Indoor Plant Care - How to Houseplant Care

Christmas Cactus Plant Christmas Cactus - Zygocactus truncatus The Christmas Cactus is a beautiful, flowering type of forest cactus. In their natural environment, a forest cactus will attach itself to trees in wooded areas and jungles. So it is not too surprising that they are so different looking from their typically spine-covered desert cousins. The Christmas Cactus is one of many popular plants to give or receive during the winter holiday season. If you know someone who loves plants, you might like to give them a beautiful Christmas Cactus for the holidays. This beautiful plant is usually in full bloom when received as a gift. Zygocactus truncatus or Schlumbergera truncata are botanical names for the Christmas Cactus. It is called Christmas Cactus because it blooms between late November and mid-January. When in full bloom, this is one beautiful plant. Flowers may be white, red, pink or purple. This plant (similar to its close relative the Easter Cactus) ha...

Dracaena Warneckii Plant Plant Questions and Answers Here is a recent email question from Grace, someone looking for some help with her houseplant... "I got a plant for my moms funeral and now it's very tall and don't know if and how to split it. Any help? I attached a picture of it. Card that came with it says it's a dracaena but couldn't find any helpful information on line." Hi Grace, Thanks for the picture. Your plant is a dracaena Warneckii . You can cut back the stem any place that you want to and it should regrow from that point. Is that what you wanted to know? Your plant looks nice and healthy! Good job. Let me know if you have any other questions or if I did not tell you what you wanted to know.... Hi again Grace, Forgot to mention that you can root the piece you cut off in moist sand, then you can plant into its own pot when the roots get a few inches long. You should remove the leaves (from the cut piece) when yo...

Dracaena marginata plant Dracaena Marginata Plant Care The marginata plant is one of the most popular houseplants. It is one of my favorites and I get so many emails asking questions about Dracaena marginata that I have to think it is one of everyones favorite indoor potted plants. One of the care questions that I get most often about this beautiful, indoor plant is about pruning. Is it alright to cut it back if it is too tall? Where should I cut the stem? The answer to the question is yes, you can cut back the stems or canes of dracaena marginata. You should cut the stem just above the height that you want new growth to start. It is best to do this in the spring time when most plants do much of their growing. If you look closely at the stem you will see rings that encircle the stem. This is where the leaf nodes are and where your dracaena marginata will push out some new growth. You will most likely get a few new "heads" starting before you know it. ...

Snake Plant - Houseplant As an interior landscape technician , I get a lot of questions from people during the work day. Some want to know why their plant is not doing well. Others ask what the little bugs on their plant are and how to get rid of them. Some people want to know the best way to prune or propagate their houseplants. Another common houseplant question is: What is the best houseplant to get if I have never had an indoor plant before? That is one of the easiest questions to answer as it doesn't require finding out alot of other information. The answer to this question is undoubtably... The Snake Plant! Snake plants are great indoor plants as they will tolerate an owner that doesn't pay them much attention. They will live in lower light but they will become thin and leggy over time if the light is not sufficient. However, if you are one of those people that likes to water their plants everyday, you should not get a Snake plant! There are not many in...

My New Variegated English Ivy  Thinking About Getting a New House Plant? If you are thinking about getting a new house plant, you should consider carefully before you purchase a new one, especially if you are a little new to house plant care . Pictured here is one of my new plants, a Hedera helix or English Ivy.  Looks nice and healthy, right?  For the most part, it is. However, before I bought it I made sure to check for spider mites. I found what I expected to find...Spider mites! I have been caring for indoor plants for over 20 years and I can't remember any time that I had a new English Ivy that did NOT have spider mites. English Ivy usually come from the growers looking pretty clean and spider mites are hard to detect at first unless you know what to look for (and where to look). But they reproduce rapidly , especially in hot, dry places and can do quite a lot of damage to your house plants. Before you know it your English Ivy will b...

House Plants at Gate C7 - Airport Adventures Sure a lot of people that really like to  ‪#‎ grow‬   ‪#‎ houseplants‬ !  I was at the local international airport on Friday, taking care of plants and replacing some #Pothos with Hoyas. The new plants were so full that I had to drastically prune them to fit in their new containers.  I left all of the cuttings on my cart on the concourse and when I came back there was a woman stuffing all of the  ‪#‎ Hoya‬  cuttings into one of her pieces of luggage. I just had to laugh.  Nice to know that so many people  ‪#‎ love‬  #houseplants.  Hope she made it to her flight on time!

Rhapis Palm with Insect Problem Indoor Potted Palm Problem A recent email from Ernestine about a plant problem that needs a solution...  My Rhapis Palm has mealy bugs as there are white masses on leaves and stems.  I have sprayed with Confidor two or three times, but, the palm still has white areas on leaves and stems.  Could you suggest a better solution for me to attack this pesty little beast!!! Thank you for reading my notation. Ernstine, It sure looks like mealy bug but could possibly be some kind of scale. I personally would just wipe this off with a sponge or rag with some water/alcohol mixture or water/soap mixture. Another option is a hard spray from a hose to just rinse them off. This is best done outside, of course and must be repeated. Mealybugs are hard to get rid of and the only other things I might use would be Safers Insecticidal Soap or 1600 X-clude. Don’t know if they are available where you live but if you do use them, make sur...

Do you love to  ‪#‎ travel‬  and also love  ‪#‎ plants‬ ?  Love to visit the local  ‪#‎ botanical‬  gardens when you visit someplace new? If you happen to be in the vicinity of Kennett Square, Pennsylvania, you might want to set aside a few hours to visit  ‪#‎ LongwoodGardens‬ .  The grounds of Longwood Gardens encompasses over 1,000 acres of woodlands, meadows, gardens and fountains. Spring and summer are great seasons to visit as many plants and flowers will be in glorious bloom! Longwood Gardens, Kennett Square, Pennsylvania The largest conservatory in the U.S. is located at Longwood Gardens with 4.5 acres of wonderful plant life to enjoy. And please don't miss the Orchid Room in the conservatory, a grand collection of more than 9,000 plants. Sounds like a wonderful trip! And if you visit in September, plan to take in the 30th Annual Mushroom Festival on September 12 and 13, 2015. Known as the mushroom capital of the world, this ...

Beautiful Blue Orchids Everytime I go into the local home improvement store, I automatically gravitate to the greenhouse area. It is my favorite area to walk through and enjoy all of the displays and the lovely plants. Even though I spend all day caring for tropical plants on commercial accounts, I still love to browse through the tropical potted plants and the orchids are some of my favorites. But I guess everyone loves orchids , how could you not?! You can grow these beauties in your home and they add so much to any room for such a small tropical plant. If you find you have brought one of these blooming beauties home and now wonder how to care for it, well maybe I can help out. If you are thinking of acquiring an Orchid, it is handy to know some things to look for when you buy. When your Orchid arrives home, you should place it in a window, if possible. East or West facing spots are ideal but be sure to protect it from hot afternoon sun. Direct sun, especially through...

To attain peace and harmony, you need only accept them into your heart... Such a simple concept, it is hard to understand why there is so much unrest in the world today.

Cute, unique decorative planters... Saw these cute and quite interesting planters while browsing around the internet. While they may not be ideal for all indoor plants, as there are some that really don't do well when they get water in the leaves, they certainly are more fun than just pouring some water into the soil. Maybe use them on your deck, in the sunroom or on the patio?? What do you think of these planters? Would you use them? What would you plant in them? See more about these unique, decorative planters ...

Warneckii A recent letter from a PlantAndFlowerInfo.com visitor: "Hello. When I purchased this plant it was distressed and about 1 foot tall. It is now 7'2" tall. Is it a type of Dracaena? It's in an 18" pot. It does not have a woody looking stem. The leaves are 20" long, and are dark green down the center, with a small white stripe on each side of the dark green, and then a lighter colored green on the outside of the leaf. I would like to know the name of the plant. Can I cut it shorter? Can I plant the piece I cut off? Any advice you can give me would be greatly appreciated. Attached are 2 pictures - one is a full view and the other is a close-up of a leaf. Thank you very much. Hortie" Close up of Dracanea Warneckii leaf At first, I had not received the attached pictures and replied that it sounded like a Dracaena Warneckii. Eventually the pictures confirmed that it is a Dracaena Warneckii .  Yes, you can cut or prune the stalks back ...