by Meg Lynch, editor

At the start of the summer I moved all of my houseplants outdoors. It’s a vacation for them—they can enjoy the fresh air. I admit it’s a welcome vacation for me, too! I basically let them fend for themselves while they’re out there, though I do water them now and then. (Most are under trees, so they don’t get much rain.)

Don’t get me wrong. I love my houseplants. I like what they do for my décor and I like taking care of them. I find it rewarding and fun and generally a good way to unwind. But I have an awful lot of plants! Putting them outside lets me (a) open/close the windows more easily and (b) spend my “plant time” in the outdoor garden. This is its season, after all.

I do keep a few plants inside though. I guess I’m playing favorites. Besides my living stones, which would surely rot outside, I held back these two pots of succulents. The round pot has Aloe ‘Blue Elf’ (rear), some sort of haworthia (left) and Haworthia attenuata ‘Variegata’ (right), which is a pup of the plant in the other pot. Something about this little group makes me want to keep it close.

Do you have plants that you baby? I'd love to hear about them. Leave a comment here or join us in the Forum.

7/29/2008 12:56:34 PM (Eastern Daylight Time, UTC-04:00)    Comments [0] 

by Meg Lynch, Editor

Another sure sign of spring, for me, is when my living stone (Lithops sp.) begins to shed its old body—which is really just pairs of water-filled leaves.

This is a succulent plant native to South Africa, where it sits low in the ground, protected from grazing animals by its pebble-like appearance. I had wanted a living stone for a couple years before I finally found a local greenhouse that had some.  It was July 15, 2002, to be exact—I noted it in the cactus and succulent diary that I kept at the time:

“LIVING STONES!!!     !!!     !!! Very excited! One is greenish and the other grayish/peachish—they look good and I will take careful care of them!”

At some point soon thereafter the gray one died, though I don’t seem to have noted it.

On March 1, 2003, I mention that lately the still-living living stone, the green one, which I dubbed Gerard, “started to open a pinhole and that turned into a large oval-shaped separation and inside there are what look like tiny Gerards.” I had been hoping it was going to flower. But it was just going through the routine of a living stone: to shed its leaves each year, revealing new leaves inside. Sometimes they open to show more pairs than the last year, and form large clumps this way. (Gerard has held steady at two pairs.)

It has done this right around the middle of February every year since. It takes a couple months for the old leaves to completely shrivel away. All of my references say not to water a living stone at all until it has finished this routine, but toward the end I do give it a little water. I think it helps to move the process along—the new leaves swell up with water, and as they do they shrug the old leaves farther off.

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2/26/2008 4:12:23 PM (Eastern Standard Time, UTC-05:00)    Comments [4] 

by Meg Lynch, Editor

I know spring is around the corner when my houseplants start to perk up. Here are the first of my cacti to bloom. Some others have buds forming. These are planted together in the bottom half of a clay pot designed to cook a chicken. It is the perfect shape and depth!

These first blooms prove for me that the sun is getting stronger and the daylight hours, longer. Do you know we start Daylight Savings Time in three weeks?  I can’t wait to be getting home while it is still light out—looking at the garden is a great way to end the day.

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2/15/2008 4:18:50 PM (Eastern Standard Time, UTC-05:00)    Comments [1] 

by Meg Lynch, Editor

Yesterday was Thanksgiving, and Christmas is a full month away. But I have been seeing "Holiday Sale" ads and Christmas decorations (wreaths and lights) for at least a week already. A few radio stations switched to all holiday music last week, too. Even the houseplants are jumping the gun!

These huge Christmas cacti belong to my mother. They are more than 10 years old. Christmas cacti have been bred from plants (Zygocactus truncatus and Schlumbergera russeliana) that are native to the rain forests of Brazil. There they grow on the branches of trees. Domestic Christmas cacti like bright light, humid air, regular watering, and good drainage—the conditions they would find in the jungle. Their stems get woody with age and they take on a mat-like shape, which I imagine would help them stay in place on a tree branch.

Short days (and long nights) trigger their flowering. My mother keeps hers in a room not frequented at night. It is dark there from sundown to sunup, and they reliably set buds and bloom in late fall. This year they were just in time for pumpkin pie.

11/23/2007 2:24:01 PM (Eastern Standard Time, UTC-05:00)    Comments [1] 

by Meg Lynch, Editor

Another of my gesneriads has started to flower. This is an African violet, Saintpaulia 'Ramblin Moonbeam'. I like this one because it doesn't look like a typical African violet. It is a trailing type. Trailers grow long thick stems from which new rosettes of leaves sprout. I've read that nicking the top of the stem will encourage a new rosette to grow in that spot, but I haven't tried it. I think this plant is doing well for itself—doesn't need my interference!

This is a particular favorite of mine because it is the first violet I propagated myself. I bought the parent plant at a violet show a few years ago. I have noticed that one of the flowers (the first one to open) on this plant is tinged pink in its center, though the parent has solid white flowers. I will keep an eye on the other flowers to see if they start to turn pink too, and do a little research this weekend to see what the story could be.

By the way, our art director, Lisa Newman, is blogging in Nan's place while Nan leads a tour in South Africa. Click here to catch up with Lisa.

11/16/2007 2:47:28 PM (Eastern Standard Time, UTC-05:00)    Comments [1] 

by Meg Lynch, Editor

I'm happy to turn my full attention back to my houseplants in the fall. Watering, repotting, rearranging, propagating—all these little jobs are very satisfying, particularly when it is cold and dreary outside. Here is a favorite plant in a favorite pot. It is a cape primrose, or hybrid Streptocarpus. I propagated this one from a larger plant belonging to my mother. This is its first flower.

Cape primroses are in the same family as African violets (Saintpaulia hybrids) and gloxinia (Sinningia hybrids), the gesneriad family (Gesneriaceae). They like bright light and normal room temperature. When the top inch or so of the soil feel dry, I water. That's about it. I really find that these plants as well as the African violets are not as fussy as some people seem to think. But maybe I have just been lucky.

They do like a little extra humidity. Two places that have worked out well for cape primroses and violets at my house: the windowsill above the kitchen sink, and a set of shelves in the bathroom.

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11/9/2007 4:30:15 PM (Eastern Standard Time, UTC-05:00)    Comments [1] 

by Meg Lynch, Editor

Here are two happy houseplants that I wish I knew more about. Can anyone help?

Neither came with much information. The top plant came labeled Pilea 'Aquamarine', but I haven't been able to find details about it in any of my books, our office library, or on the Internet. It is a nice trailing plant with small round leaves and tiny pinkish flowers.

The bottom level plant came with no tag. I know it's some kind of rhizomatous begonia. At first I thought it was the iron cross begonia (B. masoniana) but the markings aren't quite right. It has very rough leaves. Recently it has sent up dainty white flowers, which have lasted for a couple weeks.

These plants are in a bright sunroom. The lower level of the plant stand seems to be the perfect spot for the begonia—it prefers filtered or indirect light.

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8/24/2007 4:56:14 PM (Eastern Daylight Time, UTC-04:00)    Comments [1] 

Why Are They Hairy?

Here's a shot of two popular cacti. On the left is Mammilaria hahniana, or the old lady cactus, next to Cephalocereus senilis, or the old man cactus. I think of these two as Jack Sprat and his wife. (Remember the nursery rhyme?) The hairs on these cacti are modified spines. They shield the plant's skin from the sun—the same way we might wear a white shirt in the garden.

In response to my last post, "Japanese Maple" asked when is the best time to start cacti from seed. (Click here to read JM's full comment.)

Generally you want to time it so that the cactus seedlings have plenty of warm, long days during which to sprout and put on their initial growth. I start mine in late spring or early summer. They have all summer and autumn to gain size. Their growth slows down during winter, when we get less sun and the house is cooler.

I'm planning to start some seeds this weekend. I'll photograph it as I go and post a step-by-step next week.

6/15/2007 10:18:28 AM (Eastern Daylight Time, UTC-04:00)    Comments [0] 

Summer Camp for Cacti

On Sunday I moved many of my cacti and other succulents outside. They will spend the summer on the front porch. They are at the south-facing end, where they'll get almost a full day of direct sun. The porch roof will protect them from the rain, so I don't have to worry that they'll get too much water. They should benefit from the fresh air and high light, which I just can't duplicate indoors.

I use an assortment of plant stands and small tables to hold them. The best thing I've found is this rolling cart. We used to use it in the study for organizing files, folders, envelopes, etc., but it makes a great plant stand. The wire allows plenty of light through to the plants on the lower levels. I can also water the plants without removing them. I would do this on an overcast day, because water droplets might leave scorch marks on the plants if bright sun reflects through them.

After I moved these out, the space where they had been indoors seemed very empty. Luckily I have eight packets of seeds that I ordered from the Cactus and Succulent Society of America (one of the benefits of membership!). I'll be starting those next weekend. I have plans to propagate more African violets and cape primroses (Streptocarpus), too.

Click here to visit the Cactus and Succulent Society web site.

Read Nan's blog.

6/12/2007 12:21:50 PM (Eastern Daylight Time, UTC-04:00)    Comments [1] 

Witchy Wisteria

We just received an e-mail from a Horticulture reader about wisteria—another plant that will win you over with its beauty but may take over your life if you plant it. When I was at Long Hill the other day (see my May 8 post) my fellow tour-takers were very impressed by the wisteria climbing the rear of the house. It wasn't in leaf or bloom yet, but we all sighed imagining how pretty it must look later in the season. Our guide, the gardens' superintendent Dan Bouchard, agreed it is pretty but explained the lengths to which he must go to keep the vine from swallowing the house. My mother had the same experience with a wisteria at her father's house; it didn't seem so beautiful when she was hanging out the upstairs window trying to prune it, or when it ran under the sidewalk and attempted to scale a telephone pole.

Here's the message Jim Lewis, of Columbus, North Carolina, sent, along with a great picture of how he now grows wisteria:

"Wisteria is indeed one of the most beautiful vines and flowers imaginable. But down here in the south, it also is one of the most invasive of plants. I doubt you could find an extension agent south of the Mason-Dixon line who would recommend either Wisteria sinensis (the Chinese wisteria) or W. floribunda (Japanese wisteria) as a garden vine. It has taken over, twining high into trees where it is beautiful, but where it shades out other—perhaps native—species. It's not kudzu, but it's not nice, either.

"Wisteria can be grown, however. In pots. I grow mine in bonsai pots. And once I get them to bloom, I carefully cut away any seeds that form afterward and destroy them. It takes several years to get a wisteria bonsai to bloom, but once it does, the wait is worth it. I have attached a photograph of mine this spring."

Thanks for writing to us, Jim. Readers, to share your thoughts just click "Comments."

5/18/2007 10:22:03 AM (Eastern Daylight Time, UTC-04:00)    Comments [0] 

“Eureka!” on the Lighting Aisle

I went to Lowe’s the other day with my sister, who is remodeling her bathroom. We picked out some switch plates and towel bars then headed over to the lighting department. My mind started to wander to the houseplants I had planned on watering that day but had abandoned for this home-improvement excursion. Then I had a plant-related “Eureka!”

We were looking at over-the-sink sconces. The display shows a great many different, yet nearly identical, wall-mounted bare-bulb fixtures. Underneath these are rows of glass lampshades in different colors, shapes, and textures. You choose your basic fixture, then whichever shade you want to go over the light bulbs.

I realized that one of these shades would make a perfect cover for a small humidity-loving houseplant. Placed over the plant, it acts as a mini greenhouse, letting in light but trapping moist air. Because it is open at the top as well as the bottom (the narrow end would screw into the light fixture, if I had bought one of them, too), it allows some air to escape, so the environment won’t get too damp or stale.

It also looks pretty cool. I chose a clear shade with bubbles embedded in the glass. It cost about $5. Here it is over one of my young (six months) African violets, Saintpaulia ‘Stormy Rage’.

3/14/2007 10:13:39 AM (Eastern Daylight Time, UTC-04:00)    Comments [2] 

A Good Weekend

Over the weekend I visited Kane’s Flower World, a greenhouse and nursery in Middleton, Massachusetts. I needed to get a cactus to fill a space in one of my dish gardens, and my baby African violets were ready for dividing, so I needed some supplies.

I had started these violets from leaf cuttings. Last summer I ordered leaves from Lyndon Lyon Greenhouses, an African violet specialist. I got two leaves each of ten different cultivars, and stuck them in plastic pots of potting mix with extra perlite. Nearly all of the leaves produced a baby plant; some produced more than one.  

I divided some of them several months ago, planting the babies into one-inch clay pots. Huge mistake! The size and make-up of these pots mean they dry out very quickly. It has been nearly impossible to keep those violets watered. The majority of them died.

So I bought three-inch square plastic pots at Kane’s for the ones I was dividing this weekend. I also bought some vermiculite to mix into the potting soil, to help retain moisture. (I add perlite, too, to lighten the mix; violet roots have trouble moving through heavy soil.)

Now I have 14 baby violets in 14 plastic pots on a cookie sheet by the window. I had some pots and mix left over, so I started cuttings from a mature violet and a streptocarpus.

And, besides the cactus I needed to fill that space, I bought three more and made another dish garden. It was a good weekend!

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2/20/2007 4:49:05 PM (Eastern Standard Time, UTC-05:00)    Comments [7]