Houseplants

Houseplants may be the best kind of houseguests. They bring life and beauty into your home require little more than a bit of nutrients and water and best of all they do the cleaning for you! How is that?

Indoor pollution can be significantly reduced by houseplants. The EPA has said that it may be a more serious health risk for some people than outdoor pollution but that plants have the ability to remove contaminants from the indoor air as well as outside.

Q. Isn't it better to water my house plants just a little bit at a time so that the roots do not rot?

A. Water should not stay in the soil mix so much that it shuts off air pockets and the roots rot. That is why the lightening additive perlite or some sort of small gravel is so necessary. It is also the #1 reason I feel that people suffer dying plants since they buy those prepackaged soil mixes and use them straight. The producers love that as you go through it so much faster without additives. But the mixes tend to be way too compact and heavy for normal house plants.

The big difference I have seen is the cacti mix which has been appropriately lightened and can be used as soil.

If you are watering your house plants letting the water run through drain and be discarded and the plants are rotting then the soil mix is to blame. You will be leaving behind in the pot the byproducts of the roots the salts made from the fertilizers and any growths of fungi which can all be controlled by thorough drenching. I picture it as taking a shower with the drain shut. Keep washing and washing and your feet are still standing in dirt and all those extra things you do not want on your body! The same is true for the plants. If you water 'just a little' then the residues stay in the bottom third of the soil mix forever and ever. And guess what happens when the roots grow down into that ugly mess.

Q. I live in an apartment with just northwest windows and I love house Plants but I was wondering will you tell me a good house plant that grows well without much direct sunlight that isn't a vine? I'd like a plant that stays in the pot maybe that bushes out but not a long vine.  I'd like one that blooms with fragrance but I know most of the fragrant plants seem to need more direct sun.  I need one that I can at least lightly touch since I am blind. I remember my Mom telling me I shouldn't touch African violets but I have two of them and I love them and I lightly touch the leaves and they live and bloom.  I don't rub the leaves or anything like that but I do touch the leaves a bit.

A. African violets can be touched. Just be sure not to press on them as they are indeed tender but they like attention too! Grow them in a filtered window east or north.

I recommend several plants that grow well in partial sun. Try philodendron [there are species which are upright not vines]