Pot culture – expanding the boundaries of growing heat-loving woody plants. Indoor palm tree - a piece of tropical forest in a tub The special character and habits of tropical forest plants
Hanging pots are great because they allow you to create fragrant flower beds even in places where there is very little space. By choosing the right plants, you can turn small city balconies into real “hanging gardens.” Here are a few plants most suitable for this purpose.
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1. Touch-me-not
An annual plant with the funny name “touch-me-not” looks very decorative. It grows well both in hanging pots and in open ground, producing a variety of beautiful flowers. Thanks to its abundant flowering, impatiens are an excellent option for decorating balconies.
2. Sedum Morgana
This plant is also called Morgan's sedum, monkey's tail and donkey's tail. Its long stems, covered with fleshy leaves, really resemble tails. When the sedum blooms, beautiful pink tassels of small pink flowers appear at the ends of its “tails”. The plant is very unpretentious: it loves sunlight very much, but also feels good in the shade.
3. Chrysanthemums
This beautiful flower grows well both in pots and in open ground. In autumn, many flowers bloom on the chrysanthemum bushes, which do not fade for a very long time.
4. Grass fountain
Unpretentious and very beautiful fountain grass will grow actively all year round with moderate watering and good lighting.
5. Tradescantia
This unpretentious plant has many species that are actively grown for decorative purposes. All Tradescantia are very hardy, and if you do not create too extreme conditions for them, they will delight others for a long time with their variegated leaves and small, graceful flowers.
6. Verbena
There are many types of verbena with beautiful, bright flowers that will be a worthy decoration for any flower garden. Verbena grows well in pots. She loves light, but is afraid of direct sunlight. And for long and abundant flowering, it needs the soil to be constantly moist.
7. Lobelia
Lobelia comes in white, soft blue, bright blue and purple colors. With simple care, it grows into thick “caps” completely covered with delicate flowers. From the pots, flowering lobelia stems hang like a veritable curtain. In order for this extremely beautiful plant to retain its decorative appearance for a long time, it must be protected from direct sunlight. Otherwise, annual lobelias fade very quickly.
8. Lavender
Lavender feels good in pots and delights its owners with delicate flowers and exquisite aroma. She loves light very much and does not like close quarters. If you provide lavender with sunlight and enough space, it will smell fragrant for a very long time.
9. Burdock
This plant somewhat resembles an unusual rose with a bluish-white color. The burdock will decorate any garden with its presence. The plant prefers partial shade and does not tolerate direct sunlight.
10. Petunia
Petunia is one of the most popular ornamental plants. It blooms profusely and for a long time with large fragrant flowers and does not require any complicated care. There are many types of petunias, and the best ones for hanging pots are ampelous ones, which, as they grow, hang down to the floor with a thick curtain of flowers.
Add a real live palm tree to your collection of indoor flowers? Why not? Indoor palm trees are unpretentious plants, caring for them is not so difficult, and there is no point in talking about how impressive this tree will look in the house. True, they have one drawback - indoor palm trees grow very large.
But they do not reach their giant size soon. So you will have a long time to enjoy the sight of a small and neat palm tree. All you need to do is choose the right type of palm tree and learn how to care for it. All types of indoor palm trees are divided into two main groups (according to the shape of the leaves): pinnate (date, coconut, chamedorea, howea) and fan-leaved (trachycarpus, chamerops, Liviston palm). What are they?
The date palm (genus phoenix) has as many as seventeen species. In the wild it grows mainly in Africa and India. But the popular domestic palm tree “date palm” does not exist in the wild. This tree with a columnar “shaggy” trunk eventually grows to the ceiling! Its leaves are dark green, feathery, curved in an arc and can reach six meters in length. By the way, this particular palm tree is easy to grow from a dried date seed, which will certainly germinate in an ordinary flower pot (although this will take a lot of time). And this tree will acquire a more or less decorative appearance only after five to seven years.
Therefore, a date palm with inedible fruits, the Robelena date, is more suitable for indoor growing. This is a low (up to two meters) ornamental tree with a lush crown, gracefully curved leaves and an indispensable attribute of a palm tree - a “shaggy” trunk (and sometimes with several trunks).
Areca is a beautiful palm tree that came to us from the tropical forests of India. It has a flexible trunk, ringed with many characteristic scars (remnants of leaf petioles). And the crown of the areca is a powerful bunch of feathery leaves at the “crown” of the trunk. In indoor conditions, it grows up to two meters in height, and its leaves reach a meter in length.
Trachycarpus is considered the most indoor variety of palm tree. This is a palm tree with a straight “bottle-shaped” trunk and huge fan-shaped leaves. It is noteworthy that Trachycarpus blooms with fragrant white or yellow flowers and even produces fruits - blue-black berries. Its two most famous species are Trachycarpus Martius and Trachycarpus Fortune.
Complements the varieties of indoor palms and the genus Caryota. This amazing tree looks very different from its fellow “palm tribe”. The unique leaves of this palm have the shape of an elongated triangle, the wide ends of which seem to be deliberately but carelessly torn off. In addition, this is the fastest growing tree of all indoor palm trees, but it lives relatively short - about twenty years.
The coconut palm is not the best option for growing at home. It is very, very light-loving, and therefore more suitable for winter gardens and greenhouses. In indoor conditions, they usually contain only Weddel coconut and nuciferous coconut. Palm trees such as Howea Belmora and Howea Foster, all types of Hamedorea, Liviston palm, Hamerops squat are excellent for home cultivation.
Almost all indoor palm trees require the same conditions. Most of them will first need a spacious room. Because even if your palm tree has not yet reached its impressive size, it will not tolerate close proximity to other indoor flowers, since it is essentially a solitary plant.
Like any indoor flowers, palm trees need proper lighting, comfortable temperatures and sufficient air humidity.
- Lighting. Palm trees are light-loving plants - they need bright, but always diffused light, so the room where your palm tree will be kept should be not only spacious, but also bright. Palm trees can hardly tolerate direct sun, so it will have to be shaded from them.
- Temperature. Palm trees are tropical plants (areca, caryota, coconut, chamedorea). Therefore, you understand, they need a room with warm air. However, those palm trees whose wild relatives grow in the subtropics (Brachea, Chamerops, Trachycarpus, Washingtonia) are best moved to rooms with cool air for the winter. What all palm trees, without exception, have in common is their fear of drafts. And they all need to protect their roots from the cold. Therefore, tubs and pots with these heat-loving trees cannot be placed on a cold floor or windowsill.
- Air humidity. Palm trees are moisture-loving plants. They can hardly tolerate dry air and need constant spraying, especially in hot weather. To alleviate the suffering of these tropical creatures, they should not be sprayed, but only take warm water and moisten the leaves on both sides.
How to care for a palm tree?
A houseplant such as the palm tree, in addition to suitable conditions, also requires easy but regular care. How to care for her? Basic care for indoor palm trees comes down to proper watering, timely replanting, feeding and protection from diseases.
Watering. In summer – daily and plentiful, in winter – moderate. In general, the frequency and intensity of watering is directly related to air temperature. The hotter it is, the more often and generously we water the palm tree. However, waterlogging is also undesirable for it. The soil in the flowerpot should be moist all the time, but only slightly.
I replant palm trees as they grow. Young and actively growing trees - annually, older ones - less often. The need for replanting is determined by the tightness of the pot. From a small flower tub, the palm tree is transplanted in the spring into a larger cylindrical container. The new pot should be quite a bit larger than the previous one. The transplant itself is carried out according to the general rules of indoor floriculture.
Like other indoor flowers, palm trees need to be fed. Young or newly transplanted trees do not need feeding for the first six months. Adult palm trees are fertilized during the period of active growth (March-September) once a week. Feed them with regular flower fertilizers according to the instructions on the package.
As you can see, the unpretentious indoor palm tree requires virtually minimal care. If you care for it properly, then your palm tree will not get sick. However, such troubles are still not excluded. So-called diseases of indoor palm trees:
- Brown (dry) leaf tips. The reason is dry air, insufficient watering. Treatment – regular watering, spraying, trimming dried ends.
- Yellowing foliage. The reason is insufficient watering.
- Rusty spots on leaves. The reason is waterlogging of the soil, watering with hard water, and a sharp drop in temperature.
- Drying of young leaves. The reason is excess sunlight. Treatment is shading of the plant.
- Stopping growth. The reason is too cold and damp room, lack of nutrients. Treatment - moving the plant to a warm place, feeding.
- Drying of the lower leaves. Natural process. Such leaves are simply removed by carefully cutting them from the trunk.
Here is such an interesting indoor palm flower - a spectacular, large and unpretentious plant. A small piece of tropical forest in a tub.
Many plants in tubs can be trimmed into different shapes. Boxwood and laurel, Portuguese cherry laurel or privet can be cut into the shape of a ball, bowling pin or pyramid. Some plants, such as tall laurels, even have artificially curved trunks. Others, such as pine and Japanese holly, large bonsai give the garden an Oriental charm. You can arrange the plants in the tubs so that it looks like they are growing straight from the soil. In this way, you will enrich your garden with exotic plants that, if planted directly in the ground, would only survive one season.
Useful advice from OBI
Surrounded by beds, plants in tubs look even more natural, provided that the tubs are sunk into the ground. The easiest way to do this is to lower an empty, slightly larger tub into a hole in the ground (without soil, to avoid stagnation of moisture) and then place the plant in the tub there. Then the edges will not crumble into the hole. In the fall, the plants can be easily pulled out of the hole and placed back in the garden bed in the spring.
Among indoor exotics, plants of tropical origin have always enjoyed the status of special stars. Such cultures, accustomed in nature to warmth and rather specific conditions, retain their capriciousness and demandingness in interiors. But difficult care, however, does not deter experienced gardeners from growing tropical flowers. But you won’t find brighter colors and exotic blooms. Each such plant turns into a true pride of the collection.
The special character and habits of tropical forest plants
Unlike crops that came into indoor collections from the subtropics, plants of tropical origin have very specific requirements for growing conditions and intensive care. It would be most correct to classify all crops from tropical forests as complex plants, the cultivation of which can only be done by experienced gardeners who are ready for difficulties.
Tropical crops include indoor plants that originate from equatorial latitudes and are found in nature in tropical moist monsoon forests. Tropical plants introduced into cultivation include both classic herbaceous perennials and tuberous plants, epiphytes and lianas. The latter are especially widely represented, since the number of species of steeplejacks that form the unique landscapes of the tropical jungle is amazing.
Most herbaceous and flowering crops in tropical forests receive access to a fairly limited amount of light, grow in the shade of the trunks and crowns of large trees and vines, are content with rather modest conditions and are not dominant species. But despite the fact that in nature plants most often grow in poor lighting, in indoor conditions almost all tropical stars are light-loving crops.
The main common feature of all tropical crops is their love of moisture. In their homeland, in natural conditions, such plants fully enjoy high atmospheric and soil humidity. Tropical exotics retain their love for high air humidity and stable soil moisture even in indoor conditions. Maintaining a comfortable atmosphere for them is quite difficult; plants require regular moisture, and sometimes completely non-standard growing techniques.
The life of a gardener is only complicated by the absence of two very important characteristics in such plants, which allow some mistakes to be made in cultivation: tropical plants are not characterized by either cold resistance or drought resistance. Skipping even one watering procedure and lowering the air temperature even by a few degrees (or hypothermia of the earthen clod as a result of contact with a cold windowsill) can lead to the death of plants.
But most tropical crops, with the exception of bulbous-tuberous ones, have a rather weakly defined dormant period. As a rule, for their flowering there is no need to create any special conditions that differ from the general growing strategy and require a radically different environment or care.
All tropical plants, without exception, are elite and quite expensive plants. Propagating them yourself is not so easy, and adult plants cost a lot. But they really are selected exotics, which are used as real stars of collections and the pride of every gardener.
The most valuable feature of all tropical crops is their unusual appearance. Such plants display either very original designs and patterns on the leaves, or truly dazzling colors of not very classic inflorescences, which surprise with their structure, shape, and details.
No matter what kind of exotic we are talking about - a small and modest plant or a truly gigantic vine capable of reaching amazing sizes without control; about crops that can only be grown in a greenhouse or flower display, and that can also tolerate careful care in an ordinary room - tropical exotics always make a special impression and change the atmosphere in the rooms, bringing joyful colors and a festive mood into our lives.
Let's take a closer look at five favorites among indoor tropical crops with the most vibrant flowering.
For a list of the most colorful indoor plants from the tropics, see the next page.