All the Dirt on Gardening

In our family and probably in yours, there are things you can do and foods you can eat that are believed to increase luck. For example if you carry a rabbit’s foot on a keychain or eat black eyed peas for New Years.  Lucky Bamboo is also thought to attract luck, happiness, success and health and it is for sale in many oriental stores as well as big box garden centers. Dracaena sanderana or sanderiana is not a Bamboo at all but a tropical plant from West Africa where it grows to 3-feet tall. Eastern cultures, Chinese in particular, assigned Lucky Bamboo with mystical properties in Confucian times.  The art of Feng Shui, arranging work and living spaces to attract the best energy (chi) has been practiced for a thousand years but became popular in the US 30 years ago and Lucky Bamboo was a part of that system. Bamboo is said to be strong even in a storm, swaying with the wind so having a container of Dracaena sanderana brings an element of that strength into homes a...

Indoor plants are a rewarding hobby whether they are grown to be used as room dividers, cheerful decorations, or to reduce inside air pollution. Some plant varieties sold as houseplants thrive indoors only if you give them plenty of care, such as daily misting or if the live in a terrarium, under a glass cloche or inside a glass house called a Ward.  Those plants make excellent hobbies, too, but only if you enjoy providing daily plant care (See https://bit.ly/2CvBmlz  for more information.) Since the appearance of a houseplant is the main reason to have it around, shop for plants in person rather than on the Internet. Look for insect-free, healthy leaves and notice their environment. Are they under grow lights, protected from direct sun or in filtered sunlight? Office plants have to be especially tough since they are abandoned on weekends, watered by everyone or no one, receive minimal light, breezes from heat and air conditioning, and have to survive variable r...

Glory Bower Vine The first time we saw this gorgeous plant was in Memphis at a little garden across the road from the Memphis Botanic Garden . Dixon Gallery and Garden s are a must-go destination for us each time we go to Memphis. Bleeding Heart Vine or Glory Bower, Clerodendrum thomsoniae, is a tropical plant from Africa that only survives in zones 10 and above but is frequently grown indoors and in tropical houses other places. At the Missouri Botanical Garden in St. Louis, they have a record of all their Clerodendrum thomsoniae vines, living and dead at the plant record here . Here's what MOBOT says about growing bleeding heart vine in their climate - Heavy feeder, needs hanging planter, trellis or other support for its 12-15 feet long vine. Part-shade, evergreen, needs a winter rest at 55-65 degrees with minimal water Prune in early spring, needs several gallons of water every week during growing and flowering periods. Plant of the Week suggests using a sa...