What happens to your houseplants in summer?

Mine all go to the front porch!

My "houseplants" live outside on the patio during winter, around the yard/garden in the summer.

I can't seem to keep a plant alive in the house, even the ones I had in my office at work were an embarrassment. But, if I put 'em on the patio, they are fine. I don't get it.

I only have a few, mostly antherium. And I've only got those because I bought them for my DD, who left 'em behind when she moved.

Any plant, cut flower, heck, anything green that's brought in the house gets promptly eaten by one cat or another!! I gave up!!

I can't seem to keep them going inside either. So I buy them for the porch, and they are then given away to people who say thay are wizs with house plants. But somehow, the plants seem to disappear at their house as well.

I just put them out on the deck. I don't have many..two tropical Hibiscus, some ivy, asparagus fern,and a mixed pan of assorted small plants. It takes the Hibiscus awhile to settle into being outside..(they drop a lot of leaves at first), but then they are happy..and I am happy as I don't have to keep picking up leaves and spent blooms inside.

Like momcat, it was either houseplants or the cats. The cats won. No houseplants.
Bill

I don't have many "houseplants" but I do have a lot of tender plants that I "overwinter" indoors. These are spread over the entire yard, but are mostly kept in their containers. Some non-hardy bulbs are planted in the ground, then dug and stored during the winter.

What is the difference between a "houseplant" and overwintering tender plants? For me, tender plants are ones that can survive almost to freezing -- so they are outside from March through November, while houseplants usually don't tolerate under 50F, so spend most of their lives in the house, from October through May.

I tolerate indoors plants just so I can have a pretty porch all summer.

As soon as it gets remotely warm enough for them to survive...out they go!

That means March through November like lupinelover.If freezing is forcast ,I toss a couple of blankets over them and the strongest survive.

I had to pick other... : )

John

I can grow just about anything outside, put it in my house and its dead in a week.

I thought I was the only one who just can't get "the hang" of houseplants. Outside, I can grow *almost* anything - inside, I'm the kiss of death to any member of the Plantae kingdom :) I do have a few plants that hung with me over the winter, and they're outside, looking fairly happy for the time being.

Actually I voted other because option 2 said some of them. I move ALL my houseplants outside, even African violets. Just in different shade locations for the different types.

George

lol Brugmania

love that.
Cheri'

lol, I have issues with houseplants too! I used to always kill them, always, and DH laughs sometimes and reminds me of it, compared to my current gardening skills. It takes work to keep houseplants alive in your average house though!!!

Anyway, I put the brugs out. If I had the climate for them I'd leave those out all the time, but oh well.... I keep most of the houseplants inside though cuz I really need greenery indoors. Green growing things are a significant aspect of my interior decorating. However, I stick them all outside when it storms, to get a good bath. We keep the ac pretty high (never below 70*) when we use it at all, so the indoor environment stays pretty nice for most of the plants anyway.

: )

Don't have houseplants right now, my kids eat them!! (The four-legged variety)

I have some plants that are always outside that are houseplants in most other parts of the country. However, there are some more delicate ones that need to be inside because of the intense sun, or because of the heat and dryness in the summer and fall, or because the winter chill is just a little too much for them.

They ALL go outside on my deck for some fresh air in the Springtime. They are loving the warm temperatures & high humidity in my area. Plus, this summer I don't have to water them nearly as often as I've had to in the past two years! We've been receiving rain for most of the Spring and going into Summer! They are ALL growing by "leaps and bounds". The hardest part is bringing them all back inside once the weather starts turning cool in late October. I wait as long as possible, because they are MUCH HAPPIER outdoors! Aren't we all????

I move my plant outside in a mostly shady spot in the spring as soon as the cold weather is gone. They do really well out there. In the winter I bring them in and fight to keep them alive until spring again. I keep them away from the gas heater and make sure the don't get dried out. A plant light helps a lot and a light dose of iron and fertilizer if needed. They did pretty good this year inside. Why? I quit smoking!
Duh.

I had to choose "Other." My houseplants become suicidal and then drop dead. That's my story and I'm sticking to it!

BRUGMANIA/John -- What is that plant with the variegated leaves behind that staghorn?

I have so little light inside that very few plants can survive so I gave up and got a few silk 'plants' for the house. All the garden plants stay out year round with the most tender being moved to a sheltered patio outside for winter months. Just one advantage to living in a fairly temperate climate :~)

LSP..That's plain ole Pothos (Epipremnum aureum ) When they climb a tree the leaf changes like this and get about two feet long and then the commen name is changed to Hunter's robe. It started life in one of those dish gardens someone sent me : )
my spelling is so bad!
John



This message was edited Tuesday, Jun 17th 7:59 AM

John, that's just digusting. You really ought to swap houses with me so you don't have to put up with things like that!!! ;)

I enjoyed everyone's comments about house plants, I have a SEVERE allergy to mold so I can't have any plants in the house with dirt in the pot (in case you didn't know the dirt in a house plant has more mold on top of it than almost any other place in the house)so all of my house plants are in water, not hydroponic, just water but I only have bamboo and one other plant of which I have no idea of the name. It's green and lives in water so I'm happy. I'm going to take some cuttings of some of the things in my yard and see what I can get to grow.

Any suggestions would be appreciated. E-mail me at ts_totes@yahoo.com

My wife cant wait till I move them outside.Now they are my responsability.

ttherbperson, welcome to Dave's Garden! The other plant you described sounds like "Lucky Bamboo", aka Dracaena sanderiana or D. fragrans, depending on who you talk to :)

I live in Ontario, Canada, and I crave green things thru the long winter. Houseplants do very well in my house since I hit menopause and started keeping the daytime temp around 65 & nighttime temp around 58! My husband whines---I give him extra sweaters. My plants do equally well out on my partly shady deck---I incorporate some of them into containers of annuals. I also shower my housplats regularly (about 1x every two weks or so)I just put them in the tub & turn the shower on briefly, then let them drain awhile.

I don't have any houseplants but DW has over a hundred. She mostly leaves them indoors for fear of picking up insects, especially spider mites.

I have quite a lot of houseplants. In the winter they are in my 10 x 14 attached to garage greenhouse and in what i call my plant room. An 8 x 13ft area that has a sink and a skylight and 1 plantlight shelf setup. In the summer most of them go out to the shade house. The shade house is what was first built when I moved here 8 years ago and there was nothing except sage and grass, no trees. It is built with 1/4" lattice sides and 2 x4s on edge spaced about 6" apart for the top. They do quite well there in the summer. Then i have to try to get them all back into their winter quarters!!!!Donna

I love plants and would love to have the fingers to grow them. I have one ivy that was given to me and it almost but left here. Presently it is outside and my husband is trying very hard to bring it back to life. Any suggestions of plants that are very easy to care for as a starter?
basichairbows
Slaughter, LA

I hate plants growing indoors. They should be outside in the fresh air and light where they belong.
A friend gave me an enormous yucca palm, or else he would have chopped it up which is now standing outside, it's the first time this guy has seen the light of day, and had fresh air around his leaves, but I'll have to bring the brute inside for the winter.
Looks like my house will be full this winter, as I've got about 8 brugs on the up-and-coming, but to have house plants just for the sake of keeping the light out of the house, or to collect dust ... no thanks!!!


Wintermoor

I seem to do well with houseplants, esp. ferns. I put them all out on the summer, under a shade tree. Here are some pics, first is the ficus benjaminus, now about 10 years in my house. I re-pot it every other year, trimming the roots back about 2" all around. Also shown are some of the potted palms...

Here's the scheff...

And here's a few others...

DARIUS -- Where did you find that cute little pagoda? I have one in the garden, but it is made of concrete. Your garden is lovely! -- JEAN

I just remembered, I do have a "Houseplant" it is a spiderplant I used to keep at my office and it has now lived in the great out doors for over 5 years! Poor thing would probably hate me if I made it come inside now!

Often it is the lack of light and dry air that is bad for house plants. I put my fern outside on warm days to get some light, but if I forget, then it stays out all night and does badly.

I have succulents , cactus and african violets.All but the violets go out doors as soon as it's warm enough, to the deck, The bright light and rain really make them bloom when I bring them back in in the fall.
P.S. to keep your "children" from chewing of eating the plants. Go to a pet shop and get "Bitter Apple spray", spray a little on leaves and after one bite no more chewing.
Violets stay in the east kitchen window over the sink. just enough light and humidity, they are always in bloom.

My houseplants stay indoors all year round. Most of my outside is on the south side, and would burn most of my 70+ tropicals. I'm also phobic about bringing bugs back in with them in the fall. I tried with a few, and treated them before I brought them back in, and invariably the treatment kills them, or close to it. I'll just keep them in, where they're happy and cause me less work. I have enough outside to make up for it anyway.

If we could only train our cats to eat weeds and send them outside to graze.