Shopping For House Plants -Tips

So if you are serious about building a plant collection, buy the more expensive or rare indoor house plants only at a plant shop.

I know many people regularly buy plants from florists, but I hesitate to recommend them. Florists sell cut and arranged flowers. Indoor house plants are usually only a side line, and I admit to the suspicion that many florists know little and care less about indoor house plants, judging by the misinformed advice I have received from several florists. But, if there are no plant stores in your area, florists are a preferable source to most other suppliers.

Herbs Art Print
Buy at AllPosters.com

No matter where you shop for indoor house plants, and no matter whether you intend to spend $5 or $200, always take a long, close look at the plant that interests you. Do the leaves have a healthy green color? Are there any holes in the leaves, or do they have raveled edges? Are there leaves conspicuously missing?



Do you notice any symptoms of an insect infestation, such as webs or damage to the stems or leaves? You might even want to lift up several leaves to examine the undersides for indications of bugs.

Are there any white growths on the soil surface or on leaves? Is the plant wilted, listless and bent, or does it stand straight up? What sort of a guarantee, if any, does the store offer with its plants?

Don't just go in and buy a plant. Look around-if the shop appears dirty, ill ventilated and the plants appear crammed together, you would do well to look elsewhere.

Buy Garden Bouquets 2010 Wall Calendar

But let's say you've found a good shop, stocked with healthy indoor house plants and run by knowledgeable, helpful sales people. You've settled on a plant that will not only meet your budget, but adapt to the amount of light available in your home. Remember, don't throw your money away: buy only those plants that can adapt to the conditions prevailing in your home.

Don't buy indoor house plants by their looks alone-buy them because you can grow them by giving them what they need. So you've found the ideal plant-now how do you get it home?

You get them home very carefully. Ask to have the plant wrapped in plastic or paper. Try not to carry a plant around with you-take it directly home.

During the winter, I recommend that you buy only the hardiest of plants. Taking a tender tropical or fragile fern out into wintry weather will probably throw it into trauma, no matter how carefully you protect it.

Janine's Daffodils Art Print
Rowan, Carol
Buy at AllPosters.com

When you get an indoor house plant home, don't immediately plunk it down with your other plants. Isolate it for at least a week. Clean its leaves, water it and watch it. If the plant goes into shock-that is, if it wilts, pales or sheds leaves or flowers-examine it for disease by turning it out, inspecting the roots, and carefully searching the plant for mushy, decayed tissue. Check the soil and plant for insects. If you cannot find evidence of infection or infestation, the plant is suffering from trauma. That is, it has found it difficult to adapt to the temperature and light conditions in your house. Enclose the plant in a plastic bag, mist it, seal the bag and watch it carefully for two to three days.

Open the bag once or twice a day, for fifteen minutes at a time, or punch several small holes in the bag in order to allow air to circulate. Such treatment should be sufficient to bring the plant around. Move it gradually into its permanent position, being careful not to move it immediately into direct sunlight.

And if something goes wrong, and you feel you are not at fault, complain. You may not get a refund, but you might get another plant. The house plant market has grown remarkably fast-in some cases outdistancing fair business practices. If you shop carefully, compare prices and inspect potential purchases carefully, you can avoid becoming a victim.

Use caution if you purchase plants or bulbs through the mail. Buy only from established houses offering a guarantee on their merchandise.

WALLPAPER - INDOOR PLANTS

Echinacea Art Print
Schenck, Deborah
Buy at AllPosters.com

Plant filled rooms contain 60% fewer airborne molds and bacteria.

Poinsettia is the favorite indoor flowering plant.



Best indoor house plants for decontaminating the air and balancing humidity are: Areca,Reed and Dwarf date palms, Boston ferns, English ivy and Peace Lilies.

Buy Thomas Kinkade Gardens of Grace 2010 Wall Calendar