When its too good to be true......

It is well known that if something is too good to be true, then it probably is just that, too good to be true.  There now follows a salutary lesson and an admission of shame.

I have written recently about my plant obsession for peperomias.  I had a brief buying spree collecting a few choice plants. One of the plants high on that list was the Watermelon peperomia.  It has such luscious leaves with beautiful markings which are similar to the skin of a watermelon.

It took me a while to track a plant down.  I hunted here and there, roaming the internet a bit like a wolf loping through the forests.  I found plenty of places selling seeds, but I was struggled to find an actual plant; though I was eventually successful and it is a healthy lovely plant.

Whilst still mid-hunt a desperation began to set in so I started to look more closely at the seeds on offer.  There were (are) lots of different sellers and lots of different prices.  A lot of sellers were overseas but the costs quite low.  I looked at how easy they were to germinate and decided it was worth a go.  My confidence was not high so I went for a low price rather than waste my money, this was not my best idea.

The seeds duly arrived a couple of days later.  I opened the envelope and looked in expectantly.  I did not know what I was looking at, but I was pretty sure they were not peperomia seeds.  I knew that peperomia seeds are tiny and powdery looking.  These seeds looked more like, well........ more like........ melon seeds.

I sighed, laughed and kicked myself for my own stupidity at not buying from a recognised/credible seller and sowed the seeds anyway.  Why not I thought.

These plants are melon seedlings of some sort.  If they actually produce melons I will carve wise words into them - buyer beware.  

Here would have endeth the lesson, but there is a postscript.

When my peperomia plants arrived earlier in the year, a leaf or two had come off in transit.  I had been looking up how to propagate plants and leaf cuttings were often mentioned as a good method.  I have had very poor success generally when trying leaf cuttings, but I had some healthy looking broken off leaves and I thought it was worth a go.  I popped them into a pot and kept them warm on the kitchen window sill.  I check the pot every now and again and not a lot was happening as far as I could see.  But....

look look look look look! Signs of a little baby peperomia.  I have always regarded the first signs of seeds germinating as proof of magic existing; if a cutting roots in a pot or in water that is also the sign of the super natural, but a leaf cutting actually working is just the most exciting moment of all.