Hello friends,
As winter begins to loosen its grip and the first signs of spring appear, September is the perfect time to give your houseplants a little extra attention. More than just decorative accessories, indoor plants play an
important role in creating warm, inviting interiors. They soften hard surfaces, add colour and texture, improve our connection with nature, and bring a sense of life and tranquillity into our homes.
Just as our gardens begin awakening outdoors, indoor plants also respond to the longer days and warmer temperatures. In this month’s blog, we have teamed up with my landscaping friend, Aimee Venter of Green Blossom Gardens, to share practical tips on helping your houseplants thrive
through the change of season. By caring for your plants now, you will not only encourage healthy new growth but also ensure they continue to enhance the beauty, comfort, and atmosphere of your interior spaces throughout the months ahead.
There is a particular kind of panic familiar to most houseplant owners. A leaf turns yellow, a plant droops, or an orchid loses its flowers and suddenly we are watering, feeding, moving and generally fussing over it in an attempt to save it.
Ironically, some of our most popular houseplants would probably prefer that we interfere a little less.
Take the Phalaenopsis orchid. It arrives from the nursery looking immaculate, flowers happily for weeks and then, eventually, the flowers fall off. Many people assume they have killed it. They haven’t. Flowering has simply finished.
The bigger problem often starts afterwards, when we try too hard to keep it alive. Phalaenopsis orchids naturally grow attached to trees in warm, humid forests. Their roots are adapted to excellent airflow and periods of drying – not permanently wet soil. This explains both the chunky orchid-growing medium they are sold in and those strange-looking roots escaping from the pot. They are not asking for a bigger pot; they are behaving like orchids.
Water thoroughly when the growing medium is approaching dry, let it drain well and give it plenty of bright, filtered light. Given suitable conditions, that apparently “finished” orchid can flower again.
Peace lilies create a different sort of panic. Few plants can look quite as dramatically miserable when they droop. The natural response is to reach for the watering can, but drooping shouldn’t automatically mean watering. Constantly saturated soil deprives roots of oxygen and can eventually cause exactly the unhealthy plant we were trying to prevent.
Peace lilies appreciate consistent moisture, but not permanently soggy soil. They are also famous for surviving in dark corners, which has created another misconception. Surviving and thriving are very different things. A peace lily in brighter, indirect light will generally grow more vigorously and is far more likely to reward you with flowers.
Then there are succulents – possibly the plants most frequently killed with kindness.
Their thick leaves and stems are water-storage systems, designed to carry them through dry periods. Yet indoors they are often watered frequently and placed on a pretty shelf several metres from the nearest window. For many succulents, that combination is disastrous.
Give them excellent drainage, plenty of light and allow the growing medium to dry properly between waterings.
Conclusion
Perhaps the most useful rule for keeping houseplants healthy is therefore not a watering schedule at all. Before deciding what a plant needs, consider where and how it grows naturally.
Sometimes good plant care isn’t about doing more. It’s about understanding what the plant has been trying to tell us all along.
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