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Stitching Pathways. Jack Kramer
Читать онлайн.Название Stitching Pathways
Год выпуска 0
isbn 9781607657408
Автор произведения Jack Kramer
Жанр Изобразительное искусство, фотография
Издательство Ingram
Choose Colors that Fit the Setting
When adding plants to your decor, choose colors that echo, harmonize with, or contrast with the colors in the room. If your furnishings are of darker wood tones, use dark-valued plants—dark green, purple-green, and blue-green—to create a harmonious look of dark on dark. A burgundy rubber plant (Ficus elastica ‘Burgundy’) or a multicolored maranta would be a good choice. Then you could create dramatic contrast by adding a few light green plants, with yellow-green or apple green foliage, or variegated plants, such as dracaena or coleus.
The color of foliage appears to change in different light. The leaves of this Chinese evergreen are beautifully highlighted in the afternoon sun.
The gold and yellow tones in the foliage of these plants would add zest to any room. The flowering bromeliad (top right corner) has three distinct colors.
There are many shades and tones of green. For example, decorator plant (Dracaena fragrans) has foliage that is almost apple green; the cultivar ‘Massangeana’, known as corn plant, has yellow stripes down the center of the leaves. Dark-leaved plants (look for varieties named ‘Burgundy’ or purpurea) tend to look heavy and massive, whereas plants that have lightcolored leaves, such as arrowhead vine (Syngonium), look quite graceful and airy.
In a room with a yellow color scheme, you might choose houseplants with flowers in harmonizing shades of gold and orange. Yet a spot of bright red could add a striking accent. If you’d prefer a lively, contrasting approach, choose blue and purple blooms for the yellow room. For a quieter, more unified look, choose flowers of a yellow shade that’s close to the other yellows in the room, perhaps augmented with light-green foliage. An elegant, formal room done in white and neutral wood tones would be enhanced by deep-green foliage plants and perhaps blue or white flowers.
Chapter 2: Caring for Houseplants
It takes more than sufficient light and good potting soil to grow healthy plants. Other cultural needs, such as fertilizer, water, temperature, humidity, and air circulation, must also be met. Each of these factors in a plant’s environment is affected by the others. Although it’s not necessary to provide perfect conditions for a plant to thrive, you must provide a reasonably appropriate balance among the various factors so that plants will prosper and reward your efforts with beautiful foliage and flowers. This chapter explains good growing conditions and how to optimize them.
Basic houseplant care equipment includes (clockwise from left) a mister, a watering can, some twine (for staking), a sieve (for soil), and stakes and dowels (for support and to poke pilot holes for fertilizer).
Houseplants outgrow their pots, making repotting part of their care. Generally, plants this size and smaller should be put into pots one size larger every year; larger plants, every two years.
Soil
Unlike most garden plants, houseplants are in containers and cannot send their roots far down through the soil to seek water and nutrients. So it is up to you to supply the right balance of nutrients and moisture by providing the plants with good-quality potting soil. Standard all-purpose houseplant soil works fine for most plants.
4 Rules for Potting
• Look for soil that is a rich black color.
• Here’s a recipe for all-purpose potting soil: mix 5 qt. (4.75 L) soil with 2 c (0.5 L) compost.
• If you purchase a plant sold in a mix, plan to repot the plant into good soil eventually—in a few weeks, for instance.
• Be sure that any container into which you are potting has drainage holes—soggy soil may lead to root rot. Don’t forget the saucer (see here)!
How to Repot a Houseplant
1. Disinfect any containers that were previously used by soaking them in a solution that is one part chlorine bleach and nine parts water. Rinse with clear water. Put a piece of mesh screen over the drainage hole so the soil doesn’t wash out. Cover the screen with a layer of pot shards.
2. Before potting, cover the bottom of a clean container with pot shards and horticultural charcoal. The shards improve drainage, and the charcoal helps drainage and sweetens the soil, keeping it fresh.
3. After removing the plant by tapping the bottom of the pot on a hard surface, grasp the plant by its crown, and gently tease it out of the pot. If the plant won’t budge, slide a butter knife between the rootball and the pot, and slice around the inside of the pot.
4. Use your fingers to crumble away the old soil, and remove dead, brown roots. If the roots have taken on the shape of the container, use a fork to pull them straight or a knife to slice through them. Make three or four vertical cuts from the crown to the base.
5. Holding the plant in one hand and a trowel in the other, scoop fresh soil into the pot. Position the plant on top of the soil. Then adjust the soil level until the crown of the plant is just above the edge of the pot.
6. Center the plant in the pot. Add soil to fill the space between the roots and the pot and to cover the roots. Press soil firmly with your thumbs to eliminate air pockets. Keep the soil level 1/2 in. (13 mm) below the pot rim to prevent overflow when watering.
7. Water the plant thoroughly in its new pot. After a few minutes, water it again. Wait ten minutes, then discard any water sitting in the saucer. You may want to cover the plant with a plastic bag to retain moisture and lessen the chances of transplant shock.
Water
Water plants thoroughly, because an insufficient amount of water will create dry pockets in the soil; when roots reach a dry spot, they stop growing. Although watering is easy in itself, watering at the proper times and in the correct amounts seems to be the greatest challenge.