Plant Education

Plant names in the collector world carry a lot of meaning, and a lot of misinformation. Here is what the Latin actually tells you, what a cultivar name requires to be legitimate, and why NOID is sometimes more honest than a name that sounds official.

Alocasias propagate differently from most aroids, and understanding how changes the way you think about offsets, tissue culture, and why variegated forms exist at all. Here is how the rhizome, corms, and TC all connect.  

If you spend enough time in plant spaces online, you will eventually hear the term “death plug.” It is usually said w...

A common question in the hobby is whether selfing a single plant is different from crossing two divisions. The answer comes down to genotype, not the number of pots.  

Learn the history and differences between Philodendron Florida Beauty, Ghost, Green, and Bronze, and how this iconic hybrid family came to be.

Philodendrons grow in different ways. Learn the difference between self-heading, climbing, and trailing growth habits and how each affects leaf size and form.

Tissue culture is changing how rare plants get grown, shared, and preserved. A primer on the science, the journey from lab to shelf, and what is happening at RPF Labs.