Garden Chronicles of James David: Indoor Plants

Showing posts with label Indoor Plants. Show all posts

Wednesday, November 27, 2013

Indoor Plants - Office Cubicle

I had been experimenting on most of the indoor plants and found that some truly do quite well in a enclosed office space where natural light is rare.

What I notice is that Aglaonema seemed to root in sphagnum moss &
the Brown Earth Star had change its colour to green.
The ZZ plant seemed to sprout very well in a small container bottles.
And the Walking Iris seemed to grow longer but thinning out slowly.

This Moss collection is something new.
Other than that, the rest seemed to be doing fine.

Wednesday, October 24, 2012

Indoor Plants for the Office Desk-Top

I often come across many people whom I know who love to have a small plant in their office cubicle. Be it a small bottle with an ivy popularly known as "money plant" or the screw-twisted branch "lucky bamboo".

Somehow there is a living plant but sadly almost barely alive.
Either it terribly infested with mealy bug or scale insect or the plant is so aged that its really sad looking. (due to the lack of sunlight - these pest infest the plant which goes totally dormant and the leaves turn yellow)

(Still with my introduction - Bare with me)

It occured to me - why not try out with different species which thrives on low light setting like the office space and set-up different species apart from the common ones.
Those which only require minimum care.

The set-up was progressive.
Basically I used most of the recycle items.
Also got into the idea that nature plays well in complementing both plant and natural elements together.
Here I placed shells, river stones, pebbles & garden moss to give the dramatic effect.

You will notice there are tile slabs, old magazine and jars.
I had used a herbal tea container given by a friend to place ferns in them.
Also a mooncake box to give that autmn leave factor.

Seriously looking at this setting.
It does calms the soul and gives a sense of peace.
I think whenever I'm stressful - I would just spend some few minutes here to de-stress.
To me - it does look like a Japanese Garden.
A miniature one and fits just perfectly to calm the raging soul.

My wife mentioned many times that I should focus on going into business rather than just doing stuff direction-less. Well, its a little hard for me when it comes to converting from passion to business.
And with that thought - I have decided to sell the plants displayed here.

Anyone interested please write on the comment.
We shall follow-up from there.
Items for sale :-
a) All plants in containers each - RM5
b) Plant in the figurine - RM10
Basically it is Cash on Delivery. I can meet up anyone around KL area.

The Sale of the plant includes tip & plant care.

Plants in this settings:

1) Bird Nest Fern
2) Earthstar
3) Walking Stick Iris
4) Money plant
5) Moss and stones

Friday, January 28, 2011

Indoor plants (Updated 2019)

I'm pretty sure some of my friends would be wondering how to maintain an indoor plant. Often I hear tell-tale stories of plants dying in a week's time or facing a major disaster when the whole plant just turn yellow and rot. So, here are some tips of how to handle a plant.

The most important factor is facing disappointment.
When you see a dying plant: What to do next?
In most cases, it might just be too late to do anything.
(this is based on my perception and experience)

Then, comes the next important question:
How then can one successfully have a thriving indoor plant?
Ahh... (that is the most important question to ask before having a plant indoors)

Let's get a fact right:
Most indoor plants are not naturally designed to remain long term in an indoor condition,
All of the indoors plants thrive well outdoor. So, when they are placed indoors they just sustain instead of thriving, their survival mode takes place as some species are hardy when you place them indoors.Some species last longer than others, and in most cases they seemed to adapt to the right condition in the room environment.
Again, it depends how versatile is the indoor condition: Is it like a store room or a greenhouse environment?

The most important factor you must consider is Lighting.
Office lighting is good compared to residential lighting.
(due to the working environment - bright lights are required in a workplace)
Place the indoor plant right above the lighting (or the plant will eventually trail to the nearest light source making it very unattractive and leggy)

The other factor that are important is water, soil (or medium) & maintenance.
The factor is different for each different species. I had discovered some require minimum watering but requires good lighting.

Once the plant is placed indoors for a long time, they may not able to handle the pressure when they are placed back outdoors (in most cases, they die out of stress)

These are some of the ideas of how to keep an indoor plants:
See pictures below

.
Mother in law tongue.
They can last for months without water, you can just cut the leaves and place them in long clear jars as decor piece. They will eventually dry-up unless you plant them in a soil.
.

.
These are known as lucky bamboo, they were brought from an outdoor environment. I had stripped off their leaves and reveal their inner beauty and best displayed indoors in this style.
.

.
Goose Foot Plant
.
They are very hardy and you can place pebbles or shells with water for the medium.
Also you can use soil (even without drainage)
.

.
Other plants that you can consider indoors are:
1) Dumbcane
2) Basket Plant
3) Marble Queen & Money plant (Epipremnum aureum) or Pothos
4) Mother in law Tongue
5) Dracaena species
6) Palms

There are more newer species introduced year after year, select the cheaper ones (if you are buying them)
.

HOW TO CULTIVATE AND CARE FOR INDOOR PLANTS:

DIFFERENT TYPES OF BEST INDOOR PLANTS:

Here are the list of the best indoor plants that can thrive and manage well indoors.

Do click on the names that will link you to detailed information about them
& their different cultivars in their species and also about their care & cultivation.