Mussaenda philippica 'Doña Luz' - Tropical Doña Luz Mussaenda

1 Oct, 2010
5 likes

My Doña Luz Mussaenda is starting to put out the flower bracts. It's a tough grow in San Diego because it doesn't like our hard water. I've been using rain water from winter. We were very lucky to receive very rare rains yesterday from the monsoonal flow. The heavy thunderstorm rains filled up my rain barrels. : >) We had .25 inch (6.35mm) of rain which is a lot of rain for us here in San Diego. Photo taken Oct.1, 2010.

Comments on this photo

Milky

Looks very healthy............

1 Oct, 2010

Delonix1

Milky:

Thanks! This shrub is in the Rubiaceae (coffee) family and it is very sensitive to our hard water. Like my coffee tree, which has many brown-tipped leaves....this plant will suffer and eventually die from major brown-tipping if watered with San Diego's hard water.

2 Oct, 2010

Bernieh

Yahooo!!! Looking good ... how lucky to get the rain water barrels topped up as well! You've obviously found what the plant loves ... and it looks like the first coloured bracts are not all that far away.

2 Oct, 2010

Delonix1

Bernieh:

Thanks! I'm looking forward to seeing all the flower bracts maturing soon...as every tip has a flower bract. : > )

I'm so happy I have this plant again! It's been over 8 years since my other plant died. I'm hoping that it will continue to grow fairly quickly for the next couple of months at least. Next year I'll have to find the perfect spot outside in the ground where it gets enough sun...but not too much where it'll burn. : > )

2 Oct, 2010

Comment on this photo

Pictures tagged with Mussaenda
9 of 17