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Sweet-smelling studio surprise

One the plants living in the River studio is blooming. It wasn’t expected until late next month, but here it is.

It’s a Brazilian walking iris, Neomarica spp. I didn’t always know that. This is one of those plants that someone was throwing away so I decided to rescue it. It was a bundle of leafy spears described as having sweet-smelling flowers, and that it was a houseplant. In warmer areas of the world, it lives outside.

I potted it up right away and waited. Nine months. Then, one of these flowers appeared and as promised, the scent is lovely. Each plant blooms 2-3 flowers over the course of several weeks. All from the same stem. The flowers only last one day.

Then, a baby plant starts forming where the flowers bloomed. As the leaves on the new plant grow, they weigh the stem down and where the bottom touches water or soil, roots start growing. That’s how it got it’s “walking” name. I will clip the little plants off and re-pot them this summer. Do you want one? Let me know. I will be giving them away.

Another option is to let the plantlets dangle for a fireworks-show effect.

By the way, I have never seen this plant for sale in a local nursery or any store selling houseplants.

~Debbie

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