The Complete Guide to Keeping Your Houseplants Alive and Thriving: Everything You Need to Know Explained Simply

The Complete Guide to Keeping Your Houseplants Alive and Thriving: Everything You Need to Know Explained Simply

Copyright © 2011 Atlantic Publishing Group, Inc.

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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Baker, Sandy Ann, 1976-

The complete guide to keeping your houseplants alive and thriving : everything you need to know explained simply / by Sandy Baker.

p. cm.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN-13: 978-1-60138-349-5 (alk. paper)

ISBN-10: 1-60138-349-5 (alk. paper)

1. House plants. 2. Indoor gardening. I. Title.

SB419.B127 2011

635.9’65--dc22

2011014127

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INTERIOR LAYOUT: Antoinette D’Amore • [email protected]

PROOFREADER: C and P Marse • [email protected]

COVER DESIGN: Meg Buchner • [email protected]

BACK COVER DESIGN: Jackie Miller • [email protected]

A few years back we lost our beloved pet dog Bear, who was not only our best and dearest friend but also the Vice President of Sunshine here at Atlantic Publishing. He did not receive a salary but worked tirelessly 24 hours a day to please his parents.

Bear was a rescue dog who turned around and showered myself, my wife, Sherri, his grandparents Jean, Bob, and Nancy, and every person and animal he met (well, maybe not rabbits) with friendship and love. He made a lot of people smile every day.

We wanted you to know a portion of the profits of this book will be donated in Bear’s memory to local animal shelters, parks, conservation organizations, and other individuals and nonprofit organizations in need of assistance.

– Douglas and Sherri Brown

PS: We have since adopted two more rescue dogs: first Scout, and the following year, Ginger. They were both mixed golden retrievers who needed a home.

Want to help animals and the world? Here are a dozen easy suggestions you and your family can implement today:

Adopt and rescue a pet from a local shelter.

Support local and no-kill animal shelters.

Plant a tree to honor someone you love.

Be a developer — put up some birdhouses.

Buy live, potted Christmas trees and replant them.

Make sure you spend time with your animals each day.

Save natural resources by recycling and buying recycled products.

Drink tap water, or filter your own water at home.

Whenever possible, limit your use of or do not use pesticides.

If you eat seafood, make sustainable choices.

Support your local farmers market.

Get outside. Visit a park, volunteer, walk your dog, or ride your bike.

Five years ago, Atlantic Publishing signed the Green Press Initiative. These guidelines promote environmentally friendly practices, such as using recycled stock and vegetable-based inks, avoiding waste, choosing energy-efficient resources, and promoting a no-pulping policy. We now use 100-percent recycled stock on all our books. The results: in one year, switching to post-consumer recycled stock saved 24 mature trees, 5,000 gallons of water, the equivalent of the total energy used for one home in a year, and the equivalent of the greenhouse gases from one car driven for a year.

Dedication

I dedicate this book to all of those struggling to bring plant life into their homes, and to my husband and family for their continued support.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgement

Thank you to my editor, Amy Moczynski, for her continued patience and to Douglas Brown and the others at Atlantic Publishing for this opportunity.

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

Introduction

Chapter 1: Houseplant Care 101

Chapter 2: Soil and Fertilization

Chapter 3: The Right Plant for Your Home

Chapter 4: Growing Herbs, Fruits, and Vegetables Indoors

Chapter 5: All the Pretty Flowers

Chapter 6: Pests, Insecticides, and Disease

Chapter 7: Growing Plants Chemical Free

Chapter 8: Propagating Houseplants

Chapter 9: Tabletop Gardens

Appendix

Glossary

Bibliography

Author Biography

Introduction

Houseplants evolved more than 200 years ago in England when plant cultivators and traders needed to keep their blossomed beauties indoors. Many of the plants they cultivated were uprooted from warmer, tropical climates, and these new plant specimens needed places to stay warm during northern Europe’s winters, or they would not survive. By the 1800s, houses with glass windows became increasingly and permanently popular, which resulted in houseplants being placed in the windowsills of modern European homes. As the practice grew, houseplants became a symbol of middle-class refinement, particularly in 19th century Victorian England. During the Victorian age, industrialization replaced country living. Factories, railroads, and apartment buildings quickly began to define the urban landscape. Indoor houseplants provided the Victorians with a retreat from city life, as well as from the nation’s booming populations of people and machines. The United States did not develop a strong affinity for houseplants until the 1960s and 1970s, which is considered America’s first green and environmentally active generation.

Today, residents in most middle and upper-middle class communities and subdivisions decorate their lawns and homes with outdoor and indoor plants. Manicured lawns and gardens are so important to real estate sales and negotiations that home and gardening networks produce several television shows devoted specifically to what real estate agents call curb appeal. The idea behind curb appeal is to landscape a property with an artful arrangement of colorful, blooming flowers and evergreens. The resulting arrangement should complement and visually enhance a home’s exterior and entryway.

Houseplants and indoor gardening has become especially popular among apartment dwellers. Urban and organic gardens filled with fruit, herbs, and vegetables are more than just a trend or a 21st century fad. Annette Pelliccio is a third generation garden business owner. Her company, The Happy Gardener, educates homeowners and apartment dwellers on the health benefits of incorporating plants into their interior living spaces. Pelliccio recommends indoor gardening not just for aesthetics, but economics, too. Pelliccio said, As consumers become more aware of the health benefits of ‘growing your own,’ whether it be houseplants to absorb toxins in our homes or growing organic herbs on a windowsill to use in cooking, people are feeling the need to get back to nature.

Indoors, houseplants enhance interior design using a process known as interiorscaping, which is the art of using plants to design aesthetically pleasing interior spaces. This book explains how to keep indoor plants flourishing and thriving not just for the plant’s benefit but also for the grower’s well-being. You will learn how to design interior living spaces skillfully using plants that grow well in particular areas of the house. You will also learn plant care basics, what kind of plants to buy, and where to put those plants so they can grow to their fullest potential. The kinds of plants that best grow in offices, kitchens, and even bathrooms are described here.

Both beginners and experts derive immense personal satisfaction from indoor gardening. Professional gardeners and hobbyists find indoor horticulture much more than an additional element of home design. Houseplants are useful, working creatures that improve the quality of air humans breathe. It would take a roomful of houseplants to completely reduce or eliminate all of the toxins in the air of a room, but it is indisputable that indoor houseplants absorb carbon dioxide and other toxic compounds released by humans and materials such as fabric, wood, and paint. Some plants are so effective at removing toxic materials from the air that the National Air and Space Administration (NASA) tested and approved these plants for use on space stations because they work hard to filter the air of chemical impurities. Because plants improve the physical health of humans, they deserve the best care imaginable.

Before purchasing plants or snipping stems from an outdoor specimen, it is important to reflect a minute on what a plant really needs. A plant that is well cared for will grow green, healthy, and strong. This is great for the plant owner because a plant that is fully bloomed and rich in color is a handsome reward for a job well done. Learning to handle and care for plants properly is easy, but sometimes the work gets a little difficult. Indoor gardening requires tools, time, a good memory, dirty hands, and patience. Plants not only require a grower’s personal time and energy, but they also require physical light and space. So, before bringing a plant into your home, be sure you have time to care for it, as well as a sufficient amount of space and light necessary to keep your new addition alive.

Eventually, plants purchased from vendors or nurseries grow and need larger containers. The indoor gardener is responsible for switching out those containers when a growing plant needs it; otherwise, the plant’s roots will tangle and choke. When it comes to plant containers, indoor gardeners looking to beautify their rooms will be drawn to beautiful and decorative plants that add a luxurious intrigue to a living space.

The art of interiorscaping is quite popular in business environments today. Offices decorated with rich, green, and leafy plants give customers the impression of financial success and long-term security. Healthy, thriving indoor plants symbolize life and longevity and help people feel comfortable, relaxed, and satisfied, especially in places like airports, churches, and doctor’s offices. Interiorscaping in homes and offices does pose challenges, however. When deciding where to place your plants, you will have to account for ergonomics, which is the science of designing and arranging objects, such as desks and chairs, so that the people who use them are as comfortable as possible. The goal of ergonomic design is to increase productivity and reduce fatigue and stress.

Ergonomics gets somewhat tricky when designing and positioning plants and containers in a manner that benefits the people, plants, and in some cases, animals involved. For example, it is ergonomically unfriendly to place a pretty, but delicate or poisonous houseplant in a window where a cat likes to sit. Or, it may be ergonomically dissatisfactory to place a wide-leafed palm tree that has the potential to grow 10 feet in a space too small for it to grow to its fullest. In order to avoid such mismatches, guidelines throughout this book will help you select the right plant for particular spaces inside your home.

Indoor gardening and horticulture is an activity that builds a sense of loyalty and duty. Gardening is a distraction from the time-consuming chores that accompany work, bills, hectic social lives, and other demanding obligations. When inspired by nature, indoor gardening can be a very relaxing and calming hobby.

Table of Contents

Chapter 1: Houseplant Care 101

Water and light are primary elements that any plant needs to survive, and plants cannot photosynthesize without these elements. Photosynthesis is the process a plant uses to feed itself using the sun and water that it is given. The amount of water and light plants need varies with each species. The amount of light a plant gets varies with each home; not every home will have bright windows because the of the house’s positioning in relation to the sun, as well as where windows are located within the home. In a high-rise apartment building, for example, the units with windows that face south will get bright sun from morning to afternoon while the units that face west will get afternoon sun as long as trees or other buildings that block the sun do not surround the area.

Plants that love natural, outdoor light should be placed in a room where they can receive early morning sun, as well as light that comes during the evening. Other plants can thrive equally as well in artificially illuminated spaces, but caution must be taken when leaving plants under artificial lighting for more than 12 hours a day. Some plants, particularly those that bloom only during certain seasons, need to take a break from the photosynthesis process in order to produce the brightest flowers during their blooming periods.

Finding the direction sunlight enters a room may sound a little complicated at first, but it is really simple and explained in this chapter. In rooms or buildings where there is little or no natural light, artificial lighting is a viable and worthwhile option because some plants will grow under natural or artificial light. Lighting fixtures can be beautiful, modern components to any living space and environment, both at work and home. This chapter contains information that will help you learn more about the direction of light in the home and lists plants that thrive in artificial lights.

Water

Water is a vital element in plant life because it transports chemicals in the plants’ cells and moves nutrients upward from the root. Without proper moisture, plants lose their vitality, and they may die from lack of necessary nutrients. When this happens, the cells shrink, and the plant’s food supply diminishes. Smart gardeners shop for healthy plants and take a good look at stalks and leaves to make sure they are firm. Firm stems, leaves, and stalks are indicators of a healthy plant that has a strong potential to survive once it is removed from the plant store and situated into a new environment.

Weak stems, faded leaves, and soft stalks indicate poor plant health, which is the result of too much or too little water. The combination of too much or too little water with the wrong amount of sunlight results in a severe loss of needed nutrients. Solid, firm stalks, stems, and leaves are visual proof of proper nutrients and a good water supply. Undoubtedly, it takes practice and commitment to understand the water and temperature demands of individual houseplants. But it is fair to assume that when a human finds the air dry and cool, the plant and the plant’s soil also finds the air cool and dry.

Plants purchased from nurseries or other home gardening centers usually have directions and instructions for watering and the amount of light they need. The information usually is inserted on a tag in the soil, attached to the container, or on the plant’s stalk. There are two different classifications for watering requirements of plants: lightly moist and moderately moist.

• Lightly moist means the plant’s soil does not need to be wet or fully dry. Instead, the plant should absorb water so that its roots and soil are more damp than wet. Plants that are described as lightly moist must be watered frequently but delicately. The water must be distributed evenly throughout the plant container. Plants that come from tropical and temperate climates generally need to be kept lightly moist.

• Plants that are labeled moderately moist need moisture often. This group of plants, which typically come from tropical environments, includes most indoor flower-producing plants, most of which grow quickly and require a good deal of light.

There is no need to water the leaves of the majority of household plants. The roots gather water that travels upward to deliver moisture to the leaves. Watering the leaves of a plant may be a well-intentioned gesture, but it often results in unappealing, sickly looking brown spots on an otherwise healthy specimen. It is best to water the soil and allow the roots to transport the water to the plant’s leaves.

Once a gardener determines how to care for his or her plants properly, watering becomes a small task in the endeavor to preserve the plant’s good health and promote its growth. Interior gardeners discover early on that many plant species need more water from spring through summer. Plants that need more water in the spring and summer do not need much water during winter months. Many plants go through a period of dormancy or rest during winter. During this time, cooler temperatures place less demand on potting soil, so plants need less water and fewer disturbances.

Many resting plants are gathering strength as they prepare for springtime blooming. Plants speak loud and clear about their physical health. A wilting, withered plant with flimsy, brown edged leaves and soft stalks and stems is initiating conversation about its physical health. Plant owners must learn to read the signs their plants give. Drooping leaves, for example, indicate the plant’s physical needs are not being met.

When you water your plants, the goal is to keep the soil moist without drenching or drowning the roots or the soil. The surface soil of a plant should not become hard and dry due to lack of water. A drowned plant and a drought-stricken plant will both die with no hope of revival. Plants placed in windowsills, particularly windowsills where the sun peers through bright and hot, should be watered early in the day or in the evening when the sun sets. Plants that sit in windowsills with direct sunlight risk drying out and scorching if watered during hours that the sun is hottest.

Be thorough when watering because frequent, small doses of water do not benefit a plant; in fact it does the plant more harm than good. Small doses only moisten the surface, rather than deliver the water deep down below the soil’s surface where the rootlets grow. When watering a plant, the water should fall in different locations of the plant’s container so the water is distributed evenly to the roots. Unless directions state otherwise, the leaves of a plant do not need water. Usually only plants that thrive in humid conditions appreciate having their leaves misted.

After the roots receive water, it then travels up the stem and flows to the leaves. You can easily check to make sure your plant is receiving enough water. Gently remove the plant from the container after it has been watered and look at its roots. A plant that needs more water will have dried roots and the soil at the bottom of the container will be dry. A plant that has been overwatered has soggy, graying, and sometimes moldy roots. Looking at the roots gives you a good idea of how much water is needed to moisten the plant soil and the plant’s roots successfully. After inspecting the roots, place the plant back into the container or plant it in a new one.

Check plants once a week and rewater them when the top of the soil is dry. In the spring, plants need more water because they experience a new growth. Depending on the type of soil