Orchids – Best Growing Tips

Orchids have a reputation as being finicky. Far from being picky and delicate, though, they simply have different needs from most other houseplants. Once you understand those needs, they become as easy to grow as

Orchid – General Care

One of the most popular booths at flower shows is the one that sells orchids to show-goers. The aisles are crowded with persons trying to protect the brilliant flowers and slender flower stems of their newly purc

Houseplants – Do They Clean Indoor Air

An Internet search for Web sites containing "houseplant air pollution" yields more than seven hundred entries. Most of them offer to sell me plants that clean indoor air. They vaguely refer back to a

Holiday Plants – Care

Now that the holidays are just around the corner, your office and home are probably awash with holiday plants. Red, pink and yellow poinsettias perch on cubicle dividers. Amaryllis steadily send their thick bloom

Christmas Cactus – Care

The striking red, pink or white flowers of the Christmas Cactus make it an obvious candidate for holiday houseplant blooms each winter. Imagine the consternation, though, when most of the flower buds fall off of

Night-Blooming Cereus – ID

Two plants are called night-blooming cereus: One is a night blooming, fragrant epiphytic cactus, classified as Hylocereus due to the TRIANGULATE leaves, and upright growth to 15′. Selenicereus grandiflorus

Poinsettia – Choosing

Examine the tiny yellow-green flowers at the ends of the poinsettia branches. If more than one or two are open, the poinsettia will not hold its freshness for long. Poinsettias are typically sent to stores in sev

Christmas cactus – Good Description

This excellent article tells all you need to know about these holliday favorites. Holiday Cacti Chris Currey, University of Minnesota Graduate Student (this article is no longer online, so the images are gone) Th

Ferns – Bringing Indoors

Most fern baskets must be divided each year. Otherwise, the root mass simply holds too much water and root rot begins. It is difficult for homeowners to duplicate greenhouse conditions during cold weather but try

Ficus – Bringing Indoors

The Ficus benjamina is famous for making tremendous growth while outdoors in the heat of a Georgia summer. But it is equally famous for dropping copious quantities of leaves when brought indoors for the winter.

Paperwhite Narcissus – Keeping Short – Science Project

Tired of floppy paperwhites?? Acording to Beth Jarvis from the University of Minnesota, if you're bummed because your paperwhite nasrcissus always flop over, help is at hand. No, you don't need to sta

Science vs Pseudo-science

One of the most ill-informed decisions of my life was to major in chemistry in college. Sure, I had excelled in the subject in high school. I could make my own gunpowder from ingredients bought at the pharmacy in

Geraniums – Bringing Indoors

Those fiery red blooms look pretty ragged in late fall so this is a fine time to think about keeping them for the winter. There are three methods: keep them potted indoors in a sunny window, store them "roo

Paperwhite Narcissus – Make Sturdier Stems with Alcohol

I love the scent of paperwhite narcissus during the holidays! Too bad the stems usually grow so tall they flop over in my container. Now there is an easy way to keep them shorter…and it involves alcohol! A

Lime Tree Success

Q: A radio caller asked about getting a lemon tree to bear fruit.  I am attaching pictures of my Persian lime tree.  It is about 10 years old and has had limes since it was two years old.  We bring it into the ba

June Houseplant Tips

Divide an overgrown Boston fern into quarters; plant two quarters into each of two separate hanging baskets filled with potting soil. The ferns will look great in four weeks and you double your money in only thir

Houseplants – Care While on Vacation

House plants can be kept in good condition for several days while you’re on vacation by using clear, plastic bags as miniature greenhouses. Soak the soil thoroughly, allow to drain, then insert 2 – 3 wooden

Poinsettia – Pointers for Indoor Care

Poinsettias are NOT poisonous. That old myth was dispelled by a research project at The Ohio State University in 1975. While the latex sap may be irritating to the eyes, the plants are not toxic. All poinsettia f

Houseplants – Propagating

PROPAGATING HOUSEPLANTS – A “ROOTS” EXPERIENCE My wife has a pothos vine that vigorously overflows and cascades down the sides of a fourteen-inch wide pot. The plant originated with three short cuttings her

Houseplants – Winter Care

HOUSEPLANT CARE FOR WINTER The long warm autumn came to an abrupt end a few weeks ago. One of the first things I did when the weatherman predicted temperatures below freezing was to inventory the houseplants on o