Welcome to Plant Exchange blog and the snowy north. Gusting winds of 36 miles per hour and light snow make commutes more difficult today due to snow drifting and white-outs, and icy roads. But most days, the winter has been mild, allowing for invigorating walks. Wildlife such as deer and turkeys are on the go … Continue reading
Filed under houseplants …
Three Easy-Care Houseplants
Adequate quality light in winter is necessary for healthy houseplants. In this USDA 4-5a growing zone on the Northern Plains, lack of satisfactory light quality indoors can be a problem. Choosing plants with a tolerance to lower light increases the chance they can adapt to the indirect winter sunlight they receive. These houseplants can be … Continue reading
Versatile Boston Fern
Boston or Sword Fern is a familiar light shade porch plant in summer. It grows well in a container, and its 3-foot arching fronds move in the breeze. While some treat it as an annual to buy and discard each year, it adapts well to bring it indoors as an easy-care house plant. A friend … Continue reading
Garden Bloggers Bloom Day– December 15th
We can find reassurance that our world will be OK in many ways. One way is to establish a quiet, comfortable place to read. Plant companions are of your choice. These camellias provide the light fragrance, deep evergreen shiny foliage, and blooms that continue for a month or more. Up close, the common hardy Camellia japonica shrub … Continue reading
How Does a Winter-Flowering Plant Make Seed?
Camellias are introduced plants from Japan and nearby Asian countries that have adapted well in the Southeast United States for more than a hundred years. In the south, camellias bloom in the fall or winter or early spring, sometimes before bulb plants. In nature, not many plants bloom at this time. Camellias are shrubs with … Continue reading
Decorate for the Holidays with your Plants
We can create our home version of “Holiday Beautiful” with the plants around us from the growing season. Sometimes ornamental grasses have a second life. It continues to move in the wind as a dried plant in winter. Lights add a festive look at night. Eastern red cedar boughs, some with green berries, stay fresh … Continue reading
Garden Bloggers Bloom Day November 15th
Welcome to a crisp, sunny 46 degrees F. on the Northern Plains. We’re USDA Zone 4-5a in this region, and flowers outdoors are behind us. These leaves lie beneath a Japanese maple tree. These leaf colors are paint-able but show that the tree didn’t reach its full color before the beginning of fall cold snaps. Some … Continue reading
Transition to Fall
Today, let’s look at plants in transition on the Northern Plains, here at Plant Exchange blog. Trees are beginning to turn fall colors. Sunflowers are still in bloom at the edge of fields, in flowerbeds, and containers. Pollinators enjoy Agastache and other flowers in bloom. We begin to bring in plants that overwinter indoors about … Continue reading
Houseplants Add Pep
Too early to lounge outdoors here. It’s about eight weeks before the last frost when starter plants and houseplants needing rejuvenation are taken outdoors. What can we do with houseplants to add pep to our indoor surroundings now? Rearrange houseplants. Consider moving plants to different rooms where light is better as the angle of the … Continue reading
New Houseplant Now
If you’d like easy-care, low-input indoor plants to add greenery to your living space, consider succulents. These Echeveria succulents are fleshy plants that found naturally in dry conditions in well-drained soil. Succulents are available now in nurseries and big box stores. They grow slowly, retaining their design shape so that little trimming is needed. Plants were … Continue reading
