As spring nears, houseplants feel it too and can get unruly
No matter that winter winds and snow still come and go in much of the country. The sun’s earlier rising and higher climb into the sky let us know that spring is on the way. Even houseplants indoors feel the changing season.
Take a closer look at the stems of your houseplants. Any young, new leaves? Swelling buds? Inside their pots, roots might likewise be awakening. All of this makes today, tomorrow, or sometime soon a good time for repotting
and pruning.
How tall is too tall?
The most obvious reason to prune a houseplant’s stems is to keep the plant manageable. For example, growing in the ground in a tropical climate, branches of weeping fig, a familiar houseplant, will reach skyward and spread as high and wide as a sugar maple’s. Indoors, at the very least, your ceilings limit the desired height of a houseplant. For looks, you might want to keep the plant smaller, perhaps much, much smaller.
When pruning the stems of a houseplant, the goal is to reduce its size without giving it a hacked-back look. For a plant with many stems, such as a weeping fig, a few severe cuts usually gives better results than many small cuts. Trace one of the tallest stems down to its origin, and cut it off right there. Perhaps do this with another tall stem too.
After one or more drastic cuts have lowered the plant, go back over the plant to make some smaller cuts. Cut back any dead or diseased stems, and any that look gawky or out of place.
There are houseplants, such as dracaena and ponytail palm, that naturally sport only one or very few stems. These rarely need pruning; when they do, it’s because they’ve finally grown too tall. Lop back the stem to lower than the final desired height. New growth will appear near the cut, perhaps even a couple of new stems. If you want to keep the plant single-stemmed, remove all but one of the emerging stems.
Check below ground also
Pruning the stems of a houseplant is just the first step. After a few years, depending
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Friday
COMMUNITY
YMCA Health & Fitness Center: Closed, www.ymca360.org for on-demand classes and www.ymcaeastbay.org/ virtualy. Still serving meals to children who would go without during school closures. Curbside so people may stay in their vehicles. 533.9622.
Feather River Recreation & Park District: Office closed. Indoor fitness, recreation programs, Gymnastic Team, rental facilities suspended. Preschool & Childcare Center, 7 a.m.-5:30 p.m. with modifications. Local parks open. Services by appointment, 533-2011. wwwfrrpd.com. Facebook www.facebook.com/FRRPD. 1875 Feather River Blvd.
Gray Lodge Wildlife Area: Sunrise to sunset. 9,100 acres of fields, riparian areas, ponds and waterways. Self- guided nature trail, fishing, hunting; shelter for 300+ species of resident and migrant birds, mammals. 3207 Rutherford Road, Gridley. 846-7500.
Public Health Clinic, Oroville: 8 a.m.-5 p.m. Confidential reproductive health services; men, women. Call for information, 538-7341. No in-house appointments. Oroville Library: 10 a.m.-4 p.m. Open. Limited computer use. Call for curbside service. Reserve items in- person, online, by phone, email. 5525752. OrovilleBCLibrary@ buttecounty.net. www. buttecounty.net/ bclibrary/ Contact. Literacy Services 1-888-538-7198; Literacy@buttecounty.net. 1820 Mitchell Ave.
Artists of Rivertown Studio at Brushstrokes Gallery, Oroville: Call to confirm hours. Nonprofit operates art venue to support and promote work by local artists. Wednesdays
Saturdays or by arrangement. 1967 Montgomery St. 781-3849.
CLUBS/ORGANIZATIONS Citizens’ Climate Lobby: 6 p.m. Zoom meeting: https:// citizensclimate.zoom. us/j/4391478344 or call 1-669-900-6833.
HEALTH, EMOTIONAL SUPPORT
Mental Health Peer Support: 9 a.m.-1 p.m. Specialists available for video chat, self-help support groups and resources. Butte County Department of Behavioral Health. Join by phone, computer or other device. Zoom ID 809274979. Phone 720-707-2699 or 346-2487799.
New Beginnings AA: 6:30-7:30 a.m. Alano Club, 2471 Bird St. 534-9960. Weekdays. Call to confirm meeting.
Northern Valley Talk Line: 11:30 a.m.-9:30 p.m. Noncrisis peer to peer telephone service to the community seven days a week. 1-855582-5554. Partners with Butte County Department of Behavioral Health and Tehama County Health Service Agency.
Friday Nite Grace: 6:30 p.m. Recovery program. Grace Baptist Church, 3646 Oro Dam Boulevard. 12-step Christ-centered designed to help with life’s addictions, abuses and anxieties. Social distancing and masks required. 533-1456. Narcotics Anonymous: Go online to greaterbuttena. org/meetings for meetings in Butte County cities. 24hour hotline, 1-877-6691669.
Alcoholics Anonymous Fellowship of Butte, Glenn and Southern Tehama counties: Meetings on Zoom. Visit aabutte-glenn. org or call 342-5756.
To submit an item for Oroville calendar, email to calendar@orovillemr.com, fax to 342-3617 or mail to Oroville Community Calendar, P.O. Box 9, Chico, CA 95927. Include your name and phone number.