Submitted by Joan Regan
From the waiting room at the Doctors office, to the table by the chair where we sit to read the paper/Press, we will find House Plants. These plants are not only decorative, they also help to clean the air, taking in Carbon Monoxide and giving out Oxygen.
It is said that the more carpet in our homes and workplace, the more chemicals are released into the air and the more we need House Plants. Having an older home, carpets do keep the floors nice and warm, therefore every room is carpeted. So that’s the reason I have so many plants in our home. I need more, more, more. So they not only look pretty, but they are beneficial to our health, keeping the air we breathe clean. Having a completely carpeted home and a very large shedding dog is the excuse that I’m going with for the very large accumulation/jungle of house plants that I am acquiring in my little back sitting room.
House plants can be fun and almost anything goes as far as a pot for them. I have a friend who has a Ivy growing in water in a old milk jug sitting in a very old Bed Pan. If you have a cool looking container and you don’t want to damage it with water stains, just plant up a pot and put it inside of it, taking out the inside pot for watering and drainage.
Hanging Planters
The days of Joni Mitchell and Gordon Lightfoot are making a come back and folks are searching out yard sales and thrift shops for Macramé hangers. This is when our Spider plants look so good and they will spend the Summer hanging in a tree outside (in the shade). The ones I have love being outside and are twice the size when returning to the house come Fall. They are also descendents of a plant from the 60/70s as my Philodendron and Pothos were purchased from Woolworths in Hamilton. I lost all of my Philodendron over the years, but luckily had given our Niece Allison a snip and she returned a piece to me… and in a pretty little pot as well, bonus!
Another very old plant to me is my Dieffenbachia. It had become very straggly, downright ugly. So I cut the tops off and rooted them in water and put two of them back in the pot with their Momma and the others went in a new pot of their own. All are thriving.
My Xmas Cactus is deciding to be a Valentine Cactus, she is blooming away looking so pretty. Not many blooms, but they are huge.
Marie mentioned that her Amaryllis is also refusing to quit. It shot up another stem and is happily blooming away.
Gardens are gardens, inside or out. They all march to their own tune and that’s what makes them so much fun.
Here it is March – the longest month of all to me. But if it goes by like the last few months Spring will be here in no time and along with it comes the Humming Birds, Butterflies and WARMTH.
Happy Indoor Gardening,
Joni
jpregan@amtelecom.net 519-596-2389
