Petal to the Metal: Easy-Growing Gardening, #5

By Rosefiend Cordell

Houseplants can be a challenge when you have poor conditions (poor lighting, freezing windows in winter, humidity levels that match the Sahara Desert's, destructive toddlers, cats that use flowerpots as a litter box, etc.) This book goes through a few simple tips for caring for and raising houseplants, things I've learned through the years as I worked at various garden centers, greenhouses, and when I ran my own greenhouse as city horticulturist. I hope that when you get done reading, you should be able to take care of your own plants a little more easily.

This book gives you ways to beat insect infestations on your houseplants, tips on preparing plants for winter, how to raise orchids, African violets, grow a Christmas cactus the way your grandma did, and make poinsettias rebloom. You can learn how to make a dish garden and terrarium. You learn about the right way to water your houseplants, ways to fight back against aphids, mealybugs, spider mites on your English ivy, and fungus gnats (when I worked in the greenhouse, they always flew straight at my eyes and I mastered how to kill them in mid-flight). When insects afflict your houseplants, consult this book.

I've worked over 20 years in horticulture, and before then, I was reading all of my grandma's houseplant books and getting plant starts from her, and had two tables of houseplants when I was in junior high and high school. These days I'm raising Phalaenopsis orchids (butterfly orchids) and other fussbudget plants. I've learned things through long experience. I share them all in this book to make your time with your houseplants fun and easy.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Rosefiend Publishing
• Release date: Jul 24, 2020
• ISBN: 9781953196163

Rosefiend Cordell

This is the gardening pen name for Melinda R. Cordell. Former city horticulturist, rose garden potentate, greenhouse manager, perennials factotum, landscape designer, and small-time naturalist. I've been working in horticulture in one way or another since 1989. These days I write gardening books because my body makes cartoon noises when I move, and I really like air-conditioning. Good times!

Book preview

If you have a garden and a library, you have everything you need.

~Cicero

CONTENTS

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INTRODUCTION 1

IN OCTOBER, BRING HOUSEPLANTS INSIDE 4

HOUSEPLANT PEST HELP 7

AFRICAN VIOLET CARE MADE EASY(ER) 12

GROW A CHRISTMAS CACTUS JUST LIKE GRANDMA’S 16

‘TIS THE SEASON FOR ... POINSETTIAS 19

ARE YOU THE WORST PEST TO AFFLICT YOUR HOUSEPLANTS? 27

WHY ARE THE HOUSEPLANTS LOOKING MOPEY? 30

CRANKY HOUSEPLANTS 34

FUNGUS GNAT ATTACK! 36

FREE PLANTS THROUGH PROPAGATION 40

HOW TO WATER YOUR HOUSEPLANTS 44

ORCHIDS CAN BE EASY TO GROW (SOME OF THEM) 47

HOW TO OVERWINTER GERANIUMS 50

SOILLESS MIXES FOR HOUSEPLANTS 54

FALL BUGS ALL OVER THE HOUSE 57

CHOOSING A GOOD GARDENING BOOK 60

PREVIEWS OF MY OTHER GARDENING BOOKS 63

INTRODUCTION

When I was a kid, I used to read my grandma’s houseplant books, and I had a small table of houseplants that I got from her or I got from the store. I got a shrimp plant from Grandma Ann, which is a funny little plant, and African violets from Grandma Mary’s windowsill. She showed me how to stick African violet leaves in the soil, cover them with a little jar or some plastic wrap, and grow new plants. I learned that, if you laid a begonia leaf on the surface of the soil, baby plants would pop up around the edge of the leaf at the ends of the veins. (I didn’t pursue these because for some reason I was no fan of begonias.)

Lay a begonia leaf flat on the soil and tiny baby plants will start growing at the junctions of its veins.

Later on, in college, I got a job at the local garden center. As a result, when they were clearing out their stock of houseplants, I got a lot of free plants. I brought them all home. I had every kind of ivy, more African violets, stuff I can’t even remember the names of these days, hanging baskets – and a gigantic six-foot-tall Norfolk Island Pine that they simply had no space for, which retailed for $60. I was a college student, so I was pretty poor at the time. But my house was green and lush as a plant conservatory. Win!

Now I’m limited to raising plants in the kitchen window at work (my windows at home are no good for plants – I have no shelves, no space for tables). Here I have a bunch of Phalaenopsis orchids blooming, a couple of African violets, a sedum, and a cheerful little cyclamen that was languishing until I gave her a drink of weak coffee, and then she perked up right away. So now I make her a pot every morning. Kidding! (I had scoffed at coffee as a fertilizer before – I’m sold on it now.)

Houseplants can be a challenge when you have poor conditions (poor lighting, freezing windows in winter, humidity levels that match the Sahara Desert’s, destructive toddlers, cats that use flowerpots as a litter box, etc.). I’ve been terrible about houseplants after my years as a horticulturist. While working outside, I’ve always tried to grow plants that can take care of themselves. For a while, that attitude leaked over to my houseplants – with terrible results. Of course an African violet isn’t going to water itself! That’s my job!

Now I’ve gotten better about caring for plants – gone back to my roots, as it were, back when I had my collection of plants when I was a kid and did a good job of caring for them. (Except for that asparagus fern that dropped sharp dried leaves all over my carpet. I hated that plant! I should have thrown it out!)

This book goes through a few simple tips for caring for and raising houseplants. I hope that when you get done reading, you should be able to take care of your own plants a little more easily.

IN OCTOBER, BRING HOUSEPLANTS INSIDE

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My Missouri Department of Conservation calendar says that early October is the average day of the first frost in northern Missouri. Have you brought your houseplants in?

Clean up a sunny area inside the house or garage where you plan to keep your houseplants through the winter. You might even clean the window and trim back any branches outside that block the sun. A south-facing location is best for the plants that have spent all summer outside. However, if your plants prefer shade, filter the light with a sheer curtain

Try to give the sun-loving plants as much sun exposure as you can. Though the winter sun is actually closer to the earth, the earth is tilted away from the sun, which drastically cuts down on the light’s intensity (and this is also why the sun hangs so low in the south through the winter).

If you have large fluorescent lights, halogen lights, or metal halide lights, your houseplants will do just fine.

Even if you have good light for your plants, you will still see some leaves falling – especially if they’re those little fig trees, which need a lot of light.

Before you bring the plants in, clean them off. Pick off all