Author Archive for Keith Markensen

Indoor Plants in the Living Room Make Great Color

by Keith Markensen

Color is what makes a house a home, and your family will enjoy taking care of indoor plants as well. If you want to find additional benefits for houseplants, think about the quality of air that house plants are going to add, and the colors, the feel of living things all around you - it is all an outstanding feeling.

You are most likely wondering just how hard it is to care for houseplants. Well, caring for houseplants is actually quite easy. You need dirt, the plant, light and water. Very few plants require any special light, but you might want to read up on the plant you are purchasing if you feel you don’t know much about that one type. Many green plants will need some amount of indirect light, which means as long as you have a window in that room the sunlight will come in and the plant will enjoy it.

If you have never had any types of plants before, you will find that many plants are going to grow slowly. You could have a small potted indoor plant, and it could be a year before you need a bigger pot. You can then use the smaller pot for another house plant that you have. In the living room, you could have hanging plants, plants on the end tables, or on the coffee table. Sometimes if you have large window sills you could even put small pots on the window sill of your living room for a great overall effect.

There are some types of house plants that are going to also produce flowers. If you find that you have a plant, that you want to keep until it flowers, you may be waiting a few seasons. Some indoor plants, such as a Christmas cactus are only going to bloom once a year, and then sometimes it won’t bloom again for two years. It is a wonderful time in the living room where the plants are colorful and many textures of the leaves are available as well.

Perhaps you want something a little different in your indoor garden such as exotic plants. You could choose from plants that are sun loving, desert loving or that are even aquatic. The choices you have are vast and you don’t have to have an indoor garden that is all green hanging type of plants as many people think about, but you can have flowers indoors, or plants that smell like candy.

What you need to watch for are plants that are going to attract insects. Insects are attracted to some plants but rarely. Geraniums indoors are going to attract small white flies. Spider mites are attracted to plants that are overly wet but there are also sprays for all types of little pests that you can use if you would happen to have a little creature in your plants. Don’t worry though the little pests are few and far between for the normal semi warm climates such as the indoors of your home.

Watering is not going to take much of your time at all. Indoor gardens really only need attention once a week or every two weeks depending on the variety of plants that you have chosen. The yucca cane plant is low in the water needs area for example. What you can look for is a calendar in your kitchen or on your computer and make little notes to yourself if you really think you are going to forget for weeks at a time. Otherwise, when you put your finger in the dirt and you find that it is a little dry add a little water and your indoor garden is going to be thriving!

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Care and Preferences of Indoor Foliage Plants

by Keith Markensen

Although a blooming indoor plant may be your first choice because of its vibrant hues and buds, if you desire several indoor plants there are a variety of simpler plants to be considered. Most of these foliage plants have fantastic stamina, an attractive feature for those with a brown thumb. Foliage plants have a resilience to adjust to any environment, grow with little maintenance, and propagate effortlessly. As staples to most home d?cor, they grow all year round, with very few exceptions.

Also attractive to any home gardener, there are a multitude of foliage plants, varieties of the same, and hybrids. With such a variety to choose from in nurseries, attributes that may draw you to one in particular are the color of leaves, their shape, and the size of the plant itself. The plants described to follow can be grown across the country and are readily available.

Let’s begin with the Asparagus fern, whose appearance although fern-like, is part of the lily family and related to the vegetable in its name. Its name is truly deceiving, as is the case with many plants. This foliage plant does have blooms of miniature white flowers and produces toxic purple berries not to be eaten. You may have seen its foliage in a dozen roses or floral arrangements as its leaves are popular among florist.

Asparagus setaceus, its botanical name, prefers rich soil, to be fed properly, and to be exposed to abundant light or partial sunlight. This native of Southern Africa attracts red mites. This pest is simply controlled through watering and spraying of the foliage, especially during its growth phase. To maintain a happy Asparagus fern, do not place it close to entryways or vents. It likes to be kept at room temperature and dislikes extreme cold or heat. To best propagate your plant in the effort to make additional house plants, collect its seeds. Increased pruning can assist in the production of these seeds.

Aspidistra, whose natural habitat is on the floors of East Asian forests, is an equally vigorous foliage plant. Also known as the cast-iron plant, it doesn’t mind being neglected nor does it prefer a special soil, temperature, or moisture.

This large leafed indoor foliage plant, when in nature, produces flowers but they rarely do so inside. The leaves that end in a point are oblong in shape growing up to 20 inches long. Less common is a variety that presents green striped and white leaves. The control of red spider mites, found on Aspidistra plants, is to keep the plant well watered and to spray it often. Division, the breaking up of a plant into two or more parts, is used to propagate the Aspidistra. It is important to keep the roots and crown of the plant intact in order to start new plants.

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Plants Perfect Accent to any Room

by Keith Markensen

The natural benefits of plants in an office or home are many. They provide a great decorative touch to those lonely stretches of unpopulated floor, table or desk space, they improve the air quality of the room, and have a naturally uplifting presence that calms and soothes those who look upon them.

These are but a few of the reasons why every home and office space should be outfitted with any number of plants. Yet before you go turning your home into a leafy, jungle paradise that oozes atmosphere you should observe the following pointers and tips on some of the plant varieties you may feel inclined to add to your abode.

Firstly, as beautiful and innocent as most plants appear, many have an unknown danger lurking in the tips of its leafy tendrils that can potentially be very dangerous or even deadly to both animals and children. Some plants when consumed or even touched can cause severe illness. One of most popular poisonous plants is ivy, with philodendron another popular choice that is potentially harmful.

Any household that includes children and/or pets either living there or visiting even infrequently needs to have its plant life chosen with care. Researching beforehand the potential dangers a plant may hold, the symptoms they are likely to cause upon consumption, and the quickest and most effective remedy should that occur are all vital. Maintaining constant supervision over children and pets in areas where these plants exist is important, though ensuring they’re out of reach is even more so.

Kids are ingenious though, and if that pretty plant catches their eye, you can be sure they’ll devise a clever way to reach it and take a closer look, so don’t let your guard down even when you feel a plant is out of their reach.

Aside from the potential dangers of plants, when choosing any plant for your home it’s important to identify which area of the house that plant will reside, and the amount of sunlight it is likely to receive there. Hiding a plant that requires plenty of sunlight in a dark corner will ensure it does develop well, though you can remedy this by moving it into a sunny spot for at least a few hours each day. Putting your indoor plants outdoors for a few hours on nice days is a great way for them to get sunlight and air.

Another factor that can influence plant growth is the temperature of the room or area it’s located in. Some plants thrive in warmer climates, while others may require cooler temperatures. Most need a nice moderate environment though, so if you stick it in a cool basement, or a stifling room in the summer, they may not grow as desired.

As a general rule of house plant care flowering plants will require more sunlight to feed their growth than other types of plants. Tropical plants will do better in an environment with moist air, while cacti will thrive in the areas with dry air, those resilient plants should be able to survive even in conditions not ideally suited to them.

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