Indoor Plants

To many people with disabilities and the elderly, a home can't be complete without having a good amount of potted indoor plants scattered around on shelves and corners, bringing light to everyday life.

To many people with disabilities and the elderly, a home can't be complete without having a good amount of potted indoor plants scattered around on shelves and corners, bringing light to everyday life.

The nurturing of plants pay off every season with their beauty, being a sight that bring joy for both the owners and their visitors. Taking care of indoor plants is not a difficult task and it only gets easier as you get used to the basics.

There are a few things one must learn before being able to master the art of gardening which then results in the biggest and healthiest plants in the end. It starts from the seed and every day forward, starting by when and how it is planted.

Most of the flowers you purchase at a florist have been grown under ideal conditions inside greenhouses. So when you then proceed to bring them to your house they are then inside an environment fit for people, not for flowers. You must make sure you help the plant adapt to these conditions by being well supportive, especially in the first weeks.

When it comes to watering, if you have gotten used to watering all your plants at the same time week after week, you should try to break the habit. The reason being that not all plants need the same water, nor at the same frequency. It entirely depends on the size of the plant, the country it originates from, the time of year, the room temperature, the light medium and the type of medium it is potted with. If ever a plant seems stressed one should not assume watering it will fix the problem, in fact a water logged plant will suffer as much as a plant that is dry of it as the roots need as much air as they need water.

A plant that suffers from root rot will have difficulty fending off pests and fungal disease. To avoid over watering make sure the drainage holes on your pots are always kept clear, one thing you could do is placing pebbles in the container before adding the soil. Proper watering is essential for the plants health, always examine the soil in which it is planted to see if there is sufficient water. If you over do it the soil will become sticky and slimy, when not enough water the soil will lighten of color and crack under continuous drying.

Some suitable plant types for indoors include:

If you have a braided tree, you may decide to keep the braid or not. It is braided like a typical 3-strand braid. Either prune off side branches or incorporate them into one of the three main strands.

The ficus tree is a vigorous tree that tolerates relatively low light conditions encountered in indoor settings. If the tree receives sufficient sunlight, it grows and soon becomes too large, reasonable pruning should not cause problems.

Cacti are one of the most famous indoor plants since they can survive on low levels of water and sunlight for many days, the bonsai will also grow to have a nice foliage.

It is important to provide Chamaedoreas with humidity. In their native environment they receive high humidity. The humidity level inside buildings is usually so low that the palms develop brown tips on the end of their leaflets. To increase humidity around the plant, mist the foliage generously and often with clean, tepid water. Another option is to use a pebble tray. This is an over-sized saucer full of small pebbles to which water is added. The water level is kept below the bottom of the plant’s container. The water will evaporate from the surface of the pebbles, adding moisture to the air around the plant.

In winter simply put in a cool room exposed to bright, direct light. Free-standing shrubs and trees are pruned and sheared into specific shapes. This works best with geometric forms such as balls, squares or rectangles, and is not well suited to creating complex shapes.

Standards are just a single stem, selected early, and pruned up. Herb topiaries, especially rosemary, thyme and lavender, are commonly plants pruned into a standard.

Many landscape plants can be sculpted into recognizable shapes. Yew is one of the most common in northern gardens for shaping into balls, cones, or squares.

They are native throughout southeast Asia from the Himalayan mountains to the islands of Polillo and Palawan of the Philippines and northern Australia. Orchid Island off Taiwan is named after this orchid.

Having white petals along with beautiful stripes of fuchsia, the orchid blooms once or twice a year and lasts for two or three months. It is truly an amazing sight when bloomed, making them definetely worth having around.

Amaryllis were originally discovered in South Africa and South America.  The South American plants hail from the Andes Mountains of Chile, Peru, and Bolivia as well as from Brazil, Argentina, and Venezuela.  Amaryllis bulbs can be found as far north as Mexico and the West Indies.

The Ponytail palm should be watered thoroughly once every 7 - 14 days. It is native to desert areas therefore, having a root system similar to cactus in that the roots go deep in order to store water for long periods of time. The only downfall to the Ponytail palm is that it is an extremely slow grower.

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