Indoor Plant Love

Good afternoon all! I would like to talk about indoor plant care for a minute and pass on a tip or two.

Please let me introduce Lola. Lola is my 16 year old Peace Lily or a more proper name is Spathiphyllum 'Lynise'. I don't usually name my house plants but she is pretty special. She has been repotted into bigger pots about 6 times. I have transplanted her sproutlings and watched her bloom and have enjoyed having her around.

I have several other indoor plants and some that I keep outside during the summer and inside during the winter. Every couple of months I will bring each one to the kitchen sink for grooming. I remove and clean the water catcher from underneath the pot, trim dead leaves and give them a really soaking bath. By bath I just mean that I will saturate the dirt until it pours out of the bottom. I sit the plant in the dish drainer to let all of the excess water drain out while I do all the necessary grooming. All in all the process for each plant only takes a few minutes.

Each time I groom my plants it includes a light dusting of their leaves. Dust, dust mites and allergens land and form on the leaves and stems of your plants just like on furniture but is often overlooked. When I soak my plants I simply take a moist paper towel and gently wipe each leaf off and down them stems.

Outside of my grooming ritual that I believe makes my plants very happy I water them about once a week. Now for the "tip or two" I mentioned.

1. I have found that my indoor plants tend to dry out quicker during the winter months when the air is dryer from indoor heating systems. Check your plants more often to made sure the soil isn't too dry.

2. Place mulch on top of the soil in the pot to help hold moisture in the soil.

3. Trim brown or discolored leaves from the plants. I mean they're dead anyway... get them out of there! Also don't be afraid to trim plants that tend to vine wildly. It won't hurt the rest of the plant to keep it well groomed.

4. If you own this particular type of plant then you know that after the white bloom opens and you can see the inside cone soon after it will polenate and a white dust will sprinkle the other leaves or whatever else the bloom is above. You can keep this sprinkling from occurring by cutting out the cone of the flower. I know this is part of the beauty of the plant but I dislike the dust.

Hope you all have a wonderful week!