Please help me identify this plant

[YadaYadaYada]

My son bought me this plant at school a couple of months ago. Thankfully I've been able to keep it alive! However I noticed yesterday instead of standing upright, it's taking on a different shape. I'm wondering if anyone can tell me what it is (he can't remember) and whether it should be hanging or not. I have it in a south facing window, it is watered when needed, that's about it.

Please don't judge the pot it's in, it was the middle of winter so I just grabbed whatever pot outside wasn't buried in snow!

 

[monarch64]

Tradescantia/spiderwort. Possibly one of the Wandering Jews (there are three.) Super easy to care for, can be invasive. Very hardy. You can definitely hang it, or you can do whatever you want with it. They're pretty hard to kill, imo.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tradescantia

 

[YadaYadaYada]

Tradescantia/spiderwort. Possibly one of the Wandering Jews (there are three.) Super easy to care for, can be invasive. Very hardy. You can definitely hang it, or you can do whatever you want with it. They're pretty hard to kill, imo.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tradescantia

Thanks Monarch! I looked at some pictures and it looks closes to a wandering Jew plant. I'm glad it's hard to kill, that's probably why he picked it for me!

 

[monarch64]

Tradescantia/spiderwort. Possibly one of the Wandering Jews (there are three.) Super easy to care for, can be invasive. Very hardy. You can definitely hang it, or you can do whatever you want with it. They're pretty hard to kill, imo.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tradescantia

Thanks Monarch! I looked at some pictures and it looks closes to a wandering Jew plant. I'm glad it's hard to kill, that's probably why he picked it for me!

Ha! Once it gets going you can pinch it back to make it fuller. The parts you pinch off you can even stick into the soil (you will want to re-pot it into a larger container at some point) and they'll root without any assistance. What you have is a start that someone did the same thing with--just pinched off a stem or two and stuck them in some soil.

 

[YadaYadaYada]

Tradescantia/spiderwort. Possibly one of the Wandering Jews (there are three.) Super easy to care for, can be invasive. Very hardy. You can definitely hang it, or you can do whatever you want with it. They're pretty hard to kill, imo.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tradescantia

Thanks Monarch! I looked at some pictures and it looks closes to a wandering Jew plant. I'm glad it's hard to kill, that's probably why he picked it for me!

Ha! Once it gets going you can pinch it back to make it fuller. The parts you pinch off you can even stick into the soil (you will want to re-pot it into a larger container at some point) and they'll root without any assistance. What you have is a start that someone did the same thing with--just pinched off a stem or two and stuck them in some soil.

Will I just need to repot it once and is there some rule for how big the pot should be relative to the plant?

Yes my son attends an environmental studies school but his mother can't even figure out how to keep a plant. The irony.

 

[bunnycat]

I call it Purple Heart (it gets little purple flowers). You can't kill those (except with extreme cold). They make it through just about anything. Mostly they prefer to grow outdoors here in the south, and are fine being potted.

They trail as they grow, that is why it looks droopy and can look really rangy quickly, imo, in a basket. Ground or pot on ground looks best. To minimize the leggy look, break off any long trailers and put them in water for a couple of week then plant in the ground= instant new plants.

I have them all over the yard.

Official name is setcreasea.

http://www.finegardening.com/setcreasea-pallida-purple-heart

 

[monarch64]

Tradescantia/spiderwort. Possibly one of the Wandering Jews (there are three.) Super easy to care for, can be invasive. Very hardy. You can definitely hang it, or you can do whatever you want with it. They're pretty hard to kill, imo.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tradescantia

Thanks Monarch! I looked at some pictures and it looks closes to a wandering Jew plant. I'm glad it's hard to kill, that's probably why he picked it for me!

Ha! Once it gets going you can pinch it back to make it fuller. The parts you pinch off you can even stick into the soil (you will want to re-pot it into a larger container at some point) and they'll root without any assistance. What you have is a start that someone did the same thing with--just pinched off a stem or two and stuck them in some soil.

Will I just need to repot it once and is there some rule for how big the pot should be relative to the plant?

Yes my son attends an environmental studies school but his mother can't even figure out how to keep a plant. The irony.

Probably safe to assume you only need to repot it once. Think around the size of the hanging containers sold at grocery stores or greenhouses/nurseries.

 

[bunnycat]

Tradescantia/spiderwort. Possibly one of the Wandering Jews (there are three.) Super easy to care for, can be invasive. Very hardy. You can definitely hang it, or you can do whatever you want with it. They're pretty hard to kill, imo.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tradescantia

Thanks Monarch! I looked at some pictures and it looks closes to a wandering Jew plant. I'm glad it's hard to kill, that's probably why he picked it for me!

Ha! Once it gets going you can pinch it back to make it fuller. The parts you pinch off you can even stick into the soil (you will want to re-pot it into a larger container at some point) and they'll root without any assistance. What you have is a start that someone did the same thing with--just pinched off a stem or two and stuck them in some soil.

Will I just need to repot it once and is there some rule for how big the pot should be relative to the plant?

Yes my son attends an environmental studies school but his mother can't even figure out how to keep a plant. The irony.

Probably safe to assume you only need to repot it once. Think around the size of the hanging containers sold at grocery stores or greenhouses/nurseries.

This plant gets to leggy too quickly for a hanging basket. You will be cutting it back all the time. Pot on the ground or planted in the ground works best for Purple Heart plant. They can be cut, and the cutting replanted easily in the ground or new pot. They spread quickly.

 

[monarch64]

Bunnycat, I believe SL is in the New England area and I don't know that either Wandering Jew, Spiderwort, or whatever this purple heart plant is you're talking about would be a hardy perennial there. I'm in zone 6 and it certainly isn't here. It's also on our state invasive list, I believe, so we don't plant it in the ground since it spreads so easily. At my supermarket it is sold in a hanging container. The fuzziness and purple underside/green top side of the leaves in SL's picture indicate tradescantia from my google image searches and plant knowledge.

 

[YadaYadaYada]

Monarch is right, I'm in New England, zone 5 (that much I know lol!). I had no intentions of moving it outside since it is my only indoor plant. My plan is a hanging basket in the window over the kitchen sink, she seems to be happy there!

 

[bunnycat]

Bunnycat, I believe SL is in the New England area and I don't know that either Wandering Jew, Spiderwort, or whatever this purple heart plant is you're talking about would be a hardy perennial there. I'm in zone 6 and it certainly isn't here. It's also on our state invasive list, I believe, so we don't plant it in the ground since it spreads so easily. At my supermarket it is sold in a hanging container. The fuzziness and purple underside/green top side of the leaves in SL's picture indicate tradescantia from my google image searches and plant knowledge.

This plant IS purple heart....

http://www.finegardening.com/setcreasea-pallida-purple-heart

Monarch is right, I'm in New England, zone 5 (that much I know lol!). I had no intentions of moving it outside since it is my only indoor plant. My plan is a hanging basket in the window over the kitchen sink, she seems to be happy there!

Have fun then!

 

[monarch64]

Ok. Good luck, SL. Happy indoor gardening!

 

[House Cat]

You can kill it!!!


Put it in the ground in 100 degree heat and give it very little water! Ok, I didn't water it...

It DID try to come back the next spring but when it received the same treatment, it went to plant heaven.

 

[soxfan]

Wandering Jew.

 

[PintoBean]

You can kill it!!!


Put it in the ground in 100 degree heat and give it very little water! Ok, I didn't water it...

It DID try to come back the next spring but when it received the same treatment, it went to plant heaven.

this just made me lol!

 

[bunnycat]

You can kill it!!!


Put it in the ground in 100 degree heat and give it very little water! Ok, I didn't water it...

It DID try to come back the next spring but when it received the same treatment, it went to plant heaven.

even in TX in a 2 year drought with 100+ temps, a thoroughly entrenched patch of this will make it. really. but given their druthers, they'd prefer to be watered. I have patches of it all over the yard. It's a big yard and can handle it, no problem.

They do fine in pots sitting on the ground or planted in the ground and like to be cramped (so pots are good). Indoors, they are good for cleaning the air. IMO, they get too leggy to be pretty in a basket (I've tried) because when you snip off the leggy parts you are just left with stems....but otherwise they are a great plant and I always make sure to have some in the yard. Pieces of my current batch have traveled with me for the last 15 years and 2 moves.

 

[Daisys and Diamonds]

we have always known Tradescantia varieties as wandering willy here
just be careful some wandering willy causes skin alligies in dogs

 

[Lookinagain]

I would have called it "Wandering Jew" as well. It was very common when I lived in the South but not so much in New England, as I don't think it would survive outdoors here.
I don't think it has these flowers


but these

 

[YadaYadaYada]

I’m not sure that it ever flowered and after we brought Dexter home, he dug up all of my plants, this one and all my succulents. No plants for me anymore, good thing he is awesome

 

[Lookinagain]

Oh goodness, I just see that this thread was started in 2017.......oh well. Happy New Year.