Horticultural

My top five indoor succulents

Succulents have gone through a renaissance of late, in the garden at least: Pinterest is awash with pictures of containers, vertical walls and roofs full of them. But living in Bedfordshire, not California, my succulent kicks are largely satisfied inside (apart from Sempervivums, about which I'll write in another post). These fellows won't mind you whacking up the central heating so the room's as hot as the Sahara and just as dry (although for the sake of the environment, why not whack on a cardigan instead?). That's no excuse for not watering them in the summer, however, as they will reward you with lots of growth over the summer if you give them regular food and water. Don't kill them with kindness: they hate sitting in a saucer of water, so make sure it can drain away. I have a lifelong love affair with succulents, and my favourites change week by week, according to what's catching my eye. But now, at least, these are my top succulent choices.

 

Euphorbia obesa (Turkish temple)
(Photo used under Creative Commons from Urban Hafner)

When I first met ehtnobotanist James Wong at the Chelsea Flower Show a few years back, we bonded over our mutual childhood experience of poring over the pages of the classic indoor plant book DG Hessayon's Houseplant Expert - even though he grew up in Malaysia and I lived at the leafier end of the Metropolitan line. (I know. Weird. We both turned out fine, though, really...) One of the plants I dreamed of owning was this one, known as baseball plant or the gingham golf ball in the US, although Hessayon called it by the far more romantic name Turkish temple. although I know some houseplant aficionados have a thing for living stones (aka members of the Lithops clan which look like, er, stones - who wants a plant that looks like a pebble? I may as well just have a pebble) but for me, E. obesa is so much better. Its fleshy dome thrusts out of the soil like some kind of rejected set design for a scene in Star Wars. Sadly, this intriguing plant is now rare in the wild in its natural home, the Karoo region of South Africa, because it was targeted by plant collectors, although now it is a protected species.

 

Aloe aristata (Lace aloe)

This one has sentimental value: gifted to me by boyfriend's former neighbours Fiona and Juggs* more than a decade ago, this plant has been with me through thick and thin, and a lot of neglect. This aloe may not have the medicinal properties of its close relative but it is much hardier. I keep my main plant in my unheated and frequently subzero greenhouse-cum-potting shed every winter and it troops through, provided it's kept dry, it'll be fine down to at least -5C (some say even lower). A terracotta pot seems to help. It produces strange coral-coloured flowers on fishing rod-style stems every summer, but it's the fractal whorl of the fleshy leaves that packs the visual punch. Put it in a dull metal or textured pot in just the right shade of green and it will look great. If you need any more reason to try this plant, you may like to know that it has an RHS Award of Garden Merit. It will have "babies" aka offsets, which can be carefully removed from the parent plant and potted up to make more plants.

*He had big ears, hence the nickname. I don't even know his real name.

 

Adromischus cooperi (Plover's eggs)

This one's a toughie, too. In winter it will survive for several months with no water, and admittedly the "eggs" will shrivel a little, but a splash of water and they are back on their feet.I have a feeling my specimen may be a cultivar as most of the pictures I've seen have more spathe-shaped leaves, but if anyone can help me out with that, let me know! In a forthcoming post I am planning on how to choose great containers for houseplants, I'll show you a picture of this plant in another setting ... it looks amazing!

I love the strange Leopard-spotted pattern you see on this and some other succulents (check out silver squill (Ledebouria socialis), another close contender for this top five, for another cool spotted leaf pattern).

 

Aloe vera
(Photo used under Creative Commons from Toni Villaró)

If you've ever wanted a living, growing first aid kit, this is it. There are many claims made for the healing power of this plant, but all I know is if you keep one of these plants on the kitchen windowsill, every time you burn yourself, break off a leaf and squeeze out the gel inside to apply to the skin - it really does help such injuries to heal.

In the summer you can put these outside - they look great massed in a big zinc pot - but don't do as I did last winter and forget to bring them in, resulting in a mushy mess.

Kalanchoe daigremontiana (Mother of thousands) (Photo used under Creative Commons from blumenbiene)

There's more childhood nostalgia attached to my final choice. This isn't the ubiquitous (and naff) 'flaming Katy' (Kalanchoe blossfeldiana) of petrol station forecourts and market stalls, but a relative whose special trick is an odd form of increasing itself. The edges of every leaf are festooned with what look like tiny green flowers at first sight, but they are actually tiny plantlets, which will at a moment's notice leap off , fall to the ground and sprout roots. As you can imagine, these plants are just fascinating to kids - and, trust me, they are a hell of a lot easier to keep alive than the Venus fly trap, or "one hell of a waste of a fiver", as I always call it. As this blogpost testifies, these fellas can be devilishly invasive - if I lived in California I'd never have one in my garden, they'd be everywhere, a bit like the deeply annoying Oxalis corniculata, even with its small silver lining of edibility*.

But in a pot it's easy enough to deal with any extra plants. This - like ginger beer plants and Jamie and the Magic Torch - were ubiquitous in the 1970s and 80s (perhaps it was a local phenomenon where I lived in Buckinghamshire - perhaps you can let me know?), you'd get them at every jumble sale and plant stall this side of, say, 1987. I don't have one right now, but if anyone wants swapsies for something a bit less, well, fecund, just let me know. As Anna Laurent writes on the Garden Design blog:

The mother-of-thousands is a superlative nurturer by necessity; somewhere on the evolutionary timeline, the unique succulent lost the ability to produce viable seeds, and so the burden of reproduction fell to its leaves. As the plant matures, spoon-shaped spurs develop along the periphery of its leaves, each yielding a miniature clone of the mother. These adventitious plantlets grow larger and form roots, all the while clinging to the mother's leaves, which now hang heavy under the weight of so many young plants.

*This is edible - the tiny, paper-thin leaves taste like sorrel on a diet: delicately citrusy. Sprinkle it on the top of a risotto You can try to eat it into submission, but be aware that this isn't a plant to dominate your salad bowl as the leaves contain small amounts of oxalic acid which is not good for your stomach if you eat it in excess. I haven't got a full idea of how much you'd need to eat to make yourself ill, but I am thinking it's bucketfuls. Nevertheless, don't blame me for an overdose, and also beware of any potential issues with allergies: try a small amount first before you dive into a big plateful.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Houseplants part two: my top 5 houseplants even YOU won't be able to kill!

Ages ago I wrote a post on reinventing the houseplant. I promised part two would list five of my favourite unkillable houseplants... at last, here it is. This is an edited-down version of a feature I wrote for the magazine Your Perfect Garden, available from all good newsagents now!

ZZ plant (Zamioculcas zamiifolia)
This plant will shrug off deep shade, direct sun, no water for months on end and desert-dry air without any sign of distress. If you want to treat it right, water when the compost surface feels dry and put it in a bright spot. It won't mind the dry air and warm temperatures common to modern homes. If it's happy, it will grow fast and will need repotting once the roots start to break out of the pot: repot one size up in cactus compost.
Also try: Jade plant (Crassula ovata)
(Photograph by Artesaniaflorae on Flickr)

 

Wax plant (Hoya carnosa)
Most easy-care houseplants don't offer flowers as part of their repertoire. But this is a glorious exception, although you may have to wait a while for the clusters of fragrant, waxy white flowers to appear. Put it somewhere high so you can enjoy watching the fleshy oval leaves on red stems snake around: or train it up a trellis or some wires to make a living screen.
Also try: Rosary vine (Ceropegia woodii)

 

Umbrella papyrus (Cyperus alterniflolius) If you like to play fast and loose with the watering can, this   is the plant for you. This stately plant likes its feet in the wet. It's an ideal plant for the bathroom, where it won't mind being splashed with water - in fact the extra humidity will do it good. It isn't overly fussy about light, but avoid direct sunlight.
Also try: Pitcher plant (Sarracenia flava)
(Photograph by Artep ^_^ on Flickr)

The Victorians really were onto something when they championed the appropriately-named cast iron plant (Aspidistra elatior). If you give this plant the modern treatment by putting it into an imposing pot the result is stunning. Aspidistra can tolerate those dingy spots other houseplants hate, too. Again, ease off on the watering can: the only thing that will challenge its cast iron constitution is too much wet. Pictured here is A. 'Big Bang'.
Also try: Parlour palm (Chamaedorea elegans); Peace lily (Spathiphyllum wallisii)
(Photograph by MeganEHansen on Flickr)

 

 

 

African spear (Sansevieria cylindrica)
Mother-in-law's tongue (Sansevieria trifasciata) may be a 70s cliche, but its kookier relative the African spear is the ideal plant for the minimalist look. The leaves are curious round fleshy grey-green spikes and look great planted en masse in a zinc trough. Sansevierias cope with a wide range of conditions, just make sure they have free-draining compost and the occasional drop of water.
Also try: Haworthia; Aloe vera

 

Reinventing the houseplant (part one)

There is something profoundly depressing about a poorly houseplant. A garden plant that's having an off period doesn't tend to draw the eye in the same way, as there's usually something else to camouflage it, but there's nowhere to hide from a yellowing, leggy spider plant or a parched palm.

Perhaps that's why some of us gardeners shy away from indoor plants: they look lush and lovely when we bring them home, but we stick them on a windowsill or shelf and then turn a blind eye when you're busy outside and in the meanwhile they turn a little brown at the edges, start farming their own herd of fungus gnats and generally become an eyesore.

Houseplants are out of favour. I get dozens of press releases every month about veg, fruit and ornamentals for the garden, but something on indoor plants is rare indeed. So I was delighted to receive not only a press release but a living plant from Dobbies a couple of months back. The presser promised that the Dobbies chain was giving "a tired old friend a glamorous new look", and included a top 10 health benefits of houseplants.

The plant in question was a maidenhair fern, Adiantum fragrans, a delicate number with tissue-paper thin leaves dancing on wiry black stems. I had fun getting it home on the train, but has since taken up residence in my bathroom. Normally, maidenhair ferns aren's something I'd buy: they need frequent, careful watering and humid conditions which are hard to meet in most modern houses. The bathroom's a good choice, though: usually on the chilly side, with plenty of moisture in the air from showers and baths. So far, so good, barring the occasional tug from a toddler and an accident with some toothpaste.

The Dobbies houseplant collection has four collections: Country, Heritage, Oriental Spa and Contemporary. I haven't been into a Dobbies yet to check them out, but when other garden centres are stopping the sale of houseplants, its good to see someone trying to bring them "back into fashion", even if the selections (despite all the reinvention) major on the usual suspects (I'm thinking begonias, orchids and maybe a jade plant). The pot, too, is perfect: just the right side of distressed, and a gorgeous shade of ultramarine.

Bear in mind, though, that Dobbies is owned by Tesco: if you have a problem with that (and maybe you should), try asking your local florist if s/he can order indoor plants for you. Alternatively, and for those on a tight budget, try Wilkinson or Lidl. They both sell good houseplants on occasion, but you need to get in there quick when new plants arrive as the stock isn't usually well tended. Ikea's another excellent choice, if you have one near you, and the offering's a bit more exciting: for instance the intriguing Hoya kerrii (pictured right), a tough plant which if you treat it right will end up looking like this - including the weirdly wonderful hoya flower.

*Watch out for part two, in which I'll name my top 5 houseplants that are hard to kill

 

I'm in love with a roving sailor: Saxifraga stolonifera ‘Maroon Beauty'

Saxifragas were one of those things that I used to get excited about when perusing my copy of DG Hessayon’s The Houseplant Expert as a kid.*

I’d never thought of them for outdoors, aside from my much-loved (and neglected) Saxifraga x urbium 'Variegata', but when I spotted Saxifraga stolonifera ‘Maroon Beauty’ at the Wrest Park garden show earlier in the year I had one of those “it will be mine!” moments that will be familiar to any plant enthusiast.

It’s a low-ground ground cover plant with fleshy, hairy leaves that likes shady conditions, and the fleshy leaves compare favourably to other foliage plants, heucheras say, for interest. My only concern is hardiness. The woman on the stall – I forget which nursery it was – assured me that hers had bounced back from the harsh winter, resprouting readily in the spring but time will tell.

One of its common names is 'Roving Sailor', because they spread by runners (strictly speaking stoloniferous plantlets, I think): mine’s already made four or five new plants (one is visible in the shot above) from its spot in the side passage with no effort from me, and free plants are always good.

It's a good job that this plant is happy in full shade as my saxifrage is about to be completely covered by the rapidly burgeoning leaves of my soon-to-flower Nicotiana sylvestris - pictured here at half its current size in the bit (not big enough to earn the title of 'border') on the other side of the passage, with Garrya elliptica 'James Roof' and some honeysuckle behind.

I put these in a bit late, really, but they were an impulse buy** having read m'colleague Lia Leendertz’s book The Twilight Garden, in the hope that the scent would mitigate against any potential whiffs emanating from our nearby wheelie bins (they're disguised with a rather stylish wheelie bin cover but that doesn't contain smells).

 

*Talking to James Wong at Chelsea this year, we discovered a mutual childhood enthusiasm for this book – I’m glad I wasn’t the only one with a square pastime aged 10. James used a lot of plants you’d see in The Houseplant Expert in his 2011 show garden, such as pileas. I’ve asked my mum to root out some photos of me with my plants as a kid, as if you need some proof. Stand by for some seriously embarrassing images ...

**From an ebay seller called seed-feeder who I’d highly recommend. They don’t have anything for sale as I type but the large plugs I bought were very healthy and well packaged, and I am kicking myself for not buying several things from them this summer.

 

Terrariums: low maintenance doesn't mean no maintenance

I love terrariums for many reasons, but one of the main pluses is that they are genuinely low maintenance: a jar can go for months with nothing more than a bit of a dust now and again. But that doesn't mean no-maintenance - over time, plants will outgrow their space and the glass will grow cloudy, signalling it's time for a revamp.

That's what happened to a terrarium I planted back in August 2009 - it looked good for well over a year, and then recently I started hiding it behind the living room curtains because the plants inside had begun to look really sad (see below - eurgh).

Aside from the fact tht I've been busier than a one-eyed cat watching two mouse holes, I'd had to delay any work on the jar because it's really hard to get hold of small houseplants suitable for terrariums these days - one garden centre manager I spoke to said she no longer buys in 'mini' houseplants because they've gone up so much in price and everyone wants bigger, cheaper plants - the manager of another garden centre told me he's stopped selling houseplants altogether because they are simply not good sellers these days.

Anyway, Wilkinson came to the rescue with a tray of good-looking specime that ticked the boxes for terrarium dwellers - small enough to fit in the jar, fond of humid conditions and ideally slow-growing.

Replanting is easy - just empty out the old plants, relocate or compost as appropriate; give the empty jar a good scrub with hot soapy water, then add fresh compost and the new plants.

In this case I went for a couple of Fittonias, a tiny bit of small-leaved Tradescantia (it grows fast) and some kind of Dracaena (I think). The red and white veins are a bit more gaudy than I'd usually like, but somehow in that particular jar, it works. Job done in about 15 minutes - just long enough for the kids to watch an episode of the Octonauts and for me to get my plant fix for the day.

It now sits in the hall alongside another recently replanted terrarium, (see right) and they look great side-by-side. I reckon the next replant will be in summer 2012 - although the Tradescantia will need snipping back well before that, as it's a bit of a bully.

 

Book review: How to Grow Fresh Air by BC Wolverton

I've been delaying and delaying getting a plant for my desk at work, but I am starting to regret that having started to read Dr BC Wolverton's book How to Grow Fresh Air: 50 Houseplants That Purify Your Home or Office. The author carried out research for Nasa looking at air quality in spacecraft and for potential lunar bases, in the process discovering that certain houseplants are brilliant at filtering pollutants that are rife in modern homes, such as formaldehyde, xylene and benzene. A range of health complaints are attributed to exposure to these pollutants, found in everything from particleboard to fabrics. Indoor air pollution could also be a major factor in sudden infant death syndrome, Wolverton says, as most new babies go into freshly-painted, carpeted rooms which are therefore full of pollutant emmissions. Yikes. Reading further about how efficient plants are at dealing with the likes of formaldehyde, it made me want to run out and buy a load of new plants for every room in the house right now.

Dr Wolverton helpfully gives each of the plants he features a rating out of 10 based on removal of chemical vapours, ease of growth and maintence, resistance to pests and transpiration rate. The number one rated plant is the areca palm, Chrysalidocarpus lutescens, which he describes as "consistently rated as one of the best houseplants for removing all indoor air toxins tested". Other high scorers include the rubber plant, Ficus robusta, common-or-garden ivy (Hedera helix) and various members of the Dracaena family.

I've already got several of the book's top 50, but I'm also aware I have no plants in my daughter's room or my bedroom - places where a bit of pollutant removal should be a priority, it seems to me. The top performer of the areca palm looks like a must-have, but they seem fairly pricey as they're usually sold as largish specimens of 1m tall or more, but I just spotted they have them in Ikea: a 120cm tall plant for £16.99. Sanseveria trifasciata, commonly known by by its un-PC title mother-in-law's tongue, only scores 6.3 on Dr Wolverton's scale, but fascinatingly it differs from most plants in that it produces oxygen at night rather than carbon dioxide - a good one for the bedroom perhaps?

If you're one of those people that can't reall see the point of houseplants, this book is worth a read. If you're into houseplants already, it'll shed new light on your hobby. Just don't buy all the areca palms from Ikea before I get there, ok?!

Fussy fittonias: or, who to blame when your new houseplant dies

Fittonia verschaffeltii ver. argyroneura "Compacta". Photograph: TANAKA Juuyoh (田中十洋)/Flickr/Some rights reserved

Mike E emailed with a question about sagging fittonias, a low-growing houseplant that's often offered for sale in garden centres.

I have a red veined (Pink Anne), a white veined, and two "Pink Frankie" fittonias. All but the "Pink Frankies" are growing nicely with no leaf drop. The 2 "Pink Frankies" are smaller, purchased at Wally World, and have suffered from considerable leaf drop. All are in 3 inch pots in same soil as purchased. Have not repotted or fertilized any since I bought a month ago and my room temp. varies from 70 to 80 degrees with humidity recorded between 50 and 65%.I keep all in a planter box on a table 2 ft. high next to a sliding glass door window (remains closed). Only light is coming through a South facing sliding glass window with vertical venetian blinds partially open.

The "Pink Frankies" are 4.5 inches high by 4 inches acoss and the other fittonias are 7 inches high by 7 inches across (plants-not pot size). One of the "Pink Frankies" has six main stems in its pot. The leaves have completely dropped on 4 of the stems-the other 2 stems are fully leaved bottom to top. The other "Pink Frankie" has 5 stems in the pot with four bare of leaves and one stem fully leaved. There are newer leaves coming out on the bared stems but they seem to drop off after about a quarter inch long. Could you give me any suggestions as to why my "Pink Frankies" are suffering so much leaf drop?

I had to Google "Wally World" but it seems you may be referring to Walmart? Anyway, anyone who's bought a fittonia may be nodding their head in agreement with Mike's sorry tale of dropping foliage.

I will, if I may, quote from my favourite houseplant tome, the Gold-Plated Houseplant Expert, in which DG Hessayon notes: "Many people have bought a specimen to add novelty to their collection ... only to find that the plant has died within weeks. Unfortunately the standard large-leaved types are very difficult to grow under ordinary room conditions".

Sadly, this is true for many of the houseplants on display at your local supermarket or garden centre: caladiums, dizygothecas, codiaeums, and anthuriums, for instance. These plants are all divas, demanding conditions that most living rooms won't be able to provide: high humidity, steady temperatures and no draughts, primarily. For most of us with busy lives, these plants are out of bounds: a waste of money. If you insist on growing them, you're better off getting a large terrarium to put them in: fittonias are small enough to work in bottle gardens, too. (And as I've already noted, bottle gardens and terrariums are back in fashion right now - bonus!)

That said, Mike's growing conditions don't sound too off the mark: humidity of 50-65% isn't bad for most houseplants, although it would help to stand the plants on a drip tray containing pebbles and some water to help moisten the air a little more for the fittonias. The leaf drop on Mike's plants may have been set in motion by events well before he bought the plants: were they stored incorrectly in transit, exposed to deadly cold, under or overwatered? A plant that looks perfectly healthy when you buy it can suddenly die from the shock of travelling from the cosy confines of the shop to your home, too. If I were you, Mike, I'd cut back the de-leafed stems and hope they begin to revive. Also, it's worth looking for the small-leaved, white-veined fittonias (Fittonia argyroneura nana), which tend to be a bit tougher and less susceptible to turning up its toes.

The lessons here are several:

1. Buy from a reputable supplier who knows about houseplants: they're more likely to have cared for your plant before you bought

2. Keep plants protected on the journey home, preferably wrapped in bubble wrap if you're buying them in winter, and never buy houseplants from outdoor markets - in the summer they may be burned by sun, and in winter the cold will kill them

3. When you get them home, put the plants in a bright place out of direct sunglight to give it a chance to acclimatise before choosing its final position

4. If your plant dies, remember: it's not your fault, it's the shop's!

More funky planters, this time with cacti and succulents

I wrote the other day about the bottle gardens I made for my August 29 gardening feature in Weekend. I also had fun planting up some succulents and cacti - they didn't all get used owing to lack of space on the page so I thought I'd share them with you, and add in some extra detail there wasn't room for in the text.

I used some fun polka dot china as planters (sorry for the poorly focused pic, which is a world away from the job done by the photographer on the shoot, Anders Gramer). When using teacups, teapots and the like as planters, the easy way is to use plants that love being waterlogged, ie carnivorous plants or a Cyperus alternifolius (if you have a really big pot like an old, deep china casserole). That way you don't have to worry about the lack of drainage, and provided you keep the water level close to the lip of the container at all times, your plants will thrive.

But if you're really set on cacti, or most other houseplants that absolutely hate being waterlogged you'll have to either keep the plants in their original pots and remove them to water regularly, or drill holes in the bottom to provide some drainage. Cups and saucers are ideal when dealt with in this way as the saucer makes the perfect drip tray. The way to make the hole is with a ceramic drill bit, and it helps to add a strip or two of masking tape over the surface of the china to help you start the hole. Even if you're careful when drilling, there's a risk you'll break the china, so don't try this with anything precious (pick up cheap but funky stuff from charity shops and auctions instead). I couldn't bear to drill holes in this particular set of china (apart from anything else that bullet-shaped teapot is the best pourer I've ever found) so these were planted for the purposes of the shoot only!

The plants shown here are Plover Eggs (Andromischus cooperi) on the far right, Aeonium arboreum 'Zwartzkopf' at the back in the teapot, Gymnocalycium mihanovichii in front, and alas I've forgotten the name of the succulent on the left - I'll track down the label and post it later. They're now repotted in other containers (boring white ones for the moment until I take another trip to the junk shop). I've just found a great-looking nursery called Glenhirst that sells cacti and succulents and has a lot of good care advice, so I guess I might be expanding my collection again soon ...

Fierce plants for bottle gardens

I’ve always been a bit of a bottle garden nut. As a kid I got a huge aquarium from god know’s where (perhaps my sister can remember?) and set it up in my room as a terrarium, with plants bought with my pocket money from Woolies. It even had a grow light in the top, which my dad set up for me.

Bottle gardens (or terrariums) have been rather out of fashion since then, but I was inspired by posts on Garden Rant and the Blithewold Gardens blog to give them a second look. I made up a couple for today’s gardening feature in Weekend, which looks at three different fun things to use as pots. The terrarium that ended up being pictured (although you'll have to look in the actual magazine to see it) was a rather nice jar from Heals filled with some baby Chlorophytum ‘Ocean’ plants.

I was pleased at how it turned out, but I think I prefer the other bottle garden I made (pictured left), containing a sarracenia and a venus fly trap.

Carnivorous plants have a bit of a reputation for dying once you get them home, but bottle gardens help because it's easy to check they have enough water (they prefer to be more or less waterlogged in summer, less so in winter, so keep the gravel covered in rainwater - never use tap). The closed environment keeps out the draughts that can kill these plants, but if you want them to catch some meals you'll have to take it off from time to time, or else feed them occasionally with a very dilute foliar houseplant feed. The jar I used here was £30 from Lytton & Lily but if you like hunting things down in junk shops and charity stores you can track something down for a lot less. A good book to start with if you want to get into carnivorous plants is The Savage Garden by Peter D'Amato.

Depending on what plants you opt for, terrariums require very little maintenance. Faster growing plants like the chlorophytum will need thining every now and again, but this really is the ideal way of growing if you're short on time but want some greenery in your home. Read my piece for more info on how to plant them up: I'll write a separate post soon with some extra info on the other elements of the piece: A hanging basket made from a colander and some funky plant pots made from a tea set.

African violets - hot or not?

One of the most popular posts I have ever written on this blog is this one on how to look after African violets.

I have had a couple of questions from readers of late on how to care for their Saintpaulias, so I thought I'd return to the subject. I recently bought Andy Sturgeon's excellent book on indoor plants, Potted, and loved it all, barring one thing - he includes African violets in his list of plant "pariahs" - the deeply naff species that render you deeply uncool.

I love African violets, though, and my one-woman campaign to rehabilitate the Saintpaulia as a cool plant begins here.

Admittedly there are some rather tasteless confections on the market - I am not a big fan of the pink frilly ones that look like your nanny's knickers. But the deep purple of the classic AV is enchanting, and they look great grouped together, and I like the white ones too. Perhaps it has something to do with the fact that one of these plants was the first thing I managed to coax into flowering, aged about 10 or so.

Part of the problem is that while they're pretty easy to grow, unless you do a few easy maintenance tasks, AVs don't stay looking like the plants you take home from the garden centre. I can't remember how many times I have seen a pot crowded full of AVs, usually a parent plant that's grown lots of offshoots - so it looks like a vesuvius of furry leaves.

The flowers are long gone, of course. When offshoots appear, usually from the base of the stem, they should be removed - and preferably potted on to make a new plant. Then there's the problem of overwatering, which tends to be the fate of most houseplants that die. African violets are - duh - from Africa, so they prefer things on the dry side - it's best to let them get completely dry and even a little limp before watering. Head back to my original post for the full monty on AV care.

On to the questions. Bonita Goodman says:

My violet leaves gets to the edge of the pot and then break in the middle. The whole plants seem to take up the pot. The pot is 4 ¾ “across, and it has only bloomed once since I have had it. That was 6 weeks ago. It was in bloom when I brought it home, and I removed the dead flowers when wilted. Should I repot, and if yes, then do I have to use African violet soil?

Not quite sure what Bonita means here, but suspect she's got an overcrowded pot - if there's more than one plant in there, they need separating out. If it's a single plant, however, it can probably stay put as their roots like to be a little bit on the crowded side. Yes, it is wise to remove dead flowers - make sure you pull them off cleanly so no stump is left behind. And African violet compost? Well that's a new one on me, but having Googled it seems such a thing does exist - J Arther Bower sells it for one. I don't think it's necessary - any regular peat-free multipurpose compost that states it's suitable for houseplants will be fine.

Bonnie has another good question:

In reading all the different articles on violets there is no mention of the little tiny black flying bugs I have on my one violet.  How can I get rid of them?  I think I read one time that you can use soapy water?

Hmm. Very hard to know without seeing the plant, but I think that you may have a case of fungus gnats, little beasties that thrive in damp compost. Fortunately Emma Cooper has a great post on her blog that explains the best way to get rid of this problem - installing a couple of sundews. If, however, it's a case of some blackfly - a kind of black aphid - then yes, a spray with some soapy water would usually do the trick. BUT this is a bad idea for an AV - their furry leaves abhor getting wet and you're likely to end up with a very unhappy plant. The only solution then would be picking off by hand, or brushing off with an old (clean) makeup brush. Hope that helps Bonnie!