What ARE these plants??

[Broke Down Ranch]

Can you help ID these 2 plants? They are a little droopy because I transplanted them today....


First 2 pics are of a plant sold to me as a plumeria. It was quite small at the time (barely a sprig). It HATES being outside but loves direct light.

This was a yard-sale special and the little old lady had no idea what it was.

 

[Greensage45]

The first one I have no clue at all. It is a bit fleshy. What I can tell by the first plant is that it is in dire need of sunlight. It appears to be an outdoor specimen that has been dragged indoors. This will account for the leaf to curl a bit like that. It also makes the distance between each leaf further and further apart. The stem will continue to snake like that as it searches out sunlight.

I would get it under a covered patio outside, then after a week I would slowly introduce it to a more direct lighting, perhaps dappled (through another plant's leaves). I bet before frost you see it growing more appropriately and with more vigor and stamina.

As for the 2nd picture, this is a kalanchoe. This one too was grown indoors or under a more controlled lighting, because typically a Kalanchoe will only bloom in a 13 hour daylight cycle. Easy to do indoors, but outdoors you literally have to wait for late fall for that, and any farther north from the deep south and it will freeze. Kalanchoe is always a dilemma plant, it grows so well outside, but if you forget it one night and it gets cold, ....oh what a dilemma!

They are fabulous plants, give them a bit more love and they will mature nicely. Then maybe we can discover what the first one is. It is likely a flowering specimen, and was sold in the grocery store as an ornamental and she took them indoors and treated them like houseplants. They would preferably both do well in an atrium, but a window box too works wonders.

Ron

 

[injunjoe]

Sorry to say but the first 2 plants are not plumeria.
At least any I have ever seen! I need to look for some pictures of mine but they are nothing like that.

I cannot think of the name of the other plant, but it is very easy to propagate from leaf cuttings. They seem to kind of finish there life cycle after they go to flower.

 

[Broke Down Ranch]

I tried putting the first plant outdoors under a tree where it would get plenty of light but no direct harsh sun and it just about croaked. :/ Maybe I will try it again now that we are not in the 100's....

Yes, that 2nd plant has always been indoors as I don't really have a lot of shady area for it. I could put it under the trees then run the risk of the birds or ants getting in it....but thanks for the ID on the kalanchoe. I keep in in front of my very sunny bathroom window and it just always seems to pop up blooms. I turn it every few days to try and get it to grow more straight but it really loves the sun Will it be OK to put it outside or would that throw it into shock?


ETA: i forgot to add the first plant DID have a few more leaves but lost several to the heat/sun incident....

 

[Greensage45]

Oh,

Here is an example of a Kalanchoe which has been kept outdoors all summer. It is on the eastern side of the house, and gets full sun from sunrise until it crests past the house, about 1 p.m.

This plant is about three seasons old and was a single sprig broken off of a larger plant. On it's second season it froze and I pulled it indoors where it remained dead until just about Spring and it woke up again (whew ). I tried once to force it to bloom but I did not set up a timer and my consistency for turning the lights off was off. I will try it again this year since I do not know what color it is.

My Kalanchoe (the full sun makes it look so compact like sedum)

Ron

 

[Greensage45]

I tried putting the first plant outdoors under a tree where it would get plenty of light but no direct harsh sun and it just about croaked. :/ Maybe I will try it again now that we are not in the 100's....

Oh no, really? That is not good. Was this before the above picture or was this after that picture was taken?

Ron

 

[beefy]

i dont know what the first plant is. it almost looks like some type of schefflera, just going by the stems. and the leaves look more like a jade plant but too thin. maybe you have a cross of the two. just kidding. i would put it out on a porch or something where it get more light but not direct light. it may look worse for a little while before it gets better due to the stress.

the second one is definitely kalancho as has been said. mine live outside except when it freezes. mine do best in bright indirect light, the ones in full sun tend to get sunburnt tho they supposedly like it and are succulent type plants.


*both of these plants should be super easy to root. break off a piece of each and stick them in a pot and keep them moist and see what happens..

 

[Broke Down Ranch]

I tried putting the first plant outdoors under a tree where it would get plenty of light but no direct harsh sun and it just about croaked. :/ Maybe I will try it again now that we are not in the 100's....

Oh no, really? That is not good. Was this before the above picture or was this after that picture was taken?

Ron

Oh, it was about a month or so ago. I brought it back in the house and within 2-3 days it was perked back up (minus a few scorched leaves....)


Hum, so maybe I need to find a nice *safe* place to put my kalanchoe outside....

 

[Greensage45]

me again

I keep coming back to that first picture. The leaves are thick enough to almost be succulent-like.

There is one plant that I seem to be turning my attention to. It is the Desert Rose or Impala Lily, or Adenium obesum.

Your plant is so very young, and if it is a desert rose, the age would explain why the base of the plant has not begun to enlarge and become like a big tuber. There are several types of Desert Rose and what gets me is the leaf. Maybe I am grasping at straws, but see if you do not see a resemblance.

What do you think? Maybe as it ages and gets a bit more sunshine, then the trunk will begin to expand properly and become woody. I cannot help but notice that the stem is a bit thicker up closer to the top, almost like it has a pretense for expanding but is still so green and tender without the exposure needed for durability.

I still could be wrong, lots of leaves can look like this. I am only going on the premise that this person selling these at a garage sale would have bought them because they had a pretty flower on them at one time.

OK, I guess I will leave well enough alone for now.

bye, Ron

 

[beefy]

based on the leaves of the first foto i too immediately thought it might be a desert rose but then when i saw the next photo i knew it was not. its too large to not have some trunk if it were a desert rose.