Choice winter fare from your greenhouse is the semi-tuberous begonia hybrids with glossy, round, scallop-edged leaves and bountiful blossoms, single or double, in all shades of red, pink, and white. Everybody knows and loves them — they’re one of our most popular winter gift plants, particularly the “Christmas begonia.” Many want to know exactly what … Read more
While I like all ferns—they remind me of cool, shady woodland dells—I think my favorites are the two strange ferns – the showy hart’s-tongue and the staghorn. Hart’s-Tongue Fern Hart’s-tongue (Phyllitis scolopendriurn) is found frequently in Europe, and it is a favorite wherever grown. The name comes from the shape of the fronds, which are … Read more
If you are looking for suitable plants for your window or garden, consider your search ended and heed my advice. The kalanchoids are the plants for you! Probably you are wondering, what are kalanchoids? Stonecrop Family Simply it is a collective word applied to a subfamily under Crassulaceae, which commonly you know as the stonecrop … Read more
You can grow orchids in your home. You need only a sunny window and a few minutes a week. You may doubt this—most people do at first—but thousands are already doing it, and more people are finding out how easy it can be done daily. Growing orchids in the home are one of the most … Read more
Raid the chicken for inexpensive equipment—and grow a fabulous variety of house plants at almost no cost and even less trouble from seeds! For sowing the seeds, use containers with covers—such as plastic refrigerator dishes or casseroles; for uncovered containers, like empty cottage cheese cartons, provide plastic covers or a piece of glass. Growing Small … Read more
For healthy growth, all plants require heat, light, humidity, proper soil conditions, food, and water in varying amounts, according to the type and the year’s season. The absence or overabundance of one of these essentials is always the limiting factor to best plant growth. The window gardener will soon discover the one affecting their plant … Read more
Within the 300-odd botanical families in the whole, wide world of seed-bearing or flowering plants, a modest number of “sub-families” (genera) are delightfully and curiously exclusive. Some of these small clans have so few members in the botanical books, one wonders what nature had in mind when she made them, each with certain definite characteristics … Read more
All across our country Gesneriads are making big news. You know the best-known member of the gesneriad family – it’s the runaway best-seller African violet, properly termed the saintpaulia. The next most popular is a handsome, velvety-leaved plant which has satiny flowers in an endless array of colors and combinations the gloxinia. These two gesneriads … Read more
My affirmative answer to the question, “Do you like to grow things?” has completely changed our family routine. It began about two years ago when we moved into a home in a countrified suburb. Before I knew it, carpenters were turning windows into doorways, cement mixers plowed across my lawn and large shipments of glass … Read more
If you could wake in the morning to see flower sprays like shimmering golden butterflies dancing in your window, would you? If you could pause during the day to be enchanted by the intricate formations of a ballerina-like bloom… If you could have your window full of oncidiums, the “dancing lady” orchids, for weeks and … Read more