For the past three years I’ve tried overwintering my own geraniums. This year they spent the winter in our basement guest bedroom. Honestly, this wasn’t their best year. I decided to give some water cuttings a try and they’ve rooted so quickly! I’ll be potting these up here this week and starting another batch. I usually root my cuttings in whatever jar I’ve got lying around. Recently I purchased this propagator and I love that it looks decorative on my counter top!
How to Keep Paperwhites from Falling Over- Stunting Paperwhite Growth
Overwintering in the Greenhouse
Overwintering plants in a zone 5 greenhouse is easier said than done. All in all we’ve had a mild winter for Utah. Much less snowfall than usual and even some warm-ish (45 degrees or more) days in December and January. Our first winter in the greenhouse was definitely a learning experience. On non-cloudy days our greenhouse temps were lovely, often 20+ degrees more than the outside temps. The problem becomes harnessing that heat and providing a slow, steady release during the night to ensure that our tender plants don’t freeze completely. We lost a quite a few succulents this winter, but I was pleasantly surprised to find this little succulent had made it through. Hopefully transplanting into some new soil, along with relocation to the sunniest spot will do it some good.
Next Year’s To Do List for Winter Greenhouse Success
- Cover greenhouse air vents with batting insulation
- Use silicone caulk to seal up loose panels and reduce cold air infiltration
- Increase the number of black water jugs for overnight thermal mass heating
- Look into paraffin wax heaters and solar power options for space heaters
Air Cleaning Houseplants
How to Make a Mason Jar Terrarium
Proper plant selection is key to a happy terrarium. Make sure you pair plants that have similar growing requirements. For example, pairing succulents which thrive in drier soil with lush, humidity loving tropical plants will result in environmental discord within your terrarium. Satisfying the growing requirements of both will be impossible. Choose plants that require similar light and watering requirements. Since my mason jar terrarium with have a lid and therefore higher levels of humidity, I selected plants that would thrive in that environment.
For my high humidity terrarium I chose
…
How to Take Care of Your Air Plant- Tillandsia
All through high school and into college I worked at a beautiful garden center. The owner’s sister managed the greenhouse. I spent countless hours learning how to properly water hydrangeas, and trim angel vine topiaries. Upon return from a buying trip in California, she brought me an air plant and a 100 year old chunk of grape wood to display it on. Sadly, my air plant wasn’t long lived. Because it requires so little care, air plants can be easily forgotten. The waterings were so infrequent that I missed them all together, and it was up on an obscure shelf where the air plant easily went unnoticed.
Fast forward to last weekend. I got my hands on a beautiful piece of cholla cactus with the idea of decorating my coffee table. I thought back to Christine and my 100 year old grape wood and decided to give another air plant a try. I drove up to Cactus and Tropicals, a nursery that specializes in houseplants, to purchase the perfect Tillandsia. With the hopes of keeping this air plant alive, I’ve researched Tillandsia and its care requirements.
So… air plants or Tillandsia grow the best in humid environments. Now my apartment in Orem, UT is anything but humid. The good news is that humidity can be falsified. By lightly misting the air plant once or twice a week, or soaking it in a bowl of water every two weeks, the plant can survive in drier climates.
Tillandsias prefer bright, filtered light. Direct light from window sills are is a definite no. Instead try place your plant a few feet away from a bright window.
Because air plants survive without soil, they can be attached to pretty much anything. Branches of driftwood, cholla cactus, manzanita, or grape wood are great decorative options. You can also use sea shells, rock, or glass terrariums. Air plants can be mounted using a non water soluble glue or silicone caulk.
The Resurrection Fern
I love houseplants in the winter. There’s something about greenery indoors in the middle of a bleak January that eases my cabin feaver. Many housplants {especially ferns} help purify and clean the indoor air. Clean air is hard to come by this week due to the Utah Valley inversion. When I look out my window at the hazy smog I feel some comfort in the fact that I have a few housplants working to rid my air of the toxins creeping in from outside. Yes, I love housplants in the winter, but my love for housplants is seasonal.
I can’t stand having houseplants in the summer. When the garden is producing delicious leafy things, when the perennials are in full blossom, and the patio containers have verbena trickling down their sides I have little tolerance for indoor plants. This might seem ungrateful, considering all they did for me over the winter, but its the turth. My plants indoors can feel neglected since I’m spending most my time outside deadheading and fertilizing. So I usually gather up all my housplants and move them to the shadier parts of my yard. The lucky survivors of a few cool september nights have the luxury of being invited back in for the winter {providing they bring no insects or pests with them}.
There is another solution for my seasonal need for indoor green. How about a plant you can kill near the end of March when the tulips begin to bloom and revive in October when you’ve trimmed your last perennial to the ground. Impossible you say? Let me introduce you to the resurrection fern.
This fern, native to the southeastern United States and Africa, is a remarkable little plant. Its name is derived from its ability to survive very long periods of drought. This fern is an epiphyte or an air plant, which means it gets nutrients and water from the air. You can set them in a dish of water and within minutes they’ll start to open their fronds and turn green. A constant supply of water will keep them happy and thriving. As their water supply dries out they begin to curl and turn brown once again.
I like to keep mine on my coffee table. There’s no conversation piece like a plant that cant be killed. During the summer months I store it carfully in a dry, dark place and bring it out agian in winter for some air-purifying greenery.
I found mine at a local specialty nursery, Cactus and Tropicals in Salt Lake City, but you can also order them online. You can also find them on Amazon sold in different sizes and varieties.
