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!

. . . The Resurrection Plant lives in a desert environment, from the Southwest United States Sonoran and Chihuahan Deserts into Mexico and Central AMerica, all the way down to El Salvador. While this tropical and sub-tropical climate range shares many common species, the Resurrection Plant is unique among them because it is one of the only lycopods to live in the desert.Lycopods are ancient plants, which have not evolved in millenia. Evidence of their existance, almost unchanged, can be dated back 400 million years. Lycopods have only roots, stems with scales, and strobili, which are structures that produce spores. In this way, they are similar to the other spore-producing plants moss and ferns. They do not have true leaves.Resurrection Plants get their name form their evolved trait that allows them to cope with long periods of dry weather. When it rains, they grow large and lush very quickly, but when the air and earth become dry, the Resurrection Plant curls up into a tight ball, preserving a small amount of water in its center. In this form it can survuve long seasons without water, and when the rains return they unfurl, seemingly coming back from the dead!. . .
Resurrection Plant, something between moss and fern

More information:
Resurrection Plant, something between moss and fern
Resurrection Plant ( before and after receiving water )
Time lapse video of a Resurrection plant opening

Consider these fascinating succulent facts:* All cactuses are succulents, but not all succulents are cactuses.
* Most succulents have no leaves, only plump water-storing stems in various shapes and sizes. Leaves and branches are expressed in some succulents as spines – such as you find in cactuses.
* Spines or thorns protect cactuses from predators.
* Hairy succulents collect water by trapping dew.
* Agaves collect water by channeling it from their outstretched stems to the base.
* Barrel cactuses, with their pleated shapes, expand and contract depending on how much water they have stored.
* Waxy coatings on many succulent surfaces prevent the release of water back into the atmosphere.
* Many desert-adapted cactuses spread their roots wide just below the soil surface to catch and keep every raindrop that comes their way.
* The smaller a succulent is, the higher in elevation is its native habitat. You can find some sedums in alpine areas.
* Century plant is a misnomer. These plants actually bloom every 10 years or so.
is exposed to the sun.

More information:
Succulents | succulents, water, cactuses, desert cactus