Successful Growing Of House Plants

You must keep the following six factors in mind when you are planning on successfully growing houseplants:

* Light and Sun

* Temperature

* Humidity

* Ventilation

* Watering

* Cleaning

Along with all of that - summer care. It is simple, but important, to take these factors into consideration. Below you can find details on the first of these factors, light and sun.

Light and Sun

Before you decide which plants to purchase, make sure you have the correct light for it somewhere in your home. Some plants need direct sunlight, whereas others thrive in reflected sunlight. It is typically good to place plants near a south facing window if you have a choice.

Windows that face south receive the most sunlight, followed by eastern, west, and finally northern facing windows. Not all plants need the direct sunlight, but you can provide shade for plants more easily if you need to. It is impossible to add light to an area that doesn't receive enough sunlight, however. A perfect gardening situation is to have a bay window facing south.

Foliage and flowers grown in sunlight naturally grow towards the light. If you want to be able to see the flowers well from inside, you should turn the plants every couple of days. You don't have to turn them as often if you want to show off the flowers to people outside. The plants will grow lopsided if you never turn them at all, however.

Even though plenty of plants grow well without direct sunlight, all plants need some kind of light to grow even house plants that are so called low light. Photosynthesis is a necessary process of plant growth, and light is the main ingredient. If a plant is not receiving enough light, the leaves will begin to lose their luster. After that, the plant will begin to droop, and the leaves will fall off. Eventually, even with adequate water and nutrients, the plant will die.

Inventory Of Plants In the Garden

Holding a positive attitude is all the rage right now. "If you focus on the things you don't want, you will attract them to yourself" - is what's on many peoples' lips today. This no doubt is all very true, but without decrying the wisdom being imparted today, the amateur home gardener should be aware of the things that may be lurking in the backyard, some of which can actually endanger life and limb.

Poisonous plants

Admittedly, many plants are toxic to at least some extent. Some people are allergic to common favorites like Olive and Cypress trees. Furthermore, there is always the proverbial one in a million chance of a person being allergic to a particular plant that is not generally supposed to be allergenic. Taken to an extreme, we would be frightened of putting anything at all in the garden. There is of course no need for this. Nevertheless, common sense should prevail, and the life threatening species ought to be avoided. One such case in dry climate gardens, is the ornamental shrub Nerium Oleander, where all parts of the plant, if eaten, can be fatal. Even burning dry branches is liable to be dangerous.

Spiky and thorny plants

As with plants that posses some level of toxicity, the exclusion of every thorny species would mean that many excellent ornamental mainstays would be lost to the garden. Roses for instance, would suffer a banning order. Without going to such lengths, it is nonetheless prudent to avoid plants that can cause serious injury. The spikes of Yucca are horrific, and often spring out at a child's eye level. I am always horrified to see them at the edge of a lawn, where children are innocently running around.

Another horror plant is the widely used date palm. (Phoenix dactilyfera) It is totally unsuited to a small garden or to any narrow space. I personally know a 5 year old boy who is suffering one year on after being stabbed in the arm from a date palm leaf, for the plant is not only dangerously thorny, but highly allergenic as well. If you want a palm tree in the garden, choose a non-violent type like Archontophoenix instead. For similar reasons, the Pampas grass (Cortaderia selloana) with its razor sharp leaves, should only be planted where there is no danger of people brushing passed it.

It is worthwhile therefore taking an inventory of the plants currently in your garden. Spikey plants in vulnerable places should be removed, while an expert specializing in poisonous plants should be consulted with, in order to ascertain as to which are dangerously toxic to an unacceptable degree.