posted
Many of you will relate to my predicament of having more plants than space, so I thought it would be interesting to start a thread on creative ways to manage limited space without sacrificing the number and variety of plants that share our homes.
This ficus benjamina was one I rescued late last winter from someone who abandoned it outdoors. After pruning back all the frost damaged parts, all that remained was one trunk with a few sparsely foliated branches. New foliage is beginning to fill it out somewhat and the plant is recovering but back then it looked quite pathetic, so to detract the eye from my "Charlie Brown" ficus and to save space, I companion planted shallow-rooted purple oxalis in the same pot. (Because oxalis have shallow roots, it is easy to dig up the corms during their dormant period without disturbing the ficus roots, place them in a peat-filled bag for a month, then replant them again.)
Have any of you similar ideas you care to share with the rest of us? I'm always looking creative ideas on conserving space.
Seeded: 24.64.223.203
posted
I would look forward to some help in that department as well! I have a bunch of plants outside that will be coming in for the winter soon. I have the green colored oxalis and it is doing great right now. When do they go dormant?
* * * * Without faith life has no meaning. Plants: 131 | From: oklahoma | Registered: Feb 2005
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Cricket
guest
posted
quote: When do they go dormant?
Good question. My oxalis doesn't follow the calendar at all. It has gone dormant in December, March and this year in July!
Seeded: 24.64.223.203
posted
Cricket... That looks great. Hoping for some ideas!
* * * * We are all under the same stars... therefore we are never far apart. Plants: 30076 | From: Washington, the state that is... | Registered: Aug 2004
| Seeded: 139.55.218.123
Will Creed
guest
posted
Good work, Cricket! Both plants look like they are flourishing under your care.
I had not considered the possibility of companion planting the Oxalis because they are shallow rooted. Good idea. An alternative is to keep the Oxalis in its own small pot and set it on top of the Ficus rootball.
Oxalis tend to go dormant when they experience a period of drought. It is generally recommended to stop watering them in early September and about 6 weeks later they can can be set aside in a cool dim location where they can be ignore for about 4 months.
Seeded: 24.215.241.27
Cricket
guest
posted
Thanks, Will!
I didn't know Oxalis had to be kept dormant for that long! Mine have never been dormant for longer than 6 weeks. Yikes! As they have only come out of dormancy about a month ago, do you recommend I force them into dormancy again this September?
Seeded: 24.64.223.203
I wonder if you could consider my train garden a "creative planting." Plants: 37 | From: Central Illinois | Registered: Jul 2005
| Seeded: 63.77.202.63
* * * * We are all under the same stars... therefore we are never far apart. Plants: 30076 | From: Washington, the state that is... | Registered: Aug 2004
| Seeded: 139.55.218.123
Will Creed
guest
posted
Cricket,
The dormancy rules that I cited are what are used in greenhouses by professional growers. They do not have to be followd rigidly. If you are gettng the results you want, keep doing it your way. If you want to experiment by extending the dormancy, go for it.
Seeded: 24.215.241.27
Cricket
guest
posted
quote: If you are gettng the results you want, keep doing it your way.
Great tag line, Will!
As long as the oxalis blooms (which it usually does) that's good enough for me!
Seeded: 24.64.223.203
Will Creed
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posted
If you are going to use it as a tag line, you may want to correct my sloppy spelling!
Seeded: 24.215.241.27
Cricket
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Busted! Cut and paste is too easy! Worse, after 10 min searching for the spelling error, I was about to give up thinking you were just messing with my head. I knew I should have stayed in bed this morning.
Seeded: 24.64.223.203
Will Creed
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LOL! All it needed was a good eye!
Seeded: 24.215.241.27
posted
I've been thinking about planting the miniature snapdragons on top of my bulb bed since the snapdragons are shallowroot and bloom spring fall while my glads bloom mid-summer and the cannas appear to be doing the same. What do you all think will that work?
Plants: 8557 | From: triangle, virginia | Registered: Mar 2005
| Seeded: 4.249.69.161
Cricket
guest
posted
Here is another idea found in a hotel lobby:
Some of you must be doing similar things with your houseplants. Let's get the creative juices flowing and post some terrific ideas!
Seeded: 24.64.223.203
The few houseplants I have are all in their own pots and none are tall.
* * * * We are all under the same stars... therefore we are never far apart. Plants: 30076 | From: Washington, the state that is... | Registered: Aug 2004
| Seeded: 139.55.218.123
Cricket
guest
posted
quote: The few houseplants I have are all in their own pots
Triss,
Most of mine are, too. That's why I'm looking for ideas. Too many plants taking up too much space.
Seeded: 24.64.223.203
posted
Oh well I guess I should have said the 4 houseplants... Just barely getting started with the indoor stuff.
* * * * We are all under the same stars... therefore we are never far apart. Plants: 30076 | From: Washington, the state that is... | Registered: Aug 2004
| Seeded: 139.55.218.123
Will Creed
guest
posted
I protest, Ms Parrot Head! I was not messing with Cricket's head, as she acknowledged. Not my fault she couldn't find my typo before I did.
Seeded: 24.215.241.27
Cricket
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Will would NEVER mess with my head. He's still recovering from the shock of seeing my photo.... * * * * *
Seeded: 24.64.223.203
Cricket
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OK, here's another idea, if not the best. This little experiment last year taught me the importance of ensuring different plants sharing the same pot have the same care requirements. I thought crotons and marginatas did but soon learned the croton needed much more water that the marginata. That mistake was long since hidden in the compost pile.
If I didn't disbelieve online photos, I wouldn't be able to ever talk to you again!
I recently tried to put a pothos cutting in with my big dracaena which is in a large pot. I think the only problem was that it wasn't well started first. Any ideas about the compatability of these two?
Thanks! Kath
* * * * Never accept an invitation from a stranger unless he offers you candy.--Linda Festa Plants: 101 | From: Portland, IAdORegon | Registered: Jun 2005
| Seeded: 67.169.211.67
Cricket
guest
posted
That's an interesting idea, Kath! I've never tried that combination. Dracaenas and pothos seem like a nice fit but I'm no expert, just someone who likes to experiment. What kind of dracaena do you have? Pothos like to be potbound but I wonder if you can get away with a larger pot because it is shared with the dracaena? Let us know how it fares.
BTW, is it a single pothos cutting you planted? If so, you might prefer the results of a cluster of cuttings which will give a fuller effect.
Hmmm, now I'm looking at my pothos which needs pruning. Maybe I will plant the rooted cuttings in with my dracaena and we can compare notes.
Seeded: 24.64.223.203
Cricket
guest
posted
Kath, just checked out your dracaena in the other post. Gorgeous!
Seeded: 24.64.223.203
posted
If you have a plant that likes being potbound then couldn't you drop a pot into a larger one and house the potbound plant in the smaller of the two pots and the other plant in the larger? Kinda like you would do with mint in a garden.
* * * * We are all under the same stars... therefore we are never far apart. Plants: 30076 | From: Washington, the state that is... | Registered: Aug 2004
| Seeded: 139.55.218.123
Cricket
guest
posted
Yes, that would definitely work, Triss!
Seeded: 24.64.223.203
Cricket
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posted
Ressurecting this topic.
Kath, Did you ever follow through with underplanting pothos with your draceana? Do you have photos to sare?
Seeded: 80.237.206.93
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Well my aloe is sharing a pot with the white sprite. That's the only indoor combination that I have on purpose. Several of my seedlings jumped egg carton locations and ended up sharing space with one another. The most successful was a double bloom rose parade impatience with a petunia. They have different light requirements but they didn't mind at all sharing and being in the north facing window. They have since been separated and placed in their outdoor locations.
* * * * Plants: 8557 | From: triangle, virginia | Registered: Mar 2005
| Seeded: 4.249.48.26
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After pruning back all the frost damaged parts, all that remained was one trunk with a few sparsely foliated branches. New foliage is beginning to fill it out somewhat and the plant is recovering but back then it looked quite pathetic, so to detract the eye from my "Charlie Brown" ficus and to save space, I companion planted shallow-rooted purple oxalis in the same pot. (Because oxalis have shallow roots, it is easy to dig up the corms during their dormant period without disturbing the ficus roots, place them in a peat-filled bag for a month, then replant them again.) 
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Cut and paste is too easy! Worse, after 10 min searching for the spelling error, I was about to give up thinking you were just messing with my head. ![[Razz]](tongue.gif)
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I knew I should have stayed in bed this morning.
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