Elephant Bush (Portulacaria afra)

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RWhiz Spring Valley, CA(Zone 10a) Jul 08, 2006

Elephant Bush
Portulacaria afra

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ceejaytown The Woodlands, TX(Zone 9a) Jul 08, 2006

What an interesting and beautiful plant. Is it in your yard?

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RWhiz Spring Valley, CA(Zone 10a) Jul 08, 2006

It's just a regular Elephant food bush that's in bloom. They grow like weeds around here. Yes, I have this one on the balcony, but I also have some planted around in the yard too.

-Ron-

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aprilwillis Missouri City, TX(Zone 9a) Jul 08, 2006

I never heard of these before...sorry my ignorance is showing...looked it up in plant files, do they bloom regularly or is the fact that it's blooming an oddity? Like they bloom once every 47 years?

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IRFAN_LODHI faisalabad, Pakistan(Zone 10b) May 28, 2008

i have this plant since 1999 but i found no flower on this plant .how many years after flower will come on this plant

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Pagancat (Sheryl) Gainesboro, TN(Zone 6b) May 28, 2008

Very cool - I've never seen one in full bloom before other than shots from it's native Africa.

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thistlesifter Vista, CA Jul 22, 2008

There is a secret to making them bloom. It will bloom sporadically at best. Here is the secret.

Let it get really really stressed. The leaves will get wrinkled, it won't hurt the plant. I typically will let it go a month to 6 weeks without any water. It does not hurt the plant.

When it is good and stressed and the weather is expected to be very bright and warm (summer). Let the sprinkler run free on it and wet it down real good. It will flower briefly in a couple of days. then you have to go through the denial of water again. then repeat. I've not seen this fail in the summer. Flowers will stay on for about a week, but they are really nice for 2 or 3 days depending on the weather

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Pagancat (Sheryl) Gainesboro, TN(Zone 6b) Jul 23, 2008

That's a great tip, thanks! Sounds a lot like the torture you have to put the Lipstick plant thru in order to make it bloom. Wonder if they're from the same place?

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allgr8dogs Phoenix, AZ(Zone 9b) May 14, 2013

I've got an elephant food plant that I've had for years and it's never bloomed - but I'm pretty sure I've never stressed it enough...

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