Houseplants - Cool Room, Hot Room

Continuing our discussion on your home’s environment we looked at the overall indoor plant environment and also a way to make a determination on how to classify the plant lighting where you plan on placing your house plant. Now let’s look at the indoor temperatures. How exactly would you classify the “plant room” or space from a temperature point of view.

Rooms vary in temperature from season to season. It’s possible to have a cold room in the winter and a hot room in the summer.

For example, during the winter months do you need a extra layer of clothing while sitting in the room? Granted some people are more sensitive to cold but if this doesn’t describe you the room would be labeled as a - cool winter room. If the family will never venture into the room without a thick blanket or heavy winter coat, the rooms definitely on the cold side.

If during the heat of summer the same room needs to have the blinds adjusted or pulled to reflect the suns rays and keep the heat out. This room would be labeled - hot in the summer!

If the room keeps a nice fairly even temperature all year round we would categorize this room as warm.

All this information helps you in the selection of plants indoors. Not only does it help with plant choices but also plant varieties. Some of the new plant varieties have been breed specifically to handle or tolerate cooler indoor temperatures.

A palm may be better than a Dracaena or new variety of Aglaonema do well where and old variety did not. Take these all into account when buying your houseplants.

Next time well take a look at the air…

Bromeliads Silk Plants and Flowers

My wife and I have been out looking at furniture and other accessories for our new house. While browsing through some of the furniture stores I’ve been amazed at the quality and variety of the silk plants on display. Everything from Silk ficus trees, Aglaonemas, Orchids, Spathiphyllum, Dracaenas, Calatheas, Bananas, palms like Kentia, Rhapis, and even bamboo.

For example, one of the most popular indoor plants on the market would have to be the colorful Bromeliad family. Bromeliad flowers and foliage offer a pop in color indoors and the plants adapt very well to interior use.

Bromeliads also offer a wide variation in size, shape, and foliage color - orchids may be the only other family that can beat these “air plants” in the color department. The unfortunate part is that not all areas in a home give easy access for easy to care for plants like the Bromeliad.

To the rescue comes the world of silk flowers and plants. If you can’t go “real” silk bromeliad flowers still offer the accent of color is those out of the way places. We have some “planters” sitting high above our kitchen cabinets. As much as I would like to go “live” almost the same look can be achieved using silk plants and bromeliad and orchid flowers for year-round interior beauty.

More on Bromeliad Care…

Japanese Garden Design, Zen and the Art of Balance

Whenever you hear someone mention Japanese gardens, what comes to your mind? For me the first thing I think of is bonsai plants and trees, unique decorative pots, a quiet but ever present sound of water flowing over rocks rolling into a pond, balance and tranquility. The one thing that always seems to define a true Japanese gardens is the art of Zen. I can’t describe what Zen is exactly but mot of us seem to know Zen when we see or experience it.

I’ve always held a fascination with Japanese Gardens, I guess it all started in my teens when working at a nursery a neighbor of the owner living across the street had a small Japanese garden. The neighbor was Japanese and was what we called a “war bride.” She kept the Japanese culture alive in her home from the rice cakes, decoration and even a small garden. Maintaining a Japanese Garden is truly an art.

As an avid collector of plants I’ve been blessed to meet people from different places and cultures throughout the world. Our common bond is plants and their care, but it’s also interesting to see how many of these “friends” incorporate their love of plants and growing things into their lives.

Traveling to Hawaii was probably my first exposure to a “full size” garden dedicated to the Japanese art form.

My wife an I visited a plant collector on the island of Oahu, it’s the island where all the tourist go to start their Hawaiian adventure. The only information and communication we had prior to our visit was some snail mail passed back and forth and a phone call or two… long before the web came into being.

When we arrived at the home I immediately became awe struck with the true beauty the garden the moment I saw it. The peacefulness, balance of nature and the incorporation of plants, water, landscape rocks, containers, wood decks, pathways and small viewing areas, all rolled into one perfect scene I pictured from a book.

Each item was extremely neat, proportioned, clean and seemingly so delicate. I felt almost scared to walk up the path of the stones to the door as I felt my footsteps would disturb the tranquility.

Our host, about the build of a small Sumo wrestler must have seen the look of awe in my eyes, he greeted us and kindly stood with us, patiently explaining the whole tranquil setting. He took the time to not only expound on the beautiful garden but did it in a defining way that seemed to be “one with the garden itself.” He pointed out the bonsai specimens, explaining the unique features of each one. He also talked about the pond of Koi fish and explained that although they were Chinese, they added the element of prosperity to his Japanese garden.

Our visit flew by in just a matter of a few hours, yet it was a defining moment is my “life of plants” as I came face to face with plants not as a collector but plants as a part of our life.

How about you? What role do plants play in your life inside or outside? Do they help provide balance, a place of retreat and do they matter? In a Japanese garden plants, rocks, water, wood and fish come alive.

African Violet Plants - Grandma’s Easy to Grow Color

My mother has an African Violet sitting on her kitchen window sill probably 40 years old - maybe one day I’ll inherit this houseplant, does this make it an heirloom plant?

When I first started working at a nursery in my teens learning about and playing with orchids, anthuriums and other tropical house plants, the person I worked for had a few African violets sitting on the window sill in the kitchen. I liked the fact that the plant always had flowers.

His wife gave me my own violet to “care for.” I had to water, fertilize, repot, handle any pest issues and basically learn how to grow and care for this plant. My goal was to grow a better looking plant then the boss - and I did!

As I think back about growing that African Violet, I now understand what my boss was teaching me. It was simply plant care. It came down the learning, understanding and adapting the growing the needs of that plant to the environment and conditions available.

Maybe you have memories of someone in your family who cherished their African Violets and they were such a part of their live.

Go pick one up and start learning how to care for them. They’re great teachers. Then move on to other plants and start a plant legacy.

Hurricanes and Growing Houseplants - Lessons We Can Learn

One of the biggest mistakes many people make in caring for houseplants is overwatering. The soil becomes over saturated and the roots drowned from a lack of oxygen. The result – roots die off, leaves begin to yellow and fall off. That’s what happens to plants indoors.

Is there any difference between indoor plants and outdoor plants?

Answer: Yes and No!

At the moment we’re in the middle of hurricane season with storms spinning off the Florida coast. What a hurricane and tropical storm brings is water in the form of rain which end up standing for days and wind, sometimes constant and other times in gust.

For tips on getting your yard, landscape and home prepared for a storm check out these hurricane safety tips.

Plants inside and out may experience some of the same symptoms from the stress of over watering. Plants outside usually bounce back and come back with a renewed vigor. The same cannot be said for indoor plants.

Let’s take a quick look and identify some differences

Both the indoor and outdoor plants don’t receive the same amount of air movement so we can eliminate the wind comparison. However, we can identify one difference. With high winds, plants outdoors – trees and shrubs – do receive a “natural” pruning and a loss of leaves and sometimes major branches !

With some of the landscape canopy removed from the storm the landscape can begin its recovery. But now plants have more roots to support less foliage – sometimes called root to shoot ratio they can put all the “stored food” and energy into growing more branches and foliage to even out the root to foliage balance.

From a water perspective, both indoors and in the landscape the plants receive way more water than needed. The difference in the landscape, comes from nature’s ability to allow the roots to dry out as the water recedes. Plants may be sitting in water for a few hours or days but eventually the soil will dry out and the roots can get the needed oxygen.

What can we learn from hurricanes and tropical storms on caring for our houseplants?

Plants can handle a lot of water IF the water can be drained from the root area. Indoors without holes in pots for drainage the water sits and slowly rots the roots.

Make sure your pots and planters have a way to drain off the excess water. That also goes when planning your landscape design. Make sure you factor in drainage when landscaping with decorative pots and planters, they also need a way to drain off excess water. Indoors think of double or cache potting houseplants.

Take some time and learn about watering your plants from Mother Nature.

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