Paging Dr. Greenthumbs
Dear Ivy,
I wanted to ask you a plant question. I’ve inherited the responsibilities of caring for the dilapidated peacy lily at my mom’s taekwondo school. It’s about eight feet from the windows so I’m wondering what other problems I should tackle first.
The damage is pretty typical: tips and edges of the biggest leaves are crispy [...]
New Additions
I like to frequent the “distressed plant shelf” at my local home and garden center. This is where all the wilted, neglected plants are put when they no longer appear well enough to sell at full price. House plants can be expensive. I usually try to clone mine in order to propagate them, but sometimes [...]
Concerned About Cloning
Dear Ivy,
I’m learning about plants and love the Pothos plant. My question is this: I looked up your blog saw how to clone a Pothos so I did it. It’s not dying, but it’s not growing the roots yet out of the nodes and do I have to wait until Spring or Summer to do [...]
Special Ivy Plants
Dear Ivy,
I have two ivy plants from a family member’s funeral. They are turning brown and dying. What do I do? Please help!
Thank You
Dear Reader,
Let me start off by saying I am so very sorry for your loss. I know many people that have “funeral plants”. I personally have one. These are living plants used [...]
The Fruits of My Labor :D
I’ve been harvesting quarts and quarts of raspberries over the last few weeks! A couple times a week, I go out in the back garden and pluck a few quarts of the delicious fruits. The plants I have are called “Everbearing”, and they should produce all Summer. I pruned them back really heavily at first. [...]
Double Dracaenas
Dear Ivy,
I have a Dracaena Warneckii and it has two stems…can they be separated or do they need to grow together?
-Lisa
Dear Lisa,
You can separate the two stems, and you can even take cuttings of offshoots and propagate them. Dracaenas are a hardy plant that will adapt to many different home environments, and levels of care [...]
A once in a lifetime experience!
I had an amazing opportunity to go see a rare corpse flower yesterday! The Botanists at the Ohio State University have planted a rare Amorphophallus Titanum from a seed. These plants can live to be an old age, and only bloom a few times. When they do, the flowering period only lasts a few days. [...]
Reader Mail
Dear Ivy,
Can I cut ivy and replant the vine?
-Crew Cut Cary
Dear Cary,
Yes, you can! There are two main ways of propagating your ivy plant. The first one I’ll talk about is called “Pinning”. It’s a fun little experiment, and all you need is a pot filled with dirt, and a garden staple or two.
Pinning closely [...]
Indoor Edibles
Dear Ivy,
Are there any edible plants that will survive as indoor plants?
-Hungry Heather
http://www.freedigitalphotos.net/images/view_photog.php?photogid=1970
Dear Hungry,
There are loads of edible plants that will thrive indoors! It’s only a matter of what you want to put into them that limits your options. Most plants that have a high output (i.e.- that create food or lage flowers) need high [...]
It’s Spring Time!
Ok, ok, it’s not really Spring yet. Not for about 5 weeks in my neck of the woods. But the weather here took a turn for the warmer today. It might have been the first direct sunlight my plants got in months! Spring means so many things to me. It’s time to start sprouting seeds [...]