Bring blooms into
your rooms
By
Satish Narula
IN winter one usually spends most of
the time indoors, be it in the office or at home. Thus
one finds it necessary to brighten up the indoors. Indoor
plants bring the space to life by adding a touch or
colour and greenery.
Most
indoor plants are valued for their beautiful foliage. A
few that flower hardly have significant blooms.
Displaying pots in which blooming has been initiated
outdoors can help counter the paucity of flowering indoor
plants. Such pots can make all the difference and bring
freshness and fragrance indoors.
There is no restriction on
this kind of flora. The plant for floral display can be a
shrub, climber, bulbous or herbaceous. Cultural
requirements may differ but use fancy pots, dishes,
baskets or containers to grow them.
When a plant is in the
process of flowering during winter. It is braving the
delicate phase of its annual lifecycle. You will have to
provide it conditions conducive to growth. Once brought
indoors, there is warmth but are depriving it of the free
flow of oxygen and sunlight. It is better to find such a
place where there is maximum light and air. It would be a
boon for such plants if they get a little sun from a
window or a ventilator. Make sure the sun does not each
the plant through the glass of window panes. You might
end up burning the leaves at different spots. The glass
acts liked a lens, especially when there is water on
foliage. Good air circulation is desirable but not
exposure to cold currents.
It is better if you could
provide some way of increasing humidity around the plant.
This could be achieved by placing the pots in a
water-filled saucer or gravel dipped in water. This will
be very helpful where you are using room heaters or
blowers etc to keep the room warm.
When the plant, flowers or
fruits are under maximum stress, it is essential to
provide them with frequent, but not copious watering.
A thirsty plant will
protest by shedding its lower leaves and flowers. This is
done in defence as these are the most demanding parts. If
you feel your plant needs a good wash do it by using a
sponge or wool soaked in water as water spray might
damage the petals of the flowers. There could even be
rotting of the bloom.
Do not give this treatment
to the plants such as setcresia with hairy leaves.
There is a long list of
plants that bloom and have a long life indoors. Some of
them could be bloomed outside and then displayed indoors
for as long as a month or so. Among these are:
anthuriums, poinsettia, acalypha, begonias, euphorbias,
cyclamen (for hilly regions), kalanchoe, orchids,
geranium, primulas, spathiphyllum and clerodendrum
thomsoniae.
Clerodendrum thomsoniae
though lovers of warmth, keep sending out its bright
scarlet-and-white flowers for a long period of time even
when kept indoors. A little warmth will keep it going
through out the winter. Keep the pot moist (not wet). The
plant by nature looks like a climber but it is not a
natural climber and has to be supported for climbing.
In a pot the stems might
droop down due to the weight of cluster of flowers that
are born terminally. Give support. The fading bracts of
flowers turn pink and have a unique charm.
This
feature was published on December 13, 1998
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