houseplants

Houseplants that are Good for You

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As summer comes to a close, students are back in school and all of us are spending more time indoors. Time to spruce up our homes with houseplants. Whether you have a home office, small desk for studying or just a chair where you like to read, adding a few houseplants to clean the air and bring a touch of nature inside is a great idea. There are plants that thrive with little care and are   I know, my house is quite dark and my plants are happy and healthy.

Plain green leafy types do best where the light is low.   My favorite upright plants include schefflera, Hawaiian arboricola,  philodendrons like selloum and split-leafed, Chinese evergreen, spathiphyllum (peace lily),cast iron plant (aspidistra), parlor palm, snake plant and ferns .  They are native to the jungle understory, under the canopy,  and grow naturally in low-light areas.   Hanging plants that I grow in these same conditions are heart-shaped philodrendron, pathos, and grape ivy. 

Many common houseplants  help fight pollution indoors.  They’re reportedly able to scrub significant amounts of harmful gases out of the air, through the everyday processes of photosynthesis. Some pollutants are also absorbed and rendered harmless in the soil.  Plant physiologists already knew that plants absorb carbon dioxide and release oxygen as part of the photosynthetic process. Researchers have found many common houseplants absorb benzene, formaldehyde and trichloroethylene, as well.

Most of the plants  evolved in tropical or sub-tropical forests, where they received light filtered through the branches of taller trees. Because of this, their leaf composition allows them to photosynthesize efficiently under relatively low light conditions, which in turn allows them to process gasses in the air efficiently.

Some houseplants are better at removing formaldehyde from the air, while others do a better job on benzene; none is much help when it comes to tobacco smoke. But there are enough known plants that do a good job of removing pollutants from the air we breathe to cause us to view houseplants as more than just an attractive feature to decorate our homes.

One is the common succulent, Aloe vera (now renamed Aloe barbadensis), also known as "medicine plant." Many people already have one in a bright kitchen window because of the soothing, healing properties its viscous inner tissue has on burns, bites and skin irritations.

Soil and roots were also found to play an important role in removing air-borne pollutants. Micro-organisms in the soil become more adept at using trace amounts of these materials as a food source, as they were exposed to them for longer periods of time. Their effectiveness is increased if lower leaves that cover the soil surface are removed, so there is as much soil contact with the air as possible.

NASA studies generated the recommendation that you use 15 to 18 good-sized houseplants in 6 to 8-inch diameter containers to improve air quality in an average 1,800 square foot house. The more vigorously they grow, the better job they’ll do for you.

The best indoor pollution fighters are:

    * Hedera helix  – English ivy
    * Chlorophytum comosum  – spider plant
    * Epipiremnum aureum  – golden pothos
    * Spathiphyllum `Mauna Loa’  –  peace lily
    * Aglaonema modestum  – Chinese evergreen
    * Chamaedorea sefritzii  – bamboo or reed palm
    * Sansevieria trifasciata   – snake plant
    * Philodendron scandens `oxycardium’ –  heartleaf philodendron
    * Philodendron selloum  – selloum philodendron
    * Philodendron domesticum  –  elephant ear philodendron
    * Dracaena marginata –  red-edged dracaena
    * Dracaena fragrans `Massangeana’  – cornstalk dracaena
    * Dracaena deremensis `Janet Craig’   -Janet Craig dracaena
    * Dracaena deremensis `Warneckii’ –  Warneck dracaena
    * Ficus benjamina – weeping fig    

 

California Native Plants, drought tolerant plants

Why Plant in the Fall?

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Those lazy, crazy, foggy days of summer are behind us now. What a strange summer it was. Checking my un-scientific weather records I’ve kept since 1999, I find no other summer that was as cool at this one. This comes as no surprise to you tomato growers out there, I know.   At the other end of the spectrum, a few years, like the summer of 2006 and 2008 were real scorchers. We’re all looking forward to Indian summer which is the best planting season of the year.

There is plenty of time to plant California natives, Mediterranean plants or any other perennial, shrub, grass or tree.  By r, roots have a chance to grow all autumn and most of the winter as well without having to supply nourishment to the leafy portion of the plant. Roots of deciduous plants still grow even after plants drop their foliage as long as the ground temperature is above 50 degrees.  Cooler day and night temperatures slowly harden off the top of the plant to prepare for the cold days of winter.

Another reason that fall is the no-fail planting season is because plants put in the ground in fall need less water to establish. Plants themselves use less water since photosynthesis is slowed by shorter days even if it’s occasionally hot. Evaporation rates slow down also during fall so water in the soil lasts longer as well. Sometimes we get lucky with fall and winter rains perfectly spaced so the ground never completely dries out.

Even cool season annuals such as snapdragons, pansies and violas, Iceland poppies and primrose planted in early fall have time to develop better roots before flowering and because they start blooming earlier they bloom over a longer time.

So get out the shovel, prepare you soil and make a shopping list.

Plants that thrive in dry, shady spots benefit especially from fall planting as they need established root systems before next years dry season. Dry shade sometimes occurs in places beyond the reach of the hose but also under native oaks. To protect their health, it’s a requirement that plants underneath thrive with little or no summer irrigation.

Plants of proven success under these conditions include native currants and gooseberry. Claremont pink flowering currant ( Ribes sanguineum var. glutinosum) are beautiful in spring with pale pink flower clusters that darken as they age. The powdered, blue-black berries are edible although the seeds are bitter. To get a taste of the fruit, though, you’ll have to compete with the birds. Chapparal currant is another tough reliable shrub that blooms early and often, flowering from December through March. The pendulous flower clusters are 2-6 inches long and range in color from dusty pink to rose red.

Other winning shrubs for dry shade include mahonia, nandina, osmanthus, snowberry, coffeeberry, aucuba, barberry and upright manzanita.

Groundcovers that thrive under oaks or other dry shady spots include hellebore, evergreen currant, correa, manzanita and sarcoccoca.

Whatever conditions you have in your garden, don’t miss out adding some great plants during the fabulous fall planting season.

 

container gardening, succulents

Tough Succulents & other Plants for Containers

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I have hundreds of plants in containers (295 at last count). You’d be amazed how many pots you can squeeze on a wrap-around deck, including the railings! Some of my favorites are those that house my succulent collection. I’ve come to think of them as pets as they grow over the years. They are tough, resilient and beautiful.

All my plants must be able to survive our winters without intervention on my part. I remember one cold snap about 10 years ago when the surface of my deck was frozen by early evening. I decided to move some cymbidium orchids onto the covered porch, slipped and almost broke my leg. Never again, I vowed. I may move a few succulents out of the pouring rain for the winter season but that’s the extent of my coddling.

The simplest and most sophisticated of all hardy container designs is to plant a skim of sedum across the surface of a shallow container. There are so many to choose from Then leave it alone to grow and drip down the sides.

Another plant combination that works well is to anchor a large pot with a slow growing shrub or dwarf tree that lends height as well as carries your display through the season.Plant a few hens and chickens (echeveria or sempervivum)  at the base and maybe a couple of blue fescue grasses for contrast.

Fast growing succulents, like trailing Sedum acre Lemon Ball or Golden Girl are fun and easy to grow and propagate. I’ve had my original for years although I thought I’d lost it last winter. Sixty inches of rain washed out all the soil in the pot and floated away most of the plant. From one small piece it has recovered beautifully.The chartreuse foliage would blend nicely with chocolate foliage like Carex Red Rooster or even chocolate cosmos.

Libertia, an iris relative with golden-orange swordlike leaves, looks great underplants with any of the succulents. This beautiful grass-like plant grows 2 ft high and 1 ft wide forming a colony by rhizomes. They are especially attractive when backlit. Clusters of inch wide, white flowers bloom from late spring to midsummer. Grow them in sun or light shade along with your succulents, phormiums and grasses.

Be sure to use a quality potting mix in your containers. There are special succulent and cactus mixes available but succulents are forgiving as long as the soil drains freely. of the pot as this impedes drainage. It work best to fill the entire pot with soil, top to bottom.

There are lots of succulents to plant up in interesting containers or simple clay pots. Some take full sun, while others like a bit of shade. Some handle frost easily while others need some protection. Let your imagination go wild.
 

Deer Resistant Plants

Beautiful Deer Resistant Plants

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It’s coming. You can feel it. When school starts, Indian Summer usually starts, too, and it won’t be long before we’ll be basking in lots of sunshine.

Fall is just around the corner and most flowering perennials and annuals will continue to bloom until Halloween and maybe into November if the weather cooperates. My garden is mostly blue, pink and lavender but I like to add warm colored flowers and foliage plants to the garden now to enjoy for the next several months.

Living in mostly shade I’m excited to see a new impatien in a peach color. Envoy peach butterfly sport a profusion  flowers with dark coral centers. This series also comes in bicolor rose and lavender shades which are equally showy. They really light up the shade garden.

There are many flowering plants that ease us into fall. Whether they bloom with red, orange, yellow, bronze or rust flowers, the colors seem appropriate at this time of year. Some of my favorites are kangaroo paw, erysimum ‘Fragrant Sunshine’, mimulus, strawflowers, asteriscus, lantana, coreopsis, mums and zinnia. Orange clock vines are one of the showiest around. They need protection here to survive the winter but the huge 3" long, bright orange flowers are worth the risk.

Gloriosa daisy or rudbeckia now come in so many new colors. Cherry Brandy produces beautiful masses of cherry red flowers to add to your traditional rusty colors. All are tough and easy to grow and they make a good cut flower for bouquets.

Don’t forget warm foliage colors like coprosma, Golden Delicious pineapple sage and red fountain grass to play off the bold colors of your fall flowers. By mixing in a liberal doses of grasses and shrubs you’ll have a garden that won’t quit until it gets cold.

Remember the color wheel to add additional colors to your warm autumn garden. Blue is the complementary color of orange and purple or lavender goes with yellow and gold. Cool down hot colors with blue flowering perennials like blue plumbago, Aster frikartii Monch, Russian sage, blue ground morning glory and scabiosa. Lilac or purple flowers include lavatera bicolor, Midnight penstemon, verbena, princess flowers, salvia and annuals like torenia and lobelia.
 

Deer Resistant Plants

Deer Resistant and Beautiful,too

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I’m standing just inside my screen door watching a young doe and her fawn browse on plants that are suppose to be "deer resistant". They are only about 5 ft from me and not really doing much damage yet. I see deer all the time but I confess, I am mesmerized. The fawn is so cute and still covered with spots. Then the doe reaches up and takes a bite from my variegated hanging fuchsia. I have been meaning to spray it with deer repellent but just haven’t gotten around to it. I quietly say "Don’t eat that" from behind the screen door. She looks all around- up, down, sideways- but can’t figure out where the voice is coming from. Deciding she wants no more of the talking fuchsia she rambles on followed by her little one.

It’s frustrating living in deer country. Fencing is expensive and deer repellent sprays need to be applied on a regular basis to be effective. What is safe from browsing in one yard is breakfast in another. Don’t be discouraged. Plants like lavender, sage, canna and calla lily, erysimum, euryops, lysimachia and grasses are top performers around deer. But if you’re itching to add something new to your garden try one of these.

Agastache is a long-blooming perennial with leaves that smell like licorice, sprearmint or lemon depending on the species. Also called Orange Hummingbird Mint, Anise or Lemon Hyssop, the leaves can be used in teas and the flowers are a hummingbird favorite.Their strong odor and flavor repel deer. Most grow 2-3 ft tall in sun or partial shade, are drought tolerant, long-lived, insect and disease resistant, non-invasive and need no staking. They also thrive with little deadheading or dividing. What’s not to love about agastache?

Need a vigorous groundcover that can compete with tree roots? Ceratostigma plumbagiodes or Dwarf Plumbago grows in sun or shade. Being drought tolerant it’s a good choice under native oaks. Electric blue flowers are showy in summer and fall and are set off by rich scarlet autumn foliage as the weather cools. They look great in front of golden foliage plants like coleonema ‘Sunset Gold’.  A light pruning in spring makes them look their best.s Easy to grow, spreading but not invasive, deer, pest and disease resistant they are true workhorses in the garden.

My last suggestion for a high-impact, low-care, deer resistant plant is Brilliance Autumn Fern. This is no ordinary looking fern. Striking as a specimen on it’s own or massed as a groundcover to create a glowing display, the fronds of this classy fern start out a shiny red-orange and hold the color long into the season before maturing to a glossy green. Combine these coppery new fronds with hellebore and ligularia to add zest to a container or shady garden. Another plus- they are pest free and not troubled by thrips that may infest other ferns like the western sword fern.

Add one of these new plants to your garden and welcome Bambi. We can all get along.

pests

Spider Mites

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That’s a good question
If you notice the leaves on some of your plants appear stippled or flecked with pale dots and have fine webbing, especially on the undersides, you have a spider mite infestation. These pests thrive during dry weather and their populations can get out of hand by August.

Mites puncture plant cells with their mouthparts, then suck the plant fluid. The tiny areas of leaf tissue that have been killed appear as tiny dots on the the leaves. Mites often go unnoticed because they are tiny and natural controls such as weather and predators frequently keep their populations low. Severe infestations often result because these natural controls have been disrupted by pesticides and excessive dust.

Control spider mites on fruit and nut trees, azalea, fuchsia, maples and rose by regular, forceful spraying of plants with water to rinse dust and dirt off both sides of leaves. If you do have to spray to control an outbreak use insecticidal soap or a light spray oil. Sulfur is effective in reducing populations of some spider mites but this dust can disrupt beneficial predaceous mites.

Avoid using broad-spectrum pesticides which disrupt biological controls. When applied for other pests during hot weather, these can cause dramatic outbreaks of mites within just a few days even though their label may say they control mites.

Although a young or weak plant may not survive a severe spider mite infestation, it is not usually fatal to a vigorously growing tree or plant. The best defense is a good offense – periodically spray your plants with water in the morning to keep them clean and dust free.

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