The piggyback plant life is a great gain to your garden , both as a houseplant and as a native , shade - loving recurrent ground cover when institute in the Pacific Northwest . In its aboriginal range , it stays green year - rhythm and grows best in the western , rainier part of California , Oregon , Washington , and British Columbia .
What is a piggyback plant?
The piggyback industrial plant is a repeated flower native to the Pacific Northwest of the United States and Canada that gets its name from the strange fashion its foliage grows : new leaves sprout straight from the center of big , older leaves .
How to grow a piggyback plant
Piggback plants ( Tolmiea menziesii ) are a repeated groundcover type industrial plant native to the Pacific Northwest that is usually grown as a houseplant . It grows in shady , damp , wooded areas from California north to British Columbia , hardiness zones 7 - 9 . It is a tone - loving perennial industrial plant that prefers incessantly moist but well - draining soil .
When planted outdoors , it can grow up to 32 in tall and has a spread of 20 inches . If you intend to imbed multipleTolmiea menziesii , space them out at least that much . The piggyback industrial plant send up brown , purpleness , and green flowers in spring and summertime .
The piggyback plant is a prized but uncommon houseplant . It handles being develop in container well and prefer a balanced 10 - 10 - 10 fertiliser provided monthly during its summer farm season . It is not known to be toxic to pets , is not deer - resistant or drought patient of , but is view hardy and pest resistant .
Invasiveness
Tolmiea menziesiiis not registered as an invading plant anywhere yet , but some gardeners have account that it can circulate out of control in non - aboriginal regions that mime its raw grow conditions , so if you live in a rainy , warm arena outside of the Pacific Northwest , flora with uttermost caution . When in doubt , just keep it in a container .
Growing piggyback plants in containers
Piggyback works do great when arise in container . They favour impersonal to acidic , well - draining grease that is kept constantly moist but not drenched . You should never let your potted piggyback plant get totally dry . When planted in the priming , fertiliser is n’t required , but pottedTolmiea menziesiido well with a monthly serving of a balanced 10 - 10 - 10 fertiliser during the summertime month when it ’s put on the most foliage .
This plant does well in a give ear handbasket . Its branches will flag and hang down as they grow and top out at around 2 feet long . If your flora has outgrow its pot , you’re able to repot it into a larger container in spring .
Propagating piggyback plants
disperse a piggyback plant life is simple , especially during the summer growing months . As unexampled growth begin to develop at the root of old leafs , you may come away the honest-to-god foliage and weigh it into the soil circumvent the works or grow in a unexampled container . Keep the soil nice and most , do n’t let it dry out out . New roots will commence to develop and you will have propagated a brand newfangled piggyback plant life !
When to plant piggyback plants
Piggyback plant life start can be planted in containers as houseplants any fourth dimension of year , but the best time to propagate them is in the summer as new growth emerges from former leaves . The same is honest of plants being grown outdoors . If you ’re trying to get your piggyback plant life to command a portion of your landscape , necessitate cut and pressing them into the grease any time in the summer will figure out . By the metre early dip make it , your piggyback plant starts will be less probable to get established and survive the winter .
Harvesting piggyback plant seeds
Toward the terminal of summertime , your piggyback plant flowers will begin to whither and die off . What ’s depart behind are modest , slender capsules , approximately 10 mm long . cautiously nip off these capsules from the flower stems and provide them to dry . Once fully dried , you’re able to split unfold the capsule and find oneself small , brown come deep down . lay in these seeds until you ’re quick to implant them .
