Good-by Summer:
Hello Fall
Would you
like to throw down your trowel and retreat to the house, declaring
to any chance listener, “Okay weeds, you win!” So, are you
considering houseplants? Once upon a time the term houseplant
referred to masses of African violets in tiered displays bending
their blooms toward the rising sun.
African violets,
Saintpaulia, are extremely well behaved, staying in their pots
without climbing up the draperies although some do have trailing
stems with rosettes on the ends. With over 2000 varieties to choose
from, you can understand why collectors need ‘just one more’.
Serious fanciers install grow-lights to provide the light they need
during the short days of winter. Other growers wait for spring. A
good soil-less potting mix is essential and they should be freshly
potted once a year, but not necessarily into a larger pot. The
diameter of the pot should be 1/3 the diameter of the plant.
There are all
sorts of devices featured in catalogs to prevent over-watering which
is death to African violets. I was warned not to get the leaves wet
but I have never heard why. A quarter-strength high potash, high
phosphate liquid fertilizer can be added at each watering.
Do
be sure not to over-water. That precaution is important for most
houseplants. If you put the pots on a grid over water, not in it,
the humidity is helpful. You can also keep a few vases of water
nearby with cuttings in them. Whether the cuttings root or not isn’t
as important as keeping the air in the room from becoming too dry.
One reason African violets are popular is that they like houses:
they tend to perish in greenhouses where it may be too hot in summer
and cold in winter. They can be grown from seed or propagated from
leaf cuttings and some varieties have plantlets on their flower
stalks that may be planted on their own.
Other tropical plants are displacing these small charmers in
popularity, perhaps because larger rooms require plants to scale.
You do see whole banana trees offered as houseplants, as well as
not-so-dwarf citrus. If you wish to brew coffee from your very own
tree, those plants are available as Coffea arabica with red pulpy
berries and fragrant white flowers amid shiny green leaves. It does
make you wonder if there are any limits to what can be invited to
join the family inside?
For generations Boston ferns graced parlor windows where they
filtered light and the curiosity of passers by. Today you can choose
from a plethora of ferns, even such varieties as staghorn,
Platycerium, which is evergreen and epiphytic so can be hung on a
board with its creeping rhizomes in sphagnum moss. It can be hung
from a tree in summer- very interesting.
Another fascinating fern is hard fern, Blechnum gibbum. They are
erect with the new growth arising in the center of the plant and the
plant’s rhizome rising from the pot like a fat tree trunk. They need
good air circulation and a potting medium of one part consisting of
a balanced mix of acidic loam, medium grade bark, and charcoal, two
parts sharp sand, and three parts coarse leaf mold.
Years ago everyone had angel leaf begonias or other sorts that
weathered large dogs and small boys, even a classroom of squirmy
scholars prone to prodding the pot with pointed pencils. Begonias
are still with us but greatly glamorized. Some have huge crinkly
leaves edged in red, others sport silver spots. I ordered the snail
begonia ‘Escargot’ years ago but it was a weak thing, the size of a
sprig of parsley and it faded away.
It
is apparent that a lot of houseplants are bred to be ‘conversation
starters’ but is that an advantage if the conversation starts with
“Good grief, what IS that?”
POSTSCRIPT: I just loved
reading about a 94-year old man, Ken Hechler, a former US Rep. and
W.Va. Secretary of State, who was arrested for protesting mountain
top removal! Bless his heart and he wasn’t alone: 29 other citizens
of southern West Virginia joined him in being arrested. If this were
a perfect world of course it would be the coal company executives
who would be arrested for despoiling God’s creation.