A Gardeners Forum Forums Gardening Reference Gardening in 2007 blooming wandering jew

i had never seen trandescantia zebrina aka wandering jew bloom. then, a few months ago, someone posted a pic of the blooms on theirs.

well, today, i was at ellie's and went to get some cuttings that i had left in a vase there, and LOOK





these cuttings had been in that vase nearly a month, had not been taken care of, other that more water added (the water was PEEEEEEWWWWW stinky), did not seem to have any roots to speak of, and had had the heat turned way down because there was a busted water line and my daughter had to move out.

i told her that i've decided that the key to getting a wandering jew to bloom was cool temps, lots of water, and general stress beyond that.

I never knew those bloomed!!!
I am wanting to get two of the other kind;
one with jewel-tone blue flowers and one with white flowers. Maybe some will be in stores by spring or; will I have to start from seed?? If so, will it take forever (like my Egg plant?!)

shirley, i knew they bloomed, but had never seen a bloom or heard of one until a few months ago, then today wow!

I've never seen[or heard of] a wandering jew before... that's such a cool plant!
The colors are amazing
the blooms are cool too!

--Mark--

i've had wandering jew many times over the years and never knew they could bloom until i moved into my house a few years ago...

the one that i had was the white-flowered type. i just recently got a cutting from a friend...looks like it's the blue-flowered type.

thats cool Jiffy! ive never seen em bloom either, very pretty,

mark, if you remind me, when the weather warms up some, i'll send you some. they are very easy to grow, and very pretty.

I didn't know they bloomed, they have some at the school so I may have to get some clippings! Yours is very pretty jiffy!

Nice!! Mine that I had years ago never bloomed.... Beautiful plant, Jiffy!`

A new bit of knowledge for me too. I've had wandering jew too.

Way cool, and Jiffy you may be on to something. The one I had that flowered was inside, and it was during the winter when it's pretty cold in here..... it was in lots of light and I watered it regularly.

Out of the tons of them I've grown that was the ONLY time one has flowered.

Glad you got to see it.

Wandering jew is about the only thing I can grow well! Wait a minute -- I have never had one bloom. Gee... and I thought I could at least grow wandering jew well -- bummer

Lovely plant there, jiffy.

It's a super rarity I think....I've grown so many over the years, it was the first plant I ever bought. I've only had blooming one time.

the only time i've had one bloom is after i moved into my house. i had it in the kitchen - west facing window that gets late afternoon sun. the previous owners took the radiator out of the kitchen (dunno why) so it's a few degrees cooler than the rest of the house.

the wandering jew bloomed at the end of january. only once - and i had that plant for a few years before work issues and not being able to keep up proper watering caused it to bite the dust.

sounds like the concensus is that lots of water and light, and cooler temps in the winter will let them bloom!

I went and took a really close look at mine and while it is growing great, no blooms yet. I will give it a lil extra water and see if that helps any.