out into clusters. Each
ball, when mature, is circled by large, wide-eyed flowers coming up
from the base, often as large as the four-inch plant.
_minuscula_--Best-known species, with fiery red flowers.
_senilis_--Orange flowers with turned-back petals.
_violaciflora_--Rose-pink flowers.
=Sedum= _Crassulaceae_
Tender relations of the hardy garden sedums, not so numerous but
equally varied.
_adolphi_--Rosettes of fat, yellow-green leaves, white
flowers.
_hintoni_--Oval, grassy-green leaves covered with prickly
white hairs, like clumps of tiny porcupine tails; white flowers.
_lineare_--Many branching, trailing stems covered thickly
with needle-shaped leaves. The variety variegatum is a gem, each
leaf more creamy-white than green.
_multiceps_--little Joshua tree--Unbelievable bonsai-like
plant with trunk, branches, and tufts of needly dark-green
leaves like the smallest conifer imaginable.
_pachyphyllum_--jelly beans--Fat, juicy, berry-like leaves
clustering close to the branching stems; yellow flowers in
spring.
_rubrotinctum_ (_guatemalense_)--Christmas
cheer--Thick layers of small, green, drumstick-shaped leaves
turning holiday red in full sun; yellow flowers.
_stahli_--coral beads, Boston beans--Faintly hairy, beady,
reddish leaves strung closely together on branching stems;
yellow flowers in summer and fall.
=Titanopsis= _Aizoaceae_
Stone-mimicking succulents with thickly clustered leaves lavishly
spotted with white, wart-like tubercles, and short-lived daisy flowers
in fall or winter.
_calcarea_--jewel plant--Lustrous gray-green leaves
sparkling with white spots, gleaming gold flowers. Leaf rosette
only two inches in any direction.
_schwantesi_--Even smaller cluster of blue-gray,
liver-spotted leaves, lemon-yellow flowers.
=Trichodiadema densum= _Aizoaceae_ Desert Rose
Picture a bunch of tiny, smooth green pickles, each tipped with a
triple crown of ridiculously long, bristly, white hairs. Now, smother
this leaf colony under two-inch red daisy flowers. A really outlandish
plant!
SUCCULENTS
=Caladium= _Araceae_ Elephant Ears
_Bicolor Varieties_. Gorgeous arrow-leaved foliage plants
for small gardens in the South or sheltered areas where summer
temperatures are not likely to drop below 60 degrees for long.
The patterns, colors, and contours of the leaves get fancier
every year. Many are hybridized for larger and larger size, but
specialists also offer a good selection of dwarfs that will stay
under eight inches. Among them:
[Illustration: _Caladium humboldti_--one of the most
striking members of the family]
‘Candidum, Jr.’--Bushy low version of the standard favorite with
green-netted, white leaves.
_humboldti_--A gemlike species for the connoisseur with
willowy stems topped by diminutive deep-green leaves splotched
with silvery transparent white between the center veins and the
edge. Needs more humidity than the bicolor hybrids.
‘Little Rascal’--Leaf more lance-shaped, wine-red.
‘Miss Marveen’--Pearly-white tinged and blotched with pink over
heavy drab green.
‘Mrs. Arno Nehrling’--Bronzy-green, red veins.
‘Pink Radiance’--Small and bushy, leaves centered and veined
with shades of pink, pink-flecked on the edge.
‘Sea Gull’--White at the midvein and frosted all over.
‘Twilight’--Glowing flame-pink leaf finely netted with green.
CARE. Partial sun; if in a greenhouse shade against burn.
Temperature: warm (75 degrees). Humid. Soil: rich, acid (azalea type).
Keep moist. Fertilizer: feed liquid manure on alternate weeks.
PROPAGATION. Seeds.
SPECIAL USES. Terrariums, window boxes, specimens.
=Calathea (Maranta)= _Marantaceae_
There’s only one available true miniature in this group of richly
colored and patterned tropical foliage plants, but many other species
will stay small in a three-inch pot for years. The fact that they’re
suitable for lush but restrained effects in far Southern gardens is my
other excuse for including them.
These plants are maranta-like, the leaf tufts with markings a peacock
could crow about, silky-velvet or iridescent sheens that outshine the
gowns at a coronation ball. They are reluctant to flower but nobody
cares. The following is only a sampling of the available riches:
_argyraea_--Low and compact, the blotched green leaves
overlaid with silver and horizontally level.
_insignis_--Narrow, permanently waved leaves perfectly
patterned with chartreuse, wine red underneath.
_louisae_--Leaves perpendicular and perky, feather-marked
with yellow-green.
_micans_--Miniature with oval leaves about an inch long
(four inches in the tropics), lustrous deep green banded with
silver at the center, paler underneath.
_picturata vandenheckei_--Satiny dark green banded with
silver white in center. Wine red on the underside. A new form,
‘Wendlinger,’ is even more startling. The centers are sterling
silver, edged with deep green.
CARE. Provide warmth, humidity. Soil: loam, leaf mold, and sand. Feed
heavily for best colors. Shade from direct sun.
PROPAGATION. Divide crowns; tubers and spring cuttings.
SPECIAL USES. Tropical gardens, pots, terrariums, dish gardens.
=Callopsis volkensi= _Araceae_
This is a perfectly proportioned miniature “calla lily” only four
inches high, the white porcelain flowers centered with a gold,
spear-like spadix, and substantial but small heart-shaped green leaves
quaintly crinkled. It grows from an underground rhizome. It branches
freely but compactly and is winter-blooming.
CARE. Shade, humidity, humusy soil kept evenly moist.
PROPAGATION. Rhizomes.
SPECIAL USES. Terrariums, dish gardens.
=Carex elegantissima (Morrowi variegata)= _Cyperaceae_
Lady-like little grass with airy tufts of slimmest leaves, bright green
with a white stripe along each edge.
CARE. Loamy garden soil, filtered sun, wet. Intermediate temperature.
PROPAGATION. Seeds.
SPECIAL USES. Terrariums, dish gardens.
=Carissa grandiflora nana compacta= _Apocynaceae_ Natal Plum
When is a dwarf not really a dwarf? In the two years or more I’ve had
this plant it has grown so slowly I have no idea what ultimate height
it has in mind, or when it will reach it. It is still about six inches
tall, with round, green, overlapping leaves with the shiniest glassy
polish of any leaves I have ever seen. Off and on during the year
it gives sensual delight with richly fragrant china-white flowers,
none of which, so far, have been replaced by scarlet plums. This form
is blessedly without spines, always refreshing, and particularly
appropriate for Oriental planters and miniature indoor gardens.
CARE. Almost any soil, warmth, light shade, moist, spray leaves.
Resents repotting.
PROPAGATION. Cuttings, layers.
SPECIAL USES. Bonsai, planters.
=Ceropegia= _Asclepiadaceae_