I started a thread earlier about the woes of my first garden, so I thought I show my houseplants to you wouldn't think I'm a complete failure. lol
First of all, here is the link showing what these plants looked like this spring and summer. http://davesgarden.com/forums/t/443188/
Now, here are some photos, I took this evening after I swept the porch. The first one is the over all view.
This message was edited Nov 18, 2004 6:27 PM
Here is my corn plant, which is my pride and joy. It was the given to me by well wishers after I lost my Mom. It's the first plant I've ever took the time to care for, and it started the gardening craving in me.
Here is my chinese evergreen, Ivy, and various small plants.
Wow those are certainly thriving. I kill houseplants a lot, unless they can thrive on neglect that is - I forget to water them in the summer when I'm busy outside. I grew great cacti mind - mine always flowered, probably in desperation!
Thank you, okus. I'm pretty proud of them. It takes the edge off the disappoinment I felt about the garden. Now I worry about where to put them when it's time to bring them in. Some of them are toxic, if my cats should get to them. So I can't really bring them in and place them around anywhere. (sigh)
I have a question. Is it possible that I could plant the evergreen into the ground? Just curious.
I wouldn't worry too much about the cats. I have 3 cats and bunches of houseplants some of which are toxic. As dumb as my cats can be sometimes, they are quite instinctive about knowing what and what not to munch on.
Oh, you collection is a bit larger than you had back several months ago, Jen. They all look good. Do I see the little spider plant babies in the middle of the third picture? It looks like it's filling out nicely. :)
Yes, Staci, that's them. I repotted them together in same pot, so I could use the smaller ones to root some wandering jew cuttings. I love my spider babies. In face, I looking around in a local nursury, and noticed that all the little plantlets hanging from thier spider plants had roots on them. I was so tempted to ask if I could cut some off and buy them. The plants themselves didn't look very well kept, but the plantlets were gorgeous. Needless to say, I didn't. They would think me strange if I asked to chop up one of thier plant's and take the babies. lol
I have spider plants going in my back yard as a ground cover for part of my rose bed.
Are they hardy here Pville?
J - That's where your babies came from, the little plantlets. Just give it a year or so and you'll have plenty yourself. :)
They are root hardy in our zone Carol. I have a few planted around my yard and they die back when it freezes and come back strong in the spring.
Oh, I hope so. That gives me something to look forward to. Thank you so much. When I get "babies" I may also plant some in the yard.
Changing the subject. I really want to go to a RU or a swap. I don't have any plants to offer yet, but I'd really love to meet ya'll. I missed the Tx ones, but if it falls on a weekend that my DH is off, I might could go into Ok, Ark, or La if it's not too far. I live in NE Texas. I don't know the exact miles, but we're about a 2 hr drive NE of Dallas...I think. It doesn't have to be real soon, because we're busy with the holidays and such, but maybe sometime I could go.
Well, there will be one around April for sure so just keep that month in mind! Even if we don't end up having one in the Dallas area at that time, there could be one in the Tyler area, or in Kerrville.
Thanks. I'll be looking forward to that.
My in ground spider plants were originally an accident from a couple of daughters that were trailing from a hanging basket and rooted in the ground 3-4 years ago. I cut them off and basically ignored them and they have spread across that section of the rose bed. They stay evergreen all year. Not sure how well you can see them in this photo but they are in the back section (by the fence) of the rose garden. They make a great ground cover and are very good at choking out weeds.
Is that them in the background that looks almost like an ornamental grass? They look great.
yep jdee....that's them.
Now I know I'm planting some of my plantlets into the ground when I get them. lol
jdee....you need to take the whole plant out where you want them to root so that the daughters are in contact with the ground and after they root themselves you can cut them off from the mother plant. If you cut them off and then plant them I don't know that they will make it.
ok, thanks. My spiderplant is simply 3 babies potted together, so It may be a while before I get plantlets. That's ok though. I started to say that I wish I had bought one of those plants at the nursery so I could put it out there and let the plantlets do their thing, but impatience is why I ended up not happy with my first garden (you recall my first thread to this forum), so I'm going to try to go a little slower, and plan more carefully from now on.
I have layered them, as Pville said, a couple times and I have cut them off and stuck them directly in dirt a bunch. Both ways took about the same amount of time to root. I have also rooted them in water and that had no effect at speeding the process up. Also, so far, they have always made for me just cut off from the mother plant and put in dirt. When I cut them off I just pot them into little 2 or 4 inch pots and then keep moist. Those little nubs that are already there grow roots in no time. :)
Good to know sweez....I may just cut a couple of them from in ground in the back and plant them up front. I'll start a battle of the ground covers....Vinca vs. Spider...I'm rooting for Spider to win, but I don't think I'll bet any money on it...LOL.
Yep, I don't have much hope either. :) That darn vinca is a pest for sure.
Ok, is spider plant what I have always called airplane plant? My sister calls it that so I guess that's where I got it. Anyway, I have always kept them in hanging baskets. It looks like money grass but these long vine looking things grow out of the base and little tufts of the grassy stuff is at the ends. Like my description? LOL! Anyway, is that the same thing?
As for vinca. Weeeeellll, I put like 12 of them (2 6-packs) in my garden last spring and they are still going strong. However, I was getting mad at all the "weeds" popping up... then I realized it was reseeding vinca! Did I just royally mess up by planting those?! Should I start pulling out the seedlings now or will they die off when it freezes? I don't need groundcover... just wanted them for color. My boss (NOT a gardener) had mysterious plants popping up in her front flowerbed (unkept). She was calling them pansies, but I went to her house and its vinca! She never planted any and we didn't see any at the houses near her so I guess that stuff can really travel!
Jamie
It's my understanding that spider plants and airplane plants are the same thing. My husband calls them airplane, too. He told me it's the same.
I don't know anything about vinca, but I'm sure there are others out there who can.
Yep, that would be it! I have one hanging basket in the house too. It's in my bathroom where it receives no direct sun and does great.
Uh-oh! I don't have much personal experience with the vinca but I have seen it take over elsewhere where it had a bit of sun and a few years. It looks like it was planted by the previous owner at my house in full shade under holly bushes and did not prosper. I have stray pieces that run for 3 feet to get to sun but it is not spreading.
I think it can be gotten rid of if you remove it now. If you have it in a confined by edging where you want it to fill in and take over than it's perfect, but you will probably find better things if it's planted in an area next to other plants for color.
Start trying to get rid of it now. It will not freeze over winter. In fact you could run a bulldozer through it and it won't die. Vinca not only has a rhizome root, it also has runner roots and reseeds freely. The longer you let it go the worse it is going ot get. Unless you can till the whole area I would not recommend trying to pull it up. This disturbs and scatters the seeds and you most likely will not get the rhizomes with it any way. Try making a mix of Round Up or other systemic killer, fertilizer, and a little liquid soap. Put it in an applicator bottle with a sponge tip (like liquid shoe polish comes in) or use one of those sponge paint brushes and paint the backs of the leaves. The fertilizer encourages absobtion and the soap help it penitrate the waxy cuticle of the leaves The cuticle is thinner on the back of the leaves.
I planted vinca (periwinkle) in one area that is pretty shady and it grew but doesn't flower very well. It has dark green leaves and grows low- like ground cover is supposed to. It didn't take off very well though b/c of shade. The other stuff I planted last spring looks nothing like it. The tags did say vinca, but these grew upright and did not spread outwards from the base. I can grab them at the base and they have one set of roots- like one tap root I guess. They didn't spread and run like the groundcover version I have did. So, is this the same thing? The flowers are pink with red dots in the middle and some are white with the red dots. The leaves are also bigger and light green. The reason I am asking is because I find it hard to believe that this stuff could be so invasive. I had some in hanging baskets and it would dry up if I went one day without watering it. Seems too sensitive to be so prolific! But the tags DID say "vinca."
Jamie
Texasgarden, there are serveral species of Vinca. Some are perenniel, some annual. Some are trailing, some have a more rounded bushy habit. We have an annual rounded bushy habit Vinca here that will self seed for the following year. The seeds germinated very well, but not millions LOL ... only about 20 plants sprouted. Only those that grew in full sun did well. The others stayed less than 2 inches tall all summer and never did bloom. If they live through the winter and flower a bit in spring that would be great. I don't see them as invasive at all.
Having said that, there is a trailing Vinca that is supposed to be very invasive. I have it in a pot though and it hasn't self seeded even once in the 2 years I've had it in this garden. So if it IS invasive, it seems to be contained well in a pot.
-Julie
I think Vinca Minor spreads by rooting itself from its trailing stems - it is good ground cover in shade - but needs sun to flower in the UK, when the flowers are periwinkle blue. Vinca Major also spreads, is larger but similar flowered, and sort of takes over and strangles everything in its path - like bindweed but prettier. I think there are a couple of other non spreading varieties too. This is one of the dangers of labelling things as generically invasive, in most families there are marked differences in behaviour, and people use names very loosely so may be talking about something completely different!.
What you have that's upright is probably Catharanthus roseus. http://davesgarden.com/pdb/go/185/index.html Also known as Periwinkle. They are actually in the same family, but not the same Genus. Catharanthus roseus are annuals around here.
Vinca Major is the trailing one that I have seen take over around here.
Yes there is a danger in identifying plants by common names instead of the scientific ones, and by using only family and/or genus names and not specific down to the individual species, and I tend to be pretty bad with that. As sweezel indicated, Periwinkle is a common name for 2 (actually probably more than 2) very different plants. And as okus said, there is Vinca major and Vinca minor, both can be invasive given any opportunity but there are some differences in degree between them. I just wish they could make scientific names in Texan instead of a combination of Latin and gibberish so I could remember them and pronounce them....LOL
