New Potted Plants for My Greenhouse
As an avid gardener, I am always looking for rare and unusual plants.
Over the years I've amassed quite a large collection of potted plants - orchids, begonias, succulents, and other tropical specimens. I enjoy finding and learning about new and different varieties and then caring for them in my greenhouses. Recently, I added a few more interesting cultivars to my growing assortment.
Here are some photos, enjoy.
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- Many of my plants are used for television and photography shoots. I use them for how-to gardening segments and as background set dressing. Most of them are from my greenhouses, but occasionally we bring in new specimens from our favorite growers. These plants were recently used in a shoot and need to be repotted.
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- Most of my pots are clay. I like to use clay pots because they allow proper aeration and moisture to penetrate through the sides and to the plant. And most of them are made by the father and son duo, Guy and Ben Wolff. I have the largest collection of Guy and Ben Wolff pots.
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- For houseplants, the best soil mix is fast-draining, which will prevent root rot and allow good air flow so roots can take up air and water.
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- There is a hole at the bottom of each pot. A clay shard is placed over the hole to help with drainage. We always save the shards from any broken pots – it is a great way to reuse those pieces.
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- The pot is filled half way with soil mix before Wendy loosens the root ball with her hands and transfers the plant from its original container.
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- Then she adds additional soil mix – she fills to just below the top of the pot’s rim. The pot should be slightly larger than the plant’s previous vessel.
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- Wendy then makes sure the plant is centered before she tamps down lightly to establish good contact between the plant and the soil.
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- Wendy fertilizes all the newly potted plants. Remember what I always say, “if you eat, so should your plants.” We use Osmocote – small, round coated prills filled with nutrients.
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- This is called Ficus pumila ‘Quercifolia,’ sometimes called String of Frogs or Miniature Oakleaf Fig. It’s a dwarf evergreen houseplant with tiny half-inch bright green leaves that resemble frogs and grow on trailing stems.
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- Senecio succulents are prized for their unique foliage which can look like chalk sticks, miniature bananas, and even pearls. These plants are known for their adaptability and can be trailing, spreading ground covers, or large shrubby plants.
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- This is pilea, a tropical plant known for its tiny silvery green leaves. It features a low, bushy growth habit and is an easy-to-maintain houseplant that prefers bright, indirect light from an east-facing window or several feet from a south- or west-facing window.
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- Albuca spiralis, commonly called the corkscrew albuca or frizzle sizzle, is a species of flowering plant in the family Asparagaceae, native to South Africa. It is a bulb succulent that can grow up to eight-inches tall. This is the base…
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- … And this is the top. Its large, yellow green flowers emerge on robust stalks and have a strong vanilla fragrance when in bloom.
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- ‘Angelina’ Creeping Sedum, Sedum rupestre, shows off foliage in chartreuse to golden yellow. It spreads quickly as a drought-tolerant ground cover. Bright yellow star-like flowers bloom in summer and the foliage turns golden-orange in autumn.
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- Here’s a closer look. This plant is fast-growing and colorful.
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- Muehlenbeckia axillaris, also known as creeping wire vine or sprawling wire vine, is a low evergreen shrub, forming wiry mats up to three-feet in diameter. It has thin, red-brown stems, with glossy squarish to roundish leaves.
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- This big-leafed plant is Ligularia, a genus of about 150 ornamental perennial plants native to Central and East Asia and some parts of Europe. They have glossy, deep green foliage that can be quite large and round to thin and deeply serrated.
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- Creeping fig is a broadleaf, evergreen, woody, climber in the mulberry family. It is native to central and southern China and eastern Asia. This plant is a vigorous grower and can climb up to 15-feet high and spread up to six-feet wide.
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- Climbing Onion, Bowiea volubilis, is a large, exposed, green, scaly succulent perennial bulb with slender, twining, leafless, green stems and small, green-white flowers.
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- Some of the potted plants are top dressed with small gravel. This can help contain moisture and stop evaporation. This can also add weight to taller, slender vessels, so they don’t tip over.
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- I am very pleased with these additions to my greenhouse. I am looking forward to seeing them mature and thrive.
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