Almost a year ago I bought a large Philodendron 'Xanadu' from Home Depot or Lowes - I don't remember which. It was on a huge discount (less than $5 with tax) because it wasn't doing so well. I figured that the garden people had overwatered it or it had gotten too much sun. I figured it was a Philodendron, so it would require about the same care as my other Philos.
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| My original Philodendron 'Xanadu' with brown leaves showing |
The problem with my Xanadu was that it had been overwatered and had probably already started to rot. When I bought it several of the leaves had already turned brown (as you can see in the picture above) and the others were soon to follow.
Plants Are the Strangest People has
a good post on Philodendron 'Xanadu' and how they react to water - by melting. It wasn't long before all of my leaves had turned to mush at the base and fallen off. I held out some hope that new stems would rise from the base, but after a couple of months I pitched it.
Having read a little more about Philodendron 'Xanadu' since my catastrophe, I was determined to try out another one. It really is an attractive plant, and I am now a bit of an
Aroid collector. Last week I ventured over to Home Depot, hoping to find some tropical plants that they would be overjoyed to get off their hands now that we're having freezing temperatures overnight in Oklahoma.
I was right! There weren't a lot of tropical plants, but the few they had, they were trying to get rid of. They had 4 Philodendron 'Xanadu's marked at an unbelievably low price of $3.98. I picked out the nicest looking one - this time showing no signs of rot - and took it to the cashier. Since the label had been saturated in water, it had started to deteriorate and would not scan. The cashier tried to find another plant of the same value, but couldn't, so he rung it up as $2.67! Needless to say, I walked away very happy.
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| My new Philodendron 'Xanadu' |
Here's my new 'Xanadu.' This time I am going to keep a close watch on my plant and be sure not to overwater this one, knowing how sensitive it can be.
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| Philodendron 'Xanadu' - Notice the beautiful red mid vein |
Great price for a goodlooking plant Zach. I might have to go check out what my big box stores have left on the shelves right now.
ReplyDeleteHi Zach, I came over to thank you for picking my blog as one of your faves over at blotanical. You can't imagine how much I've enjoyed perusing all the classification information you've stored up in your head and put on your blog. I don't know much about all that stuff at all. But the funny thing is I have Xanadu growing all over my garden as a foundational plant. You can see some from my front garden in my header right now. It is one of my all time favorite plants. So easy to grow in my climate... and very easily divided so I don't have to keep buying new ones. That's a really good thing because they are so expensive... unless you buy them where you are at this time of year. LOL
ReplyDeleteWill you leave yours in a pot or put it in the ground at some point?
Meems
Hey Zach...I forgot what I originally wanted to say now that I can actually comment. DOH!
ReplyDelete