Herself's Houseplants

. . . The selection of houseplants at garden shops, big-box stores and even grocery stores hasn’t merely grown, it has matured. Cool carnivorous plants are stocked side-by-side with gorgeous moth orchids; fancy-leaf begonias are nudging out dependable but demure scheffeleras.”Nobody ever needs to buy a pothos again,” says Ellen Zachos, owner of Acme Plant Stuff in New York and an expert on houseplants of all kinds. “There is so much out there that is more interesting and just as easy to grow.”

Try something new. . . [ read more Indoor garden grows more exotic]

Plant selections have gotten better. I’ve been finding carnivorous plants more regularly and the novelty plant section at Walmart has turned up some cool surprises ( dirt cheap ) as well.

What do you do when you have over watered your favorite plant?

The first thing to do is to get it out of the pot and re-pot it in fresh soil. It is not the damp soil that kills the plant but the bacteria that grows in the damp soil. So un-pot the plant, rinse off the roots in the sink and scrub out the pot if you are using the same pot. Dish soap and hot water work just fine.

There are several products you can buy in the nursery or online to treat bacterial problems with plants. If you have a plant you can not easily re-pot you might try one of those remedies first.

If you have a plant that gets over watered or is just prone to root rot try this:
Unpot the plant.  Take a small clay pot, about 1/3 the size of the main pot, and place it upside down in the larger pot.  This takes away the part of the soil that remains wet the longest.  Cover with a little dirt.  Place your plant over the upside down pot and guide the roots to the section between the two pots.  Finish filling with soil.  Just remember to keep a closer eye on the soil moisture now.

And remember when in doubt -> wait don’t water.