Welcome to January and 2025!
The hustle and bustle of the holidays is now over.
Knowing that winter is the time of year where we spend most of our time indoors, why not consider refurbishing or creating new silk wall hangings and arrangements for your home.
You can pick from our extensive selection of silk botanicals, including succulents, flowers and foliages, designer ribbons, as well as one of a kind ceramic containers.
Simply bring in your paint and fabric samples for a perfect match.
Whether you are a do-it-yourselfer or you can have one of our expert floral designers create the perfect home accent for you.
After taking down your holiday decorations, why not consider adding a few new tropical plants. It is no doubt that tropical plants in the home or apartment provide a warm home environment.
House plant varieties grown today have been collected from all parts of the world by professionally trained botanists.
They seek out unusual beautiful species that will adapt to our home climates.
Here are a few simple guidelines for growing great plants indoors.
• Raise The Humidity: This is one of the biggest problems houseplants face is the dry home air. Winter time in most homes is where the air can become drier than that of a desert.
Consider purchasing a humidifier or simply spray mist the air around the plants.
• Add Nutrition: Most indoor plants benefit from a regular fertilization program from April thru October.
As a general rule mix-up a general purpose water-soluble fertilizer of 20-20-20, mixing at half the recommended label rate in a gallon jug.
Using room temperature water is better for the roots of the plant. The half-rate allows for constant feeding of the necessary nutrients and diminishing the chance of burning the plant from over-fertilization.
Cooler season plants like cyclamen, violets and rieger begonias benefit from bloom-booster 20-30-20 water soluble fertilizer, at room temperature during their bloom time of October through March.
• Turn On The Light: The ideal exposure for many houseplants year-round is an eastern facing window.
Remember too little or to much light will produce unattractive plants.
It is a good idea to check the light needs of each individual plant you may have. Be sure to give all your plants a quarter turn every time you water.
This way the sunlight will uniformly reach all sides of the plant over the course of a month, keeping them growing upright.
• Wait On The Water: Too much or too little water kills more houseplants than anything else.
Water plants only when the soil is dry to touch — not just on the surface, but also a half- to 1-inch deep.
Avoid letting plants sit in water for more than five minutes.
One more wise tip, do not water your house plants if you are using town tap water, as it is high in fluoride, which can cause tip burning of certain house plants. If this is the case, consider purchasing distilled or spring water. Well water doesn’t have high amounts of fluoride and is safe to use.
• Set The Thermostat: Learn what temperatures your plants need and place them accordingly.
Always avoid placing plants where heat registers blow on the foliage.
All plants benefit from protection from blasts of hot or cold air. Following these few simple tips will greatly improve your houseplant growing success.
As always, stop by with any questions or concerns.
On nice days try to spend some time outside cleaning up any debris the wind may have blown on the property. It is also a good time to prune deciduous trees, whose canopy may have overgrown into your sun-loving flower beds.
Remember to prune away and branched growing down below 10 and 2 o’clock, anything that may be rubbing and any branch that is damaged or diseased. Pull up any remaining fall weeds and plant debris now to prevent them from going to seed in the spring.
This is the time of the year when some of us make a New Years resolution. Join me in this realization for 2025:
“The secret of contentment is the realization that life is a gift, not a right. Next to faith this is the highest art — to be content with the calling in which God has placed you” — Martin Luther
May God grant you contentment and abundant blessing for the New Year.
(Editor’s Note: Ken Morgan is the owner of Robin’s Nest Floral and Garden Center in Easton, Md.)