Herself's Houseplants

Are you one of those people who just must add water every time you walk by a plant? Consider growing some bog plants inside. They are easy to grow and they are far more exotic than your average house plant.

Carnivorous plants: These bog plants love sun So you’ll want a sunny window for them. They average about 6″ some more some less.

Umbrella plant: Would love a sunny window but will do fine in an east or west bright window. These grow to about 2′ potted up inside but can reach 4′.

Alocasias: Most of these do not want direct sun. They will grow 1′ to 2′ talk and you’ll feel your in the jungle.

All of these plants can be grown in sphagnum moss or peat moss, the only stipulation is that carnivorous plants can not be grown in soil that has had fertilizer added to it.

Pot up your plant and put the pot in a dish of water. Any 1″-2″ saucer will do just fine. Water them from the bottom, just top off that saucer when ever you feel the urge to water.

( or any other non-bulb plant )

The number one reason plants do not bloom indoors is they need more light. More light should always be the first thing you think of when ever a house plant has a problem.

So first try to find a sunnier location or put a fluorescent light over the plant several hours a day.

If the plant is still being difficult about blooming, try a balanced fertilizer, say 10-10-10 or so.

The second number is phosphorus and this is usually what is needed when a plant doesn’t bloom because of a nutritional problem. If you can find a fertilizer that has a higher middle number than the other two numbers try that. Because so much phosphorus is out in the environment and because of the harm it does most fertilizer companies don’t sell high phosphorus fertilizer any more.

If the plant stubbornly refuses to respond to light or fertilizer try giving it less water than it wants. You don’t want to dry it out, you just want to stress it a little. I find this almost always works if sun or fertilizer doesn’t.

If the plant still refuses, you must either learn to love it for its foliage or dump it and try a different plant.

This is a perfect plant for those of you who over water your plants.

umbrella plant

This is a bog plant, so you want to sit the pot it is in inside a saucer that will hold water. Water it from the bottom and just be sure to keep water in the bottom saucer. Regular garden soil is fine, it has no special soil needs.

Umbrella plants can handle full sun, and the more sun you can give them the better. They will do fine inside in a bright south, west or east window. Inside in a pot they will only reach a couple of feet tall. In a perfect environment they can get to 4′ in height.

I like this as an indoor plant because it is so simple and modern looking. It is avoided in outdoor gardens here because it can be invasive. Which makes it an easy to grow plant and perfect for growing inside.

Propagate by division.

Native to tropical Africa.

It doesn’t have to be an aquarium, any clear glass container that has a lid or a small opening will suffice.

1 ) Remove all the extra aquarium parts if you are using an aquarium, keep the light and cover but ditch the pump and anything else you can get out of your way.

2 ) Put the soil you’ll be using in the sink and wet it good. I use sphagnum peat moss or sphagnum moss for carnivorous plants and regular potting soil for most everything else.

3 ) Wring the soil out like you are squeezing a sponge. You want the soil to be wet enough to stick together like a meatball but you don’t want any extra water in there. This also makes it easier to get the soil in the terrarium with out getting it all over the sides of the terrarium.

4) I wipe down the sides of the terrarium now, it is much easier than it will be once the plants are inside. I also clean up and trim the plants now. It is much easier to clean them in the sink.

5) Using a spoon I dig little holes and plant my plants. Be very sure to firmly push the soil down around the plants. You don’t want air pockets around the roots.

6 ) Put the light and cover back on or find a sunny window for your terrarium.

You should see condensation form on the sides or top when the sun hits this terrarium. If not add a little water each day until you do. It’s awful hard to get the water back out so take your time.

If you use loose gravel or glass beads as a planting medium you might get algae. I find a little ‘Algae Fix’ added to the water takes care of that.