Plant 1 Anthurium ‘Black Magic’ sib B. Essentially it’s a fake.. I’ll explain

This is an Anthurium.. not the cut flamingo flower type thing but a giant tropical plant hybrid that is grown specifically for these massive draconic leaves..

That’s right foliage anthurium hybrids. This one is no longer sold by the breeder and is one of only 2 plants ever sold that were this specific “clone” or cultivar (neither word is perfect maybe clonetivar?).. just think like a limited edition baseball card or handbag that had some kind of error or quirk rendered in production that made it unique. Anthurium produce long fruits (called infructescence) with berries that contain seeds.. a typical fruit will contain 15-100 seeds. Certain breeders like the one responsible for ‘Black Magic’ will toss out entire seed batches set aside a few standouts and create what are essentially one of kind cultivars.. these will then be grown out for years and selected further for mature traits and then propagated and shared with collectors. It takes years to establish stud colonies of plants that are mature and with the right traits. The plant seen here is a identical to the actual ‘Black Magic’ TM from the same seed batch.. but my plant was not given the official name.. so this isn’t actually a real Anthurium ‘Black Magic’ it is instead a sister plant or sibling plant.. same mom and dad… and picking favorites I try to stay away from.. okay, well I do love my pap selfling SHERM a little more than all their rest but shhh…. but this ‘Black Magic’ clone B is definitely one I’ll never chop or let go of.

Plant 2 Dicranopygium cf. harlingii ‘Violet’

Cyclanthaceae are relatively new to horticulture.. like so new that scientist have only even been up on them for 65 years… and further more… you can’t really find them for sale.. but with over 240 accepted species I think that will start to change. This one seen here is giving inky-rainbow-disco vibes but caution bc some are huge and a lot are quite boring to view.. This species from Panama stays super compact and easy to manage.. I mean did you see the wingspan on the Anthurium ‘Black Magic’?… You can grow this in your terrarium or humidity dome.. as a super dramatic cloched art piece that you baby every single day.. or as great contrast to other tropical plants in an enclosed grow tent/cabinet with 75% humidity and ample watering… my first attempt with these and I’ve only got a pair so I hope somebody will try this out with me.. hence this one is available on my site.

Anthurium carlablackiae..

The veins here highlight the dark velvet and make this Anthurium carlablackiae pop like a shockwave of velvet electricity.

Named after a badass horticulturist from Panama: Mrs. Carla Black trekked into a rather dangerous part of the Darien gap; an area of land controlled today by human traffickers and narco terrorists on the borderlands of Panama and Colombia while on her scientific explorations. Mrs. Black was looking for her favorite plants Heliconia (which are worth seeing google images if like me you’re unfamiliar… bc they’re otherworldly) when by chance she spotted this plant near an actual gold mine. That’s right, this Anthurium was discovered by a badass Panamanian female explorer near an abandoned gold mine in cartel controlled territory. Tell me a big-box houseplant can say all that lol!

Considering that most folks have a nice pleasant green collection of plants; these three will come in and darken the mood.. in a good way.. provide a pop of cinematic drama.. or at least make you appreciate your green plants a little more….

But be warned they may take over and you end up having to add green back to your brood of dark plants.