I remember the first time one of my orchids dropped its last bloom, and the tall, elegant flower spike turned brown and brittle. One day, my orchid had lots of flowers, and then, suddenly, it was bare. It felt like something had gone wrong overnight. But here’s what I’ve learned after growing orchids alongside everything from perennials to …
indoor plants
Valentine’s Day Plants That Last Longer Than a Bouquet
If you’re shopping for a plant for your Valentine, you are already winning. Bouquets are lovely… for about five days. Then they become a sad science experiment on the kitchen counter. But Valentine’s Day plants? Those are gifts that keep growing. They bloom again, they live on, and they remind your favorite person of you long after February …
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My Dog Ate Poisonous House Plants: Lessons I Learned
I stepped out of the house for just 30 minutes. That’s all the time it took for my 14-year-old mixed-breed dog, Charlie, to chew on not one, but two, plants that are toxic to dogs. Charlie had chewed on a plant only once before – in 2017 when I first adopted him. It was a papyrus plant and it is not poisonous to dogs. I knew that some of …
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Yellow fungus in potting soil – the yellow houseplant mushroom
Have you ever seen a yellow fungus growing from the soil of one of your potted plants? You might be surprised to know that these yellow mushrooms aren’t uncommon. They won’t hurt your plant and they aren’t harmful to you. They’re just a small part of the ecosystem doing their job in a pot of soil that happens to be in your house (or in my case, in …
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How to Survive the Winter: For Gardeners
It’s gray, foggy, and drizzling outside – a perfect Mississippi winter day. When winter arrives, I curl up on the couch, tuck in the extra blankets, close my eyes and fervently wish I was somewhere tropical. I wish, I wish, I wish! Yep, still here. The only thing that gets me through these yucky days when I can’t be outside are my indoor …
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Be Careful What You Bring Indoors
The air is getting crisper and the temperatures are dropping. It's getting close to the time to bring your plants indoors for the winter. I have a lot of potted plants, so each year, I have to pick and choose the ones that I am going to try to save and those that I will leave outside. Otherwise, it gets to be a jungle in my house! Hitchhikers on …