Whats the Poinsettia?

Now that the holidays are long past I'm finally going to post about everybody's favorite holiday plant... Poinsettias!  These make a great gift and are easy to take care of; but, if you get one don't throw it away this time!  They aren't an annual, they won't die once the new year hits, they will live for as long as you take care of them.

This Poinsettia survived its second holiday season.

As with any plant making sure it has the proper light and water is vital, but if they don't get enough light you will see a neat Dr. Seuss effect which is always fun. This one has been around for 4 or 5 years now and is still healthy, well, it's still alive.

Under proper growing conditions poinsettias will flower and look pretty once the days get short again, which is why they are such a popular Christmas plant!

Happy planting

-Paul

Houseplants

I got asked a question about houseplants today.  A friend of mine was wondering why the leaves on his houseplant were suddenly turning brown. 

 

 

 

Photo courtesy of Mike Senecal

There are many reasons why this can happen, most commonly it happens because of the plant aging.  As tropical plants (typical for a house plant) get older they tend to lose their lower leaves to expose a bare stem.  Judging from this picture that is what I would say is happening, however there may be other things happening if the top leaves on the plant are changing.

• Not enough light, unfortunately it is hard to get enough light in the winter, my plants struggle and require frequent spinning and micro-adjustments to get maximum light.
• Too much or too little water:  I know, it seems counter-intuitive when you hear that you can give a plant too much water, but you can and effects on the plant appear the same as too little water.  The way to tell if it is too much water is by feeling the leaves and if they feel soggy then you are giving it too much water.  Conversely too little water will make the leaves dry and crispy feeling.
• Too much heat can also cause this problem.  Check and make sure that you aren't storing your plant over a heat source, if you are you should elevate it off the heat and consider increasing the amount of water you are giving the plant.

I hope this helps you all with your house plants.  Thank you for the question Mike!

Snow

Okay, so here in southern Maine we just got about 15" of snow so I've been busy dealing with that.  As great as snow is it just makes me long for Spring, watching perennials break through the muddy ground, seeing the trees budding out and the anticipation of wonderful smelling flowers. 

Last Spring my wife Ashley and I made a hosta garden behind our house and I can't wait to see what it looks like after its first winter.  Only about 60 days until then!

 

This is what the garden started as, throughout the summer last year it changed... A LOT because I saved a lot of plants from getting thrown out at work.

Look at those beautiful hosta poking up through the dirt!

As always, I welcome any questions or comments!

Behold the power of plants!

I hiked up Katahdin this past summer and was amazed at the plant-life I saw at the top, although the trees are stunted I was still amazed that plants were rockin' up there.

This is Cornus canadensis (Bunch Berry) growing on the summit.  It is a great ground cover for your home garden as well.

 

Unfortunately I forget what specific type of Spruce this is; however, you can see that it is stunted but alive!

Plants, Plants, Plants

My wife started blogging and it seems like it might be fun, so I decided to do my own, about... Plants!  I love plants of all shapes and sizes and can't wait to share that love with you all.