Plant Reminiscences, Part 2: The Bratty Years

I might have left the impression in my last "Reminiscence" post that all my childhood experiences with houseplants were sweet and heartwarming. Not necessarily.

I was a shy and quiet little kid, but that doesn't mean that I didn't have a bratty streak. Sometimes, when I was bored, I used to experiment with plants. In this case "experiment" is a euphemism for "mutilate." I used to scrape the surface of the brown lower stems of Ficus elastica with my fingernails to see the green flesh underneath. I also enjoyed scraping those "funny brown bumps" (nascent aerial roots) off my grandmother's Epipremnum aureum plants.

Epipremnum aureum leaf. Since Pothos is mentioned in most of the anecdotes, it seems only right to illustrate this post with pictures of them.

E. aureum plants were a frequent subject of my experiments, probably because there were so many of them at my house. I actually related one incident in the comments of Mr. Subjunctive's excellent Plant Toxicity series at Plants Are the Strangest People. In this case, the experiment, though damaging to the plant, actually had the potential to damage me. When I was maybe seven or so, I decided, for whatever reason kids decide such things, to remove and chew on a couple of Epipremnum leaves. I think I was playing some sort of survival game with myself, where I was stranded in the jungle and had to survive on leaves. I experienced a mildly painful tingling/numbing sensation in my mouth, from the calcium oxalate crystals all plants in the Araceae family contain to a greater or lesser degree. It was enough to make me stop chewing the leaves then, but somehow, not bad enough for me not to do the same thing a few weeks later. I think I didn't actually associate the unpleasant sensations with chewing on the leaves. ( It's hard to believe that I was generally considered to be a smart kid.) After experiencing the tingling/numbing a second time, I did recognize that there was a cause/effect going on, and never did it again. Fortunately, I didn't experience anything worse from this little adventure.

Then when I was about eight, I decided I wanted a houseplant of my own. And no, potting up a cutting from one of my grandmother's many Pothos would not do. I wanted something different. So Nana took me to Woolworth's and we picked out a plant for me. It was an Aroid of some type. It resembled a Philodendron hederaceum, and maybe it was, but in my memory, it had a slightly more upright growth habit. Maybe it was a very juvenile Monstera deliciosa.

Epipremnum aureum 'Marble Queen'

At any rate, I took good care of of my plant for a while. But my bedroom was not very bright, and my plant didn't seem to be growing much. So I got bored with it. One day, I decide to see what would happen if I trimmed the edges of the leaves of the plant. I trimmed very carefully, following the shape of the leaves. (Well as carefully as I could; I was clumsy with scissors back them. I still am today; I can't cut a straight line to save my life.) As one would expect, this left all the leaves with brown edges. And I lost interest in the plant totally, because it was no longer perfect. This is a far cry from today, when I have a tendency to hold onto ugly or ailing plants long after any sensible person would throw them out.

Epipremnum aureum growing on a pole made of floral foam covered with sphagnum moss and stuffed into a wire framework. The plant is not so much growing on the pole as it is pinned to the pole. It is impossible to keep the pole moist without over-saturating the soil. Still the whole thing is more than five feet tall, and looks pretty good.

My next reminscence post will likely cover my teen years, when my real interest in houseplants began.

Happy Thanksgiving to all who are celebrating it. Happy Thursday to everyone.

East Windows

If I could only have one exposure in which to grow plants, it would be eastern. Right now I have two sets of east windows available for plants in my house, in the kitchen and the master bedroom. There is a third set in my stepson's bedroom, but since it is his room, and he prefers to keep his curtains drawn much of the time, the "Crazy Plant Lady" doesn't impose any plants upon him.

Kitchen windows. Right now, I have three types of Epipremnum aureum hanging there, ('Jade,' 'Marble Queen' and 'Golden') as well as my Platycerium (Staghorn fern.) The large Sansevieria trifasciata is in the corner between the east window and my home's sole south window.

My bedroom window shelves last year. The arrangement has changed since then. For one thing, the Epipremnum aureum 'Neon' seen on the top center shelf is the same plant that is now hanging in the kitchen window.

The reason I am so fond of this is exposure is that I have found that most foliage plants will thrive in morning light. It is bright enough in all seasons for plants that prefer medium light levels. It is generally not too bright for plants that prefer low light levels, except perhaps in late spring to midsummer, when moving them back a bit so they are not directly on the windowsill can be good. And I have found that many plants that supposedly need high light do fine there. My Hoya carnosa has bloomed there two years in row. Last year, my Hibiscus rosa-sinensis plants overwintered well in the bedroom shelves (plants in the large red pots in the center section above) and started blooming in late February.

In fact, I think that one of the reasons that I got into plants in the first place was because of the unobstructed east window in my bedroom as a teenager. Even though I was fairly ignorant of good plant care back then, especially the importance of good lighting, most of the plants I tried did well for me. I think that was because of the excellent, but not harsh, qualities of morning sun. Success breeds confidence, and made me all the more eager to try new plants.

I will note that all my growing experience has been in the Northeastern states and in Illinois. It may well be that farther north, and farther south, eastern exposures might pose challenges for houseplant enthusiasts that I haven't encountered.

A Little Something in Silver

As a follow-up to yesterday's post on Epipremnum aureum, popularly called pothos, I thought I'd post some pictures of the other genus popularly called pothos: Scindapsus. This is often referred to as Satin Pothos or Silver Pothos, and occasionally as Silver Philodendron. It is a relative of Epipremnum and of Philodendron, being in the Araceae, or Aroid family, but I still find it a trifle irksome when the names of actual genera are used as common names for plants not in those genera. (Pothos is actually the legitimate name of yet another Aroid genus, which doesn't particularly resemble Epipremnum, Scindapsus, or Philodendron, and isn't sold as a houseplant.) My husband is probably doing a headdesk right now, as he finds my use of Latin names in this blog excessively formal at the best of times. Sorry, sweetheart.

Here are the pictures:

Cuttings of Scindapsus pictus argyraeus, commonly called Satin Pothos. I no longer have the parent plant, but these cuttings have been going along fine in water for a while now.

I have seen this plant referred to as Scindapsus pictus argyraeus with adult foliage and as Scindapsus siamense. Though all the pictures open larger when clicked, this one benefits the most.

Close up of a leaf from the previous plant

Just to muddy the waters a bit, I'd thought I'd post a picture of a plant I bought recently that was mislabled by Exotic Angel as Scindapsus pictus/Silver Philodendron:

This is a juvenile Philodendron brandtianum

I think this shot shows its growth habit, which closely resembles Philodendron hederaceum

In Praise of Pothos

The first indoor plants I can remember belonged to my grandmother. After my parents separated, my mother and I lived with my grandparents from when I was about two until I was 13. Nana had a Begonia or two, some sort of palm, a Syngonium she referred to as “elephant ears” and some other plants I don’t remember well enough to identify. But what she had the most of was Epipremnum aureum, most commonly referred to as “golden pothos.” My grandmother, like many people, called these “Philodendrons” even though they aren’t. (If you want to be able to tell the difference, check out this post at Plants are the Strangest People.) She shared cuttings with me when I first showed interest in houseplants as a child, and it has been rare that I haven’t had at least one pothos in my collection since then.

Even so, there was a brief period in my plant-growing life when I thought of pothos as being a bit too common. This was probably a result of seeing too many lackluster, somewhat neglected plants. What snapped me out of this Epipremnum ennui was coming across a bunch of healthy, strongly variegated plants on display in a plant shop. (This was the last store I remember seeing that was totally devoted to selling houseplants. While such stores were not uncommon in the 1970s, they were almost unheard of in 1991, when this one went out of business.) Seeing pothos with fresh eyes, I came to appreciate their versatility and beauty once again.

I far prefer pothos to heart-leaf Philodendrons (P. hederaceum) which are also nice, but common plants. I find pothos more forgiving of various less-than-optimum conditions, including low light levels, erratic watering and getting chilled. (Pothos plants don’t like those things, but I think they bounce back better if exposed to them.) In my experience, cuttings from Pothos roots faster, and the plants produced from the cuttings seem to become more vigorous sooner. It has also been my experience that if you don’t let a Philo climb, its new leaves get smaller and smaller, even in good light. While pothos leaves tend to be larger if they are allowed to either climb or just grow horizontally on a surface, they also maintain a decent size if grown as a hanging plant.

So pothos is easy to care for, even in adverse situations. That is why they seem to be the hanging plant of choice in public spaces. Two years ago, I worked for a couple of months as a plant care technician for a large interiorscape company. For a variety of reasons, this job did not work out for me, but I did learn a few things, especially about the popularity and durability of pothos as an office plant. It was a rare account on my route that didn’t have at least one pothos, and most had several. A couple of the larger companies had hundreds of them. By contrast, there were exactly three Philodendron hederaceum plants on my entire route. I learned that pothos responds much better to a good pruning than I had imagined. It will fill out, and produce more than one growing point, instead of just restarting the vine from the edge of the cut stem. I also learned that the yellowing of pothos leaves can be caused by over watering, but just as frequently, yellowed leaves will be the result of allowing a plant to go dry enough to wilt. Even if this wilting is followed by a good watering, more than a few of the leaves will yellow, rather than recover. I do admit that I’ve never seen a Philo respond that way, so there is a point in their favor.

Epipremnum aureum varieties I own:

Golden Pothos: This is the one most often grown, and the most durable. Grown in very low-light, the variegation becomes more muted, but does not disappear altogether. The green coloring also loses some of its richness. This is the plant most likely to be seen as boring, but the variegation on a plant grown in good light is a thing of beauty.

Epipremnum aureum

Neon Pothos: I grew these from cuttings obtained during the above-mentioned foray into professional plant care. (If a plant needed pruning, the cuttings, which, at the end of the day, could number in the thousands, were just thrown away. So if a tech wanted to, he/she could keep a few to propagate. We also gave them away to any office worker who asked, as long as they were healthy and pest-free. ) This is a variety that I expected to be fussy. Not so; I find it to be a vigorous grower. Too much direct sun will cause it to have a bleached yellow appearance, while strong but indirect lighting brings out the pretty chartreuse tones. I have noticed that the cuttings can be a bit harder to root than those of the other pothos varieties, with the stems occasionally rotting before roots can form.

Epipremnum aureum 'Neon'

Marble Queen: Probably my favorite, as I am especially fond of plants with white variegation in general. It does grow a bit more slowly than golden pothos and seems more susceptible to cold damage and to fungal diseases.

Epipremnum aureum ‘Marble Queen’
This is a close-up of the leaves of my larger plant.

My smaller Epipremnum aureum ‘Marble Queen’
You can see an all-green shoot on the left.

Jade Pothos: In my experience, this is not the result of a golden pothos grown in insufficient light, as some believe. As mentioned above, such plants are more likely to become muted and dull than to achieve the rich, unvariegated dark-green color characteristic of this plant. Rather, jade pothos seems to be derived from Epipremnum aureum 'Marble Queen,' which is inclined to put out all-green shoots from time to time. That is how I obtained my plant, pictured below. I cut back and propagated any all-green shoots that developed on my two Marble Queens. These shoots didn’t seem to be a result of low light, since the plants in question are in sufficient light, and put out plenty of variegated shoots. Not only that, but the Jade is in the same or better light, and it remains all green. If the green color was the result of a light issue, I’d expect to see some variegation recur when the light is increased. The all-green plant also grows much more quickly and robustly than its variegated parents, which is to be expected.

Epipremnum aureum 'Jade Pothos'

Epipremnum ‘N’Joy’: When I first saw this new cultivar, I thought it would be fussy and slow growing, since in my opinion, the variegation and bumpy leaf texture resembles a viral mutation not unlike that of Spathiphyllum ‘Domino,’ the variegated peace lily. Well, 'N'Joy' does grow slightly more slowly than golden pothos, but it is by no means fussy. I’ve had this plant since early summer 2009. If it keeps going like it has been, it may replace marble queen as my favorite.

Two views of Epipremnum 'N' Joy': the whole plant and a closer shot of the leaves

A Place For Everything...

There is another reason why bringing my plants back inside causes me to question my sanity. I have to find places to put them all, relocating lots of the plants that remained indoors in the process. “But Karen715," you say. “Why not just put them all back where you had them last winter? Move both the indoor and the outdoor plants to their original spots.”

::Lowers eyes, mumbles sheepishly::

Well, you see, there is the matter of all the new plants I acquired during the spring and summer. Click the pictures for larger views.

Hoya multiflora, Hoya kerri variegata, and a variegated Hoya carnosa

Thai Aglaonemas, from left to right:
A. ‘Sethimankong,’ A. ‘Dona Carmen,’ A. ‘Siam Aurora,’ A. ‘Butterfly’ (I think)

Epipremnum aureum ‘N’Joy’

Ficus elastica variety

Sansevierias, clockwise from the left, sort of:
S. masoniana, NOID S. trifasciata cultivar, S. kirkii var kirkii, S. cylindrica.In front: S. kirkii var pulchra ‘Coppertone’

Another pic of Sansevieria kirkii var pulchra ‘Coppertone’ just because I love it

Purchased, but not pictured: Aglaonema ‘Cory,’ A. ‘Flamingo’, A. ‘Maria,' A. 'Illumination.' Also Thai Aglaonema ‘Heritage.’ Selenicereus anthonyanus, Hylocereus undulatus, a NOID Epiphyllum.

Five Hedera helix cultivars. Philodendron brandtianum. Eight Haworthias (these were divided among three dish gardens.) An orange flowered Hibiscus rosa-sinensis. A Codiaeum that is already in trouble. Portulacaria afra, one plain and one variegated. Aloe ‘Walmsley’s Blue.’ And last but not least, a NOID Sedum. There is also the possibility that I am forgetting something.

What does the kid call me again? Oh yeah, Crazy Plant Lady.