We’re getting better at choosing outdoor plants that resist drought and disease, and we try to maintain insect-friendly gardens that would only be hurt by human intervention in the form of sprays. I can get through the outdoor gardening season with intermittent weeding, watering, and deadheading, once the initial work of late spring is done. When visitors come though during Garden Walk, saying “A lot of work!” I can murmur, “Not really” with truth.
Inside? Not so much. Indoor plants have a way of making it very clear that this is not their natural habitat. I have about 70—which is nothing, nowadays—and I wouldn’t be without them, but I occasionally find their neediness annoying. I am not a “plant parent,” nor do I give them genders. Each is and will always be an “it.” But they do have beauty and they do bring much-needed green life into the house.
Watering. Once the heat starts blasting—and you want it to because it’s 20 degrees out—they’re going to need more frequent watering and the ones in the smaller pots will go south fast. Sure, you could focus on succulents, but I can only tolerate a 10% succulent ratio. Humidifiers need to be going wherever the plants are—in addition to the furnace built-in—and they require frequent and tedious refills. Also, there are two people watering the plants and they seem incapable of coordinating their efforts. It’s amazing we haven’t killed more than we have.
Pests. I have triumphed over fungus gnats with the help of BT, a mosquito control that can be watered in. No need for unsightly yellow sticky traps. But scale will always be with us, and, in the case of a big infestation, I’m more likely to toss a less-treasured specimen. To defeat a persistent infestation requires a big effort, including quarantine and repeated treatments. It’s rarely worth it, because there is a least a 50% chance they’ll be back. Also, it’s just kind of horror-show scary to see a big plant in your living space covered with creatures. I’ve thrown a full-size oleander (overwintering it) out the back door into the snow for that reason. It had mealies all over it. Yech.
As for the rest—weird blotches, unexplained wilts, leaves splitting in half, edges browning—a few quick snips usually suffice. If you eventually snip the entire plant away—well, maybe it just wasn’t meant to be.
All that said, I will likely be buying a few more before winter’s over.
I have 3 humidifiers. Not all are running but ain’t nobody got time for refilling humidifiers all the time. When one runs out, the other kicks in and when they both run out, the 3rd kicks in. I usually just refill #1 though every 3ish days. But when I get too busy to do much with them, it’s nice to not have to worry with the others.
I’m in agreement for much of this. That’s why I separated the stronger Long Term Commitments from the High Maintenance Partners in my book, hopefully giving readers some commiseration (and absolution for mid-winter executions!). So, the schefflera and beaucarnea putz along doing their thing (and I keep an eye on scale on the former), and the cordyline is either thrown or put in stasis out of sight in the garage. Citrus is my scale-loving nightmare. It’s a constant battle. And yes, let’s keep these things gender-neutral and un-anthropomorphized – totally agree! – MW
Miss living in Hawaii!
Lol, but not enough to bother overwintering a tropical hibiscus, citrus or nephro-oh-no ferns. Rosy ferns do mostly ok if you keep them watered.
Long term commitment plants are definitely in oorder.
Succulents are for rotting most years. Have recently discovered 80% pumice, 20% potting soil and thick clay pots. Looking forward to killing fewer of them.
Thank you for another wonderful column.
Haha! This is why I don’t have more houseplants: I love them but many weeks I just can’t be bothered to care for them. I envy people who have hundreds of houseplants–their rooms look so inviting!–but I could never care for more than the dozens I already have.
Remember when having dozens of houseplants was unusual? I’m glad times have changed!
I can SO identify with this, because my current house (a/k/a The Money Pit) has a ‘Four Seasons’ brand sunroom which everyone assumes that I simply can’t wait to fill with houseplants. Uh, no, not really…but for some reason I feel guilty for being reluctant to do so. Every once in a while I start wondering if succulents would be a do-able compromise but somehow I don’t think they would be happy with winter temperature swings from 35F nights to 85F sunny days. On the other hand, NOT having plants in that room seems like such a waste of all that glass. *sigh*