Plants
How to Grow and Care for the Spider Plant in Containers
Intro: The spider plant is a popular houseplant, and is most often grown as the variegated cultivar that has two white stripes on each leaf. The spider plant a great plant for beginning container gardeners because it is easy to grow and propagate. The spider plant is tolerant of many conditions and will even survive when neglected. The grasslike spider plant look best in balcony gardens when displayed in hanging plant containers with their plantlets draping down.
How to Grow and Care for Peace Lilies in Containers
Intro: Peace lily flowers are usually kept in indoor gardens, but if you have a dark balcony garden that doesn’t get direct light and you live in a warm area, you can keep peace lilies in your balcony container garden. The peace lily flower has large shiny, dark green leaves and large white flowers that can last for weeks or months. To keep your peace lily plant blooming with large, healthy-looking flowers, remove any flower and its stalk once the flower is past its prime. Once the flower starts turning green or gets brown spots, it is time to remove the flower. To remove the peace lily flower, cut off the flower at the base of its stalk without twisting or ripping it out.
How to Grow and Care for the Bleeding Heart Plant in Containers
Intro: Bleeding heart plants have ferny leaves that grow in a basal rosette form, and their dangling heart-shaped flowers bloom on leafless stalks. Their unique pink or white flowers are what give this plant its common name of bleeding heart. Blooms will appear in late spring to early summer and will last for several weeks (after which the foliage will begin to lose some of its attractiveness). Flowers of the old-fashioned bleeding heart (Dicentra spectabilis) look most like hearts, while other flowers can have different shapes. The best bleeding heart plant species for plant containers is the smaller Dicentra formosa, which grows from 9 inches to 1.5 feet tall. Gardeners with shady balcony gardens should try this plant, especially if they have morning sun.
How to Grow and Care for African Lily in Containers
Intro: The African lily, also called Agagpathus, has 20 to 30 blue-purple or white flowers that bloom in a sphere on top of a 20-inch-tall central stalk. The ‘Albus’ cultivar has white flowers, ‘Sapphire’ has dark blue flowers, ‘Aureus’ has leaves striped with yellow and ‘Variegatus’ has white leaves with green bands. Other varieties include those with double flowers, and others grow larger or smaller flowers. The African lily is a great container plant because they seem to prefer being pot-bound, and containers make bringing this plant inside for the colder winter months easy. The African lily blooms in mid to late summer, and the flowers last for weeks, giving your balcony garden a nice splash of color.
How to Grow and Care for the Gardenia Flower in Containers
Intro: The large white gardenia flower has a strong, sweet scent. Gardenia flowers come in many different shapes and sizes, but they are always white. Gardenia plant leaves are dark green and waxy. Flowers start to bloom mid-spring and extend into the summer. For a container garden, choose a gardenia variety that will grow well in plant containers (smaller varieties grow to about 2 feet tall), and provide acidic soil between 5.0 and 6.0. Potting soils have been developed especially for gardenias.
