House & Greenhouse plants Ideas, Tips & Guides

Commonsense will help you get the best out of your houseplants. Compost for bought plants will have enough feed for the short term but careful watering will be needed. Go with the seasons do not fight nature just because your plant is indoors.

How do you chose the best flowers to grow for scent? Well if you want good scent in the home I recommend some flowers below that cut and last in a vase and provide nice scent.

There are a lot of things to go wrong with plants in the greenhouse but a red spider mite infestation is one of the most frustrating. This tomato plant in India has had its day.

Not all violets are violet coloured at least not African Violets.

It is easier to call a Phalaenopsis by its common name of Moth Orchid

Red, White and Blue the patriotic colours of the Hydrangea are augmented by pinks and purples like H. Ayeshia above as a variation on those themes. Flowering from mid-summer these shrubs give a magnificent display with very little effort. Did you see Hydrangea maritima on seaside holidays in large displays of sugary pink and sometimes blue.

Codiaeum variegatum is a houseplant or tender shrub with multi-coloured leaves.

Alstroemeria is a beautiful flower also known as Peruvian Lily or Parrot Lily.

More plants drown than die of thirst but Azalea houseplants do need damp soil.

This spring has been a good one for my Auriculas. I have been please with a powder blue flower that I hope to propagate by division in July. First I will water well and add some dilute feed.

This fancy Pelargonium was new to me. I bought the plant whilst on holiday at a specialist pelargonium nursery in Stokesley Yorkshire some years ago.

Ivy is a versatile green or variegated plant that climbs or acts as ground cover. As an evergreen plant grown for its leaves the plants would need nitrogen based fertiliser but I have found Ivies grow well even in poor soil.

Buying tips for indoor Hibiscus. Smaller plants with3-5 branches each with buds are generally the best value. If they loose there buds new ones should soon follow. Look at florists and chain stores as well and garden centres.

November is a great time to plan next years plants for your conservatory. I would go for ‘shock and awe’ with some bold colours.

Regal Pelargoniums or exotic Geraniums are getting more fancy and colourful. This pink frilled flower is called Reba Regal. I grow Regal pelargoniums for in house but they can go outside after the last frost although some flowers are a bit susceptible to rain damage.

Pleiones are charming orchids grown in pots from a pseudobulb that splits into two or more after flowering which helps to increase your stock. The flowers arrive first on 6-8 inch stems in spring followed by 6 inch long 2 inch wide leaves.

The flamboyant Hibiscus senensis is now readily available as a housplant from garden centres. This yellow flower was growing on an Italian road side.

This Maidenhair Fern (Adiantum) houseplant is being killed with kindness by the family waterer.

There are numerous jobs to start in February and most gardeners will be very busy. Perhaps too busy to read this article. Still Gardeners Tips tries to help new and experienced gardeners with a series of tips and job lists that should save time in the long run.

I have flirted with geraniums for several decades but never achieved the full satisfaction of a great display. Now I have a new plan to dedicate an area in the garden, dare I call it a zone? to some of these colourful plants. To give me an incentive to dedicate time and effort I have given it a name Pelargonia as I thought Geraniumistan was going to confuse the issue with cranesbill geranium or hardy geraniums.

This fine specimen Aeonium arboreum is growing outside in an area sheltered from wind  rain and frost. The variety is Schwarzkopf in honour of the deep purple leaves that look almost black. Others varieties of ‘Tree Aeoniums’ include Atropurpureum a dark red and Variegatum a creamy white with green is an indoor plant nicknamed ‘Youth and Old Age’.

Christmas Cactus are succulent  cultivars of Schlumbergera.

Before the Autumn leaf colours start to invade our senses I am just recapping on the leaves that have made an impact for me this summer.

On holiday in Majorca I spotted this potted Aspidistra plant marking the way to the toilets. It is fitting that it was located at The Banys Àrabs, or Arab Baths. These baths are a remnants of Palma’s Moorish past and include the lush gardens of Ca’n Fontirroig. Although very small the gardens are home to Sardinian warblers, house sparrows, cacti, palm trees, and a wide range of flowers and ferns.

My Datura last year were a perfect white when in flower and I collected fresh seed in good quantity. I couldn’t keep the plants frost free so they died. Unfortunately none of the seed have germinated so I am without these large trumpet shaped flowers. I was nearly tempted to buy this pink plant for the green house but resisted to spend the money on something more practical like a new Hoe.

Cyclamen are easy and rewarding houseplants to look after as long as you control the watering.

Some orchids are temperamental but this Phalaelenopsis has give unstinting blooms for eight months on the trot without any trouble. Growing on one stem which branched into three side shoots there were upto 20 flowers on the Orchid at anyone time. The variety must be resilient as we gave it no special treatment but these Phalaelenopsis or Moth Orchids are one of the easier Orchids to grow.

It is the season for houseplants and this Solanum capsicastrum was raised from seed probably in a Dutch hothouse for the UK’s pre Christmas market.

The low growing ivy leaved cyclamen has marbled foliage and Spring or Autumn flowering. It grows from corms that are planted in  shade under trees or in rockeries with some cover.

Photo from http://click-shubd.blogspot.com/2008/04/spider-plant.html

Arisaema sikokianum is a herbaceous perennial plant with vertically patterned  flowers.

Windowsill orchids are a houseplant favourite and I repeat and update some tips given 3 years ago.

Cool, dampish conditions ensure happy cyclamen plants from now until Christmas. Do not let them dry out in your centrally heated house. Nor should you put them in draft

There are over a thousand known species of Dendrobium and innumerable hybrids. This makes Dendrobium the second largest orchid genus in the world after Bulbophyllum.

We gardeners hopefully learn as we go along and this post is an update of a 6 year old report on indoor primulas.