Plant of the Week
Clivia miniata from Unsplash by Padre Moovi. Mine are not in bloom at the moment, alas.
Well I had to choose a houseplant, right? The Clivia miniata is a very easy plant to grow, and it generally looks good! Clivia has orderly dark green strappy leaves growing out of a mass of roots; it doesn’t need a ton of light or water, and if you give it a cold snap and a period of thirst in fall, you should get a beautiful flower stalk or two to cheer you up in winter.
Clivia is an easy houseplant to grow, and the only troubles I have had with over decades with it— my first was a gift in the early 80’s from my 97 year old mother-in-law who still keeps a collection— were unquestionably caused by user error. They are tropical, so don’t be leaving them in the cold, and you can go for a VERY LONG TIME without watering them, but you can’t go forever. Oh, and I have also sunburned them by pulling them out for the winter and not being cognizant of the path of the March sun. Clivias don’t like direct sunlight, and they will burn .
There is a certain ignominy in failing with this easy of a plant, but when I think that I have kept descendants of the starter Betty gave me back in the early 1980’s alive, and I almost always get some flowers, now that I know what to do to get them, I feel a little more capable as a plant parent.
My own barbaric little collection in the kitchen.
Segue and Semantics
I was curious as to the difference between houseplant and house plant, and I am certain you must be too! (?) Google revealed no intel and there was a noticeable dearth of saucy banter on the subject. Seems just the sort of thing that a certain demographic, shall we say, semi-retired folks who are into grammar, indoor plants (note the circumvention of the “controversy” here) and maybe cats would warm to, but no, it seems that no one cares.
However, while checking on the question, I did find this juicy tidbit on Medium (see bold at left) which was way too good not to share. At first I thought this was written in earnest, but I turned out to be a paragraph from a droll blog post written by Montana Slim.
Raffaele in his element.
Guest
Raffaele Di Lallo has a way with houseplants that started way back when he was a boy who didn’t enjoy his father’s cigarette smoke in the house, and as they say, he has never been bored since. Author of the new book “Houseplant Warrior”, which you can order here on my Amazon storefront, Raffaele gives us plain and sensible talk on how to make our houseplants thrive (and by the way, he is an authority, and he says houseplants, all one word).
This book is a compendium of those FAQs like “why are the leaves on my peperomia turning yellow” and “how do I propagate my pothos”? He gives you the skinny on how much to water, humidity, fertilizer— all the things you need to become a houseplant warrior.
Raffaele’s houseplant blog was named #3 on FeedSpot’s Top 40 for 2022 and his Instagram feed and YouTube channel offer great wisdom as well.
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The Play List
I was all over the garden in this episode, but here are some pearls of wisdom that you may want to review.
~ Siri can help you remember to check on your seedlings— I certainly couldn’t do it without ‘her’ but I changed ‘her’ voice to be a British male. It helps a lot.
Okatsune 101
~My favorite hand pruners, or secateurs, are the Okatsune 101’s and you can find them here.
My new Niwaki snips
~ I just got some new snips from Niwaki and I can’t wait to try them out!
Must finish up this blog post and get into the garden!!
~ Fall and summer blooming shrubs you can prune in winter and still get blooms: Abelia, caryopteris or blue beard, hydrangea paniculata like limelight or little lime, camellias –the sasanqua type, Itea (Virginia sweetspire), Callicarpa (Beauty Berry) and probably more I can’t think of now.
~ Dwarf Oak Leaf Hydrangeas list: Ruby Slippers, Munchkin, Pee Wee and the awesome lime green Little Honey
~ Boxwood pruning— you can reach right in and take away half of a branch. Repeat your hole punching to get a rhythmic and intentional look. If your shrub is very tall, don’t be afraid to punch sky lights in the top to get air and light for interior growth.
~ OH and I was on Kathy Jentz’s Garden DC podcast last weekend talking about all sort of pruning tips. Here are some links
Horticulturist and garden podcaster Leslie Harris about pruning on the GardenDC podcast and shares some of her favorite tools.
Listen to the clip at -
https://vurbl.com/listen/leslies-favorite-tools-1XChJV12qRy/
and the full episode is at -
https://washingtongardener.blogspot.com/2022/02/gardendc-podcast-episode-93-pruning-tips.html
WHEW, ENOUGH WRITING I NEED TO GET OUTSIDE!
Hope you get out there, too.