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Indoor Gardeners: Do You Have GADS? You Can Grow That!
When I read Carol Michel’s book of gardening essays, Potted and Pruned: Living a Gardening Life, I was relieved. I finally had a name for an affliction I’ve had since the age of seven when I met and...
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Houseplants are the Forgiving Sort
One of my favorite things about houseplants is their forgiving nature. You forget to water them. Most will spring back—at least partially. You forget to feed them. They slurp up the nutrients when you...
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Avoid Burning Your Houseplant on “Beach” Day This Summer
Do you have a pale houseplant that looks like it needs a little light vacation this summer? A trip outside for some sunlight seems like a splendid idea! You’ll just take the plant out and plop it in...
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Is Your Indoor Garden Tormented by Mealybugs?
Mealybugs, mealybugs, why do you torment me and my houseplants? It all started when I was a kid. I began indoor gardening at the age of 7. With coleus. I bought a beautiful, velvety coleus home...
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How to Root Prune a Houseplant
Because of space limitations, you may not want to transplant a large floor plant to a bigger pot. In this case, you can root prune the plant and put it back into the same pot. Root pruning might...
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Did You Know that Houseplants Sweat?
Yes, you heard that right. They sweat. Of course, things are a little different when houseplants sweat. For one thing, their sweat doesn’t smell like human sweat can. They don’t sweat out last’s...
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Create an Indoor Garden that Looks and Feels Like a Jungle
(FreeImages/Luca Zaninoni) In my late teens, I lived in the tropics—in Panama. There surrounded by lush greenery on a daily basis in a climate with perpetually warm weather, I came to love the...
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How to Grow Avocado Trees Indoors
If you’ve grown an avocado tree from a pit and have planted it as a houseplant, you may be wondering how to get it to grow big and healthy. The tree pictured below was originally planted from an...
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How to Keep Your Houseplants Healthy in Winter
True, your houseplants aren’t going to feel the same effects of weather as their outdoor counterparts. They aren’t buffeted about by high, cold winds in winter or buried in snow. But houseplants do...
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How to Grow Heritage, Memory Plants in Your Indoor Garden
My Grandma Beanie (Albina) Bawden was one of those lovely souls who always had a kind word to say about everyone and everything—no matter the circumstances. So it’s not surprising that her plants...
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How and Why to Use a Light Meter for Houseplants
Lighting is the key to healthy, happy houseplants. Without sufficient lighting, or the right lighting, houseplants won’t thrive. If you want to make sure that your houseplants have enough light,...
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When to Water Houseplants
One of the most confusing aspects of indoor gardening is knowing when to water your houseplants. Sometimes it feels like you need a special degree to figure out when to water. The decision is even...
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Is Your Houseplant Suffering from Improper Soil pH? You Can Grow That!
If you have an ailing houseplant and have done everything you can possibly think of to help the plant, but it still looks sick, suspect a pH imbalance in the soil. Referring to the soil’s degree of...
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Could Your Houseplant be Suffering from High Salinity in the Soil?
Is your plant looking sickly and you’re baffled as to why? If you can’t figure out what is going wrong with your houseplants, it could be high salt in the soil. Excess salt in houseplant soil is a...
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How to Grow Green Onions Indoors
Want to grow tasty green onions indoors so you have them on-hand whenever you want them? I’ve got a quick and easy way to do just that. Get some green onion sets and plant them in soil. Within a few...
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How to Measure Houseplant Humidity Levels
Many houseplants come from the jungle floors. This means they thrive in high humidity. Trouble is that most homes range from 40 percent to 60 percent humidity. While 60 percent isn’t too bad, 40...
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What's Your Plant Personality?
The first houseplant book I wrote years ago, the editor instructed me not to infer that plants are like people. I remember thinking how totally wrong that was! Not only are plants like people—people...
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How to Get African Violets to Rebloom
If you’ve bought an African violet and enjoyed its blooms only to be discouraged when it doesn’t rebloom—read on. Here are the secrets to getting these stunning plants to re-flower again and again....
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What Soil do I use for My Houseplants? You Can Grow That!
I often get questions about the best soil to use for houseplants. My first answer is whatever you do—pot up your houseplants with an organic potting soil. There are many reasons for this. One being...
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Dye Easter Eggs with Kitchen Scraps
Dying Easter eggs is always fun—especially if you color them up naturally! In her book, 101 Chicken Keeping Hacks, fifth generation chicken keeper Lisa Steele shares how to create Natural Easter Egg...
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