Your favorites?

I am finally in a home that will support houseplants. I've lived in a trailer house most of my life and couldn't grow anything indoors unless it was under growlights. But now I have big windows and lots of light so I'm looking for houseplants. Today I found a Dracaena half price, so it's now in my den. While I was researching it's likes, needs and wants, I got to looking at other plants too. That's where I got confused and lost.

What is your favorite houseplant and why? I would really love to hear your comments before I buy more plants for my new home. I've never had a home where I could have houseplants before, so this is very new to me. I'd love to hear about your favorite plant, it's likes and dislikes and all it's little quirks. Thanks.

I love maranta's and calathea's, because they require only moderate light (not direct sun), moderate waterings, and have the most colorful leaves all year long.

I also like african violets, because with only a little care, they always bloom.

-Jennifer

spider plants,mil tongue-you can cut it!hahahaaaa
wandering jews,cactus,ferns,aloes,elephant ears, hoyas,gardenias,burrors tail!!!

I have like 400 plants inside right now! =]
JUST GO NUTS-for all those yrs in the the tralier! ;]

Thank you! I'm going to look them all up and read about them. I know nothing about house plants because I've never been able to have any that lived in the trailer more than a few months. Deciding on plants for the house is more fun than the other decorating.
Joan

My favorite of the 70-some my son & I share has got to be my 'Satin Vine', a.k.a. 'Silver Vine' Pothos (Scindapsus pictus argyraeus) because it's dark green heart-shaped leaves are so velvety soft you can't help but rub your fingers on them. The leaves are also splashed with odd-shapes of shimmery silver & edged with the same which even makes it more of an eye-pleaser.

My son's favorite is probably a 'Prayer Plant', a.k.a. 'Rabbit's Tracks' (Maranta leuconeura kerchoveana) because of the way it's leaves fold up at night as if they're hands praying. It's also got the cutest little brownish blotches in 2 rows on each leaf that looks like a bunny ran across them. My fav Marantas are the three in my house plant book (the noted; & M. tricolor/M. leuconeura erythrophylla 'Herringbone Plant' that has prominent red veins & yellow center on velvety green leaves; and M. leuconeura massangeana that has blackish-green velvety leaves with silver veins & center).

I don't have Marantas anymore, but I'd sure love to get another!!!

joan if the weather ever gets warm enough I can send you a few starts for postage! or you can come and get them! ;]

LibbyLiz, I have a prayer plant in my office. Lupinelover sent it to be back when I was having so many problems with my co-workers. I love it too, and since the work issues are better, I might just take it home once it warms up enough so it doesn't freeze during the trip.

Dori, I would love to come and get a few starts of your houseplants. But...it's just a little too far. Durn! I'd love a few starts from your plants, that would make them much more special to me, knowing that they came from your plants. I'd gladly send the postage. Thank you!

Joan

Yeah, my son keeps hounding me to get another Prayer Plant, but I've looked & there's none to be found in any of the stores around here.

He also likes the Sensitive Plant (Mimosa pudica). I have some seeds left from 2001 when I tried growing them, but killed them with kindness. I think I'll try again. They're really neat plants too the way they fold up their green palm-like leaves when touched & then unfold after 15-30 minutes has elapsed. They get cute little pink 'pom-pom' flowers too.

Absolutely the easiest for me: Asplenium nidus or Bird's Nest Fern

I love my begonias, along with my rubber plants and ficus benjamina and Norfolk Island Pines. And I need things like the little Primrose that blooms the tiniest blooms all during the year. Then there are the vining things, like grape ivy and passiflora and lipstick plant. Of course, I have several types of "Mother-in-law tongue". Baskets of spider plants make me happy when I look at them. The ficus called fiddle leaf, a few peace lilies, some staghorn fern and something I think is a euphorbia all add to the indoor jungle I love. I know I left out a lot of favorites, but when it's warm enough, let me know and I will happily send you some of my starts. Congratulations on finishing the house and getting into it! Or is it ever really finished when you build it yourself?

Thank you Aimee! I'll let you know when and if it ever warms up here. I wish I could see your house. It sounds so wonderful with all those plants growing. I hope to one day have lots of plants growing in here too. This is the first house I've ever lived in that has enough light for them.
Hugs,
Joan

My favoirite--I have 2 pots of aloe cactus that I grew from pieces of a friends plant--they have had more 'babies' and now they have really filled out--pretty and useful----great stuff for burns (including sunburn).

Stellapathic,That is a great looking Birds nest,I have a baby that I hope will look like that one day.Any secrets?
Rtdr.

Oh Stella, I missed your post and your picture. I'm so sorry. That is a wonderful plant, and the pot it's in is absolutely gorgeous! Do you remember where you got it?

Joan, the pot is McCoy, circa I think 1938 or so. It's on the original pedestal and much coveted in the pottery collecting circles. I actually bought it on one of my antique-buying trips while in Ohio - uh, let me think about this - south of Dayton, what's the name of that town? Totally antiques and with a great little vintage pottery shop. I'll post it if I can remember. Rtdr, my method is once weekly, weakly for food - and water in the crown, slowly, 'til it seeps from the bottom of the pot. I've had a few that have developed scale problems, but knowing that I watch and attack before they can get hold. About every six weeks I use a 'tea' from coffee grounds. Not the actual grounds, just the water left after soaking the grounds for a day. My birds seem to like that a lot. They like light too, just not direct. You know how plants are though. Some like you and some don't. For instance, I'm a terrible mother to African violets. We just plain don't understand each other. I also have a ficus that is threatening to take over the house. That poor plant has taken the worst abuse at times. While I was in England last summer the girl that was watching the plants never watered it once. She thought it was fake! That's how perfect it is. And it only lost maybe five leaves. I'm sorry I don't know the botanical name for it or I would have mentioned it earlier. They sell it mainly for lizard people. Lizards apparently love living in them. The leaves look more like eucalyptus or bamboo than ficus, long and thin. Here's a mediocre shot of it. I'll see if I can get a better one and do some research and find the name of it tomorrow. This is one that I've seen growing very well in a relatively dark corner in Ohio also, which may be a consideration. I mean I know that things tend to go crazy here in California that are hard to maintain elsewhere. Both of these are doable.

Another great plant Stella! You really do have a way with them, even if you don't get along with African Violets. I'm having so much fun researching all these plants. I want lots of them in the house to pacify me during the long long winters we have here. Today we were at the bank and there was the most beautiful TREE (hibiscus)growing in a huge pot in the waiting room. The receptionist said one of the board of directors wives had grown it, but it outgrew their house so they brought it in. She said it blooms indoors too. I think I might try to grow a hibiscus too, although I'm not sure I can get one to grow that big.

Thanks so much for all the information. I'm making a list and surfing, surfing, surfing. :)

Joan

Joan, you would be so disappointed with my house! It was built in the late thirties, and the lady who lived here wasn't a plant person. She never even had flower beds! The house isn't designed for plants. I have taken what I call my greenporch as a very makeshift plant room. It's a side porch with two bedrooms opening onto it. The two walls of the house are rock, and a large oleander and a ligustrum wrap around one open end. So basically there is a single eastward facing side for light. I enclosed the arched stone there with lattice and plastic several years ago. It's way too narrow, but I manage to grow an astonishing number of things in it. Outside that porch, I set up some supports from an old display rack of some kind that I found in a dumpster. I covered it with plastic and hung a trouble light in it. It has a number of tender things and has carried them through several winters. It's only about 30" high, about that wide and about 6' long, so a single light bulb heats it even when the temp drops below 30. The house itself is dark, but I had a flourescent light put in the kitchen over the snack bar I made from an old sink cabinet and a door. Another fixture went into the unlighted hall. My DD gripes because I always have an assortment of plants sitting on the snack bar and on the floor around it. And there are a couple of plants on the stove I can't use because it needs repairs. As you can see, I use everything for plants, regardless of how it looks and what someone thinks. Now, here is the irony. On the very shady West side, over the kitchen sink, an ivy vine has abandoned the light outside and crept leaf by leaf into the window. House plants won't grow there, too dark and too many drafts from the ceiling vent nearby. But that ivy is deep green and invading the kitchen.

Aimee, your home sounds wonderful and homey. I love that about homes. I like the lived in ones that show the personality of the person that lives there, and yours sounds like it is all that.

Hugs,
Joan

You would be so surprised, hehe. It's a bit more than lived in, but once I got over obsessive/compulsive, I really pulled out all the stops. Only I could live here. Last week, Granddarling shouted to her mother that she wasn't coming here as planned, because she needed a real house and this was just an old farmhouse. So many things are temporary and unfinished, it is enough to drive a body mad. Years ago, I had it all pretty and organized, and it was still homey. I hope to get back to that now that I am post-op and should be recovered. Oh, Granddarling did come, and then she griped for the first time ever about no cable. I think I am going to leave a lot of it primitive so she won't think the entire world is Alamo Heights, Texas.

Ah, so what she was really complaining about was the absence of the conveniences that she was used to. It does a child good to realize that all those things aren't necessary for us to be happy. In fact, we can be even more happy and live a more fullfilling life without cable and such things that consume our time. (Internet of course, is a necessity!) :) Your granddarling will have fond memories of you and your home forever. This is the way I remember my grandma's house.

Funny aside to this: she brought her CD "Barbie Magic Hair Styler" so she could play on the computer with it. She loves shopping on eBay with me. Her mother hasn't replaced the home computer because Lillian is so disruptive when DD tries to use it, so I have that modern utility in this old farmhouse and they don't have it there. At this point it's a control thing, she wanted her mother to come with her and her parents were going to a gala. She was really grabbing at straws for getting her way. She really loves her room here, with its unexpected crannies, and she likes the "junk" I have everywhere. She can't recall when it was all neat, of course. When she is here for one day, she is happy as can be. I agree, it's good for children to realize they can survive without constant stimulus of an artificial type. She is so much less "hyper" here, because the natural surroundings are mesmerizing. A pile of dirt can hold her interest for most of a day.

JoanJ...I can sympathize with you for living in a trailer and not being able to grow houseplants...The only thing that I had any success with were my Hydrangea and Rose Bush outside both of which grew like crazy!! Last July I moved into a newer and bigger trailer with less paneling, less tree coverage(that had it's good and bad points), and more and bigger windows:) I've bought 3 new houseplants and acquired 2 more and they seem to be thriving:D Also this place is not as drafty which might have been a factor.
The 3 plants I bought were Golden Pothos, Polka-Dot plant,and an Arrowhead Vine. The 2 I acquired were a Spider plant and a stem cutting from a Jade plant. All are doing fine and the Jade after about 3 months is finally showing some new growth:)
Good luck with your new home and your new plants:D

Hi AlvaJac! Welcome to Dave's Garden!

Doesn't it feel great to get out of those small, dark trailers? We have spent the past year building a house, so now I have some room and light too. I have bought a few plants, a majesty palm, a Dracaena and what looks like a Boston Fern, but the tag says Kimberley Queen Fern. All seem to be doing great, however, one of them brought home a bug of some sort. I've been spraying them and haven't seen any bugs for awhile. I've been trying to get some cuttings from people I know also, to get some started. I've got a veriegated umbrella plant, a jade plant and a plant that is still unidentified. The person I got it from didn't know what it was.

I'm looking forward to getting to know you here on DG. You will love it here. Everyone is so friendly and helpful.

Joan

Here's a picture of the Majesty Palm. I love that one.

~Hi Joan~
That Majesty Palm of yours looks beautiful:)Hmmm...looks like something I could use to fill up an empty corner that's been bothering me for awhile. Looks like just about the right size I would need too.
Do you have a picture of your "unidentified" plant? Maybe we could do a little brainstorming...:D

Carol

I can't lose with african violets. I have them in a sunny window here at work and in a north facing window at home. The trick is neglect. I water mine once a week because they are in tiny 3" pots (which they love). The bigger potted ones at home (5") get watered every two/three weeks. They like it if the dirt gets very dry and crusty on top before you water, but if you notice the leaves drooping and it's dry then water now. I use 2 drops liquid av food in a cup of water every week at work cause they aren't in good soil. The ones at home I just use cold tap water. And I've never bothered bottom watering either. Maybe we're just kindred spirits. :)

Here's a pic of the ones in my bathroom. They are my favorite so far.

I absolutly love my parlor palm its so beautiful and elegant looking and gives me no trouble at all i highly recommend the peace lily it has great foliage and flowers.Congratulations on the new house and hobby, just remember you can never have to many plants!!!

Carol, I'll try to get a picture of my unidentified in the daylight. It's a neat plant.

ecobioangie, I'm going to try to find an african violet. I love the one you posted.

bluesky, I had a peace lily for years that we received when my FIL passed away. However, I managed to kill it. I'm going to see about another one now that I have a house with light. It might be happier here.

Joan

I don't know alot about propogating African Violets, but I know it can be done very well by leaf cutting. Would you like one? Send me your email for your addy.

emailing you! Thank you so much!

Here's a picture of the unidentified plant I was talking about. I posted another thread about it and it's been identified as a rubber tree.

http://davesgarden.com/t/379615/

I love my rubber plant it's one of my favorites just be careful not to over water it other than that it's almost impossible to kill.I would know I actually killed a cactus...

Does anyone know anything about a plant called mother-of-thousands? I planted some babies a month or so ago and they are doing great! Anybody with pictures I'd love to see them. I didn't do any homework prior to getting things and don't know much about them. I figured since it looks like they're gonna make it i'd like to know more about them than how to get them started. I probably have a couple of extras' they are still planted an ice cube tray I didn't even cut holes in the bottom, surprised they are still alive. about 2" tall and very green. Tracy (If you want some let me know how to send thru the mail to get them to you and i can send.)

JoanJ, 'Maranta' or 'Prayer' plants would be one of my favorites - as well as that of many others I see! Believe it or not, I've got one that I've had since 1985! It's still going strong. Another favorite of mine is a split-leaf Philadendron (?sp?) They too need little light, and require low maintenance, and grow Quite Large!