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- - purple passion (http://www.orchidboard.com/community/off-topic-totally/75042-purple-passion.html)

has anyone ever grown this plant? my wife got it for me yesterday cuz it looked interesting.

Pretty easy plant -- average care is fine. However:

1) To keep the purple hairs you must make sure it gets bright light. IME, if light levels are too low, the hairs will be shed and new ones never grow to replace them on an old leaf. For that matter, new leaves will not have the hairs at all if light levels are too low. Some direct morning or evening sun is fine. (I'd say aim for onc to catt light conditions ... but that may vary somewhat depending upon your latitude.)

2) The orange flowers, when they are produced, are nothing to write home about. (Envision the tuft at the center of a blooming dandelion without the larger surrounding petals.) Also the flowers stink. Just how bad depends upon -- their number, your proximity, warmth -- the warmer the more "fragrant", and your nose's sensitivity.

Btw, should you be interested in such things, its correct name is Gynura aurantiaca.

they also grow easily from cuttings and you might try pinching out new growth to make them more "bushy"

Those hairy purple plants are commonly available in HD here. I've never bought one but very interesting. I thought the color was sprayed on, but how interesting!!! :)