No brainer tropicals
Garden Clippings for March 5, 2022
We are up to 36 tropical plants in our house. Four in the bedroom, eight in the living room, one in the pantry and the rest in the front hall.
Contrary to what one would think, our house is not a jungle. We only have one supersized plant, a Fiddle Leaf Fig, that sits about 8 feet tall. The rest are small, with most of them sitting on windowsills.
Also contrary to what one would think, it does not take much effort to tend to our plants. Wednesday is watering day, and my guess is that it takes no more than ten minutes to give our plants a drink. Periodically we clean up a few yellow leaves and we seldom make the effort to fertilize. For the rest, the plants are no-brainers.
Chinese Evergreen (Aglaonema) is top of the easy-to-care-for list. Ours is over 20 years old and it looks as good as the day we brought it home. It hasn’t grown much but it also has not shrunk.
Chinese Evergreen is all about foliage. It remains an obedient short plant of about 18 inches with large Hosta-like leaves. Chinese Evergreen doesn’t particularly like water, making it a go-to plant for commercial applications such as shopping malls.
If Chinese Evergreen had a negative attribute, it would be that it does not like cool temperatures and does not like sitting near a cool draft. Its other drawback is that it does not come cheap. Florida growers can produce a lot of plants that are quick to grow, but Chinese Evergreen will not be found among them.
Snake Plant (Sansevieria) comes in as a close second on the easy list. Snake plant is a favourite choice for offices because it thrives on neglect, does not take up much space and grows well in artificial light.
There are many varieties of Snake Plant, most with tall narrow leaves, growing to 2 or 3 feet of height. Snake plants won’t get any points for being pretty, but their value is in their hardiness. New or novelty varieties include Whale Fin and Pencil Point. Be careful not to overwater Snake plants. Ours gets a drink about once a month, whether it needs it or not.
English Ivy (Hedera) is a slow growing foliage vine with rambling or cascading stems. Ours thrives on a high shelf and gets no natural light, and because it is hard to reach, it does not get much water.
English Ivy is a highly adaptable plant that is slow growing under poor conditions but will grow quickly if given water, light, and fertilizer. Grow it as a hanging basket where it can trail or put on a table and prune the ends if it grows too large.
English Ivy wants more water than most tropical plants. If allowed to dry out, it will succumb to spider mites which will eventually cause it to bite the dust. But English Ivy is cheap and replacing it will only cost a few dollars.
Dracaena is a large group of indoor plants that come in a wide array of sizes, shapes and colours. Their range includes the compact ‘Janet Craig’ with dark green foliage to the taller growing Dragon Tree (‘Marginata’) or Corn Plant (‘Massangeana’).
Dracaena is very easy to grow and easy on the pocketbook. It likes well drained soil that should be allowed to dry out between waterings. Draceana is flexible about lighting requirements and provides a lot of foliage without a lot of effort.
