Go with the flow in flowers
WINTER GARDENERS: GROW DAFFODILS, CYCLAMEN, TULIPS, CALLA LILIES INDOORS
How often to water depends on type, size position, room temperature.
Languishing is a new buzzword to emerge from Covid. It is being used to describe the symptoms arising out of the emotional long haul of the pandemic. It is about doing okay, but not really thriving.
Writing in the New York Times, organisational psychologist Adam Grant believes it may be the dominant emotion of 2021. He sums it up as sense of stagnation and emptiness, of feeling somewhat joyless and aimless.
So, what’s to be done about it? Like all good psychological advice, it seems as if the first step is to name how you feel and talk about it. But then what?
Grant suggests that a concept called “flow” may be an antidote to languishing. Going with the flow is when you lose sense of time, place, and yourself. It is a state of complete absorption and gardeners know all about that.
Gardening has always been regarded as good therapy and it comes with a sense of satisfaction and achievement when
the job is done.
But what about gardening in winter, when it isn’t always pleasant to be outdoors, especially during July?
That’s where indoor plants come in, especially cool season indoor flowering plants like daffodils, tulips, curcuma (Siamese tulips), cyclamen and calla lilies (Zantedeschia).
Pot daffodils have arrived just in time for Mother’s Day. They do best if placed near a window, so
the plants receive bright but filtered light. Direct sunlight can burn the foliage and make the blooms fade more quickly.
Tulips have also made their appearance and are perfect as an elegant centrepiece in the home. A pot of indoor tulips contains more than one bulb, which extends the flowering period. Each bloom only lasts a week, so it is best to buy a pot with closed buds. Indoor tulips should be placed where they receive bright indirect light but not direct sunlight.
Cyclamen is a very rewarding winter flower, that just keeps on blooming, especially if the dead flowers are pulled out from the base of the plant, and the plant is feed with a liquid fertiliser once a month. Cyclamen flower best if given bright indirect light in a warm room.
Siamese tulips (Curcuma alismatifolia) are tall, elegant tropical plants that produce spires of pink, white or purple flowers, with spearshaped green
leaves that have a dark midrib. They need a warm, bright room with high light.
Water twice a week because the soil should be consistently moist and add liquid fertiliser to the water every two weeks.
Calla lilies can bloom for up to six weeks. Feed with a liquid fertiliser once a month and remove spent blooms to encourage new blooms.
True to their tropical nature, these mini lilies flower best in a warm, bright room and can take some morning sun.
WATERING TIPS
The general rule for watering indoor plants is that less is more. However, how often one waters also depends on the type and size of the plant, its position and indoor temperature.
Daffodils and tulips can be watered when the top 3cm of soil begins to feel dry. Empty the saucer beneath the pot 30 minutes after watering, otherwise the soil absorbs the water and becomes too soggy. Curcuma (Siamese tulips), calla lilies and cyclamen like consistently moist, but not soggy soil, otherwise the rhizomes could rot.
Add liquid fertiliser (at half strength) to the water every two weeks to encourage flowering.
A sign of under watering is wilted leaves, or dry, brown leaf tips, and slow growth. Avoid watering indoor plants at night because the soil stays cold and wet for longer and may encourage root rot.