Velveteena - I forgot to say hello to you!!! You have a good point that these are not long lived plants.
So taking leaves (and starting babies of ones you like) is a good idea
JB - any plants that have larger blooms can get heavy, if you don't like the droopy look, you can stake them - I staked several of mine! And I would let some droop and stake (in the same pot and that made them look very cool!)
I no longer have adult plants except 2 and they don't look so great right now...I moved them outside so they should be looking better soon! For these guys, sometimes watering only once a week when they're blooming, isn't enough
From my limited experience (2.5 years) of growing these, I found that planting them in larger pots they could grow several main leaves and therefor bloom more and keep alive longer.
I didn't have to start babies (and sadly all my attempts failed, don't know why??
Sometimes it'd be too damp and get moldy and other times they'd dry out, or when I transplanted them I didn't water as often as they needed??)
I did have several start on their own, from leaves that had fallen into the pot and I covered it will soil and just watered regularly, these ones did great - and that is one of the ones you received JB
I'll look in my old photos to see if I have a photo of any adult plants
