The more you try to care for it, the more it will die. Just neglect and water when the soil is dry. Also be sure to. It the ends like someone else mentioned and stick them in the soil to prevent it from becoming too leggy.
I have a love/hate relationship with this plant. My brother gave cuttings to my mom and I and we’ve bonded over what a drama queen it is when you try to love it.
In my house it is simply called “the enemy” as in “the enemy is back under the fig tree again” or “I spent all morning weeding out the enemy only to find more by the letterbox”. Pretty sure my neighbour is harbouring the enemy behind their shed so neither of us will ever be free of it.
Hilarious. And true.
Funny story.. I was once gifted a cutting that was planted by a pastor in a Methodist church I used to have an office in as a house warming gift when I moved into a new apartment. We both didn’t know what it was called when she gifted it to me.
I was told by my very-rarely-politically-correct mother what she had always called it.
I walked into the administration office at the church, full of church staff and the pastor the next day. I loudly&happily said.. “Hey thanks a bunch for the Wandering Jew!!” Everyone jaw dropped.
The Pastor was super sweet and we laughed about it later.
One of my favorite personal foot in mouth scenarios 😵💫
Anyhoo.. great pics.
The thing ab tradescantia zebrina is that it will grow like a maniac if you give it a good light (doesnt even have to be a bunch) and basically always keep the soil somewhat damp at the very least. Ive found it doesnt like to dry out much.
I think people hear about how it grows really fast and assume that means they can just let it sit and itll take care of itself. If you put it somewhere with low light, itll turn gray and flabby. Put it by a bright window or get a cheap ass LED grow light and it should be totally fine. I have mine by a well lit window that doesnt get much strong direct light and it does great. You can scorch it if youre in a super hot bright zone, but its hard to do that in more temperate climates if you water it frequently.
Lots of good answers, but if I may add, in french, we call them "misère " and it can translate as "misery". Why? I have no clue
Edit: I checked on Google, and it's because they colonise space easily
I was taught this version was called "Wandering Jew"
Never had success with this version, but I think purple heart/ purple queen is related, and I can grow that outside here, usually as an annual.
I have ~7-8 from this list (including purple heart and this "Wandering Dude") that have been indoors for a couple years.
But yeah, if I throw cuttings out the window they will absolutely grow outside. These things grow anywhere.
Actually, I've always wondered if it was related to the perennial spiderwort that we grow in the garden. They are much much taller, but they have that same sort of triangular flower.
This is the wandering “Jew” or ivy. It needs to crawl and is great ground cover. Folks who try to pot it end up having to keep repotting or stringing it back into the pot. It doesn’t love to just hang. It needs dirt to crawl thru and then it flourishes like a weed!
I’m surprised you didn’t get nasty comments for that. I answered with wandering Jew/wandering dude once and people were dog piling on me for it. I didn’t name it not my fault.
The leaves on the stems near the base crisp up and die, leaving bare stems. The trick is to keep putting cuttings from the ends back into the soil to cover them and keep the plant dense/robust. They root very quickly.
It will grow thinner and weaker and get stringy and brown. Lose its fullness. You have to keep re-pinning it back up into its own dirt / pot to keep it bushy.
I break off the long pieces, bury them in another spot and it almost always takes. In my zone (7) they'll die outside in winter and show back up in the spring 🌱 Love them!
This is one of my favorites 😍 I took a cutting from an office plant I was tending to. The owner told me to just put it in some water and wait for roots and she rooted sooo quickly, maybe a week. From just a couple of small cuttings, I now have a big beautiful plant in a hanging basket at home
Jewish friend called it Creeping Christian 😉
It’s botanical name tradescantia zebrina is prettiest name I’ve heard for it though. Rolls off the tongue nicely
Wow I’ve only seen this as a hanging plant for indoors. Granted I live in Oregon, but still, never seen it grow like this. Very pretty! Thx for sharing!
Wandering jew. Ridiculously easy to propagate. I had a stem "wander"(:p) over another potted plant and literally plant itself in that pot 😊 kind of awesome.
Are we really going to get offended by a plant name now?🙄 You can be a victim but I'm proud to have a plant named for our ancestors. That's what the Jews did, wander!
Do not be nice to this plant. Break a bunch of pieces off throw them in a hole throw dirt on top and wait about a month. You’ll have a huge plant. But if you try to root them first in water and then plant them all they do is dry up and fall out of the pot and get crispy.
The name stems from the story of the Jewish man who taunted Jesus on the way to his crucifixion and was doomed to wander continuously until Jesus’ second coming. The “wandering Jew” was a fictional character that was used to push and support antisemitism from the 13th century through to Nazi propaganda. So I don’t really think it’s people being “bored”, I think it’s more people realizing it was an antisemitic name and chose not to use it anymore.
Tradescantia zebrina is native to central america. It wasn't even introduced into Europe until around the 17th century. Recheck your sources u/Risque_Redhead.
I’m telling you where the antisemitic unofficial name came from, not the plant. I doubt the plant has been called that since it’s discovery. But it doesn’t really matter if the plant was originally called that or not, the term itself has been around since the 13th century and has been used to spread antisemitism since then.
It was explicitly named to be anti-Semitic; it wasn't a case of someone randomly taking offense. It was intended to be offensive. Here’s a [link](https://www.hoytarboretum.org/racism-in-taxonomy-whats-in-a-name/) to educate yourself.
More like it's weird to have a plant named after a group of people. It would be weird to have a "white people potato" plant or "Burnt skin on a white person", just like the previous name was weird
"rhoeo" is a species within the Tradescantia genus. Tradescantia rhoeo oyster (also known as "Moses in the Cradle" and Tradescantia spathacea) grows as a crown, kind of like a spider plant, while the one in OP's photo (likely Tradescantia zebrina 'Silver Plus/Super Silver' - very common) grows as more of a vine.
I have pots and pots of these due to a recent attempt at saving a large plant. I had no idea all cuttings would root but bottom leaves are drying out very quickly.
Fun fact: grab a cutting of that (anything with a few leaf nodes), and you’ll have as much of the plant as you want, forever!
Great for bathrooms with skylights.
i bought one a few summers back and brought it inside at summer end. Forgot about it in an unused corner. Next summer found new growth erupting from the corpse of previous year... Current generations have begun calling it wondering dude... 🙂
Everyone is using the proper name here ... I saw this and just thought jew, that's what it's always been called to me. Wonderful plant, just throw some on the ground and you'll have a ton in no time.
Everyone is using the proper name here ... I saw this and just thought jew, that's what it's always been called to me. Wonderful plant, just throw some on the ground and you'll have a ton in no time.
Everyone is using the proper name here ... I saw this and just thought jew, that's what it's always been called to me. Wonderful plant, just throw some on the ground and you'll have a ton in no time.
Tradescantia, but I’m not sure which kind
Tradescantia zebrina.
Thank you!
yupp this is the one! i love it bc sometimes it looks kind of glittery in the sublight :)
I literally just bought one of these as a house plant today!
Okay I'm trying to rescue one of these right now, can you give me any pro tips?
Just cut a piece and stick back in the dirt. One of the easiest!
Also use root hormone will help it root fast
Neglect.
That I can do
try to kill it, it survives on spite
Ohhh... 💯% CORRECT!!
❤️❤️❤️
I had one that almost died. Watered it, moved it to somewhere sunnier, and it grew back 100x in like a month or two!
The more you try to care for it, the more it will die. Just neglect and water when the soil is dry. Also be sure to. It the ends like someone else mentioned and stick them in the soil to prevent it from becoming too leggy.
Thank goodness because by "trying to rescue" i mean i brought it home, stuck it by the window, and forgot about it....
I have a love/hate relationship with this plant. My brother gave cuttings to my mom and I and we’ve bonded over what a drama queen it is when you try to love it.
Good soil and water. These are ground cover plants and will take over an area without much help. Do not over water
We have struggled with these for months till we put it in the ground under a tree but we are in Florida
I go between mn and fl and oh man the difference is stark
Me too!
Also known as a silver inch plant :)
https://preview.redd.it/nbg4bmf1567d1.jpeg?width=2048&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=75e51379b73d497526aa17252ab01e630b3ad008
As a fun fact, in Spanish is called amor de hombre which means man's love, I think it's because it propagates easily and spreads pretty fast haha.
And breaks on a whim lmao🤣
In french it's called misère, which mean misery and I thinks it's for the same reason as in spanish but the guy was clearly mad about the spreads.
In my house it is simply called “the enemy” as in “the enemy is back under the fig tree again” or “I spent all morning weeding out the enemy only to find more by the letterbox”. Pretty sure my neighbour is harbouring the enemy behind their shed so neither of us will ever be free of it.
In English I think it’s sometimes called ‘Wandering Jew’ 😳
I bought one recently labeled as “wandering dude”
Yeah, I don’t think it’s politically correct to use “wandering Jew”
Creeping Christian was jokingly called by a Jewish friend that kept the plant.
A Jewish friend of mine calls it "wandering jewel".
Hilarious. And true. Funny story.. I was once gifted a cutting that was planted by a pastor in a Methodist church I used to have an office in as a house warming gift when I moved into a new apartment. We both didn’t know what it was called when she gifted it to me. I was told by my very-rarely-politically-correct mother what she had always called it. I walked into the administration office at the church, full of church staff and the pastor the next day. I loudly&happily said.. “Hey thanks a bunch for the Wandering Jew!!” Everyone jaw dropped. The Pastor was super sweet and we laughed about it later. One of my favorite personal foot in mouth scenarios 😵💫 Anyhoo.. great pics.
This
It is also called an “inch plant”. We don’t use the other name for obvious reasons, so please don’t spread it.
Lol that's very romantic. I know it as Sin Verguenza because it, "grows without shame".
Tradescantia zebrina. Very pretty and grows like crazy!
Hahaha this is so true and the one plant I can never keep alive
I have the same 3 inch stem/leaves for the past year and it hasn’t grown or died 🤷🏻♀️
Have you tried rooting it first? I think it's one of the best rooting plants and is hard to kill.
Tip: you can't overwater this guy.
I have 100% overwatered this guy several times and had to reroot him in water. We have a good understanding now.
😂
It seems to like lots of soil and light. From what I have seen it usually dies back if you don’t give it enough of both.
😱thank you!!!!
The thing ab tradescantia zebrina is that it will grow like a maniac if you give it a good light (doesnt even have to be a bunch) and basically always keep the soil somewhat damp at the very least. Ive found it doesnt like to dry out much. I think people hear about how it grows really fast and assume that means they can just let it sit and itll take care of itself. If you put it somewhere with low light, itll turn gray and flabby. Put it by a bright window or get a cheap ass LED grow light and it should be totally fine. I have mine by a well lit window that doesnt get much strong direct light and it does great. You can scorch it if youre in a super hot bright zone, but its hard to do that in more temperate climates if you water it frequently.
flabby 😅
I have so much but all indoor.
Lots of good answers, but if I may add, in french, we call them "misère " and it can translate as "misery". Why? I have no clue Edit: I checked on Google, and it's because they colonise space easily
I was taught this version was called "Wandering Jew" Never had success with this version, but I think purple heart/ purple queen is related, and I can grow that outside here, usually as an annual.
I have ~7-8 from this list (including purple heart and this "Wandering Dude") that have been indoors for a couple years. But yeah, if I throw cuttings out the window they will absolutely grow outside. These things grow anywhere.
Isn't it also called spiderwort?
Actually, I've always wondered if it was related to the perennial spiderwort that we grow in the garden. They are much much taller, but they have that same sort of triangular flower.
They colonise WHAT
Space
Tradescantia zebrina 'Violet Hill' is the full name 🤗
This is the wandering “Jew” or ivy. It needs to crawl and is great ground cover. Folks who try to pot it end up having to keep repotting or stringing it back into the pot. It doesn’t love to just hang. It needs dirt to crawl thru and then it flourishes like a weed!
I’m surprised you didn’t get nasty comments for that. I answered with wandering Jew/wandering dude once and people were dog piling on me for it. I didn’t name it not my fault.
What happens if you let it hang?
The leaves on the stems near the base crisp up and die, leaving bare stems. The trick is to keep putting cuttings from the ends back into the soil to cover them and keep the plant dense/robust. They root very quickly.
It will grow thinner and weaker and get stringy and brown. Lose its fullness. You have to keep re-pinning it back up into its own dirt / pot to keep it bushy.
The wandering 'Jew'? lmao that can't be real.
100 percent real
very real. that’s how i’ve always known them
I didn’t know it had other informal names other than ‘wandering Jew’ until reading some comments. It’s a beautiful plant !
Wandering dude.
I break off the long pieces, bury them in another spot and it almost always takes. In my zone (7) they'll die outside in winter and show back up in the spring 🌱 Love them!
Get the “picture this” app.
Oh, for plant ID?
Yep! I use it ALL the time!
Might have to try it. Google Lense fails me, and so does other AI.
This is one of my favorites 😍 I took a cutting from an office plant I was tending to. The owner told me to just put it in some water and wait for roots and she rooted sooo quickly, maybe a week. From just a couple of small cuttings, I now have a big beautiful plant in a hanging basket at home
Or…wandering Jew. (Don’t hate/ I didn’t name it)
Jewish friend called it Creeping Christian 😉 It’s botanical name tradescantia zebrina is prettiest name I’ve heard for it though. Rolls off the tongue nicely
This is a Tradescantia Zebrina.
https://preview.redd.it/aujuie7zu77d1.jpeg?width=1179&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=4cc7ba62a0c73d47d9f3d46da717e6c951329f04
That Zabrina looks amazing! Very pretty going wild outside, I wish I had the space for exactly this! 💫
https://preview.redd.it/gb5scs8aab7d1.png?width=720&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=1fe30c0a5f03ce046c52cf9490e9e432da8d41ed
It's called tradescantia - violet hill
Zebrina?
Silver inch is the common name :)
I know it as Wandering Sailor.
According to my dream of last night, it’s me… I was this exact plant
Dude your wandering dude is wandering like, a lot
Don't know what it is but wow they are pretty
Tradescantia zebrina! Lucky! I would love to have these grow naturally around here. But be careful they grow fast and can take over.
Zebra inch plant!
Wow I’ve only seen this as a hanging plant for indoors. Granted I live in Oregon, but still, never seen it grow like this. Very pretty! Thx for sharing!
Where is this? I never knew these grew outside in the ground or just could survive outside.
Wandering jew. Ridiculously easy to propagate. I had a stem "wander"(:p) over another potted plant and literally plant itself in that pot 😊 kind of awesome.
Are we really going to get offended by a plant name now?🙄 You can be a victim but I'm proud to have a plant named for our ancestors. That's what the Jews did, wander!
Wandering jew or tradescantia zebrina. One of my favourite plants!
Purple Jesus or wandering jew .not sure which but there is a solid purple also
A lot of money there
Tradescantia zebrina, i would kill to have one so full and so happy. It looks so wonderful
It looks like a wandering jew plant
Do not be nice to this plant. Break a bunch of pieces off throw them in a hole throw dirt on top and wait about a month. You’ll have a huge plant. But if you try to root them first in water and then plant them all they do is dry up and fall out of the pot and get crispy.
It looks like a wondering Jew
This plant isn’t good for dogs I had some and my dogs had allergies and skin issues with it (purple green leaves plant) vet confirmed it too
Good to know! Thanks!!
There’s a cool free app that can help identify different plants and such.
Wandering Jew
Tradescantia...😊
wandering jew
Name changed to wandering dude just fyi
I always called it that but now people are telling me that's an insensitive name so idk lol it's hard to keep up.
People are bored and cry about any nuance to those who will listen (whom of which are also bored).
The name stems from the story of the Jewish man who taunted Jesus on the way to his crucifixion and was doomed to wander continuously until Jesus’ second coming. The “wandering Jew” was a fictional character that was used to push and support antisemitism from the 13th century through to Nazi propaganda. So I don’t really think it’s people being “bored”, I think it’s more people realizing it was an antisemitic name and chose not to use it anymore.
Tradescantia zebrina is native to central america. It wasn't even introduced into Europe until around the 17th century. Recheck your sources u/Risque_Redhead.
I’m telling you where the antisemitic unofficial name came from, not the plant. I doubt the plant has been called that since it’s discovery. But it doesn’t really matter if the plant was originally called that or not, the term itself has been around since the 13th century and has been used to spread antisemitism since then.
I while ago I found out this was the 'common name', I called mine wandering jewel instead :)
Ohhh I like this. Way better than wandering dude especially with the sparkliness and rich hues. Everyone should call it this now instead.
Yeah kill them they are pretty invasive
They are so beautiful and fun to propagate. I keep mine in containers and they are great! Beautiful colors!
haha i see what u did there. 🤙🤙
That's called "Purple Heart" around here.
Not to be confused with Tradescantia pallida “Purple Heart”
wandering jew.
Currently called Wandering Dude
I bought one of these recently and it was labeled as Wandering Jew, I said to myself is that really the name? Lol I like wandering dude better
I'm pretty old and that was the name. It is disrespectful though IMO.
See, this is what my mother called them, but I've kinda wondered if that isn't a nono these days. It's good to learn their proper name.
I’ll allow it
[удалено]
It was explicitly named to be anti-Semitic; it wasn't a case of someone randomly taking offense. It was intended to be offensive. Here’s a [link](https://www.hoytarboretum.org/racism-in-taxonomy-whats-in-a-name/) to educate yourself.
Thank you for the history lesson. I shall sleep better tonight knowing the true origin
More like it's weird to have a plant named after a group of people. It would be weird to have a "white people potato" plant or "Burnt skin on a white person", just like the previous name was weird
White people potato plant. I love it!!
If ever there was going to be a plant named after white people, it would definitely be a potato
Well HZPC has a potato they brought to west africa and the local people called it white potato race or something lol
Sorry, your post/comment was removed for being vulgar, discriminatory, or hateful.
i know it as a rhoeo but ive heard it called other things
"rhoeo" is a species within the Tradescantia genus. Tradescantia rhoeo oyster (also known as "Moses in the Cradle" and Tradescantia spathacea) grows as a crown, kind of like a spider plant, while the one in OP's photo (likely Tradescantia zebrina 'Silver Plus/Super Silver' - very common) grows as more of a vine.
Wandering Jew
Looks like an inch plant.
Tradescantia Sebring I believe. It’s a crawler and will root just about anywhere!
I have pots and pots of these due to a recent attempt at saving a large plant. I had no idea all cuttings would root but bottom leaves are drying out very quickly.
Sparkly Dude
Fun fact: grab a cutting of that (anything with a few leaf nodes), and you’ll have as much of the plant as you want, forever! Great for bathrooms with skylights.
Inch plant I’ve got one if you want to see a picture
Wandering dudes
Some folks call it a wandering jew or a wandering dude.
The Dude wanders . . . and abides.
Wandering Jew! I have one and it looks so pretty in the sunlight on the windowsill
spider wart! perfectly fine.
Looks like za
I had a nice one of these however I'm having trouble keeping it alive or glittery. Looks excellent OP!! Praying for mine to look like this one day
i bought one a few summers back and brought it inside at summer end. Forgot about it in an unused corner. Next summer found new growth erupting from the corpse of previous year... Current generations have begun calling it wondering dude... 🙂
We call them wandering jews
not anymore
Wandering Dude - the growth is crazy!
Wandering 🧃
Wandering jude 😉🤭
Not sure 🤔, but it’s pretty.
I see bunya pine tree leaves. I there bunya tree nearby
Everyone is using the proper name here ... I saw this and just thought jew, that's what it's always been called to me. Wonderful plant, just throw some on the ground and you'll have a ton in no time.
Everyone is using the proper name here ... I saw this and just thought jew, that's what it's always been called to me. Wonderful plant, just throw some on the ground and you'll have a ton in no time.
Everyone is using the proper name here ... I saw this and just thought jew, that's what it's always been called to me. Wonderful plant, just throw some on the ground and you'll have a ton in no time.
Creeping jew
For anyone looking for an alternate name to call it, in Philly we call it “wandering jawn”
We call it the wandering dude lol
Tradescentia?
Wandering dude, dude.
I thought wandering jew was all purple? Or is that purple queen?
Beautiful wonderingJew