Houseplants Added Color and Texture to Your Home
It’s easy to fall in love with houseplants with the added color and texture they bring into your home. They certainly can provide calmness to a room to help relieve any stress from your day and improve the air quality throughout your spaces. All of which can improve your health and mind.
Houseplants do not need to be super challenging if you pick the right plants for your home. Understanding the microclimate of your home will allow you to become quite proficient at taking care of your plants needs from watering to fertilizing. Basic plant care involves the correct mixture of light, water, air, climate, and soil.
Light-
When it comes to plants, the type of light that your home receives is perhaps the most important factor to consider when choosing houseplants. You can adjust your watering habits and humidity levels, but it is hard to add windows to the east, west, north, or south for more light. So, this is where artificial light comes in handy. Light is food for plants so this component can be tricky. Don’t be afraid to experiment. Plants undergo photosynthesis, a process where the plant synthesizes its own food using light (photo comes from the Greek root phos, meaning light), water and carbon dioxide in the air. These components are converted to glucose (sugar), and the plant releases the oxygen from the water molecule into the air.
Water-
Temperature, humidity, and the time of year will determine your watering schedule. Your plants may need less water in a cool, humid room than in a warm, dry room. You may find yourself watering more often in summer when the room temperature is higher than in winter when some plants go dormant.
Overwatering is the number one killer of plants. Most plants hate soggy soil, which leads to a fungal infection called root rot. This will eventually kill your plant. But in the meantime before it totally dies it will attract pests and other diseases.
Air-
Plants benefit from good air circulation, which helps prevent fungal problems. So open your windows on a warm day but please avoid cold drafts, air conditioning or direct fans on your plants.
Temperature-
Humidity is moisture in the air. Some plants love it, like orchids or ferns. Some plants hate it or don’t need it like cacti and succulents, which have plump leaves, stems, or stalks.
Watch your watering schedule. If the air is particularly dry, your plants may need to be watered more frequently than if they were in a more humid climate. Use a pebble tray with water to raise the humidity levels around your plant through the evaporation process. Room humidifiers can also be added to parts of your home.
Soil-
Understanding which potting mixes to use can be confusing. So the best way to combat confusion is to learn about your plants needs first by reading the labels or by checking on the web with gardening sites such as the ones found here: https://blog.feedspot.com/houseplant_blogs
Potting mediums can and will contain some of the following:
- Bark: Very small particles of composted crushed or shredded bark.
- Coir: A shredded fiber made from coconut husks that hold moisture well, environmentally friendly, and a sustainable alternative to peat moss.
- Limestone: A rock that is ground up and added to adjust the ph of a peat moss-based potting mix.
- Peat Moss/Peat Humus: Decomposed organic matter from the lower levels of peat bogs. It helps retain nutrients and moisture. Peat Humus is more decomposed than peat moss. Many gardeners have switched to coir due to environmental and sustainability concerns about peat.
- Perlite: Lightweight little white balls that look like foam but are heated volcanic glass. Perlite improves aeration and drainage.
- Sand: Added to potting mixes to improves aeration and drainage.
- Sphagnum Moss: The living moss that has been harvested from the surface of a bog and dried. Over the period of thousands of years, it will decompose to make peat moss. Often used as an orchid-potting medium.
- Vermiculite: Made when micaceous (a shiny silicate mineral with a layered structure) minerals are heated to a super high temperature and expand. It helps retain moisture and drains well but is used less often than perlite.
You can also use worm casings to enrich your soil. It is a rich natural fertilizer made from worm droppings. A lot of gardeners like myself practice vermiculture. If interested, check out: https://gardenerthumb.com/vermiculture-composting-worms-guide
Some of our plants may need specialized soil mixes like:
- Cactus and Succulent Mix: This is for plants who do not like to sit in water and need a quick-draining mix. This mix has river sand added to it to promote drainage.
- Orchid and Bromeliad Mix: Bromeliads and many orchids are epiphytes, which are essentially air plants. Epiphytes do not grow in soil, but instead gather their nutrients from air and rainwater. They often grow on other plants such as in the crotch of a tree. To grow one of these successfully in a pot, they need to be quick- draining. This mix is usually made up of chunks of bark, big pieces of perlite and possibly charcoal pieces. You can use coco chips made from coconut husks but will need to be hydrated. If you are the type of person that hates to get their hands dirty, you will love orchid mix.
A few final pointers and reminders before you start on your Houseplant adventure.
- Start Small- pick just a few plants to start so you are not overwhelmed.
- Study your spaces within your home to determine where you want to place your plants. You may want hanging plants, so they take up less floor space in certain areas.
- Have a care and feeding schedule for your plants. Attention goes a long way.
- It takes practice so observe, learn and you will figure out what your plants’ needs are. If you fail don’t give up. That is why it is good to start small at first.
- Educate yourself on what plants you have decided on. Learn their names and do some research.
- Community plant sales, garden nurseries, garden clubs and your friends are good places to start.
Common Houseplant-
Just a few of the more common houseplants:
Spider Plants
Great air purifier loves bright indirect light, temps between 55-80 degrees. Can grow up to 12” using potting soil. Avoid too much water. May get root rot, spider mites, scale, and white flies.
Jade Plant
Succulent and is undemanding, needs bright light, water but let the soil dry out between watering’s and likes temps between 60-80F. Can grow up to 2-3 feet tall in cactus and succulent mix soil. May get root rot and mealy bugs. Divide plants when you first buy them to separate into individual pots. Wipe the leaves occasionally with damp cloth.
Christmas Cactus
Likes bright light from east or west facing window. Also likes humidity (use pebble tray if house is too dry) and temp between 55-80F. Can grow up to 12” tall and wide in sand and potting soil mix. May get root rot if over watered. Reduce watering in winter but don’t let soil dry out completely.
African Violets
Use African Violet potting mix, which is light, porous and provides good drainage. Place in a bright indirect area, avoid direct sun. Rotate plants a quarter turn regularly for even growth. Water plant from the bottom and avoid splashing leaves and don’t let it dry out. Likes temp between 60-85F as cold temps will stunt growth. Will grow to 1” to 16”. May get mealy bugs and gray mold. Plant has a shallow root system so prefer smaller pots. Removing dead leaves and flowers will help promote new growth.
Best Houseplants –
Just a few of the more common houseplants:
Hanging Plants:
- Boston Ferns
- Pothos
- Heart Leaf Philodendron
Great Beginner Plants:
- Aloe Vera
- Heart Leaf Philodendron
- Pothos
- Snake Plant
- Chinese Evergreen
Air Purifying Plants
- Peace Lily
- Pothos
- Rubber Plant-(Ficus Elastica)
- Spider Plant
- Snake Plant
Great Winter Blooms:
- Amaryllis
- African Violet
- Christmas Cactus
- Moth Orchid
Pet Friendly Plants:
ASPCA list of non-toxic choices for cats and dogs. ASPCA does note that ingesting any plant material could still cause your pet some gastrointestinal problems.
- Cats: African Violet, Rex Begonia, Boston Fern, Donkey’s Tail, Parlor Palm
- Dogs: Christmas Cactus, Zebra Plant, Watermelon Peperomia, Ponytail Palm, Nerve Plant
Small Space Plants:
- Miniature African Violets
- Echeveria
- Zebra Plant
- Air Plants
- Chinese Money Plant
Plants for Frequent Travelers:
- Zebra Plant
- ZZ Plant
- Moth Orchid
- Snake Plant
- Golden Barrel Cactus
The Ocean Shores community garden, Garden by the Sea, generally has a plant sale in May. We usually have both indoor and outdoor plants and planters for sale with WSU Master Gardeners and GBTS members on site for advice and plant questions.
If you have further garden related questions, are interested in renting a garden plot or volunteering to help in our community garden email us at: info@gardenbytheseaoceanshores.org
Garden by the Sea is located at 824 Ocean Shores Blvd. NW, Ocean Shores (Behind Tugboat Granny’s Childcare).
This article was originally published in the February 2022 Ocean Observer.
