Give thanks for these house plants

As the sun is only several weeks away from its lowest travel in our northern skies, it seems rather natural for our horticultural interest to turn indoors.

Most of the greenery is gone outdoors and those of us who thrive on a living link to nature depend on our indoor plants, our houseplants, to provide that cold season green connection. But what are the best plants to have indoors, what should you look for, what should you avoid and where oh where should you buy them?

I think the most perfect houseplants should provide year-round interest by giving us at least green foliage (lush may be too much to ask for), or even better though, colorful foliage. The next level of fantasy is flowers. It’s wonderful to have flowers on houseplants, especially during the winter, but be careful what you wish for because some of the nicest houseplants have the most boring and even odiferous flowers.

The best houseplants should grow in moderate light and at least tolerate the dry air of most homes. And of course, all of these plants should be easy to care for—meaning they should be disease- and insect-free.

Well, dream on. But there are some wonderful candidates, as well as some outright losers.

The “where”

But before we get to the what, let’s talk about the “where,” as in where to buy these plants. The absolute worst place to buy them is the place that has them out on the sidewalk in the middle of December when it’s 35 degrees. The second worst place is the supermarket, which gets them delivered in the middle of December in unheated trucks, leaves them in the coldest and draftiest spot in the store and whose managers hope they get bought before they show any of the symptoms of frostbite.

Close behind these two are the big box stores that contract with growers for thousands of a kind of plant that might be grown in the Carolinas, Florida or even Canada and are

trucked up (or down), probably warehoused for a couple of days then distributed. In this scenario, it can be nearly a week from nursery to store, all trucked in a box for the journey.

Ah, but even though they’re so inexpensive, try to resist. I know that $10 orchid in full bloom is hard to pass up, as is that tempting multi-stemmed dracaena marginata or dracaena tricolor. But just try.

The best place to buy the best plants is your local garden center. From Moriches to Amagansett, there are dozens of them, many with greenhouses. And while you pay a premium for buying local, I’ll bet you these plants have a survival rate at least four to five times better than plants bought at other retail outlets.

In most cases, the plants come directly from growers and they are often hardened off in the local greenhouse for several weeks before you get them. And in many cases, your local garden center can also order specific plants if you’re looking for a certain variety or size.

Orchid addiction

For indoor household plants, orchids are way up near the top of my list. For $20 and up, you can find flowering orchids that make great houseplants requiring no direct sunlight and minimal care, so long as you can give them some humidity and understand their needs.

The easy ones, like the phalaenopsis, will re-bloom every year (and sometimes twice a year). The flowers will last for as long as three months but the trade-off for being easy is that the simple-to-care-for orchids are generally not scented.

Orchids are also versatile. They can be indoors from early October until May, then outside for the summer if kept shaded. A warning though, their ease of care is a trick. They are absolutely addictive.

Ficus and other foliage faves

I don’t think you can beat the ficus family for indoor foliage. Included in this group is the ficus benjamina, more commonly known as the weeping fig, which has several variations in stature and foliage color. These plants can be bought in pots as small as 4 inches, but when given the chance, will grow into quite formidable plants.

Weeping fig ficus is easily pruned if it gets out of control and it thrives in bright to moderate light. The plant is somewhat deciduous, though it will drop foliage once a year, but not all at once.

You must not panic when the leaves drop, it’s natural, unless you’ve overwatered the plant and it’s in the process of dying.

This plant is not a big drinker and is used to periods of drought (this is when its drops leaves in the wild). It will also drop leaves when you suddenly change location, but invariably they grow back. It’s a light feeder, and if you buy a clean plant, it will rarely have insect or disease problems.

A close relative is the ficus decora, also known as the ficus elastic (rubber tree or rubber plant), which has very large leaves and grows on strong 
upright stems. Depending on the variety, the foliage can be a bright glossy green to a very dark, almost black maroon or red while still other varieties are variegated white to cream with green.

For the very brightly-lit spots in your abode, don’t overlook the succulent jade plant. You can find this plant in 4-inch pots for just a few bucks, or as a mature specimen for several hundred dollars.

It will grow anywhere that you have bright light, but when it is light-starved, it becomes gnarly and stretched even though it will hang on for years and years. Most folks don’t realize that unlike the standard foliage plants (like the ficus which has insignificant flowers), the jade is a true flowering plant that few see in its full glory.

Being native to the southern hemisphere, it is genetically programmed to flower during our winter. And if properly cared for (good light, take it easy on the water and very dilute feeding every few weeks), it will burst into a display of starry white flowers sometime between January and March. In order to flower, the jade needs to be a mature plant though, so be patient. This usually takes three to five years.

The jade is also a great plant to work with if you’ve got kids. It’s fascinating (and easy) to propagate using a single leaf placed on moist sand or with short stem cuttings struck in moist sand. Do this in bright light, but not in direct sun.

When using a leaf, you must always keep the top of the leaf facing upwards. Turn it over and nothing will happen. If the sand remains warm, in two to four weeks a new plant will sprout from the stem end of the leaf. As the new plant sets its own roots, it can be severed from the leaf and voila, you’ve got yourself a new jade plant.

Other plants for the brightly-lit areas of your home are the asparagus ferns. This group was covered in depth here last winter so I’ll just mention them in passing, but they are easy to care for, come in three different forms, need little in the way of watering and love being tight in the pot so don’t overplant them.

These plants will also reward you with tiny, starry white flowers that are followed by bright red berries. When the berries or fruits mature, the hard black seed in the center can be dried, planted in another pot during the summer and in a few weeks, yup, new plants.

Flourishing flowerers

On to a flowering plant, the much-maligned African violet. Here’s a plant that grows in relatively low light, is as easy to kill as it is to grow, and with a small collection of 10 to 12 plants, you can always have most of them in flower.

If there is a trick to growing these plants, it’s in holding back on the water. I think most of the failures in African violets are from rotting when they are over-cared for.

So, the care is relatively simple. Keep them out of direct sunlight, feed them regularly when in flower (weekly, but with diluted fertilizer) and as the flowers fade, pinch the stems off.

The secret to watering this plant without killing it is to water from the bottom. How’s that? You keep the pot in a saucer and fill the saucer, not the pot. Let the pot soak up the water for about 15 minutes, then remove any standing water. Keep water and fertilizer off the foliage, as that will cause the leaves to spot. Don’t water again until the soil dries. It’s that simple.

You can buy African violets in various colors and flower types and pay anywhere from $5 to $12 for a plant. Even the ones from the supermarket will probably do well as long as they haven’t been left out in the cold. They thrive under fluorescent light (such as under a kitchen counter) and they are another plant that’s really easy and fascinating to propagate from leaves.

When flowering slows down, give them a rest for a month or two, then they’ll start all over again.

Other plants that I really think do well in homes are philodendrons. From the heart-leaf trailing types to the giant selloum, which can take up a space 4 to 6 feet in diameter, these make great houseplants.

Also consider the succulent hoya carnosa, or Hindu rope plant, with its remarkable flowers. And even though they are annuals and short-lived, coleus make wonderful houseplants in bright light— especially with all the new varieties that have been introduced in the past few years.

As annuals, these plants last only a year. But easy-to-root cuttings can perpetuate your favorite varieties.

Next week, get ready for houseplants that look really great and will really tempt you, but pass these losers up because they’ll break your heart. Keep growing.

Andrew Messinger has been a professional horticulturist for more than 30 years. He divides his time between homes and gardens in Southampton, Westchester and the Catskills. E-mail him at Andrew@hamptongardener.com. The Hampton Gardener is a registered trademark.