Whether to grow trailing gesneriads in pots, hanging baskets, or other African violet relatives, the choice may depend on the availability of suitable containers. Ordinary clay pots can be used, but so-called “orchid pots,” with extra holes for drainage, are probably a better choice. In either case, a generous layer of “crocks” should be placed … Read more
You could be the hybridizer who creates a series of miniature, everblooming gloxinias in various flower colors and leaf types. Or crosses the jacobinias in cultivation to produce plants better suited to the window sill and home greenhouse. Or the person who works diligently with those miniature amaryllids, the cyrtanthus, to obtain larger flowers in … Read more
Textures! From the smoothness of sleekest satin to soft, furry down, they are found in the leaves of houseplants. How stimulating they are to the flower arranger searching out materials that will enhance, either by affinity or contrast, the decoration in mind, for that time or season when flowers are few and expensive. Along with … Read more
Few can equal a gloxinia in full bloom for a spectacular house plant. Once you have experienced the thrill of producing a blooming plant from a tuber, you won’t be satisfied with one tuber. You will want to explore the gloxinia catalogs and add some of the enticing colors and patterns to your collection. When … Read more
We were waiting for luncheon one day in April 1954 when a public relations man from Hollywood turned to me. “Your husband tells me you have successfully bloomed an orchid two years in succession in your hotel apartment.” “Yes,” I answered, “it was a Cattleya Mossiae, not too difficult to handle.” Paul Snell of Robinson-Hannagan. … Read more
A potential planter is a clear glass bottle with an opening large enough to insert a pencil. Tall, short, square, round — the garden may be planted in an expensive antique or simply an empty perfume, medicine, or beverage bottle. Half-gallon, gallon, and even ten-gallon jugs offer unlimited landscaping opportunities. Having selected a bottle, these … Read more
Here are the three steps to creating a Bell Jar. Scribe a circle on the jug with a glass cutter. To scribe an even mark, rest the handle of the glass cutter on a wooden block, box, or can at the desired height. Hold the blade firmly with your hand, ensuring the cutting wheel is … Read more
Nature is seldom cooperative with the greenhouse gardener in the winter. We need a lot of tricks, including the benefits of modern heating and ventilating methods, and we must stay alert to the possibilities of using the few days of good growing weather advantageously. As many greenhouse amateurs have learned, one slip in the supervision … Read more
One of the many pleasures of the Christmas season is the exchange of flowering and other kinds of Christmas gift plants. Whether you give or buy a poinsettia, an azalea, cyclamen, or other plants from the florist, you will probably have several questions concerning its care. The average home maintains a daytime temperature of 70° … Read more
Who has seen a Christmas cactus tumbling over itself, the branch tips weighted down by delicate red blooms, who hasn’t been filled with admiration? But how many people realize it is one of the most satisfactory plants to grow in the home? Somehow, with the arrival of so many outside-the-home activities, the old-fashioned Christmas cactus … Read more