PLANTS IN HOUSE CAN BRIGHTEN THE WINTER

This is a dull time for the gardener. The landscape is filled with grays and browns. Some of the leaves have frozen on the trees an this dullness does not add to the beauty of the landscape.

Even though skies outside may be gray and cloudy, any room in the house can be made bright and cheerful by the addition of a few blooming house plants. Not only will these plants in bloom bring brightness and pleasure into the home, but some may open a whole new gardening hobby.

Did you know the flowering plant kingdom, like Caesar's Gaul, is divided into three parts?

The nicest are the easy-to-grow varieties like Africon violets, gloxiana, episcia Ape primrose, crossandra and shrimp plants. These are cooperative varieties that produce lavish blooms under proper conditions. When they are well adjusted, they can bloom at almost anytime. In fact, some happy African violets bloom constantly. (Not mine.) There are many varieties, some with clusters of single or double flowers, some crimped, ruffled or frilled. Also they have a wide variety of colors.

The Thanksgiving, Christmas and Easter cacti each possess an internal clock set to produce a profusion of blooms in their own season. However, our Christmas cactus is in full bloom right now an we have not had Thanksgiving yet.

These cacti are supposed to bloom once a year, but some of them do not tire an bloom as much as three times. The wax plant, jade plant, lily of the Nile and kafir lily are also in this group. These plants have special requirements for day length, temperature and dormancy. With a little cre, they will reward you with lavish blooms.

The third group of flowering plants are the difficult ones. They bloom only once a year and are particularly unattractive in their resting period. Bringing them back into flower can challenge even the most dedicated home gardener. In this category are the zebra plant, pocketbook plant, fuschia, chrysanthemum, poinsettia, amaryllis, narcissus, tulip and calla lily.

It takes a lot of time and patience, not to mention space, to bring the above plants back into flower, but it can be very rewarding. It can also produce the greatest feeling of accomplishment.

To have success with indoor plants there are a few simple guidelines to follow.

Place plants in an area where they will receive at least three to four hours of sunlight. Flowering plants need almost twice as much light as foliage plants.

Water the plants thoroughly but let the soil get dry to the touch between watering.

During the winter, most homes have a relative humidity which is about the same as the Mohave Desert. Since most of the house plants we have come from humid climates, the low humidity can be most destructive to plants. It causes buds to drop and tips of leaves to turn brown.

There are many ways to get humidity into our homes.

Those who have a sizable collection of indoor plants should seek to increase humidity as much as possible. A humidifier is the ideal way. Another is group potted plants in a deep try with an inch or two of pebbles on the bottom to maintain a level of water just below the bottom of the pots.

Simply placing some cuttings to be rooted in a decorative jar or glasses filled with water near the plants, also helps to add humidity. Once can also increase the humidity by placing a transparent plastic covering over the plants. This creates a little terrarium or greenhouse effect that traps and conserves moisture given off by the plants themselves.

Vaporizers, simmering water in a teakettle on the stove, or spraying the plant moved to the sink, are other methods of obtaining humidity. Do not overlook the space in the kitchen or bathroom window. These rooms normally have a higher humidity level than other rooms and are ideal for wintering plants.

Just because information suggests occasionally adding a small amount of soluble fertilizer to water for plants does not mean a double dose would be better. Flowering plants require a fertilizer which is high in phosphorous (the middle number on the fertilizer label.) Plants need fertilization in much the same way as people need vitamins. Not seasonally, but consistently. It is true that many plants are more or less dormant during the winter , but they store the nutrients and will have a stronger, more dramatic resurgence when growth is renewed in the spring. This renewed growth is triggered by the increased length of daylight.

It is hoped that if we follow these simple guidelines, we will all be rewarded with blooming house plants the year-round.