Apartment Garden Blues (Blog): My Favorite Plants
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- Published on Friday, February 08 2013 00:19
- Written by Alexandra Martin
To start out my new blog “For the Love of Gardening,” I’m going to talk about my favorite container plants to grow. It’s hard to choose just one plant, but I think I can narrow it down to three.
3. Saguaro cactus. My mother moved to Arizona a few years ago, and when I visit her, I’m always in awe of the giant saguaro cactus. They bloom at night in May, and people tour gardens in order to see many cactus species bloom. A few years ago, she gave me some seeds she bought at the Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum, and I started growing some. Years later, they’re only the size of a pea. It’s quite amazing to grow a slow-growing plant in order to appreciate the full-grown plants in public or private gardens and in the wild. It’s very humbling.
2. Sunflower. Not only do I love the teeny-tiny saguaro cactus that I’m growing that will take 75 years to start growing a side arm, but I also love the rapid growth and short life span of the mammoth sunflower. It’s fascinating to watch a sunflower begin the day with its head in one direction and then face the other direction at night (it’s a heliotrope). Sunflowers are fast-growing, pretty, and they attract lots of wildlife. Oh, and they give plenty of seeds for a yummy snack!
1. Mint. Both spearmint and peppermint are probably the easiest plants you could ever try to grow. Mint is awesome in containers, and with just a little pruning, you can have a lush little bush that smells great with basically no work! And the best part about it? Whatever mint you prune off can be made into a delicious tea!
What’s your favorite plant to grow?
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Alexandra Martin is a professional writer from Southern California who grows vegetables, herbs, lots of aloe vera and one giant Boston fern in her balcony garden. She also grows dracaena, pothos and English ivy indoors. She loves traveling and birdwatching in addition to gardening.
