What is this thing..

And how do I look after it? Reduced in BnQ, google tells me prayer plant but I can't find its type. I moved it from a north facing window to south the other day and it's sulking big time on me... so I've just moved it back again.


Another pic.. without me init!

 

Here you are Linz.
Prayer Plant - Maranta leuconeura - Picture, Care Tips

 

Cheers Dai! So it folds up in the night, interesting.. went to close the curtains and thought it was having a grump!

 

I dont think its a prayer plant
A variegated version of some kind of philodendron type plant comes to mind.
At least something from that family.

Nice selfie @Linz

Its not folded up its rolled up.

 

Hm, philodendron.. will enquire with google again.

lol didn't realise until I uploaded it! At least I'm not puckering up

 

Hi Linz,

You've got one of my favourite plants.

It's a " Calathea Roseo Picta ".

It's part of the same family as Maranta, hence why it closes its leaves at night.

General care is too keep the compost moist but not wet, occasionally spray the leaves to raise the humidity during Summer. Position in a fairly light place but not in a a sunny spot. The ideal temperature is around 15 deg.

I've got my large Ctenanthe ( another Maranta cousin ) ( about 5 Ft high and 4 Ft wide ) about 6 Ft away from the window but facing it.

This family is one of my favourite indoor plants. Look out for Maranta, Ctenanthe, Calathea or Stromanthe.

 

Aw wow. Thank you @Anthony Rogers you have cracked it! It is (was) a very beautiful looking plant and the leaves were a bit redder when I first bought it. It's been in direct sunlight for the last few days so might explain why it's looking a bit worse for wear. It did seem a lot happier in the kitchen. And I hadn't seen it closed up before now as I normally close my curtains earlier, thought I done some damage!

Going to have a look at the members of its family, I'd like a few more leafy plants.

Oh, will this one grow to 5ft and is it a fast/slow grower?

 

This one will grow to about 2/3 Ft tall and about 2 Ft wide. They're not rampant growers , it will take about 3 years ti reach that size.

The Ctenanthe grow larger because they have long spear shaped leaves on tall stems I'll try and take a piccy of mine tomorrow.
( There was a house plant thread with piccys of my house plants on it but I can't find it now :( ).

 

Aw thanks again, a nice size then.. was thinking it would be a monster!

If I'm looking at the right one, it has got lovely alternate colour markings on the leaves. It's very pretty! Do take a pic :D

Oh btw my "paper white" narcissus flowered the other week, forgot to take a pic but they smelt beautiful but looked so dainty.. there's 2 more buds to flower so I'll try to remember to take a pic of them too

 

I was wondering the other day if it was you who was growing the Paperwhites.
Mine have been a failure. Out of the three bulbs I've only had one flower stem.

 

Oh no, sorry :( worth trying to get a refund if you paid a bit for them?

 

I can't even remember what I paid for them now, I think they were about £2. They were from The Range and they're the only failure we've ever gad from there.

 

Not a major loss then mine were £4 from wilko. They just gone over and the other is just coming out. Not sure if I'll do these again, easy enough but they weren't very "showy".
My hyacinths were a disaster lol

 

Opposite to me then, my Hyacinths are coming in good. I reckon they'll be out in about a fortnight.

 

They were just so stumped. I planted a few in the garden that I bought from RHS Cardiff in 2015, they didn't flower last year but I've noticed them poking up yesterday and I planted a few in the back garden when I made the border too so I'll have a few nice ones this year.