Here's to Spring, indeed!
...although, just this morning, we've had snow!
School was cancelled (four day weekend, yes!), so I'm back home and enjoying a second cup of coffee.
And the cats are grumpy as all hell, ha! I can hear them now, at the door, waowing to be let in by the fireplace.

Anyhow, I have a few wakeful plants, as well.
My Christmas Cactus is finally blooming; all of my Jades are growing; Portulacaria afras are growing; my Dinner Plate Aralia is putting out new leaves; my Hoyas are sending out vines; and my Wandering Jew is etoliating (which is what passes for growth in the winter months).

During the winter period, I tend to use luke-warm water when watering (especially on a plant like the Aralia). I also water less frequently. With my Jades, I water less frequently - but I water Fully when I do.

Josh

Pirate_girl, thought I would share my zz with you. Show yours this pic and tell them to grow up. ;)
There are 6 new shoots but really just 3 visible and one is fully unfurled. It needs more light, hence the elongation. I put it outside in summer under 4 layers of screen and it still got sunburned.
I do think plants have dormancy periods and of course not all in winter. Some may have none especially in my location. This isn't it's normal location...just for the picture.

{{gwi:73022}}

A taste of things to come....

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PG Karen, your ZZ is looking nice. Is this your first time posting pics on the forum?

Anyway since my original seems well and truly hijacked, I'll post my ZZ pics here.

Here's the a close up of some new growth:
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Here's a flower bud, which is nicer than the actual open flower:
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And last, a full view of the plant, in my kitchen, with a Coke can at the base of the pot to show its size:
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Karen715, thanks for posting yours. Very nice! At least now I know what to expect if mine flowers. Mines in a 12 inch pot. I think ours are similar in size.

Gorgeous plants Karen and Greenman. None of mine are anywhere near that large. The largest one I have is my Spath which is in a 7inch pot.
I agree with the fact that plants do still continue to grow at least somewhat during the so-called dormancy period. Though some say to withhold fertilizer and some say to continue fertilizing, I don't fertilize. It's not so much that I'm stuck in my ways, it's just a habit that's stuck since I started growing plants 10 years ago. But mine still grow pretty well.
Sadly though I've never been able to find a ZZ. I wish I could though. It's a beautiful plant.

Hey Everybody, Beautiful plants all!

Hiya Karen715, hope you don't mind my resurrecting your thread. It was requested, I felt my example suited the topic & it was an interesting idea that deserved to stand on its own, unhijacked as it were.

Yes, it's my first time posting pix on these plant forums. The camera was surprise gift I received last wknd, from my Patron St. of Quilting. I'm a quilter & had just started a blog for them "karenthequilter" (no spaces) but have been dependant on others to do my photography. My Patron wished to make me independent of that & be the Creative Wind at my back in a forceful way. She knew my intentions to be taking pix of Quilts & Plants, did some research & got me the camera; really exciting!!

Gorgeous ZZs all, mine's got an excuse to me smaller GoBlue, I grew it from just those 2 bulbous stems. I've got another 3 of them, much smaller which I've grow from single leaves, not the fastest process. I've never bought one or had one which I didn't start myself.

You're probably jaded to their bloom Karen, but for folks who've never seen it (or any Aroid bloom for that matter), I think it's still pretty cool. I've only had small ones I've grown, too young to bloom, I'd probably be pretty excited if it happened to mine. Your ZZ is fabulous, probably the 2nd largest I've seen in someone's home. Really, really nice. That Setcresea (I think that's that purple plant) has great color!!

Josh, pls post more pix when that CC blooms, should be beautiful!

Pls. feel free to drop by my Quilt Blog, take a look & comment, I am open to & interested in any & all feedback. TIA

I surely will, Karen!
Thanks to this Forum, I now water through the CC bloom.

Josh

Huh Josh?

Is that to say you'd been holding back water thru the blooming? I don't have any of blooming age right now, but I watered regularly thru blooming & held back watering for 4-6 wks AFTER the blooming.

Oh, are you addressing me (PG)? I assume so rather than Karen715.

Yep you, Karen (PG)! ;)
Sorry, I should have made my address more specific!

You are correct. Before coming to these Forums, I didn't appreciate the distinction of CC as jungle cacti, and so I watered very sparingly.

Now, however, I water through the blooming period - from beginning to end - and then I cut back on watering while the plant rests from its labors.

I did get a few bloom pics this morning, too.
I'll post them later.

Josh

Well good, glad to see we're on the same page Karenwise (ha, ha, ha) & CC wise as well.

Yikes, too many misunderstandings of late, I'm exhausted from it all.

Beautiful plants everyone!! I might have to add ZZ plants to my ever growing wish list. My neighbor has a Huge ZZ Plant( Bush) growing outside in Fl...but the "hard freeze" we had in Jan and Feb "severely damaged" it...burnt all the leaves, but I think it will recover. He says its been there for many years, just never had temps this low 27°-28° for almost 8 hours, very unusual for us in Fl. Thanks for sharing your pictures...

Josh, congrats on your CC blooms!

Nice looking plants everyone!

gobluedjm and Karen,

Do you grow your ZZ plants in a greenhouse? Inside your house?
I grow mine in the living room, but it's not doing all that well. It never seems to grow that much and is not full at all.
I suspected it needed more light, so I put it outside all last summer where it received bright indirect light and diffused sun light, but it really didn't improve the situation at all.

Indoors mine gets bright indirect light and dapple sun in a west window. It gets watered every three weeks or so. I know this plant should dry out, but for how long before watering it again?

What do you suggest I can do to help it grow tall and more full looking like yours are?

Thank you,
Billy Rae

Thanks Billy Rae.
I grow mine inside my house in an ESE window. I put it outside last year on south patio under 4 layers of screen and it still got sunburned. It was already big when I got it in a 10 inch pot that I had to cut to get it out. I water it about every 6 weeks and feed it when I think of it. It's in a 12 inch pot. I just watered recently and it seemed to run thru. I think it needs repotting into bigger pot. I get at least 6-8 new shoots every year.
I bought 2 small ones in 4 inch pots and put them together in an 8 inch and it puts out about 2-3 each year.

Lack of light will make it taller and the shoots will get elongated so that is why mine is so tall I think.

I only got one cuz of the enablers on this board and had no idea how to care for it. Maybe I'm just lucky. Other than that maybe check your soil.

I think you might try watering it more often BillyR, you'll likely get faster, better growth. I water mine every other wk or so, but mine's in very fast draining mix w/ lots of pumice.

I was curious this morning & looked them up; native habitat said to be Tanzania & Zanzibar, where apparently they're subject to both a dry season followed by a rainy season.

It went on to caution that these are often sold on the basis of needing little care & minimal water but the site suggests that they'll do better w/ less infrequent watering. Just a thought!

Maybe it's both the watering and light. The soil could probably use a change too. I'll be doing some serious adjusting and see if that doesn't help with what was suggested.
You guys sure have some nice ones!

I don't know if there are different sizes of this plant like the peace lily, but one time I saw a bunch of huge ZZs at Lowe's last year that were 5'- 6' tall, real beauties! I doubt mine will ever get that large!

Here's an older photo of what my zz looked like about a month or so after re-potting it. I'm too embarressed to show you what it looks like now, it's pretty sparse! I'd even be happy getting it back to looking like this again.

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Thank you both!
Billy Rae

Yeah see, in your pic I can see the lighter taller ones are elongated (like mine). It can probably use more light.
Yeah maybe more water especially in that clay pot. But definately let it dry out good.

Here is it in Nov 2006:
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I think after seeing this I have close to double the shoots now. So you see it takes years for them to grow big.
I've knick-named it the Monster.
I have mine actually on a schedule cuz I tend to underwater. One time it definately got to dry as they were not standing up as straight as they are now.

Now I see what the bigger problem might be. I think I should move it into a plastic pot, because your right about it getting too dry.
Some of the stems were not standing up straight like you mentioned, I thought maybe they were dying because they would not straighten up, so what dumb thing did I do? I cut them off, not just because of that, but also because they were also mashing into my other plants growing sideways like that, even after it was well watered.
I'm sure the situation for mine will get better now.

I have to say, your "Monster" sure is a peach:O)

Thanks again. I appreciate the help!

I now have it in a ceramic glazed pot so plastic isn't really the answer, but would help. PG's is in a clay pot and looks like Karen715 is ceramic or possible one of the styrofoam that look ceramic.
I don't use the clay just cuz I don't like the look of them.
Just give it more water...but let it dry out.

Oh and BR, I should say congrats! You didn't kill it by overwatering.;) IMO 90% of houseplants are killed by overwatering and it's preached on this forum quite a bit.
Let us know later this year how it's doing.

Hi Billie Rae:

My ZZ, which I've had for eight years, give or take, has been in a west window for the last 5 years, and has really taken off. (That spot in the kitchen is temporary; Mr. Z is going back to the west window when some of my other plants go out for the summer.)The new stalks do grow more compactly in a high light situation, but since even my west window is not that all bright during the dead of winter, I do tend to get long stalks.

Mine seems to need water every ten days or so, since it is usually in a high light situation, and is almost potbound. (I'll likely repot it this summer, when I can do it outside. Big heavy plant equals big mess at repotting time.) Plants grown in low light do need a lot less water. It's kind of amusing, since the topic of the conversation is the "myth" of winter dormancy, but ZZs do go dormant and lose their leaves during the hot, dry season in their natural habitat in East Africa. Since the area by the west window gets hot in summer, I am especially attentive to my watering then, since don't want my ZZ to think it is time to sleep. In a low light spot, that wouldn't be a problem, since the dormancy seems situational--I've been told that plants growing in the cooler, somewhat less dry parts of its natural range don't do the dormancy thing.

Josh, that Christmas cactus is absolutely gorgeous! And Gobluedjum, your ZZ is lovely.

gobluedjm,

I know the ZZ doesn't like to have wet feet, so even with good draining soil, it just seemed safer to be in clay. I have a ton of clay pots in the cellar, so I'll have to look around and see if there aren't any ceramic ones. If I can't find any, plastic will still be a better step up. Fingers crossed!

Karen715,

The west window seems to be a safe enough spot for the ZZ. no burning, or yellowing. Changing the pot will probably make a big difference.

Too many stems cut because of the stems growing sideways (sidewinders) and too long being dry I suspect. I'll be more attentive and try watering every ten days, not three weeks like I was doing and see if that helps.

Here's hoping for a better, healthier and full ZZ.

Thank you!

Ya know what. I never thought I'd ever find one, but *GASP* today while I was wandering the garden center...I found one! I found a ZZ! I don't get this excited very often (usually only plants tend to get me excited anymore...would that be a bad thing?) but EEP!

He's just a lil' guy, looks to be in a 5 or 6inch pot. Has 5 or so shoots. So cute! I think I'm gonna name him Zack. >_>

Hi Gang,

Just to be clear, that particular ZZ is in a clay pot specifically for the weight of the pot, not for the somewhat drying property of the unglazed clay. I started that ZZ from the 2 bulbous stems which were heavy & tricky to stabilize while rooting. I think I even put a couple of stones in there for the weight.

Whereas I have 2 younger ZZs which I started from single leaves, they're much smaller, a couple of stems w/ just a couple of leaves each. I have them in 3" plastic pots, prefering plastic to start them in to try to conserve the moisture a bit while they rooting which can take up to a year. I usually start them from a leaf or 2 in the smallest plastic pot I can find.