This page last updated somewhere around late April, early May of 1997. (It’s due soon, I just did my home page [7/25/97] and this is next)
I like my plants! Having plants as a hobby is extremly relaxing and healthy. Plants clean the air in your house, converting the CO2 you breathe out into pure O2 that you can breathe in…
Lately I have taken the time to research a few of my plants. Since the GlassHouseWorks company lists all of their plants by their proper names, to find out what plants were which I had to look them up. An offshoot of that was that I decided to find out the proper names for the plants that I already had.
As I said before, I have thirty-five houseplants, that number varies often as I start cuttings or condense two pots into one.
Aloe vera – Aloe Plant – I have one of these. About three years ago I bought a 2 4-inch pots of aloe at the flea market for a dollar. They multiply and send off baby plants like nuts and now I’ve got a 12-inch pot of it that’s full.
Araucaria heterophylla – Norfolk Island Pine – I got a 4-inch pot that had five Norfolks crowded into it for 3.50 at Lowe’s this past December. I put all five into a 6-inch pot and they’ve doubled their height. I know they often grow as single plants, each in a pot of their own, but I like the effect of them all in one.
Ficus elastica decora – Rubber Tree – When I moved in with my husband in April 1992 he had this rubber tree that was one straight stalk that was covered with leaves. I don’t know what I did to it but it lost all of its leaves except for about five at the top. When we moved to our house in November of 1993 I put it in front of the sliding glass door for one more shot at life. Well, it put out many new branches and leaves and is super healthy but the top two feet are spindly so finally, yesterday (3-28-97), I got up the nerve to try air-layering it.
Hedera helix – English Ivy – I don’t have much of this, it doesn’t seem to take to cutting very well for me. I have one pot that isn’t very full and I stuck some in the terrarium. But what can I say, I got the original plant for 25 cents off the clearance table at K-mart in 1992!
Maranta leuconeura erythrophylla – Prayer Plant – This is hanging on to life, barely, I need to put some in the terranium since that is the culture it prefers. After I accidentally froze some of it this winter it seems to be pouting.
Philodendron scandens oxycardium – Heart-leaf philodendron – I have three pots of this, it grows so quickly and roots so easily in water that it just keeps multiplying. My favorite one of the three is in a tan shallow bowl hanging in a scruffy green macrame hanger… It screams 1970’s decor but I adore it.
Pilea cadierei – Aluminum Plant – My mother-in-law had a terranium for fifteen years, when we fot it, it was full of Pilea! I took the biggest plants out and am growing them outside of the terranium in one 4-inch pot. The smallest ones I left in the terranium.
Sanseveria trifasciata laurentii – Snake Plant – I have these in a pot I painted in 1990, I like the way these look, so simple. I’ve had them since August 1995 and multiplied them by division this past February.
Scindapus aureus – Pothos, Devil’s Ivy – I have six of these, I had seven yesterday (3-28-97) but I gave one away. There are three more that I plan to use to make pots of it to give away and three that I plan on keeping. It grows like a weed and roots so easily in water that it would be hard to imagine ever running out of it! If you want some, e-mail me, I’m willing to send cuttings out!
Sedum morganianum – Burro’s Tail – I got some cuttings of this from my grandmother and then a few more cuttings from a friend. It doesn’t grow fast but it grows steady. My grandmother’s is hanging about six feet off the ground and it is almost reaching it now. That’s a goal 🙂
Senecio rowleyanus – String-of-Beads, String-of-Peas – This is a really cool plant but it seems to be rather rare. My step-grandmother gave me some cuttings and they’ve grown into a decent number. I have never seen it for sale. It roots from cuttings easily but grows slowly into a new plant.
Syngonium angustatum – Tri-leaf wonder – I’ve had a pot of this since August of 1995, it never did very well and was clinging to life until recently. In February I hung the pot in front of the sliding glass door and it has taken off! Literally EVERY day there is at least new one leaf. I’m really beginning to like this plant!
Zebrina pendula – Wandering Jew – I got some cuttings off this last fall. I’m constantly rooting cuttings in water and planting them back into the same pot, trying to get it rather full. It’s working and is now beginning to look pretty decent.
I have some other plants and collections that I don’t have proper names for or am not sure what they are.
A lady I know surprised me the other day and brought me a Hoya cutting and what is either a Christmas or an Easter Cactus.
There are two pots of catnip growing for my cat but she really seems not to care about them though occasionally she’ll roll on the one and knock it over.
Four pine trees growing, each in their own pot. I grew them from the seeds of the pine tree that was at my mother-in-laws.
A pot of Alfalfa growing, I got the seeds for sprouting but threw a few into a planter to grow, it’s cute, it looks like baby shamrocks and four-leaf clovers.
Two cactus gardens, one I started from seed in Spring of 1995 and one that is what’s left alive from a dish garden I got in August of 1995.
One terranium. Like I said before, my mother-in-law had it for fifteen years and it was full of Pilea. I left the smallest Pilea in there and added the smallest Hedera that I had, it is doing well.