TO GARDEN OR NOT TO GARDEN …
A New Year’s Resolution?

By Peter W. Gribble

Who thinks of gardening in January?

Well, there are always seed catalogues and garden magazines to get through winter’s rainy, cloudy drear. There are also indoor tropical plants. Inexpensive, quiet, no obvious bad habits, they are the best roommates. To start some indoor gardening could be the easiest of New Year’s resolutions.

Then the reasons not to follow through on the gardening resolution spring up like dandelions. The apartment-condo is too small; the light isn’t the best; I kill everything, etc., etc. Don’t let these excuses stop you. There are some real toughies out there.

An aunt of mine had a pair of Sanseveria trifasciata (Snake plant) that flanked a small fireplace for over thirty years. These 4 foot tall dark, green things had a presence of implacable longevity, the hint that they had been around since the building of the pyramids. They were likely experiencing brief shafts of direct sunlight during spring and fall afternoons, but that was it. They got watered when she remembered. Whatever their original soil once was had been reduced to hard grit over the millennia, but the Sanseveria hadn’t noticed.

Ok, ok, admittedly, few plants are so reliably inert. The first indoor plant I owned was one given to me as a grade eight student. My teacher told me it was an elephant ear Begonia (Begonia scharffii) but because it had silver colouring on its leaves someone else said it was more likely a Rex Begonia hybrid.

What did I care? I thought it beautiful and charming. Its single stem lengthened and it bloomed several times to my surprise and delight and we bonded.

I didn’t know anything then and when it was suggested I prune it back, I was aghast. Amputation? Never! Or that the resulting cuttings could be rooted on to produce more plants. Cruel torture! My first born and heir apparent eventually died and in my guilt and sorrow, I thought it was from the well known misplaced kindness called over-watering.

If you suspect you have over-watered your botanical progeny (soggy soil that never dries out, little flies hovering about, the plant looking stressed) remove the plant from the pot and let it and the spread out soil dry over a few hours. If you spotted flies beforehand throw the soil out as the flies have laid eggs in the soil that will hatch and feast on the roots. If your plant has developed a wobble in its boggy pot, chances are this is a sign of root rot and it may be too late. When you remove it from the pot you might see some roots that haven’t yet succumbed. Cut away the dead roots, clean out existing soil and prune the top leafy part of the plant if it is leggy and start again with fresh indoor potting soil. (Don’t forget to sterilize your pruning blades afterwards.) You can successfully save your plants this way.

Winter is not usually the best time to do this but if you have to, you have to.

Also watch your watering habits in the winter. You should reduce them. Most indoor plants need a rest and less water during this period. However, indoor heat can parch the air, so I mist my plants more often to keep humidity up without drowning the plants themselves by watering. Exceptions always exist. Read up on each of your plant’s specific requirements.

After grade eight, such reading informed me that foliage Begonias like the elephant ears and Rex Begonia hybrids don’t live that long and cuttings should be taken if you like the plant. So it may not have been over-watering after all but it would have been nice to have cuttings derived from the original decades later.

I have long since overcome my scruples concerning amputation and cruel torture … at least in regards to plants. Some plants are excellent teachers unless you ignore them completely.

A low light reliable plant is the Peace Lily (Spathiphyllum) It likes its water and when it doesn’t get enough it goes into an alarming collapse of theatrical proportions. You have to notice this, of course, and the moment you do, rectify it with a solid drink of water (and perhaps several.) Lo and behold, in a matter of hours (or overnight) it springs back as if nothing has happened. Keep it watered and give both it and yourself a round of applause.

Given that garden centres have tropical plant sales during the winter months, it boosts a renewable excuse to remember most plants do better with other plants around them. This is true whether you purchase several plants potted up in one container or have each plant in their own. Regardless, multiple plants increase the humidity in the area. Though they may contribute to and share the humidity, some plants too close to others may show signs of incompatibility whether they share a pot or not. I had a fresh lesson in this recently.

I have an intriguing curiosity called Albuca ‘Frizzle Sizzle’ with tight corkscrew tubular leaves emerging from a three-quarters buried spherical bulb. It was exciting when it began to put out a bloom stalk in late October.

Since the stalk was quick to grow towards the light (a west window) I turned the plant every day to keep it growing straight and upright. As the stalk matured and stiffened over the weeks, it needed to be turned less and less. One by one, single chartreuse yellow fragrant flowers (smelling exotically sweet yet vaguely medicinal) bloomed throughout November and December. Then due to the first signs of flower buds on a nearby potted Jasminum polyanthum (Pink Jasmine), I moved it beside the Albuca to share the light.

Within two days, it was startling to see the top of Albuca’s flowering stalk (now a stately 20 inches (50cm) tall wincing away from any possible contact with the Jasmine. I separated them at once and the Albuca took a week to recover from the affront – more or less. The stalk never completely straightened again but the last two flowers on the stalk are blooming as if no mismatch occurred.

Prepare to be surprised during botanical couple’s therapy sessions. If you read the plant tags, do a little research, plant them correctly, water them as required, and turn them to the light every so often your green roommates will help you keep your New Year’s resolution to garden this year better than you might have thought.

And what better year to start, since the Food and Agriculture Organization, an arm of the United Nations, has designated 2020 as “the Year of Plant Health.”

Might as well start with your own.