Bringing garden beauty indoors for winter
To have success with houseplants and to provide a delightful succession of blooms in winter gardens, you must make plans well in advance. A bit of general knowledge about the bulb’s or plant’s requirements is important. With some forethought and planning, you will be surprised at how much of the midsummer garden may be had indoors during winter months.
Through late October and November, keep window ledges bright and lively with potted mums and annuals brought in from the garden. By February and March, it’s possible to have a veritable spring garden indoors. Tulips, narcissus, bleedingheart, mertensis and many other flowering plants are well adapted for such use. Several types of annuals can be taken up in the fall and brought indoors to bloom for several months. Ageratum, browallia, nicotiana, phlox drummondi, petunia, and torenias are among the best. To prolong the period of bloom, bring in some of the little self-sown seedlings as well. These will come into flower just as the older plants are beginning to grow shabby. If self-sown seedlings are not available, sow your own in early August and grow them in pots. Geraniums make good house plants year-round if given proper care.
Repot house plants only when they will derive definite benefits. Plants vary greatly in their needs for frequent repotting. Most flowering plants, like geraniums, will give better blooms if allowed to become somewhat pot-bound. Amaryllis, the various palms, and pandanus thrive in very small pots and appear to suffer no ill effects from becoming extremely pot-bound. You can grow most house plants in comparatively small pots if you provide sufficient nutrients in the form of a complete liquid fertilizer. Young plants, grown either from seed or rooted cuttings, must be shifted from small pots to larger pots. Do this at frequent intervals, and do it when their pots have become filled with roots. If you don’t, the plants will become stunted and will be unable to grow normally and vigorously. A pot ½-inch to one-inch larger in size usually is sufficient for the next stage of growth. When you grow plants in pots, ample drainage is essential. In small pots, place a piece of broken crock over the drainage hole. With larger pots, particularly if the plant is to remain in the pot for a length of time, place a layer of broken crock in the bottom. Above the crock, spread a thin layer of sphagnum moss to prevent the soil from shifting down and clogging the drainage area.