A succulent spreading plant with a South American provenance, the wandering jew. It is widely used as a groundcover in gardens and thrives in wet, shaded places.
A succulent, is purple Jew?
- Wandering Jew/Wandering Dude, Purple Heart (Tradescantia Pallida), or Wandering Jew An evergreen perennial that is compact and slowly spreads, reaching a height of 10 inches and a width of about 2 feet, and has long, slender hairs along the margins of its leaves and stems. It has stems that are succulent and herbaceous purple and clasping, elliptic leaves that are narrowed at the base and tip. The intriguing new leaves appear in pairs that appear to be at odds with one another and are folded upward to resemble fuzzy cup-shaped wings.
Summertime may bring violet-pink blooms, although this plant is mainly known for its leaves and doesn’t seem eager to blossom much. As with many in the genus, these plants are remarkably drought resistant due to the water retained in the succulent stems. Plant in light shade or part sun and water frequently to only seldom.
A wandering Jew is what kind of plant?
A variety of spiderwort known as Tradescantia zebrina or inch plant is prized for its lovely purple and silver-striped foliage. This houseplant is ideal for someone with a green thumb who wants to learn how to live in any indoor setting. How to take care of an inch plant in your house is shown below.
About Tradescantia or Inch Plant
Tradescantia zebrina, formerly known as Zebrina pendula, is a species of creeping plant in the Tradescantia genus. Its name is pronounced “trad-es-KAN-tee-uh zeb-REE-nuh.” Common names include wandering Jew and inch plant. Since the latter appellation is contentious, some people now call themselves wandering dudes instead. Variegated Spiderwort is a another name for it.
Despite being a perennial in its native Mexico, Tradescantia zebrina is treated as a houseplant in North America and is frequently cultivated in a hanging pot. In warm climates outside of their native habitats, it is regarded as an invasive species (including in parts of the southeastern U.S.). Because of this, we advise growing inch plants indoors or limiting their outdoor use to containers.
The inch plant not only has lovely leaves, but it also grows quickly and has trailing stems. The common term “inch plant” comes from the fact that the leaf nodes on the stem should be one inch apart. Tradescantia can be simply established from cuttings that root well in damp soil because each segment is capable of forming a new plant.
- Grow in a container or hanging basket with indoor all-purpose potting soil.
- Choose a spot with filtered sun. Keep inch plants away from harsh light and gloomy spaces to prevent them from growing lanky.
- The room should be at a moderate temperature (between 55 and 75F).
- Deeply water the soil, but wait until it has partially dried before adding more water. This plant dislikes being constantly wet as well as being let to dry out.
- Winter is the plant’s resting season, therefore water less during that time.
- In the spring and summer, apply fertilizer twice a month; in the fall and winter, avoid fertilizing.
- To control this trailing plant and encourage bushier foliage, pinch back the stems.
- Leggy growth that has been removed makes it possible to take cuttings for further proliferation.
- Every spring, plants can be severely clipped, and in the summer, they can be moved outside onto a covered patio.
- The gorgeous purple and green leaves of Tradescantia zebrina ‘Tricolor’ (seen at the top of this page) have dazzling silver stripes.
How should a wandering Jew plant be cared for?
The Wandering Jew plant takes a while to start producing new leaves, unlike most indoor plants. Put your plant in a spot with plenty of indirect light. Almost none of your indoor plants should be in direct sunlight. Since direct sunlight frequently causes indoor houseplants’ leaves to burn, the term “high light” only applies to intense indirect light.
Do Jews on the Road enjoy being rooted down?
One of the simplest houseplants to grow, according to many, is the wandering jew. The Wandering Jew is a vining plant with leaves that have stripes running the length of the leaves with white, silver, and purple foliage. The Wandering Jew grows best in hanging baskets or places where it can trail down because it has a tendency to vine. Wandering Jews do grow flowers, including purple, white, and occasionally pink variations.
Bright sunlight that combines direct and filtered sunlight is ideal for this houseplant. Your Wandering Jew probably isn’t getting as much light as it would like if the foliage color doesn’t seem to be as striking as it formerly was.
Wandering Jews favor light to moderate watering. Make an effort to keep the soil mostly moist but not saturated. Between waterings, give it a tiny chance to try. Additionally, they favor a little bit more humidity.
Additionally, wandering Jews love to be more root-bound, so you normally don’t need to repot very often, if at all. I can offer the advice that you should try to prune the stem ends frequently. The plant will branch out and get more full and bushy by cutting the stem ends back. By removing cuttings from the plant and allowing them to root in water, you can also grow new miniature plants.
One thing to be careful of with this houseplant. I read on a few websites that the sap from Wandering Jews can irritate people’s skin. So exercise caution.