Mid-Atlantic Gardening: Things to cheer us up on bleak days... , 1 by stormyla

stormyla wrote:
Orchid, You are giving great information here. I never realized that some Orchids could grow without humidity. I never could grow those miniature gardenias either. They always dried up and lost all of their leaves.

I never keep many houseplants, but did this year. My Begonia collection has been a challenge, with it's humidity needs. I used to grow African violets all of the time. Some I had for more than 15 years. But my last residence had such brilliant sunlight that I had to give them away.

At Christmas, I lit the fireplace and ran it for 3 days. I couldn't believe how adversely it affected the plants. Many of them dropped a good bit of their leaves. I do have 3 humidifiers running at all times.

This little plant was a Christmas gift. It has no soil. It is growing on Volcanic Rock. The instructions said to keep it's saucer full of water. It didn't come with a tag, but seems to be similar to a small variegated Schefflera. Every couple of days it loses a few leaves. I don't think it should. What do you think?