African Violet
- When I was growing up, there was always a purple African Violet in a small pot on my mother's kitchen windowsill. These plants have a happy energy.
- Give one to someone who's moved to a new home, with a wish for happiness and prosperity there.
Easy-Care House Plants
According to Good Housekeeping magazine, June 2022, the best easy-care houseplants are:
- Bird's Nest Fern: Ferns, ancient plants, like low light and this one can endure "spotty water conditions".
- Cacti: Not a favourite of mine because Dave's cactus always fell off the kitchen window ledge into the sink and would prick me when I rescued it. GH recommends growing a barrel cacti (bright yellow spines) on a windowsill and don't water or feed it a lot
- Fiddle-Leaf Fig: Nice in indirect bright light in a living room. Wait till the top inch of soil is dry, then drench till water comes out of the pot bottom (make sure there's a dish underneath), then repeat.
- Golden Pothos: Very hardy vine, thrives even in fluorescent light. Hard to kill, but keep out of cold drafts. AKA "Devil's Ivy" (toxic to animals) these plants bring a lighter feel to a room's energy and are cleansing. Will live in water.
- Heartleaf Philodendron: Likes to dry out slightly between watering.All philodendrons grow quickly and cuttings can be rooted in water. These plants clean the air and cleanse negativity.
- Rattlesnake Plant: Loves low light. Reptilian two-tone leaves that are non-toxic to pets.
- Snake Plant: Attractive sword-like leaves. Okay with low light and little water and grows tall.
- ZZ Plant: Best indoor plant for neglectful homeowners, it's apparently fine in harsh conditions including low light and infrequent watering.
Fungus Gnat Trap
Fungus gnats like moist soil surfaces, so water your plants by placing the pot (with holes in the bottom) in a dish or sink of water.
If you see tiny flies around your house plants:
- Attach a piece of very sticky yellow paper, sticky side out, to a lollipop stick or toothpick. (An alternative is spreading honey on a yellow card.) Gnats are attracted to yellow because plants turn yellow when sick or distressed, they'll come to check out the yellow and get stuck.
- Insert the stick in the pot near your plants.
- Insects will stick to the paper.
Leave a small jar of apple cider vinegar with dish detergent open near your plants, too, to attract any fruit flies.
White Fungus/Mold on Surface of Dirt
Scrape off with an old spoon and discard. Wear a mask so you don't breathe it in. Disinfectt he spoon.
Sprinkle dirt surface with cinnamon to prevent mold growth.
Make sure the plant is getting enough light and good air circulation.
Money Plant
Stand a money plant in the entrance way to your home or in the doorway facing into your bedroom. Care for it if you hope it will bring you good fortune.
A window in the far left "wealth" corner of a room is also a good location for a Money Plant.
I have two kinds:
Pachira Aquatica is the money tree, often with a braided stem, 3 for new beginnings or 5 to represent the 5 elements: earth, air, water, fire, spirit. Ours started as a tabletop plant but is now, with replanting into larger pots, an indoor tree.
Jade Plants like a sunny spot near a window and grow slowly, representing slow and steady wealth acquisition. Mine grow roots from their stems which I plant to make new jade plants--share the wealth.
Orchids
Don't over-water. The amount of water in 3 ice cubes left to melt and poured at the top of the pot every week, is sufficient moisture. Orchids may die when over-watered.
Re-pot an overgrown orchid in loose wood mulch or wood fibre.
I re-potted an overwatered orchid in commercially available orchid wood bark but it still didn't recover.
If using outdoor wood mulch, sterilise it first in your oven and let cool completely before potting the plant.
Orchids like indirect sunlight and high humidity. In the natural world they grow in rainforests, on the trunks of trees, under tree cover.
To get an orchid to bloom again, apply water-soluble houseplant fertiliser as directed.
Spider Plant
Fertility, abundance.
A good plant in windows facing north, east or west.
A tough plant and tolerant of watering mistakes.
When she was little Lauren ate some leaves off our potted spider plant. I called poison control and they said not to worry unless she had an allergic reaction, though she could get a stomach ache if she'd eaten too much. They suggested I feed her more lettuce.
Cats will apparently munch on spider plants as, like catnip, it has a slightly hallucinogenic effect on them. But it's not particularly good for them, so keep spider plants out of the way of cats.
Succulents: Jade Plant, Sedum, Aloe, Cactus
Grow succulents in a sunny, south-facing window.
Aloe are forgiving and will adapt to low light, maybe why they're a plant associated with the moon.
Mine became so used to low light that they reacted badly to being taken outdoors in the sun in the summer, turning white and wilting.
Aloe was called the "plant of immortality" in Ancient Egypt and some indigenous tribes of North America referred to the plant as "wand of heaven."
Wait until the soil is bone-dry, then really soak each plant under the tap until water comes out the bottom of the pot. Think desert dry weather, then a sudden deluge of rain.
They thrive in well-draining soil, low in nutrients. Pot in special cactus soil, or mix equal parts potting soil and perlite.
They need space around them in the pot. If the pot gets crowded, nutrient deprivation and insect infestation can occur. Take out some of the plants and re-pot. Give them away if you can, you will end up with so many aloe plants to take care of....
