Marguerite: I agree: 'Til or if they flower, who knows? :-) Whatever they are, they look very nice. Here's the go-to answer on how to distinguish Columnea and Aeschynanthus. Also, Columnea leaves alternate whereas Aeschynanthus are opposite each other. I think Toni asked me this question some time ago and I forgot to answer. Sorry. :-( http://forums.gardenweb.com/forums/load/gesneriad/msg0821161832559.html There's an interesting thread on the Gesneriad Forum from 2005 about sellers giving cutsey names to plants instead of the scientific one...and how confusing it can be. You can find it by searching "Dancing dolphin." Linda Here is a link that might be useful: Great Gesneriad Web Site

John Boggan and I have a disagreement about this. He first learned goldfish for columneas and I have always "known" it was the term for nematanthus. John's no slouch and knows his plants so I guess this term has been used for both for a long time. But somewhere in my dim memory I read that in the 5o's or 60's an English botanist proposed a common name for the plants we now know as nematanthus. His suggestion was "Globe Fish Plant". I have no idea what a globe fish is but my theory is that "globe fish" was corrupted into "goldfish". Anyway, I use it for nematanthus, but prefer to use the latin name. My big flowered varieties hang on long thread-like pedicels with a 2" flower having a long narrow mouth that faces down. To me they look like little yellow and orange whales,swimming through the air collecting plankton. I have a pink x codonatanthus that reminds me of a fancy guppy. So there is definitely a theme going on with these plants. By the way, an old name for Nematanthus wettsteinii is "Candy Corn Plant" for the orange and yellow flower. Nematanthus means "thread flower" referring to the long pedicels on certain species. Originally the species that had flowers on very short pedicels were in the genus hypocyrta, but that genus was combined into nematanthus, in part because fertile hybrids were made between the two. The hypocyrtas include wettsteinii and gregarius, while the long pediceled types are ones like brasiliensis (5" long pedicel) and fritchii which I believe has the longest pedicel at about 6-7". Anyway, nematanthus is one of my favorite genera. Jon

ZZZZ! They are not Fish! They are Nematanthus ;o))!! I would just pot them up a bit and leave them on a tray on the Northern side of the house. You need to take them home if there is a frost coming - depending if you are north of Sarasota - or south- then you do not need to worry. Water them in a way that they have a chance to dry before next watering and they never sit in leftover water for long. They will take some time to get used to outside - and then they will start growing. I saw them growing in hanging pots inside the lanai just off direct afternoon sun. Same about Columneas, these would like just a bit less sun. If you keep your plants in shade - they won't die, they just wouldn't bloom. So - the question of tolerance is about your tolerance - why to keep blooming plants unblooming. I do not know about having hoya for company. Usually plants want their own space and light and do not like competition. If you want to use the start up fertilizer - or similar product - do not exceed 1/4 teaspoon per gallon. The reason is these plants are epiphytes, they grow attached to the moss-covered trees and rocks in tropical climate - and they are used to get by with a small amount of nutrients let's say from rotten leaves. Good Luck and hope you will enjoy lush growth and tons of bright leaves and blooms very soon. Irina

I can't tell if it is a Columnea or a Nematanthus from the picture. Both are sometimes called Goldfish plants. Nematanthus are also called Flying Dolphin Plants. Puglvr1's plant above is a Nematanthus. The plant in my profile pic is a Columnea (a NOID that I think is a C. gloriosa). It's really easy to tell them apart by the flowers, but you can usually tell by leaves too. I haven't grown Nematanthus if that's what it is, but I do have two Columneas. First, your plant looks very leggy to me. A lack of light would keep it from flowering. I grow mine in a northish corner window (a French door and a floor-to ceiling picture window) that gets a ton of indirect light all year long. I take them outside and hang them on my southeast-facing covered porch when temps are above 50F at night. I also think you're watering too much. In the summer, I keep them damp, but not wet. When they were in a 50/50 Pro-Mix/perlite media, I watered them about once a week or so in the summer. In the winter, I let it dry out completely before watering (about every other week or so), but you have to be careful about that because not all of them like to get that dry. I killed a C. "Aladdin's Lamp" by letting it get too dry. Keep in mind that these are epiphytes in the wild, so they grow on the side of trees. Lots of air around the roots. I use Better-Gro Orchid Plus Fertilizer on mine. I use a TINY bit with each watering (a little less than 1/4 tsp to a gallon) year round. If your gallon of water is blue, it's too much. Can you post a close-up of the leaves?