Pogostemon Cablin

Call me crazy, but I think my #patchouli cutting is going to #bloom

Why would that make you crazy? Looks like a flower bud to me, too. Is that unusual?

@emch I’ve had the mother plant since last October, this is the first bud I’ve ever seen.

This poor thing got so spindly after the first winter, I was surprised and happy to see this wee little #newgrowth down where it’s #corked 💚

Does it actually smell?

@heatherdirtyhands smells spectacular when leaves are fresh! Sadly, unlike other herbs, once dried, it isn’t useful. The process to extract patchouli oil seems complex, it’s steam extraction. Involves opening cells to get at the oil... I’m not ready to get that crazy, so I just rub fresh leaves on pulse points and accept that it fades in time.

One of my few non #succulent plants, smells just as you’d imagine! #patchouli leaves are better than any #incense I’ve ever smelled. 😍

It’s just like the patchouli incense sticks, but sooo much better! Just touching a leaf will make my fingers smell beautiful, (it’s powerful the way onions linger on your hands after you cut them - but it’s a smell you like😊)

#fragrant

As soon as I saw the name I wondered about everything you said! 🌞

@sunlovin the sad thing is, unlike other herbs, leaves smell like nothing when they are dried. 😞 It’s like lemon balm that way, I guess, most potent when live. 🤷🏻‍♀️

Huh. I never would have guessed! That makes me wonder how they keep the fragrance in the perfumes and tiger balm and whatnot.

@emch I was reading about how to make #patchoulioil and gave up😂 it’s quite a process! Steam is involved to open cells... and it’s humid enough here already! Let’s not have me in the kitchen with a kettle and some tongs #yayscience 😂😂😂

I'm much more of a sandalwood type myself, anyway!

My first successful #patchouli #propagation This plant is such a #diva! Cuttings kept turning purple and dying like a bad soap opera actress every time I put them in soil. #BITCHPLEASE🤦🏻‍♀️

@fearlessthereforepowerful -- I implore you to use that last tag as often as possible here at the app

@emch my apologies 😞 I have a love/hate relationship with this beautiful plant. It was said in jest, no offense meant to any. I’ll take my language 🙏🏼

Wait, why are you apologizing???

Omg ok you’re not pissed #whew

Well of course not! I think we've all had a few BITCHPLEASE moments while engaged in a death struggle with a maneating houseplant. I confess though I never thought of patchouli as something you could just grow yourself. I picture mysterious foreigners sending monkeys up the side of a mountain to collect the leaves. (I read way too much.)

Nah, just me in my pyjamas, pouring Miracle Gro little by little into a bottle of Smart Water so this ridiculous cutting would understand the concept that DIRT WONT KILL YOU! 🤦🏻‍♀️

LOL I wish you could have a serious talk with my newest arrival, Echeveria "Dick's Pink." It is lying on the ground with its tongue hanging out and IDK if I did something terribly wrong to it or if it's suicidal because of the name the breeder gave it.

Serious talk with the breeder seems far more in line. Omg really?!?!

Well, in the event that this poor Echeveria of yours decides to off itself, just think of the names we could conjure up. Dead Dick. Dick Shriveled. Sylvia Plath...