Indoor Plant Sitemap

Introduction - It's easy to say (and so it's said again and again) that growing house plants is simple, and that indoor gardening is a hobby anyone can be successful at. Well, both these statements are true but both have to be modified a little if we are going to be completely honest about it. Let's look at them, then, a little closer.

01. Pleasures Of Plants - If you didn't already believe that house plants pay for themselves in beauty and in the pleasure you can get from watching them flower and prosper, you wouldn't be reading this book. So we're not going to waste any time or space selling you a proposition you already agree with. What we will do is outline some of .the ways your plants can be used most effectively and efficiently. The rest is up to you.

02. Equipment - The beginner who walks into his garden supply store or even a large florist shop is going to be overwhelmed at the number and variety of home garden equipment he is going to find on sale. There are literally hundreds of different kinds of pots and trays, dibbles and trowels, hand rakes and sprayers on the market. Almost all of them are useful but only a very few of them are essential. If you are not scared off by the number of different things available, the tendency is usually to buy more than you need, or at least more than you are sure you need.

03. Healthy Plants - It's always easier (and better) to prevent the disease than to cure the patient. That's just as true for house plants as it is for people. Thousands of words have been written on plant diseases and blights; we can read books on insects and plant insect infestation but the number of house plants that fall prey to these ills is infinitesimal when compared with the tremendous majority that die from neglect or from the gardener's lack of knowledge of the habits of the plants themselves.

04. About Soil - There is nothing more important to the health of your plants than the soil in which they grow. There are an infinite number of soils of every possible make-up and consistency. Some are sandy, others heavy with clay some are rich and others barren. They range from desert sands in which only certain forms of cactus and sage will grow, to the deep loamy soil of the Midwestern plains which will grow any plant that will live in the climate.

05. Plant Foods - When we talk about fertilizers and plant foods, we're really talking about the same thing. Plant foods provide the same nutrients to the soil as do manure and other fertilizers, but in concentrated form.

Like any other living thing your house plants must absorb foods in order to live and grow. The foods they take in come in two forms and from two sources, 1) from the air in the form of gasses which are "breathed" in by the foliage, the most important gas to plants being carbon dioxide. 2) from the earth in the form of soluble minerals which are absorbed with water by the roots.

06. Repotting - The subject of this chapter is simple      but at the same time extremely important. Anyone who gardens at all should know how to use pots and how to take care of them. Since house plants so frequently suffer from under or over potting, you should also know when and how to move your plants from one pot to another when it will benefit the plant, and in such a way that the plant is not damaged in the transfer.

07. Seeds + Cuttings - One of the real joys of working with house plants comes when you decide to try your hand at creating plants yourself. The indoor garden that is made up completely of plants bought from a florist or nursery can be wonderfully satisfying, but at the same time it leaves you in the position of simply acting as the caretaker of a garden originally started and brought to maturity by professional gardeners.

08. Plants Behave - In the previous chapter we mentioned that often when cuttings are made for use in increasing stock, the plants from which the cuttings are taken are also benefited. In this chapter we are going to discuss how you can keep your plants both handsome and healthy by pinching, pruning and cutting back.

09. Pests + Diseases - For the average home gardener insect pests and plant diseases are not particularly pressing problems. In nine out of every ten cases plant failure can be traced not to an invading horde of hungry insects or a mysterious mold or blight but rather to those greatest enemies of house plants, neglect and improper living conditions. We can't, however, completely disregard the problem of pests and disease because that one plant out of ten that fails because of pests or disease may be your favorite Begonia plant, and we want to avoid that if we possibly can.

10. Flowering Plants - If foliage plants, vines and succulents are the bread and butter of the indoor garden, flowering plants are the caviar and champagne. The flowers you will grow in your own home are worth ten times their cost in beauty and satisfaction. As a general rule, flowering plants are harder to cultivate than the average foliage plant of whatever species, but the rewards are comparably greater. We are going to devote a good deal of space here to the cultivation of just a few plants: African Violets, which will be handled in a separate chapter, Begonias and Geraniums.

11. African Violets - Although the African violet does originate in Africa, it is not a violet at all, but belongs to the family of herbs known as Gesneriaceae. It gets its name from the predominant flower color, although African Violets are also grown with pink, blue and white flowers. The botanical name is Saintpaulia in honor of Baron Walter von Saint Paul who was the first to discover them and bring them back to Europe in 1893.

12. Foliage Plants - If you are planning to grow more than just one or two plants at a time, the chances are most of them will come under the heading of foliage plants. Not as showy as the flowering beauties described in the last chapter, they make up for this lack, if lack it is, by growing with ease, propagating simply and acclimating themselves beautifully to any environment into which they are put. Foliage plants are the backbone of every home garden; with few exceptions they know no seasons, but continue to grow and prosper all year round.

13. Cacti + Succulents - The title of this chapter would be more accurate if it were Cacti and other Succulents, because botanially all cacti belong to the succulent family. Succulents are plants whose native habitats are dry desert areas where the rainfall is so small that nature has had to evolve special properties in order for the plants to survive.

14. Bulbs - There are very few more rewarding tasks in the cultivation of a home garden than forcing bulbs into riotous bloom in the middle of winter. With a little practice and a little foresight you can assure yourself of some wonderful spots of color throughout your house that will continue all winter long. It is an inexpensive way to beautify your home, and nowhere near as difficult as most people seem to think. Before we get into any real discussion of bulb forcing, there is one point that must be made.

15. Terrariums - In the first chapter of this book, we mentioned the use of terrariums as one of the methods of displaying house plants sometimes with extremely fascinating effects. This is a very specialized part of home gardening, but an extremely interesting one. A great many woodland plants which prosper in their natural environments fail to grow at all in the house due to the lack of moisture in the air.

16. List Of Plants - As we have said throughout this book, no list we could give here would be complete. You have only to pick up a grower's catalogue and compare the section of it to one section of this list. You will find that it is much longer and more detailed. And then remember that the grower's list is nowhere complete. The plants which are listed and briefly described here are among the most popular and the most easily available.

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