The trailing houseplant with the unpleasant common name “wandering jew” (such as Tradescantia zebrina in this post) has wandered in and out of my home over a lifetime of killing houseplants. If you’re curious how it came to earn this name, my go-to houseplant expert Mr. Subjunctive at Plants are the Strangest People gives you all the info here. He also give you everything you need to know about not killing them. Don’t count on me for that.

This particular specimen was a true wanderer. I found a sprig on the sidewalk a couple of months ago, and stuck it into a glass of water on my desk to root. It did. This plant is extremely easy to start. Before the water in the glass completely dried out (see “killing” above), I found a home for the rooted sprigs amongst my iron cross oxalis (Oxalis tetraphylla). They look good together, don’t you think?

Now for the kicker: Someone on Twitter (whom I couldn’t find again, despite searching), mentioned that enlightened folk are now renaming this “wandering dude.” That sounds perfect to me. So, wandering dude, please make yourself at home. For a while.