Last summer I grew and bloomed two varieties of Fuchsias. (click here for our Fuchsia Care article) These were potted in large containers of pure oak leaf mold with a mulch of peat moss, perfect drainage, plenty moisture and sprayed during hot weather with cold water as I found time. In sheltered shade with a few hours early sun, they rewarded me with many lovely blossoms and bloomed some more in late fall. They will winter in a cool basement, about March I’ll prune them very severely and bring gradually to warmth for another season of bloom. Fuchsia cuttings root quite easily in spring from greenwood in sand under a glass.
Gloxinias and African Violets have been popular for years. They are closely related botanically, their culture is much the same. Both have attractive hairy foliage and lovely flowers. Both propagate readily by leaf cuttings. African Violets are evergreen and fibrous rooted while Gloxinias have a dormant period and grow from a bulb. Both prefer an east exposure, the they will do well in most any other. They enjoy leaf mold soil preferably oak, tho any rich soil is good. Gloxinias must have large shallow containers since they are heavy feeders and their roots go out ward rather than down. (This, is true of Begonias also.) In rooting Gloxinia leaves I like water best and leave them in water until bulb has formed and tiny green plants are showing, then pot up shallow and keep moist always. My treatment of Gloxinias is a bit drastic perhaps, since we are told that bulbous plants need their foliage to produce next seasons flowers. This does not seem true with Gloxinias. When the last flower has faded I cut plant off at soil, use leaves for propagation, keep soil around bulb just moist. Many bulbs start new growth almost immediately, while some may lie dormant for some time. These two varieties of plants do not seem as particular about drainage as most tho it should be good. I’ve grown African Violets in undrained containers as well as most every kind of container, with equal success, tho careful watering is required.
Geraniums – An Old House Plant
One of the oldest house plants known, Geraniums, are again much in demand and much sought by collectors. There are many lovely new varieties in each of the four groups as well as the good old ones. Geraniums demand full sun and a place next to the glass in winter. Soil is best a bit leaner than for most house plants with perfect drainage and kept on the dry side. Many of us pot up cuttings in fall and are disappointed because they bloom very little if at all the following winter. If winter flowers are wanted the cuttings must be taken in May or June, potted up or set beside the mother plant, grown along, pinched occasionally to keep symmetrical, also disbudded till fall. The Zonal group is most common having many lovely large heads of bloom in many colors. The foliage may be green or marked with a chocolate ring; variegated green and cream or green and white; or may be Tricolor, of which Happy Tho’t is probably best known. Ivy Geraniums are so called because of the three pointed ivy shaped leaf which may be green or variegated, one variety showing pink markings on leaf. Flowers of these are also large and brilliant. It has been my experience they are not as free bloomers as Zonale types. Perhaps plants need be older to bloom best. This group also trends to trail or vine. The Martha Washington group is quite difficult in this region, tho it does fine in California and there are many beauties being developed there. It has a dormant period which needs be well understood and headed for success. The last group, Scented Geraniums, is a large one with countless old varieties botanically named. Foliage of these vary greatly in shape each variety having a different odor when leaf is slightly crushed which reminds one of spices, fruits or flowers and so named. This group as a whole has the least attractive flowers of any, tho some varieties are handsome. They too do not bloom freely here, but are grown chiefly for interesting leaf formation and odor. Geraniums grow very easily from seed but very few are worth keeping.
Collecting Cacti
Some of us enjoy collecting the different Cacti species and other succulents to grow as house plants. These are attractive, odd and demand little care. They are happy in sun or shade and need little water. Perfect drainage is required and they need be grown quite dry. It is a mistake to plant them in sand alone. We think of the desert as being only sand but this is not true. We are told that desert soil is very rich in humus and lacks only moisture for production. Many Cacti grow naturally under higher vegetation. There is an interesting legend explaining why Cacti are so different from other plants.
Ages ago there were swamps where our deserts now are. Cacti grew there in the swamps along with other forms of vegetation, but its form was not as it now is. Its stems were small and leaves thin because there was always plenty of moisture. Then a great change came, the swamps turned to deserts, and the Cacti was the only species of plant to survive because it had the ability to change itself to suit its new environment by thickening its stems and leaves making reservoirs in which to store moisture for the droughts it must indure. Cacti are native to tropical and temperate regions. There is hardly a state in our union that cannot claim one or more varieties of hardy Cacti native there, usually the Opuntia or hand type. Some species in the tropics grow naturally among the branches of trees, feeding on the residue that forms in bark crevices. Our Christmas or Zygocactus and Knife or Phyllicactus are two of these. They feed also by aerial roots thus being classed as epiphytes (living on air) and are not parasites like mistletoe which attaches itself to the tree bark and feeds directly on tree juice or sap. Rainfall is very heavy in the tropics and humidity high.
The group of tropical green vines and plants many of us grow in our homes is an easy attractive one, since they demand little care. I have several planted in ordinary soil in odd vases. Occasionally the vases are filled to the brims with water and their foliage washed free of dust. They get no sun. It is detrimental to some varieties. This group includes Philodendrons, Nepthytis, Diffenbachia, Dracaena, Aglaeonema Pandanus, Peperomias and many others all very good. Most are slow growers which makes them further agreeable.
Pests on house plants must be controlled at all times. In doing so we should remember that chewing insects are controlled by a stomach poison and sucking insects, by a contact poison (one that burns their bodies). My favorite is all natural neem oil insecticide.
