Episcia dianthiflora Gesneriaceae
Although none of the episcias grow very high, they do spread out to make wide, handsome pot or hanging-basket plants. This is the only species that can reasonably be called dwarf. Its leaves are the size and shape of my little fingernail, olive green and softly velvet, reddish along the center vein, first forming a tidy rosette. Soon the branches start stretching, rather stiff and woody for an episcia, with new leaf rosettes forming as the branches grow. The silky tube-flowers are pure white and fringed on the edges.
CARE. Warm, humid, humusy soil, filtered sun, moist.
PROPAGATION. Seeds and cuttings.
Exacum affine Gentianaceae
This is a compact, free-flowering plant of the gentian family. The flowers are blue with golden stamens and very fragrant. A herbaceous biennial, it can be treated in a greenhouse as a perennial. It has bushy green leaves, ovate and tiny. A dark-lavender form is the variety atrocaeruleum.
CARE. Warm, humid, humusy soil, filtered sun, moist.
PROPAGATION. Seeds. Can be planted any month, but a February planting will produce flowering plants for autumn and winter.
SPECIAL USES. Window gardens and greenhouses.
Ficus Moraceae Creeping Fig