Please help me identify this plant

[ourearth82]

Hello all,

I am a new member of Helpful Gardener and am new to gardening itself.
I am hoping somebody can help me identify this plant, the pictures of which are here in this webalbum of mine:

http://picasaweb.google.com/ranu81/PlantIdentification?authkey=sr29zSHRPp8

It has serrated leaf margins, dark green leaves on top and dark purple under the leaves.

I have no clue how to care for this plant, though it is doing well in direct sun for four-five hours.
I am in zone 9a.

TIA.

[NikiWay]

Oh man, that looks so familiar to me!!
I wish my mom was home, I could ask her!!
I think my neighbor may have had one at one point.
I'll have to ask next time I see her!
I'm sorry, I just cannot think of the name

[ahughes798]

I can tell you for sure it's a member of the mint family.

[opabinia51]

Hi Ahughes, I'm not disputing your I.D. but, what I identifiers make it a member of the mint family? I thought I knew mint really well and can't see it.

[MaineDesigner]

It appears to have square stems, I think that is what ahughes798 was referring to.

[opabinia51]

Thanks Maine.

[Jess]

I think it is Plectranthus ciliatus. I just suggested that on another thread...

[imagardener2]

I don't think that's it, Jess. I've looked at a dozens of different Plectranthus ciliatus varieties and none of them have a leaf serration that matches the one in the pictures.

[Jess]

What about this one? Scroll down until you come to the image and then click on 'details'.
ghttp://www.arc.govt.nz/environment/plants-and-animals/search-for-plants/index.cfm?6379FDBB-14C2-3D2D-B92F-C9F85E93F9A0&tag=5

[imagardener2]

Jess, I went to the [url=http://www.arc.govt.nz/environment/plants-and-animals/search-for-plants/index.cfm?6379FDBB-14C2-3D2D-B92F-C9F85E93F9A0&tag=5]link[/url] you supplied and found 2 Plectranthus, [url=http://www.arc.govt.nz/environment/plants-and-animals/search-for-plants/index.cfm?63E0F20E-14C2-3D2D-B905-50098EBBE4B9&plantcode=Plecil]Plectranthus ciliatus[/url] and [url=http://www.arc.govt.nz/environment/plants-and-animals/search-for-plants/index.cfm?63E0F20E-14C2-3D2D-B905-50098EBBE4B9&plantcode=Pleeck]Plectranthus ecklonii[/url]. Neither have the same type of serrated edge as seen in the [url=http://picasaweb.google.com/ranu81/PlantIdentification/photo?authkey=sr29zSHRPp8#5196271883703199938]close-up photo[/url] provided by ourearth82.

[TheLorax]

Looks an awful lot like a Plectranthus to me. Not P. ciliatus though.

Does this plant bloom pink by any chance?

Editing to add, try this one- P. ecklonii 'Erma'
http://toptropicals.com/pics/garden/05/9/9276.jpg

[imagardener2]

The leaves of the plants to which y'all are referring are far too savoy/embossed. Look at the leaves in the [url=http://picasaweb.google.com/ranu81/PlantIdentification/photo?authkey=sr29zSHRPp8#5196271883703199938]close up photo[/url], they're far less embossed and save for the main veins the surface is flat. The leaf in question also appears to have a far more [url=http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plant_cuticle]waxy cuticle[/url] than the Plectranthus leaves.

Plant in Question
[img]http://geocities.com/d_m_g_s/plant_id.JPG[/img]
Plectranthus
[img]http://toptropicals.com/pics/garden/05/9/9276.jpg[/img]

[TheLorax]

Depends on the lighting for this species but I know what you're saying. High levels of illumination such as those grown outside year round exhibit the color of leaf photographed by Top Tropicals. Lower levels of illumination, and the leaf color is darker. Interestingly enough, the undersides of the leaves supposedly won't color up nicely if they receive too much light. I have one of these plants here. Have no idea which one I have as it has never bloomed for me. Am hoping for blooms this fall. The plant looks a lot better since it was given to me. I'm going to whack mine back a little just for the heck of it to try to stimulate basal growth. Hoping mine looks like hers someday. Right now it looks scraggly but is at least beginning to put out new growth. My friend was killing it and passed it on to me. I'm sort of liking it now that it doesn't look as if it's going to kick the bucket.

There are also quite a few interspecific hybrids being released lately.

Check out the leaves associated with the 'Mona Lavender' here-
http://www.plantzafrica.com/plantnop/plectranmonlav.htm
and here-
http://toptropicals.com/pics/garden/c15/9678.jpg

'Mona Lavendar' is another ecklonii hybrid. There are quite a few. Not only is there much variability in the leaves of the straight species, but look at the variability in all the leaves of the hybrids. I'm still thinking her plant is a Mintleaf (Plectranthus spp.) of some sort. Which one, is beyond me.

[ahughes798]

Square stems=mint family.

[imagardener2]

Lorax, after finding [url=http://www.flickr.com/photos/8802721@N04/2296675681/]this photo[/url]
[img]http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3128/2296675681_d16d3f28c6.jpg[/img]
I'm willing to concede it could very well be a Plectranthus 'Mona Lavender'.

I will also say you've done an excellent job of making me want a plant really bad. [img]http://geocities.com/d_m_g_s/emoticons/hmm.gif[/img]


ahughes798, I had no idea salvia were in the same family as mint. Very interesting!

[TheLorax]

When I first looked at the photo I was originally thinking Agastache or Salvia but then I got to enlarging the image and it started looking really familiar to me. Doh, similar plant hanging in one of my bathrooms.

Thank you for the compliment, "I will also say you've done an excellent job of making me want a plant really bad." They're all over the place these days. A few years ago they weren't so common but now they are and they make a nice plant for a hanging basket particularly if they're nice and full like ourearth82 has. Mine's still really leggy.

Say imagardener2, take a look at this thread-
http://www.helpfulgardener.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=7786

Ten to one odds you're going to see that new leaf unfurling from the plant and be thinking the same thing I'm thinking but it's growing in Georgia.

[Jess]

So Plectranthus it is but we still have not nailed which one? Or is it Mona lisa? I went through so many images online trying to find the nearest match that I started seeing double. It is the colouring underneath that is the dead giveaway. Very few plants (that I know of) do that.

Beautiful specimen whichever one it is.

It loves being hacked back TheLorax so don't be nice to it. Give it a good haircut and try planting the cuttings, they seem to take quite easily.

[ourearth82]

It is Plectranthus 'Mona Lavender'.
Thanks to everybody, especially imgardener2 and TheLorax for the identification.
My plant is blooming now, since I posted the photos about 15 -20 days back. It is loaded with purple flowers, marked with dark coloured patterns. So ID became all the more easier now.
It is the prettiest and most rewarding plant I have!

Thanks again.

[ourearth82]

http://picasaweb.google.com/ranu81/MonaLavender?authkey=AtqRsMeVz1U

[imagardener2]

Those are gorgeful!!


Now I want one more than ever! And there's no place around here to get one... poot!

.
Hmmmm, I feel a road trip coming on!!
.