Tuesday, January 10, 2012

A Little Indoor Gardening


Since there's not much to be done in the outdoor garden at this time of year, I decided it was a good time to tend to the indoor garden. 
A few of my houseplants were in need of a little TLC.


The brown leaf tips were detracting from the beauty of the pretty green leaves on my Peace Lily plant.


Nothing that couldn't be fixed with a little "haircut".
I basically followed the natural leaf line and trimmed off the brown part.



Next it was time for a "bath".
The leaves had gotten a bit dusty and I think I even heard them gasping for breath.  "Help, we're suffocating."
Using a soft, damp rag, I carefully wiped off each and every leaf.
It is a bit time consuming, but worth it in the end.
On my plants with smaller leaves, I sometimes rinse them off in the shower or with the hose in warmer weather.


Some of the leaves had gotten long and scraggly looking.


So a bit of "judicious pruning" was in order.


This made for a nicer, more compact plant.
Not to mention I will no longer be catching those long leaves in the vacuum cleaner.  ;-).


" Hooray, we can breathe again"

;-)



16 comments:

Sherri said...

I need to do the same thing with my indoor plants! They do get dusty don't they!! Your plant looks wonderful now!

Twyla and Lindsey said...

I love big peace lillies! Mine are in need of a haircut, too. Too many brown edges! Have a nice day! Twyla

Vee said...

I didn't know that one could trim a leaf. What happens to it after that? Does it continue to brown or does it recover? Your plant looks so much happier.

Happy@Home said...

Vee,
Usually they recover nicely and greatly improve the look of the plant. If they continue to brown, I eventually remove the entire leaf at the base.

Happyone said...

Your plant looks so nice and healthy after a cut and clean. The pot that it sits in is really nice too.

Walking on Sunshine... said...

I have 2 plants in my house and they need a little attention as well! Thanks for the reminder! Enjoy your day!

Miss Debbie said...

Nice job!

Ceekay- Thinkin of Home said...

Oooh, they look so pretty now...shiny leaves!!

Pom Pom said...

Hi Kim!
I bet that made you feel good, taking care of leaves. I think I might need a houseplant or two. I can't keep buying flowers and there are a lot of pretty plants at the grocery store.
What else are you going to do this week?

GardenofDaisies said...

That looks like a very happy plant now! :-)

Cheryl @ The Farmer's Daughter said...

I love Peace lilies, they're one of the easiest plants for me to grow. Yours looks nice and healthy now. I need to dust mine, too.

Just a little something from Judy said...

A plant doctor...imagine that. I sure can use your help and instructions for my plants right now. I never saw such healthy Peace Lillies:) My mother used to remind me that plants need tlc too, and you certainly have provided that for them.

Dolores said...

You did a beautiful job!!! My house is full of Peace plants. They're pretty and so easy to grow. I wish you made house calls, mine are in need of pampering. I never thought of trimming off the brown ends.... great idea!!

Heather said...

Hi, my name is Heather! Please email me when you can, I have a question about your blog!

HeatherVonSJ[at]gmail[dot]com

Donna said...

I've been doing the same to mine. Your's looks so pretty and healthy now!

Happy@Home said...

Hi Heather,
Would you consider asking your question here in my comments? I am currently having an issue with my e-mails.
Thanks.