Every year, a debate breaks out on the topic of moving house plants outside for the summer.
Below several homeowners share their experiences of “How I Summer My House Plants”
H. E. Chambers
Two years ago, we had aluminum storm windows installed in our home, leaving enough old window screens to install a screen house along the north side of the garage.
First, we laid a base of bricks, and then we nailed together the sides and top and tied these to the side of the garage, with the screens resting on the row of bricks.
We put a 1- x 4-inch center post in front and hinged two screens to it for openings.
We spaded the soil and added a good soil conditioner. An eaves trough on the garage roof protected the screen house.
All my house plants, some tuberous begonias, and a few plants I particularly wanted for arrangement foliage, such as plantain or hosta-lilies, filled up this screen house.
We left some plants in pots plunged to their rims and planted other plants directly in the soil.
We were encouraged to spray, water, and fertilize the plants more regularly during the summer because the plants did so well.
About 60 days last summer were over 100° degrees Fahrenheit, and the temperature occasionally went up to 115° degrees Fahrenheit.
We carried well water during a water shortage to keep what we could of the yard plants alive. But our screen house plants thrived, even with a minimum of care and watering.
And they furnished the only cuttings we had for arrangements—mostly foliage to use with driftwood and decorative objects.
In the fall, we had fine plants to repot for the house during the winter and some extra ones for friends.
Our house plants have been finer than ever this winter.
Joe B. Parks
Last year, we fixed a special place outdoors for our house plants.
A spot facing north where the house forms a shallow “L” is shaded from the sun on the southeast and southwest (except in late afternoon) and is somewhat protected from the prevailing winds.
I built a raised 4- x 6-foot bed using the house foundation for two sides in this corner.
For the other two sides, I cut to proper length two pieces of 1/2- x 10-inch redwood and treated them with pentachlorophenol to prevent rot and termites.
Next, I drove a 2-foot 2- x 4-inch stake (treated) into the ground 14″ inches at the outside corner of the bed and nailed the boards to this stake.
I now had a box on the ground with two sides formed by the house foundation and two sides by the 10-inch redwood hoards.
Where the boards met the house foundation, I drove two more treated stakes outside the bed to keep the ends of the boards from spreading when the bed was filled about 8″ inches deep with half-rotted sawdust.
The bed was ready to use after sprinkling the sawdust with a chlordane solution to keep out earthworms.
We transfer the plants from glazed and plastic pots to clay ones each spring.
We give nearly all our plants new soil and, if necessary larger pots, then sink them to their rims in the sawdust bed.
Plants that like the most shade are set way back in the corner and along the foundation. Those plants that like light are set toward the outside corner, which is sunny for about 2 hours in the afternoon.
Every week or so, we give the entire bed a good soaking with the hose if it hasn’t rained, though if necessary, it can go much longer without water.
At least once a month, we water the plants with a fertilizer solution. Occasionally, we check them for bugs and spray them if necessary.
Any plants we want to root are stuck in the sawdust and left for the summer.
Edward F. Kerman
How do I summer my house plants? I simply keep them in the house—where they belong.
A house plant is a house plant. It thrives if its artificial environment has been engineered to simulate its optimal natural habitat.
I spent hours of study to learn just what that might be. And it was no easy environment to create. But I reproduced it—within the four walls of my own home.
My plants have prospered in this incubator of my own making. So that’s just where I have kept them and plan to keep them—autumn, winter, spring, summer.
Light?
They’ve had nothing but carefully measured light (600 foot-candles under my fluorescent lamps) for 16 hours each day. No cloudy days, no scorchers for my plants.
Humidity?
They’ve known only ideal surroundings. When the house tended to get too dry during the winter months, they were put into a terrarium for protection against parching.
As to temperature control, watering, trimming, replanting, and all the other cares due to a good house plant, mine is certain to receive these attentions since they are with me in the house—where I can, and do, look at them many times during the day.
Summer is a wonderful season to grow things in the garden—no doubt of it. But my plants stay indoors with me.
Other Good Ideas
Mrs. John McCracken
If my vines are too long, I cut them back, and if there are scraggly, I cut them way down.
Then I put them in a shallow water-retaining tray or saucer on a shelf or bench and under a tree for the summer.
They get just a small bit of filtered sunlight. Occasional water in the tray is about all the attention they need.
Here I have ivy, philodendron, ivy geranium, passion vine, and Kenilworth ivy.
Mrs. J. J. Hajek
To take care of our almost 200 house plants during a three-week vacation, we added more sand to the children’s large sandbox under 2 heavy-foliaged trees and sunk the pots.
We built a sturdy picket fence to foil neighborhood pets and children (with luck).
We tried to give each plant its preference of sun or shade, more or less moisture, by its position on the sloping mound of sand.
We watered the sand well the morning we left, and a neighbor watered it occasionally while we were gone.
When we returned, everything was fine.
Eva M. Schroeder
I take my achimenes, gloxinias, and sometimes my African violets outdoors when the weather is nice, using a white coaster wagon (one the children outgrew) to move the plants about the yard.
If a storm threatens, they can be set quickly in the wagon and pulled into the garage.
When a plant becomes overgrown, I leave it outside in the fall but take several cuttings to ensure a new start for another year.