Vireya Rhododendron 'Fire Plum'

[Tindomul]

I purchased this from Bovees Nursery about 7 years ago. That original plant I placed in a large terrarium where it flowered for some time. Eventually it got too large and I have been forced to cut it heavily many many times. This resulted in many cuttings for me to experiment with and the original being unable to re-bloom from all the constant pruning.
Many of the cuttings are in different media, some are mounted in sphagnum, or planted in potting soil, or planted in orchid mix. The one that has had the best success (being the first of all the cuttings to bloom) is in Semi-hydroponics.

This Vireya (Tropical Rhododendron) was sold to me as Fire Plum, though I believe someone on Vireya Yahoo group pointed it out that it was not that. It is still fabulous. I am growing this in my NYC apartment with AC in the summer, and radiators at full blast in the winter. Humidity low most of the year. What I have been doing for the last 6 months is place a large bit of ice that comes from the bottom of my cup forming every night while in the freezer with left-over water. I do this every night right on the top of the media in hopes that the cold air and chilly water from the ice would cool off the roots on a nightly basis.

Enjoy.

César