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Hardiness: USDA Zone 10b: to 1.7 °C (35 °F) USDA Zone 11: above 4.5 °C (40 °F)
Sun Exposure: Sun to Partial Shade Light Shade
Danger: All parts of plant are poisonous if ingested
Bloom Color: White/Near White
Bloom Time: Mid Spring
Foliage: Grown for foliage Evergreen Variegated Silver/Gray Shiny/Glossy-Textured
Other details: This plant is suitable for growing indoors Requires consistently moist soil; do not let dry out between waterings
Soil pH requirements: 6.1 to 6.5 (mildly acidic) 6.6 to 7.5 (neutral)
Propagation Methods: By dividing rhizomes, tubers, corms or bulbs (including offsets) From herbaceous stem cuttings By simple layering By serpentine layering By stooling or mound layering
Seed Collecting: Allow pods to dry on plant; break open to collect seeds
On Feb 2, 2008, BayAreaTropics from Hayward, CA wrote:
Tough little vine for the bay area.Our cool winters, rainless summers,low humidity, make it a moot point to worry about rampant growth.
If anything keeping it watered is difficult. Will wilt fast in summer if not given a steady supply of water. Otherwise an attractive indoor or outdoor plant that needs shade. I am surprised at how well 'Imperial White' keeps its color. I have never had to pinch off a, reverted -back -to -green,stem. Mine has spent all this winter outdoors just fine in temps as low as 36f.
Syngoniums in general make fine plants for waterfalls or pond margins in shade.
On Sep 2, 2007, blondie09245 from Montague, MI wrote:
My plant is beautiful and I enjoy it very much. It is not the common green variety but a very pretty colored pink. Is pink color common with this plant? I am hopefully wanting to train it to climb. Anybody else have the pink colored variety that they can take a picture and post it for others to see, I would be thankful:)
In my experience, this plant is a very fast grower, that requires little water and filtered light only. Partial sun was killing it outside. Since I brought it in, the leaves are a beautiful dark green and shine. It's growing so fast, I will have to repot it again! After reading how invasive it is outdoors though, I believe I will just keep it in the pot indoors.
On Oct 29, 2006, plantladylin from East Central, FL (Zone 9a) wrote:
I have grown this plant for many years .... as a container, or house plant! I do have one that "got away" in the yard, but it is contained to one bed .... and yes, it attaches to anything! .... The one that got away outside, is attaching and growing up the outside of my screen room! But, it will die back in the winter , and if we have a hard freeze (which we do here in Central Florida at times), it will kill it! I still love this plant, it makes a very easy to grow, beautiful houseplant! It requires little care, just water once in awhile and a little light!
On Oct 26, 2006, IndoorGardner from Falls Church, VA (Zone 7a) wrote:
I bought this plant one day while hanging with my friend at the Ikea. Every plant I have ever bought from Ikea has died, but this one. I thought she would also because for the longest time she just sat there. Not growing and not dieing.
About 4 days ago I gave her a shot of liquid compost. Now it's "Plants Gone Wild". She started to grow and grow fast. I love this plant. Right now she has not started to vine off like my mom's plant. She is still growing upright. I look forward to seeing just how big she will get.
On Jun 27, 2006, bitkidoku from Istanbul
() wrote:
I didnt have any outdoor experience with this plant. But I will keep what you have said in my mind.
I think they are excellent indoor plants. Acording to my experience feeding them regularly makes them grow and produce new leaves fast.
On Feb 18, 2006, sugarweed from Jacksonville, FL (Zone 9a) wrote:
After seeing this plant in mixed houseplant arrangements I had no idea when I tossed a spent gift basket out the front door that it was very invasive. At this moment it is attaching itself vigorously to my brick wall. I will be out there in the morning pulling this sneaky little invasive out. And since all yard trash gets chopped and becomes "free mulch" I'll bring it in and boil it before putting it in the regular trash.
We still have hand dumped trash and often they wont take any vegitation for the regular trash.
While it can be a beautiful plant it can also be a horrible pest. You don't want this plant to get loose in Florida. It will create a jungle while your back is turned. There is nothing at all fragile about it here. The worst winter is not going to kill it. Drought will not hurt it. It will continue to grow if there is a foot of water on the ground. At least it is not a real fast grower. I can pull up a ton of it and see the ground for a couple of months. My trees look like topiaries with this vine climbing their trunks. Then it drops down from the branches like lianas. Want to play Tarzan? Plant it. No care/fertilize needed!
On Jun 6, 2005, CaptMicha from Brookeville, MD (Zone 7a) wrote:
I have no experience with growing this plant outdoors as mine is a houseplant.
It does extremely well being constantly neglected and in poor lighting. The leaves yellow and will droop in extreme drought but perk right back up after a watering.
The leaves are a glossy green with cream, very attractive.
On Aug 23, 2004, MotherNature4 from Bartow, FL (Zone 9a) wrote:
This is an invasive monster in my yard. Don't let it get loose anywhere in central or south Florida. If you live there, pull up every bit you can find.
On Aug 22, 2004, IslandJim from Keizer, OR (Zone 8b) wrote:
As Nancy Anne noted, this plant is tenacious [sp?]. But there's a good side to that. Its the only plant I've found, other than the vanilla orchid, that will climb those ugly, fake, painted columns on the front of my house. And for that, I'm grateful.
On Apr 21, 2004, nancyanne from Lafayette, LA (Zone 9a) wrote:
While an attractive houseplant, this plant is a horror outdoors! It is literally impossible to eradicate in the southern garden; the aerial roots invade every tiny space in concrete, siding, wood, brick, etc. It climbs glass, metal, and wood. No matter how thoroughly I dig, cut, and pull, even one cell seems sufficient to grow another meter of this plant overnight. Once it starts to climb, it doesn't seem to need soil any more!
Don't let it out of its pot!!!
On Jul 14, 2003, suncatcheracres from Old Town, FL wrote:
I have had this plant since 1988, when I found it growing up a large laurel oak tree in the front yard of my new home in St. Petersburg, Florida. Almost every year it would freeze down, and every spring it would climb back up the tree. One winter we had virtually no frost and it had about two years to climb up about 20 or 25 feet into the tree. I took many, many cuttings over the years--the plant roots readily in water. The juvenile leaves are definately different from the more mature leaves.
This past winter this plant survived in a pot outdoors, sometimes under a tarp with drop lights for heat, through the coldest winter in northcentral Florida in over 100 years, and the plant has now thrown a "sport"--new vines with much longer, narrower leaves, with more contrast between the green leaves and white veins. I'm taking cuttings of all the new sports, as they are more attractive than the original plant.
It makes an excellent indoor pot plant, if kept frequently trimmed, as it is a rampant grower here in the heat of Florida. It requires frequent fertilizer and water, but this is no problem as I fertilize all my pot plants a little bit every time I water. It also loves frequent spritzing with a plant sprayer with a little house plant fertilizer--this helps keep the color greener, and too much sun will definately fade the color. Dappled sunlight is best.
On Jul 13, 2003, DeannasDesign from Fort Benton, MT wrote:
This is a great plant. When I got mine it was severely crowded and needed repotting. After repotting, I found that the clump was not loosening, so I againg took it out and started dividing. All divided parts that had an active root on it made it. I was hoping that the ones with a tuber would also make it, but they did not.
So far I am getting a lot of new growth, the stems became a bit floppy so I added some stones to the pot. They are bouncing back from shock, and I did lose a few leaves that I just snipped off. Over all, I learned how fragile they are and how their "bounce-back time" from a rather rough dividing. I fed it well right after repotting, made sure that the soil drained well, and made a mix of soil that I thought fit the indoor lifestyle and rich tropical needs. I have been feeding it at least 1 time a week. It seems to hold the color better. Some of the foliage, leaf length alone is 6-8 inches long and still a beautiful rich green.
I am curious how to turn this plant into a climber, and how tall it would get.
On Jan 19, 2003, lupinelover from Grove City, OH (Zone 6a) wrote:
This plant, like many other vines, has two types of growth. In this case, the immature growth is the best colored, and comes directly from the roots. As it matures, vines are produced. The vines can be removed to keep the juvenile part more attractive, or it can be used to sprawl as a groundcover, or trained to climb.
It is hardy to about 25F, and is very simple to propagate. I put vines cut off from the plant on the ground, where they rooted and grew all summer, even in a fairly severe drought.
Regional...
This plant has been said to grow in the following regions:
Jones, Alabama Phoenix, Arizona Canoga Park, California Hayward, California Merced, California Bartow, Florida Boca Raton, Florida Bonita Springs, Florida Bradley, Florida Brooksville, Florida Daytona Beach, Florida Fort Lauderdale, Florida Jacksonville, Florida (2 reports) Lutz, Florida Oviedo, Florida Parrish, Florida Venice, Florida West Palm Beach, Florida Brunswick, Georgia Denham Springs, Louisiana Lafayette, Louisiana Luling, Louisiana Fort Benton, Montana Alden, New York Blowing Rock, North Carolina Boone, North Carolina Greensboro, North Carolina Lenoir, North Carolina Saint Marys, Pennsylvania Beaumont, Texas Bryan, Texas Deer Park, Texas Houston, Texas Portland, Texas Richmond, Texas Falls Church, Virginia