SPLASH OF COLOUR
IF YOU’VE COME IN FROM THE COLD, ENJOY COLOUR IN YOUR HOME WITH HOUSEPLANTS
Come in from the cold and enjoy some houseplants
MY FORMATIVE years were spent studying and working in a wonderful botanical gardens, learning all about plants, where they originated and what conditions they needed to grow.
Every few months my fellow students and I would be assigned a different area of the gardens, and our role was to help the permanent staff look after their spaces. So long summer months were spent staking herbaceous perennials in winding borders, while autumn brought the tedious task of weeding a huge rockery, removing thousands of tiny succulents.
The posting we all vied for in winter was in the greenhouse, where sleet and rain could be swapped for the tropical woodland climate of the orchid house. In the middle of winter the palm house gardeners took great pride in setting out a wonderful display of flowering houseplants, all designed to inspire and educate.
There’s so much we can grow indoors and at this time of the year – it’s a lovely way to enjoy flowers when they are scarce outdoors.
There are a few basic rules to house plant care in winter. As the days shorten, most plants respond to the diminishing light levels by slowing down or even becoming dormant. As they are not growing, they usually don’t need food and their watering requirements drastically reduce. The most common reason for houseplants dying is too much water – and this is particularly the case in winter.
Lack of light can also cause them to look limp. Siting plants on a sunny windowsill in summer can scorch them but in winter this is the ideal place to move them to so they can soak up whatever rays are available.
An even temperature, away from draughts, is the best position but try to avoid standing them near radiators which can cook the plants.
A friend recently asked me why her houseplants were dying – it turned out she had under-floor heating and it had baked them dry!
If your plant requires humidity, the best way to achieve this is sitting the pot in a saucer or tray of pebbles soaked in water. Misting leaves will also help, as will grouping plants together to create mini-climates.
Kalanchoe are one of the easiest indoor plants because they are succulents. This means they have the capacity to store water in their fleshy leaves so won’t mind if you forget to hydrate them occasionally.
When you do water, make sure any excess can drain away, and then leave them alone and let the soil dry out.
Kalanchoe blossfeldiana will be appearing in the shops around now – it’s also known as the Christmas kalanchoe. It has vivid flowers, usually in red or pink.
For quite a different-looking Kalanchoe, search out ‘Magic Bells’ which have wonderful grape-like bracts out of which orange flowers appear.
Plants in the bromeliad family are also quite easy to manage. The most famous member is the pineapple, which is mainly grown for its delicious fruit. However, there are also ornamental pineapple plants which have much smaller fruit, for example Ananas ‘Pacifico,’ and they look very cute.
Guzmania, vriesea and the urn plant Aechmea all belong to this family as well. What they have in common are exoticlooking central rosette flowers in bright neons, pink, purple, red or yellow.
Water by placing a couple of inches of water in the rosette – its urn shape will hold the liquid – and only sparingly water the soil. Replace the water in the urn every couple of weeks as it can turn mouldy.
Bromeliads are monocarpic – this means once they have finished flowering, their life cycle is complete and they will die. They do produce baby offsets which can be replanted and these in turn will flower in a couple of years.
But when they are in flower, the flower spike can last a couple of months which makes them good value and a cheerful blast of colour on wintry days.