I grow the Camellia sinensis. I have had it a couple of years. It likes a pH 6-6.5 and very good drainage. So, you will make a potting soil that has peat as the base, then add perlite, sand, and pine bark. The peat should only equal about 1/3 of the mix. I think I threw in some aquarium gravel and sphagnum moss, too. They like cattleya light and the soil should stay moist. I use hollytone and Ironite to keep it happy. They are prone to scale. Hope this helps.

My tea plant is growing in a bucket in a spot under some shade cloth in the garden...sometimes I water it LOL


Does that help? :D

I have only few plants in my garden. Some of them are Viola cornuta, Euphorbia, Coffee Arabica , Hibiscus pink and Camellia sinensis.

Other than orchids I grow
12 Plumerias
30 Bromeliads
9 Jades
10 epiphyllum
bunch of succulentd that I don't know their names :)
and just about any thing I find on the discount tables, I need some thing in bloom in the New England winters to keep me going

Yeah anything to cheer us up with these winters! It's so rainy and yucky out today, but at least it's not snow! Nice indoor plants always make me smile!

I grow tropical plants for the same reason--to get through the dreary days of ice and cold. :)

It seems like there are a lot of somewhat local people here! I see some many from the NE, NY, NJ, OH. It's great!

My nepenthes is bringing me joy right now! No flowers but boy do people love this plant! I have gotten so many comments on it over the last few weeks! I have two phal in bloom and three in spike which really is making me super happy! Then I have the poinsettias, paperwhites and amaryllis in bloom. It's so nice and cheerful!

Thank you for all the info! Now, time to upload some pictures....

Alright! Here comes the pics!

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This is my newly made terrarium. I call it the tropical walkway. It contains divisions of prayer plants, a pepperomia, a maidenhair fern, earth stars, a nerve plant, and gotu kola. This used to be my carnivorous terrarium until it failed. The lid is custom made acrylic with a handle and air holes.

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This is my newly aquired Camelia siensis.

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This is blackberry lily, a herb originating from China. It is now naturalized in parts of the U.S. and mine is starting to die down.

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A planter of cyclamen that I have had for years. It is starting to develop flower buds.

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My two pups of pineapple that I started three months ago.

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My lemongrass plant. It is small and hans't grown really much. I have to admit it is very messy.

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My small perrenial butterfly garden ready for winter. I got some monarch caterpillars from the milkweed which I will post later.

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The evergiving lemon tree.

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The not so evergiving orange tree.

Nice! I have to grow my lemon in a pot to spend winter indoors!