Coffee plant! I'm so proud to have it making some cherries now and be about 4 feet tall, such glossy big green leaves, but it goes out in the shade for summer and blows over ALL THE TIME. I may have to tie it to a tree trunk. And it sucks up water like nobody's business so I have to remember watering it often.

Yours?

I think what the plants on my list have in common, is zero drought tolerance. I much prefer plants that can endure a brief drying out period (though, I do enjoy aquatics). Here is my short list.

GARDENIAS (too temperamental)
Tree ferns (I could populate a forest with all the ones I killed)
Arabian sambac jasmine, very, very prone to mealy bugs.
Creeping fig (they always die on me)

Coffee USED to be on my list but, I have been doing better with it in bigger pots, higher moisture for longer periods. They can also be prone to mealy bugs over winter but I have been lucky with my current one.

Anthurium metallicum. Its a high elevation species that grows in the cooler aspects of the rainforest, on the way to the cloud forest. Doesn't really care much for the Sunshine State temps, in summer. Thrives in the cooler months of late fall, winter, and very early spring, where it makes leaves like this one...then sulks through summer and threatens to die

wow

I think Tradescantia zebrina is my most annoying plant.


It needs constant primping to trim, remove marcescent dead leaves, the stems break accidentally, hard to keep it in the perfect light that is enough to cause brilliant colors w/o being too red or burned, gives me a rash if I get the sap on me, is always the 1st plant in a combo that needs attention, and always wants to go in the wrong direction.

All of the above.. but I ignore it on the windowsill in winter, and let it go wild in a big pot in summer. so I guess I have learned how to ignore the bad traits of that one.

Mediterranean fan palm.
I grew it from seeds smuggled back from Italy in 2008. It's getting darn big now, and has lethal spikes on the 'petioles.' Too big and dangerous for the library now. So it will have to find room in my house when it gets too cold out. I am not sure it could take our cold if planted outside.

Would love to see that soon!

I moved my annoying palm inside today as we've got low 20s to come very soon, I'm nervous that would be too cold too soon in a pot.

I hope you didn't get bit.

Calathea, good grief.

At home, dry dead spots on the last leaf, so this last month I've been watering more than I'm comfortable with, keeping it moist but not wet and expecting a decent leaf. The newest is so dead at the top it crumbles, and it hasn't even unfurled yet.

My work one, started from one leaf 2 years ago. Got to about 20 leaves, 2 stems, but died off 100% the past couple months.

Argh.

Calathea intimidate me, but I got this one recently

Palm

Next time I see a rattlesnake or rufibarba calathea. I'll probably buy.

With calathea it's all about humidity

Gina1960 said: With calathea it's all about humidity

Good to know- because for many of the supposed easy houseplants, I've found humidity is higly over-worried about.

Mine above is in my bedroom and we've just started the humidifer at night for OUR comfort.

Calathea live on the forest floor in the rainforest. But only 2-5% of the rain that falls in a rainforest makes it to the forest floor. So they are basically growing in fairly dry medium. Because of this they have evolved 3 things that ensure they survive. Purple or maroon undersides with special cells that absorb green light that bounces up uff the forest floor, special cells on the undersides of the leaves that absorb moisture from the air through humidity, and the ability to lift their leaves and 'pray' at night to funnel whatever rain DOES make it to the floor directly to their rootball.

While it seems like you would water a Calathea that starts to brown and crisp on the leaf edges more, thinking it's being under watered,this is actually more harmful. It needs more humidity, which it can absorb, not more water in the pot.

Running a hot shower and making your shower cubical a mist chamber, or having an empty aquarium or other vessel you can make into a mist chamber, and setting the plant inside it a few times a week might solve your problem

Thanks for the acorn Sally!

I appreciated your very educationl post about the Calatheas.
I think you've said before, one should know about the plant's natural 'home' environment- but I find that a little harder to research.