Herself's Houseplants

So … how are those pots doing in the middle of the summer? The answer might well depend on whether we deadhead! . . .From the get-go, container plants need to be groomed in order to retain the fresh and healthy look of the newly planted. This is even more important for a collection of flowering plants, and especially annuals. Deadheading, as part of the grooming process, is a meticulous job, but one that I find extremely rewarding. The results show up immediately in good color, new growth, full blossoms and no unsightly dead ends.Deadheading is no more complicated than cutting off the dead heads, or spent blossoms, of the plants. At its most basic, you can just snip off the dead flowers at their base with a scissors, cutting shears, or your fingernail depending on how thick the stems are. In so doing you will at least remove the unsightly brown and dry former blossoms and improve your plant’s overall good looks. But there are other aspects of this process to consider. New growth will occur from the point where the cut has been made, so it is important to picture how that plant will look after you deadhead. Think also about longer life for the plant, another period of bloom, and/or having leftover seeds and slips for you to play with. . . .

In the Pot: Be a ‘deadhead’

When my great-aunt Carrie headed to assisted living 25 years ago, her patio garden was parceled out to relatives and friends. I inherited her night-blooming cereus, a plant that has become a most unlikely family touchstone.

I know it was that long ago because my memories of our son’s tumultuous first months are still perfumed with the flower’s scent. Nathan is now 23.

The cereus, formally known as Epiphyllum oxypetalum, had been with us for a while before Nate came along. It already had outgrown one pot and had taken up much of our small front porch.

Most of the time, it was a gangly eyesore. A member of the cactus family, the night-blooming cereus has long, flat stems that look like leaves and are so thick and fibrous that even snails do little damage. Dead stems turn from a wan green to a gray-mottled yellow and then shrivel, hanging indefinitely until someone hacks them off.

But the flowers are showstoppers. . . .

Blooms evoke family memories

Thanks for the photo!