some comments on Plants Alive offerings

Sand’s comments about some of his plants

Begonias:  So many types!  Such remarkable foliage!  Such charming (and edible) flowers!  These plants are not very popular, so I offer my experience with them.  

When outside temperatures are above freezing begonias are happiest outdoors where light is bright with more than deep shade and less than full sun.  For most of us that means close to the house where they can be easily watered and more often enjoyed.  Begonias, like all tender perennials require their owner to provide them with winter protection.  So the question of winter light becomes critical if one is to keep a begonia over time.* They will need (and sometimes gobble up) a very bright window.  Use them as a curtain in your sunny south window. 

They require almost as much light as succulents.  Many of the cultivars are fast growing in containers and like a fern will be magnificent in a 10” pot after a year or two.  This means that you should be prepared to transplant them at some point in your ownership.

As for watering!   Begonias are easy to water.  If they get too dry, they will recover from a wilt.  As for too wet, I would just say that need not happen because one simply never waters a potted plant unless it needs it.  Following this “Law” allows you to become the servant of the plant and that is as it should be.  You do not however have to be a slavish servant of begonias. 

The begonia, or any plant, must have a tolerance for changing conditions.  In winter, in your window, in light you know is less than ideal, you can withhold water and bring the plant closer to dormancy so that the plant does not destroy itself by trying to grow in inadequate light.   In the growing season I water at the first sign of aerification.  Usually I can glance at the soil and see by the color if watering is indicated.  When in doubt I can lift the pot and feel the weight of the water or lack thereof.  In addition, it is not unusual in summer for the potting soil to become so dry that it does not absorb the water it receives.  I once watered a gardenia seven times in a row and the soil remained bone dry.  For checking this you simply remove the pot to see if your watering has soaked the rootball.  If not the plant can be immersed in a bucket of water and remain until after the bubbling has ceased, or put in the shower.

In conclusion, regarding begonias, as a group (excluding wax begonias) they are beautiful and long lasting patio and houseplants.  I love them.

Succulents

So many types!  Such remarkable foliage!  Such charming flowers!  These plants are very popular so I offer (a tiny part ) of my experience with them.  First off, in good light to ¾ sun, when they are in a season of growth, after they are rooted in the pot I water them frequently and fertilize as well.  I rarely allow them to stay with no sun, inside, for more than a few days.  The flowering display of succulents can be spectacular.  Many succulent cultivars are heavily exhausted by their flowering effort.  Most of them survive because they are perennial plants.  However the bloom period can last a long time and the stems and foliage can become very unsightly.  At some point in the process the plant can be cut back hard and, after the flowering urge is over, it will re-grow as beautiful as ever.  It may take months.  Families most like this in nature include the Kalanchoes, the Aeoniums, the Echeverrias, and Senecios. 

One of the few less popular succulents, the Crown of Thorns, seems to bloom almost continuously and is one of finest plants anyone could ever own.  They need to be well rooted in the pot before they are offered because if tipped or knocked they can break their own roots.  This alone explains why agri-business purveyors of succulents don’t include this euphorbia in their offerings.  There are some fantastic colored Crowns out there.  I grow only the original cultivar from the middle east and a dwarf version.

Spider Plant;    or Chlorophytum elatum is one of our favorite ornamental plants.  It thrives on a window sill or hanging on the porch.   46 years ago it became my first houseplant.  I’ve rarely been without one since.  Spider plant is in the vast lily family and is related in form to the grasses.  Its underground rhizomes are said to be edible and it is grown as a food crop in South Africa.  I saw it in Houston as an ornamental groundcover and it was very clean and attractive.  Of course the long flowering stems that we cherish in the hanging basket grow heavier with the development of the plantlet and finally caress the ground where a new plant is quickly established.  This is exactly what they have done in my greenhouse, but I limit them to a darkish home under my benches.

I often plant three, or even five small plants in a hanging basket, so you rarely get just one!  There are three common variegated kinds, but at present I only have one of those.  The prettiest spider plants have good form , a common defect are plants that grow too flat with less graceful arching flowering stems; or if grown in poor light, they become “stretched”, no longer compact.  I don’t recommend this plant for dark places, but most dwellings have a spot for a spider plant.

Wandering Jew:  This plant which is usually offered in a hanging basket is another groundcover posing as a lover of the open air.  There are a lot of different cultivars, most of which are in the genuses Tradescantia, Callisia, Setcreasia, or Zebrina..  In addition to several shades of green, the leaves may include colors of white, silver, pink, purple, grey, or cream.  Don’t worry, we’ve named them all.  For example there are Zebrina pendula, Zebrina pendula quadricolor, Zebrina pendula discolor,and Zebrina pendula discolor multicolor.

The dozens of fancy ones have one thing in common.  The more colors they have, the more slowly they grow. ..especially the cream and white ones.  I have one of those growing in an 8” basket that I have not watered for a month.  Its development, of course, has been very slow.  Nor can their growth be sped up with more watering or fertilization.  Attempting to do so will either kill the plant outright, or worse will kill all the roots while the upper parts endure on like a zombie.

They like lots of light without hot sun. (Don’t we all.)  The more common types like the purple zebrina which is hardy in your garden or the ones with more green in their leaves do grow pretty fast and therefore they will not last long in deep shade or a dark room.  If you must put them in this environment, remember the tactic of with-holding water.  I allow the Wandering Jew in my north window to become dry and beyond that to stay dry before I water thoroughly.  A crisped leaf of two will tell you if you waited too long.

I badly miss having a couple of cultivars which I have not seen anywhere for many years.  One of the ones I do offer has tiny leaves and pure white flowers.  This cultivar has long been known as “Tahitian Bridal Veil”.  I have scrapped that name in favor of one coined by a grower friend of mine in 1973.  I only offer this plant as “Bright Star” which describes it perfectly.

Tropicals:

The difference in care between tropical houseplants and succulent houseplants illustrates important concepts in watering.  The most commonly grown tropicals, Dieffenbachias, Philodendrons, Dracaenas, and Neantha Bella Palm thrive naturally growing under the massive shade of the rainforest.  Annual rainfall there may be 200 inches.  Many cultivated succulents from the dry grassland of Southern Africa.  Rainfall there ranges from 10 to 20 inches per year.  Cacti inhabit even drier ground. 

So how is it possible that I tell you I water my succulents at least ten times more frequently than I water my tropical?  The dracaena in the Amazon basin is completely unable to reach its crown to the sunshine 200 feet up.  Instead it twists and turns beneath the giants seeking the crumbs of solar energy it must have to survive.  Its roots do not delve deep into the clay of the basin seeking water for massive transpiration like the trees of the canopy, but rather lace the forest duff fallen from the canopy seeking air.  We can say that they prefer to be evenly moist, but living in your house they tolerate long days of drought.  They do not tolerate poorly aerated soil and quickly succumb to overwatering.  Living in very low light they transpire slowly and grow slowly.   I water this Dieffenbachia no more than once a month and it is in a fairly bright room.

Succulents exist in a land that is mostly dry but blessed with cloudbursts.  When it rains on them, succulents are able to fill their tissues with all the water they can imbibe, in no way is their intake limited by a requirement to balance the intake with transpiration.  In spring and summer they grow most quickly, with the best form and color, if they are watered and fed frequently in well drained soil.  I water the succulents on this bench just about every sunny day and some of the cloudy ones as well.