A Bit of Advice on Houseplants

A Bit of Advice on Houseplants

houseplants

If I may, I'd like to offer a bit of advice on houseplants. Or is it house plants?

I prefer houseplants, myself.

I have a few houseplants that I keep and enjoy. I've had some of them for years, even decades.

My night blooming cereus dates back to 1987 and prior to me taking ownership of it, my father cared for it. I think he got it around 1970 or so? That would make it 46 years old.

My

Amaryllis, they barely know thee!

Amaryllis, they barely know thee!

holidays houseplants

Amaryllis blooming

I recently conducted an unscientific polling of 20 random individuals to find out who many know what an Amaryllis is.

I showed them an actual Amaryllis and asked one question.  "Do you know what this is?"

The particular amaryllis I showed them was sitting on a bed of decorative rocks in a large clear glass vase so the entire bulb, some foliage, and a big flower bud were

I'm sending my houseplants to Club Hort for the summer

I'm sending my houseplants to Club Hort for the summer

houseplants Humor

Not houseplants, just cut flowers from my garden

I am sending my houseplants to Club Hort for the summer.

Normally, they stay in the sunroom and never leave for anything.

But not this year. This year almost all of them are heading to Club Hort, an exclusive all-inclusive resort, where they will enjoy the finest of immentities for most of the summer.

Upon arrival at Club Hort, which is not

Kokedama - Must be willing to make a little bit of a mess...

Kokedama - Must be willing to make a little bit of a mess...

houseplants indoor gardening

Kokedama with ivy

I just finished cleaning up the sunroom after making my first kokedama.

Kokedama is a Japanese word that translates into English as "moss balls" though all the auto-correct editors want to translate it into chokedamp.

The idea is to mix a combination of peat and clay soil, generally a 70-30 ratio, so you can form the soil into a ball and it stays as a ball. Then you plant

Real gardeners grow plants indoors, too.

Real gardeners grow plants indoors, too.

houseplants

"I do not do houseplants."

If you tell me that, then I know you are not a real gardener.

Real gardeners also have indoor plants. Or houseplants. Or house plants. Whichever you prefer.

Real gardeners do not stop gardening when the garden outdoors goes dormant.  We don't.  We can't.

Even if we don't intend to have plants indoors, we somehow, somewhere, end up with plants in our houses.

It

Obsessed gardener looking for an old variety...

Obsessed gardener looking for an old variety...

books houseplants

Begonia 'Gloire de Lorraine' (American Gardening, 1900)

Obsessed gardener looking for an old variety of Begonia, 'Gloire de Lorraine'.

Described by Buckner Hollingsworth in Gardening on Main Street (1968) ~

"From a tight cushion of bright green foliage a great many lax stems emerged, each tipped with only two flowers, but when these fade and fall the stem lengthens and two more flowers

The Optimist and The Pessimist

The Optimist and The Pessimist

houseplants

Two houseplants just got put out on the patio to spend the rest of the summer in plant rehab. We'll call one plant "Purple Leaf" and the other "Ivy".  Let's listen in as they discuss their situation. 

Purple Leaf:  Oh, look! Look!  We are outside. Isn't it wonderful to see the sun like this and not through a window?

Ivy:  Are you kidding me? I'm going to burn up here. It's so bright. I want

The Rabbit Holes of Winter

The Rabbit Holes of Winter

books bulbs houseplants

I've recently decided that January is one of my favorite months to think about gardening.

There is time in January to relax a bit.  The holidays are over.  The winds howl and only the hardiest of souls try to garden when the ground is frozen, or nearly so.

It's best to just stay indoors.  Indoors where there are gardening books, and houseplants, and seed catalogs, and warmth, and books.

I'm

Blooms for the Twelves Days of Christmas

Blooms for the Twelves Days of Christmas

books fairies holidays houseplants Humor

I suppose it really does work out better if the blooms of the Christmas season reach their peak after the 25th of December.  

I will have more time to enjoy them while I relax after the hustle and bustle of pre-Christmas preparations. 

Imagine me sitting in an easy chair by the window so I have view out into the garden where I can see the birds flitting around the feeders I set out and filled

I am not buying a poinsettia this year

I am not buying a poinsettia this year

holidays houseplants Humor

I am not buying a poinsettia this year.

I am not buying a poinsettia this year.  Been there, done that.  I'm more into the Christmas Rose as a potted plant for the holidays.

I am not buying a poinsettia this year.  As soon as I bring them home, they start to drop their leaves. I think they put those foil pot wrappers on the pots of poinsettias to hide the bare stems which show after all the

Lily of the Valley for Christmas

Lily of the Valley for Christmas

family holidays houseplants

On the surface, the story appears to be that I happened to see some pre-cooled Lily of the Valley pips for sale and decided to order them and give them a try.

But actually the story of how I came to this point of planting Lily of the Valley pips a few weeks before Christmas so they will bloom for the holidays starts way back many decades ago when I was a little girl.

Every Sunday when I was

Tips to Avoid Thanksgiving Day Clashes

Tips to Avoid Thanksgiving Day Clashes

houseplants Humor

Just a little coleus I'm attempting to turn into a houseplant.

Welcome to May Dreams Gardens, home of the clashing Thanksgiving Cacti.

Here in my sunroom, the big story, just in time for Thanksgiving, is about my two clashing Thanksgiving cacti.

Technically, they are both Schlumbergera truncata, and though they share the same name, I must keep them separated in the sunroom to avoid the clash

Amaryllis: From Pinterest to Potted

Amaryllis: From Pinterest to Potted

bulbs houseplants

I was browsing images on Pinterest and came across a picture of some Amaryllis planted in a large container with ivy, pinned by Mary Ann of Gardens of the Wild, Wild West.

I decided right then and there that I would pot up some Amaryllis and ivy for myself, just like in the picture, sort of.

The picture on Pinterest showed white Amaryllis in a white container. 

I decided on pink Amaryllis

I never cared about Camellias until...

I never cared about Camellias until...

books flowers houseplants

This is NOT a camellia, it is a rose.

I never cared about Camellias until I started reading Eudora Welty's gardening letters (Tell About Night Flowers: Eudora Welty's Gardening Letters, 1940-1949, edited by Julia Eichelberger).

I thought I knew all I needed to know about them. My daily iced green tea is made from the leaves of Camellia sinensis  and those grown for the flowers, generally