Thinking About Houseplants: How and When to Repot a Houseplant
Sunday August 17, 2008
People who are accustomed to seeing my outdoor gardens (which, if I do say so myself, look pretty good) are often surprised to find out that I am terrible at maintaining an indoor garden. Houseplants are a mystery. I've even killed the ones that are supposed to be impossible to kill (think pothos, aloe, peace lily....rather sad, really). I think I just find them, in general, too fussy. A plant must be able to live up to drought and bugs and frost and any other thing that Nature throws at it. I'm just too impatient (or scatterbrained) to grow houseplants.
But I'm trying to be better at it, because I know that in no time, I will be in the middle of a long, dark Michigan winter, and only the act of caring for houseplants will whet my appetite for working with soil. If, like me, you could use help in the basics of houseplant care, be sure to check out About Houseplants guide Jon VanZile's articles. He's recently published a great article on potting and repotting houseplants, which is one of those issues that many people seem to have trouble with.
Am I the only one who has an easier time gardening out in the elements than inside in a more controlled environment? Come on....I can't be the only one! Tell me about your houseplant (mis)adventures in the comments!
I’m guilty. I must drive my roomies nuts with my collections of dead houseplants. I like to try more exotic things for here in Utah, like banana trees, papyrus and mandrakes, too, so death comes even easier, even inside.
It doesn’t help that I find the plants to be fascinating when they are dead, too, so I kinda don’t throw them out for a while.
I am happy to report that for the moment I have a few live pothos, a ficus, schefflera, a little cactus, and a couple of snake plants. I even have a windowsill full of sprouting sweet potatoes that are growing well.
Vanessa
Colleen, I do pretty good with most house plants. I think one of the keys is to NOT fuss over them too much. They don’t need water as often as one might think, for example. And winter is their slow time to grow, too, so it isn’t necessary to give them a bunch of fertilizer!