“I have many photos to share from my husband, Todd Farber, the ‘Garden Guy’ in the Sugar Land, Texas area. Todd is an Aggie Horticulturist. He has three decades of success with Texas front yard landscaping, understanding the best plant for Texas heat and how to make the most impact with front yard landscaping too. He has been a garden designer and horticulturist since 1991.”
A beautiful planting for the entrance to a home. Love the repeated asparagus fern (Asperagusdensiflorus, Zone 9 – 11 or as annual) that punctuate the planting with their dense green spires.
A new planting, neatly mulched with a Japanese stone lantern serving as a focal point.
Another view of the same planting. The design takes inspiration from Japanese-style gardens, but with a selection of plants suited to the Texas climate.
Bright, long-lasting color from big masses of begonias (Begonia x semperflorens–cultorum, Zone 10 – 11 or as annuals). These begonias are great dependable workhorses in a wide range of climates, and just keep flowering pretty much no matter what.
Junipers (Juniperus species) are generally tough plants that can take drought and less-than-ideal conditions. This one has been pruned into a spiral to give it a little more flair. Just have to keep on the trimming to keep the form looking tight and tidy.
Pavers set in the lawn give unity to the transition from the formal stone paving to the informal path through the grass. Snapdragons (Antirrhinummajus, cool season annual) provide a burst of color at the bed at the end.
New planting ready to fill in and create a beautiful garden space.
Have a garden you’d like to share?
Have photos to share? We’d love to see your garden, a particular collection of plants you love, or a wonderful garden you had the chance to visit!
To submit, send 5-10 photos to [email protected] along with some information about the plants in the pictures and where you took the photos. We’d love to hear where you are located, how long you’ve been gardening, successes you are proud of, failures you learned from, hopes for the future, favorite plants, or funny stories from your garden.
Heaths and heathers are easy to grow if you give them the right conditions. They only loathe clay soil and summer humidity (although you can find exceptions), and you can’t do much about those. Other than that, you can provide the conditions or find the species or cultivar that suits your spot. The best source for in-depth information is Gardening with Hardy Heathersby David Small and Ella May T. Wulff.
Siting:
While exceptions exist, heaths and heathers prefer full sun (though partial shade may be required for golden-leaved cultivars) and moist but well-drained, acidic soil.
Planting:
Getting your plants established means encouraging their fine roots to go outward into the surrounding soil. If your plants are rootbound, tease out the roots, or even cut into the root ball if needed. Water them well, and keep them moist. The thing that kills most newly planted heaths and heathers is drying out. To avoid that, water the plants twice a week (if conditions require) for the first year. Continue to keep them watered for a few years until they are well established.
Winter protection:
Winters can be tough on evergreen shrubs like heaths and heathers. Frozen ground can lead to dessicated branches. If your ground freezes but you have steady snow cover, you should be all set. Protection such as evergreen branches or chopped leaves can also work. The biggest danger for heaths and heathers comes not in the depths of winter but in early spring. A late freeze after the plants have broken dormancy can do serious damage. Remove any winter protection gradually, and be ready to replace it if conditions warrant it.
Pruning:
Illustration: Conor Kovatch
Pruning heaths and heathers encourages fuller branching and better blooming. While heaths should be pruned regularly throughout their lives, heathers should be pruned annually. Heathers do not produce foliage on the part of the stem where the flowers were, so an unpruned plant will have bare patches along gangly stems.
Pruning Heathers
The easy part of pruning heather is finding where to cut: anywhere below the spent flowers but not into leafless old wood. Cuts should be made on the entire plant, not just the flowering stems, to encourage a more pleasing habit. Shearing is fine, and it is easier than cutting each stem individually.
The hard part of pruning heather is when to do it; your winter climate and the cultivar are factors in timing. If your climate features temperatures that regularly dip below freezing, leave the flowering stems on the plant for added protection until spring settles in and temperatures are unlikely to drop. Wait too long, however, and you will add the risk of cutting off too much new growth. In mild winter climates, timing is more about the cultivar. If your heather features colorful fall foliage, wait until spring to prune. If it features colorful spring foliage, prune it before it starts to produce new growth.
Pruning Heaths
If you are growing heaths, prune them annually for shape until they are a few years old. After that, pruning every few years will help them keep their shape full and their flower spikes long. Winter-flowering heaths should be pruned immediately after flowering, because they quickly set buds for the following year. Procrastination may result in a year with no flowers.
I often hear folks say that they hate heaths (Erica spp. and cvs., Zones 5–8) and heathers (Calluna vulgaris and cvs., Zones 5–8), their earlier blooming cousins. The most common complaints are the woody, leggy shape they develop (mostly after years of neglect) and how they outgrow the space they’ve been provided rather quickly. The same people who complain about heaths and heathers admit they have no knowledge of how to care for them (Learn all about caring for heaths and heathers here). But while these plants do need certain conditions and annual care, they are not divas.
These deer-resistant and salt-resistant evergreens create a beautiful tapestry for every season, with a wide variety of colored foliage and little bell-shape flowers that range from white to deep pinks and purples. They are also an attractive, evergreen ground cover that excels at shading out weeds.
Heaths provide that winter pop of bright color when few other plants are in bloom. I like to use them in ribbons throughout the garden whenever possible, which creates more interest and can make a garden seem a lot larger.
Heathers provide any garden with a blast of glowing colors from late spring into midsummer. They also display stunning winter foliage colors of chartreuse, coppery oranges, and burgundy. See below for some of my favorite options.
For a winter border, the hands-down favorite is ‘Springwood Pink’ heath (Erica carnea ‘Springwood Pink’, Zones 4–8), with its brilliant pink blooms that last from January until May. At a mature height of 6 inches and a spread of around 16 inches, ‘Springwood Heath’ is a perfect choice to line the edges of paths and driveways.
‘Furzey’ Darley Dale heath
‘Furzey’ Darley Dale heath (Erica × darleyensis ‘Furzey’, Zones 7–8) is good for a more mature landscape. It has that old-fashioned, traditional heath look about it. It fills in quickly, sporting lilac flowers with dark purple tips in late winter and on into spring. Growing up to 2 feet high and wide, ‘Furzey’ is on the larger size if it’s left to mature in a backdrop.
Heath ‘Furzey’. Photo: Jerry Pavia
‘Mary Helen’ Photo: Josh McCullough
‘Mary Helen’ Darley Dale heath
‘Mary Helen’ Darley Dale heath (Erica × darleyensis ‘Mary Helen’, Zones 7–8) has lavender blooms, but it’s the bronze-to-gold foliage that makes it a perfect, all-season winner. It won’t quite reach a foot tall, but it will spread up to 18 inches. This species of heath is more tolerant of summer humidity and can handle a Zone 6 winter with proper protection (see sidebar, facing page).
‘Kramer’s Rote’ Photo: Doreen Wynja
‘Kramer’s Rote’ Darley Dale heath
If you’re looking for eye-catching winter color, then ‘Kramer’s Rote’ Darley Dale heath (Erica × darleyensis ‘Kramer’s Rote’, Zones 7–8) is the one for you. It has the darkest, deep purple-red of them all. It grows quickly to 3 feet tall and 4 feet wide. Because the color is so strong, it is best used in groups; otherwise, it will look like polka dots.
For a summer splash of bright color, heathers often steal the show in any garden. For a larger variety with some serious drama, I choose ‘Firefly’. In spring, this plant has bright chartreuse and primrose golden foliage that goes perfectly with my Magic Carpet spirea (Spiraea japonica* ‘Walbuma’, Zones 4–9). Late summer brings beautiful mauve flowers. Expect this heather to grow to around 18 inches tall and wide.
‘Wickwar Flame’
For a much shorter variety in the same color palette, try ‘Wickwar Flame’, which provides a burst of bright golden yellow and orange foliage with burgundy tips in summer. The tiny purple flowers are a bonus.
‘Wickwar Flame’ Photo: Josh Glover
‘Winter Chocolate’ Photo: millettephotomedia.com
‘Winter Chocolate’
My newest favorite—and my garden is full of it now—is ‘Winter Chocolate’, which has foliage that changes colors from bright orange with burgundy tips in winter into rich gold in summer. It appears to be growing very slowly, however. Eventually it will reach around 8 inches tall, with a width about twice that.
‘Spring Torch’ Photo: millettephotomedia.com
‘Spring Torch’
Another favorite is ‘Spring Torch’, with its deep lilac blooms and rich, emerald green foliage. This color makes it good for carpeting. It grows 12 to 18 inches tall and up to 2 feet wide. It is slow to spread and easy to shear.
‘Blazeaway’ Photo: millettephotomedia.com
‘Blazeaway’
‘Blazeaway’ is a slow-growing heather with a thick matte look. It gets 12 to 18 inches tall and wide and has lovely pink stems with lilac flowers in summer and warm, copper-colored foliage in winter. Plant it in groups for the best show.
‘Silver Knight’ Photo: millettephotomedia.com
‘Silver Knight’
For a more elegant and subtle presentation, try ‘Silver Knight’. It has frosty, silver-colored foliage and soft, lavender blooms. With an upright habit, this heather is well behaved, reaching 16 inches tall and just a bit wider.
| Design |
Putting heaths and heathers to work
Even when the bloom is over, these evergreen ground covers offer tons of interest.
Because these plants offer such steady color, they are extremely versatile design tools. My preferred use is planting them in groupings. I think of using a wide brush stroke, with three, seven, or nine plants at a time in swaths. This creates a carpeting effect when they all knit together.
Heaths and heathers provide year-round interest and coverage that’s excellent for suppressing weeds. Be sure to read the tags, and leave enough room for the plants so that when they reach maturity they will not be overcrowded. Plan a way in and out of your garden bed so that you will be able to shear your heather after the blooms begin to fade without stepping on them. You can hide paths between your plants.
*Invasive alert: Japanese spirea (Spiraea japonica)
This plant is considered invasive in GA, IN, KY, PA, and TN.
Tested by Niki Jabbour, the award-winning author of Growing Under Cover and The Year-Round Vegetable Gardener, who lives and gardens in Halifax, Nova Scotia.
Learn more about the how’s, why’s, and what’s of seed starting with Niki! Sign up for Seed Starting Made Simple, a new online course presented by Fine Gardening beginning January 11th, 2024 online. Learn more here
Eliminate plastic waste with a sturdy soil blocker
One of my garden goals is to reduce the amount of plastic I’m using, and seed starting typically involves plastic pots, plastic cell packs, plastic plug flats, and plastic trays. This is where soil blocking comes in. A soil blocker is a metal mold that makes cubes of potting mix and is a plastic-free way to start seeds. Growing seedlings in soil cubes also promotes a dense and robust root system and reduces the risk of transplant shock. The hand-held soil blocker from Johnny’s Selected Seeds creates perfect 2-inch cubes, which I use to start many types of vegetable, herb, and flower seeds.
Source: johnnyseeds.com
Price: $47
Use this seedling heat mat to encourage germination
I’ve been starting seeds indoors for over 35 years, but it’s only been about five years since I bought my first seedling heat mat. I always assumed they were unnecessary, but I have since learned that the gentle warmth provided by these mats both speeds up germination times and increases germination rates, particularly of warm-season crops such as tomatoes, peppers, and eggplants. A 19½-inch by 9-inch mat like the one offered by Gardener’s Supply Company is the perfect size for a standard 1020 seedling tray, but there are larger sizes available to accommodate multiple trays. As soon as my seeds are sown, I place the tray on top of the mat, leaving it plugged in 24 hours a day. When about half of the seeds have sprouted, I turn the mat off and remove it.
Source: gardeners.com
Price: $40 (19½-inch by 9-inch); $57 (20¾-inch by 20¾-inch); $93 (48-inch by 20-inch)
Choose an energy-efficient grow-light system
The best way to encourage the growth of healthy, vigorous seedlings is to use a grow light. My go-to grow light is the Floralight T5 LED full-spectrum multitier grow-light stand from Lee Valley. The LED tubes mimic natural sunlight and are energy efficient, running cooler than fluorescent bulbs. They also have a long lifespan. I have the three-tier model, which is built from steel and fitted with removable plastic trays to hold seedling flats or pots. It offers plenty of space for the hundreds of seedlings I start each spring and can even be used to grow microgreens, kitchen herbs, or houseplants in the offseason. Plus, it’s easy to adjust the height of the fixtures as the seedlings grow so that they receive maximum light.
Source: leevalley.com
Price: $519 (two-tier); $869 (three-tier)
This watering can with two spouts works in multiple situations
Knowing when and how to water seedlings is an important skill for seed starters to learn. The goal is to maintain a lightly moist growing medium, as too much or too little water can impact plant health. But the way you water can also affect young plants. A strong flow of water may damage or crush delicate seedlings. To help me water efficiently, I use the Haws 2-liter plastic watering can from Lee Valley. It comes with two different spout ends: a teapot spout that is perfect for bottom-watering soil blocks or cell packs, and a round, brass-faced rose for gentle overhead watering. This watering can is perfectly balanced and makes it easy to deliver just the right amount of water to your seedlings.
If you’re hosting a bunch of orchidists at a dinner party and you really want to stir the pot, ask them for their opinions on pruning orchids.
It’s not that pruning orchids is particularly hard or anything, it’s actually pretty easy when you know how.
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How and when to prune your plant will vary according to which orchid species you are growing – some shouldn’t ever be pruned and others need specific maintenance if you want them to rebloom.
This guide will lay it all out in an easy-to-understand way so that you can figure out when and how to prune your particular type of orchid.
Before you even think about pruning your orchid, it’s important that whenever you’re trimming your plants, you must use clean tools. Wipe your clippers or scissors thoroughly with isopropyl alcohol.
With all the species on this list, only remove leaves if they’re diseased, dead, dying, or deformed, otherwise leave them in place. If you need to, cut them off right at the base.
Let’s start with the most popular genus: the Phalaenopsis.
Phalaenopsis
The Phalaenopsis species aka moth orchid is always the belle of the ball. It’s the most popular genus commercially thanks to its massive blossoms in a rainbow of colors that bloom for months at a time.
Once those beautiful flowers fade, it’s time to get out those pruners, wipe them down with isopropyl alcohol, and start the work.
Prune the flower stem off as close to the base as you can. It can be a challenge because the stem emerges from right between the leaves. If you find it difficult and it drives you nuts, you can use a clean precision craft knife to slice it off.
Photo by Kristine Lofgren.
Some experts say you should allow at least one inch of flower stem to remain to reduce the chance of injuring the main stalk. I’ve never run into problems either way, so choose your level of risk versus how much you can’t stand the ugly stumps.
The exception here is that if the flower stem stays green after the blossoms drop off, there’s a good chance you’ll see new flowers growing in a few weeks. It’s rare the stem will be alive if all the flowers have fallen, however.
The flowers typically start to fall from the top of the stem first. If you want, once one falls, cut the stem back to just in front of the node where the flower emerged from. The stem might send out some new flowering branches in a few weeks.
After removing the flower stalk, take the plant out of its pot and examine the roots. If you see any black or mushy roots, those should be removed as well.
There is no need to prune any leaves unless they are yellow, brown, rotten, or symptomatic of a disease. If so, use scissors or pruners to carefully cut off the leaf at the base. Then, figure out what was causing the problem and solve it.
But if the stem turns brown or black, it won’t rebloom.
Dendrobium
Dendrobium species aren’t as popular as their Phalaenopsis cousins, and I have to assume that’s partly because the flowers don’t last nearly as long. But regular pruning can extend the blossoming period.
Each time a flower starts to droop, snip it off at the base where it meets the stalk with some scissors or your fingernails. That will encourage the plant to keep producing more blossoms.
Photo by Kristine Lofgren.
Once the flower stem is completely bare, wait a few weeks or months, and it will likely put out a second flush of blossoms.
The only time you should cut the flowering stem of a Dendrobium is if it turns brown and dies. Then, cut it off and check the roots, as described above under Phalaenopsis pruning.
Brassavola, Cattleya, Cymbidium, and Oncidium
Unlike Phalaenopsis, which generally have one main stalk from which the stems and flowers emerge, Brassavola, Cattleya, Cymbidium, and Oncidium species form multiple pseudobulbs from which flower spikes emerge.
These pseudobulbs grow from the horizontal rhizome underground.
At first, the flower spikes resemble the pseudobulbs from which the leaves emerge, but as they mature, they grow a narrow stalk with flowers.
Some species only grow one flower stalk per pseudobulb, but others can grow several. Some have a single flowering stalk and others have ones that branch.
In case you’re wondering how to tell which from which, the flowering bulbs will be pointed, and the leaf bulbs will be blunt.
These types won’t rebloom from a stalk that has already flowered. You need to remove the flower stem once the blossoms are gone.
Cut the stalks at the base as close to the surface of the potting medium as possible.
Remove any leaves that are dead, dying, diseased, or deformed, and feel free to take out a few in the middle of the plant to open it up a bit. It’s not necessary, but it can improve air circulation.
Calanthe and Zygopetalum species, and hybrids, offer up blooms in the winter and early spring when many other plants are taking a nap.
The often leopard-spotted petals give you something exciting to look at during the gray days.
Photo by Kristine Lofgren.
After the flowers drop, it’s time to remove the flower stalk back to the first “notch” you see. These notches are the nodes and a new stalk with regrow from this area.
At the same time, remove any dead, dying, diseased, or deformed leaves and check those roots for any that are dead or damaged.
Cycnoches
Cychnoches species go dormant during the winter and drop their leaves. Just because the leaves drop, that doesn’t mean the plant is dead. Like deciduous trees, it will grow new foliage next spring.
Don’t cut off any stems in the winter after the leaves drop. Wait until the summer after the new growth has developed.
Then, look for any bare areas and prune those away. As the plants age, the older pseudobulbs will shrivel up and die. You can safely remove these with a sharp, clean pair of scissors or pruners.
The only other time you should prune is in the winter after all the leaves have dropped. Remove the plant from its pot and trim off any dead roots.
Additional Considerations for Sympodial Species
Sympodial orchids refer those that produce pseudobulbs from which the flowers and leaves sprout. Some, like Cattleya species, can be underwhelming bloomers or some of the most prolific bloomers out there, depending on your pruning techniques.
Each pseudobulb will produce one flower stalk, so a small plant with one pseudobulb will have just one flower stalk. But if you prune regularly to encourage the formation of multiple pseudobulbs, you can encourage lots of flower stalks.
By the way, this technique also works for Cymbidium, Dendrobium, Oncidium orchids, and any other sympodial species.
Sympodial types are those that have a horizontal rhizome underground from which the pseudobulbs emerge – rather than a single vertical stalk.
Dig up the plant and remove the soil from around the roots. Locate the main rhizome, which is the largest root and the one that is growing horizontally.
It’s usually buried in the middle of all the roots. From this rhizome pseudobulbs will emerge with swollen bases. Some eyes will have a pseudobulb emerging from it already, and others won’t.
Find the youngest, smallest pseudobulb on the rhizome. It will have the most eyes, but these eyes won’t have grown any bulbs yet.
In other words, look for a rhizome with lots of eyes that haven’t developed pseudobulbs rather than empty eyes that have already developed pseudobulbs that have died.
Take a clean, sterile razor and cut halfway through the rhizome from the nearest pseudobulb and the closest eye. Repeat this between any other eyes where new pseudobulbs will start to grow.
Don’t cut all the way through the rhizome, just halfway. Spray the rhizome with copper fungicide and replant it.
Now, your plant should send out more pseudobulbs, and thus flowers, wherever you made a cut.
Trimming Aerial Roots
The roots that develop on the plant parts above the soil are known as aerial roots, and some people don’t like the look of them.
If that sounds like you, feel free to remove them. Well, at least, some of them.
Photo by Kristine Lofgren.
Aerial roots that are plump and white, silver, gray, or green should be left alone.
They’re healthy parts of the growing plant and they serve the purpose of anchoring the specimen and taking in air, water, and nutrients. But any that turn brown or yellow, are soft or mushy, or that shrivel up can safely be removed.
Cut them back as close to the stem as possible, using clean pruners.
We butchered our two pigs on Monday. It was a great day, with multiple friends coming over to help.
One pig weighed in at 350lbs:
And the second one was 332lbs.
My friend Erick brought his tractor so we could raise the carcasses and move them.
Once hung, we skinned and gutted each pig, then cut the carcass in half and brought it into the dining room to be butchered.
Erick is using a sawzall with stainless steel blades. This makes short work of tough cuts through bone!
These pigs had lots of fat, including the beautiful fat used to make leaf lard:
We should be able to render about five gallons or so of lard total from the fat we saved.
The pigs were apparently a Red Wattle/Guinea Hog cross, and had lots and lots of good fat inside. We also got some good pork loin, roasts, Boston butt, pork belly for bacon, and some beautiful pork chops.
The big chest freezer is full now!
Last night I made about 10lbs of loose sausage, which we’re about to eat with breakfast.
We’ve got many pounds of bacon to smoke and cure, plus lots of lard to render. We ground the fat up to make lard, plus ground lots of scrap pieces into ground pork, using our Kitchenaid stand mixer with the meat grinder attachment.
We used freezer bags to package most everything:
As a side note, why are all the vacuum sealers we’ve ever used such temperamental and unreliable machines?
Overall, pigs may have been the easiest and most productive homestead animal we’ve ever raised. They were mostly fed on scraps and expired bread and needed little care to grow to an enormous size.
We raised them from about January 10th to December 11th of this year and they went from little piglets to big old beasts in that time period.
They were so cute, before they got huge.
In 2024 we’ll definitely do it again. I am sold on pigs. It was well-worth trying, and now I see why our ancestors raised them as a survival staple.
We’re still calculating the final weight we got in cuts of meat – I’ll post it here once I have it.
A big thanks to Erick, James, Holly, David, Helen, Eva, Collette, Colina and Stella for helping out, along with the help from our own kids who jumped in and got things done.
The butchering took from 8:30AM to about 9:30PM. What a day, and what a yield!
Gatherings have become rare and precious in today’s busy world, where family members are scattered across cities and countries. You can opt for seasonal flower arrangements if you want to set the mood and ambience for these heartfelt events.
Flowers can affect your mood significantly, enhancing the visual experience and making people feel calmer. Let’s explore how you can use them in your home decor.
The benefits of seasonal flower arrangements
Consider the vibrant vitality ofsunflowers and the joyful energy of daisies; each of these blooms sets the mood in its own way.
Due to their plentiful supply, seasonless flowers are readily available and don’t cost much. Plus, you can choose from a wide range of varieties to suit your preference. With businesses like Flower Actually enabling easy delivery, you can access them any time from the comfort of your home.
Flower arrangements for every season
Pastel-coloured arrangements with delicate flowers like tulips and daffodils are ideal for spring family celebrations because they convey a sense of rejuvenation and freshness. In summer, bright and colourful arrangements of bold flowers like daisies and sunflowers will be available, perfect for reflecting the lively spirit of the season.
You can go for dried flower arrangements in autumn to create a rustic, cosy cottage feel. Similarly, you can use arrangements with pinecones and holly in winter to infuse your family celebrations with warmth.
Flowers in family traditions
Including flowers in your family’s traditions can strengthen your connection to nature’s beauty and help you create lovely memories. Flowers are a staple in religious ceremonies and rituals because they enhance the sensory experience and foster a calm atmosphere.
At Hindu weddings, for example, the bride and groom exchange fresh flower garlands to symbolise their union and blessings. Incorporating flowers into your family gatherings can leave a lasting impression on everyone and improve the overall experience.
DIY floral arrangements
You can DIY your floral arrangements to enhance your family occasions. For example, you could gather greenery and wildflowers for a charming bouquet, create a rustic centrepiece in a vase or mason jar, welcome guests with a seasonal wreath on your front door, or opt for simple table decor by placing flowers in jars tied with ribbons.
You can even add freshness to your event with a centrepiece that blends seasonal blooms with fragrant herbs. Or for a unique touch, you could craft a long-lasting dried flower arrangement from your garden.
Tips for creating flower arrangements
There are a few basic rules to follow when creating memorable flower arrangements.
Consider using unusual or unique vases to add a personal touch to your arrangements. This can help your decor stand out.
It’s also a good idea to consider the event’s seating configuration and the specific needs of the participants.
Finally, follow a guide to prepare and arrange your flowers like a professional.
Conclusion
You can enhance the overall experience and create lasting memories by actively involving flowers in your festivities. We encourage you to experiment with different blooms, infusing the joy and beauty of seasonal floral arrangements into your family gatherings.
After the holidays, don’t just toss your Christmas tree! Instead, try these crafty and fun Christmas tree recycling ideas. Here’s what to do with a Christmas tree to help you immortalize the spirit of the season all year long.
There really is nothing like a fresh tree for Christmas. It smells wonderful and brings some of the outdoors inside for a short while. When Christmas is over, it’s usually time to hack it up, but it seems to me that there is a more fitting end for something so special.
Not one to waste nature’s bounty, I’ve used my tree to make many creative projects over the years and found even more Christmas tree crafts from other creatives to share with you. Here is a list of my favourite crafty Christmas tree recycling projects to give an old tree new life.
This post will cover…
Christmas Tree Crafts and Recycling Projects
Sometimes, it’s hard to get rid of the Christmas tree. There are times when I struggle to pack up the holidays and get rid of the year’s tree.
If the Christmas tree holds lots of sentimental value for you as well, there are plenty of creative ways to recycle the tree when her job is complete indoors. Here are 20 ideas on what to do with a Christmas tree after the holidays.
If you’re looking for things to make with branches from your Christmas tree, this coat rack keeps the branches’ original natural look.
Take some of your more uniquely shaped and strong branches and build your own coat rack. This fun DIY project looks store-bought and is a handy accessory for the front or back door. Read the instructions on creating this branch coat rack with only a few tools!
From one Christmas tree to the next, this reindeer can allow the evergreen to live its next life and continue the holiday spirit. Miniature and adorable, this reindeer uses all sizes of twigs and branches to create a wooden ornament or planter decoration.
I love how versatile these wood-slice flowers are. They could work outside in the garden or on a porch. The flowers would also look great inside as a wall hanging or Christmas decoration. Wood slices are easy to make, and they can be used for a ton of projects.
For those looking for things to make with branches, you can use the thicker branches along with the trunk itself to get all the different sizes for these flowers.
When people ask me what to do with a Christmas tree, I always suggest these ornaments first. Ornaments made from an old Christmas tree could commemorate a special Christmas, such as a baby’s first Christmas or a first Christmas together. They are also a frugal way to get a bunch of ornaments to fill up next year’s tree.
I made these wooden ornaments from a very special tree for Kiddo and me. That Christmas, we went to a Christmas tree farm and cut down our tree ourselves. So we wanted to hold onto it long after the tree was gone!
Many of you probably know I am a huge wreath fan. I have one for pretty much every occasion! I love this simple twig wreath because you could use it any time of the year, and its simplicity makes it an easy addition to most home styles.
These twig flower pots give me major cottage vibes! Oftentimes, pots are more expensive than the flowers inside them. These are a great way to enhance plastic pots without breaking the budget on fancy clay ones from the garden centre.
Once you’ve tried pyrography, you won’t want to stop! This is the next step to doodling: decorating wood with a heated pen that burns designs into it. The result is gorgeous and makes for beautiful coasters, ornaments, or décor.
For these wood slices, I made coasters with botanical-inspired designs. One of the best Christmas tree crafts, they became wonderful personalized gifts for friends and family the following holiday season.
Who knew push pins could look so good? The little ones would work great on a corkboard, and the larger ones would work for hanging up décor and artwork around the house. They are a super quick project and require very few tools.
Why not make your wood stand out all on its own? If you have a section of the wall you are unsure what to do with, wood slices can fit in just about any space. Cut them as big or small as you want and arrange them in any pattern.
This artwork would look great in a cabin or for those who love a rustic style inside the home.
If you are wondering what to do with a Christmas tree and are willing to go big, this one is for you! A branch chandelier is a great way to combine nature with sophistication. Plus, the creator of this chandelier made the whole thing for just $35!
Windchimes have always been one of my favourite additions to the garden. Their soft jingle in the breeze is calming and fun to listen to outdoors. Making one yourself is easy, simply use a branch as the top of the windchime.
I’ve made a few windchimes over the years, including this beaded version.
Using branches from your Christmas tree and a few items foraged from the garden, it is super simple to replicate some popular planter ornaments. After loving some planter decorations in a garden centre but not loving the price tag, I set my sights on making my own!
Take a look at some of the rustic decorations and see if it is something you can do yourself. Wood slices, pinecones, and snowflakes are all easy to make out of wood, using both the trunk and smaller branches of the Christmas tree.
Bringing nature indoors gives you the perfect blend of rustic and chic. I used branches and some good-quality rope to make these swing shelves. It’s a very simple Christmas tree craft, but it looks like a million bucks.
I used these branches topped with stuffed animals to decorate my son’s nursery, but let your imagination go wild!
I hope you have the perfect trunk or branch for this unique idea of what to do with a Christmas tree. Lamps are a wonderful way to light up the garden at night, providing softened light to enjoy the outdoors in the evening. I made this outdoor lamp using a branch as the stand for my lamp.
You don’t even need a frame to create this project. Gather twigs from your tree, then place them together to make your own DIY photo frame. Why not frame a photo from this year’s Christmas?
Simple and effective, branch coasters are a must-have for the coffee table and have remained one of my favourite upcycled Christmas tree crafts over the years. Leave them plain or decorate them…it is totally up to you! Varnish and stain are essential in making these coasters pop out.
Once again, never underestimate the power of wood slices! By circling a mirror with wood slices, it went from a plain hanging to a feature piece in the home. The careful placement of the slices really makes this project stand out.
Don’t be scared to play with wood slices and branches. By careful whittling and cutting, you can create a myriad of shapes and designs to display as art on your wall or elsewhere throughout the home. Creativity is everything!
I go crazy for anything miniature. These twiggy gnomes look adorable in garden pots, indoors or out. They can be used for Christmas, but I think they look great year-round as a pseudo mini garden gnome.
The supplies are small on this one, with just a little bit of paint and twigs from your Christmas tree, making it one of the best things to make with small branches.
A successful garden is one that is full of helpful critters. To encourage bees, ladybugs, and other beneficial bugs to your garden, a bug hotel is a great idea. This bug hotel doubles as artwork for your garden, perfect for hanging on a fence. It’s long been one of my most useful pieces of garden art, made entirely with recycled tree branches.
By now, you should have plenty of ideas on what to do with a Christmas tree. With some creative recycling and crating, your Christmas tree can turn into something new.
Whether you’re carrying it on for next Christmas or turning it into something you can use all year, your tree will still hold some sentimental value of the time spent with family during the holidays. If you created one of my Christmas tree crafts, I would love to see it!
FAQ About Using Christmas Trees
Can you replant a cut Christmas tree without roots?
There is no way to replant a cut Christmas tree. It’s only meant to be enjoyed indoors and then gets composted or repurposed after the holiday season. But they’re still much more sustainable than buying a fake Christmas tree!
If you want to keep and replant a Christmas tree, you’ll need to use a living tree with the root ball still intact. In this case, it would be potted inside and then brought outside after the holiday,
The Japanese Zen garden has immense cultural and historical significance, reaching back as far as the 6th century. Nowadays, it has become a popular garden concept, incorporating space for relaxation, improved concentration, mindfulness, aesthetic enjoyment, and connection to nature.
These 5 tips for creating the perfect backyard Zen garden will help you bring these meditative aspects into your outdoor living space.
Design your space
Be flexible and work with what you have when choosing a space for your Zen garden. It could be a small corner, a devoted backyard section, or your balcony or terrace. The most important factor is for your chosen spot to be easy to access and enjoy.
Draw a rough sketch of your space, ensuring you take all elements into account.
Consider the amount of sunlight the area gets to determine what plants you can incorporate. It’s also a good idea to think about landscape lighting such as stone lanterns and uplighting of rocks and plants.
Be mindful of your seating arrangements, color palette, and stone pathways in your gravel or sand base. Thorough planning is essential for those large rocks and stones that are difficult to manoeuvre.
Try to stick to the Japanese Zen garden principles when designing your garden. These include:
Asymmetry
Simplicity
Symbolism
Balance
Natural
Surprise
Allusion or mystery
Tranquility
Choose your materials
You’ll need various shapes and sizes of stones, rocks, and pebbles, as well as sand or gravel.
Stones are the key anchors of a Zen garden. Embrace asymmetry to reflect a natural landscape.
Mix and match types of stones (flat stones, river stones, etc.) and place them in odd-numbered balanced groupings to promote a sense of harmony. Scatter pebbles to introduce dimension, or build small piles of stones for delicate focal points.
Large rocks or boulders give your backyard Zen garden an edge or focal point. They can also establish a seating area. Place a simple and gorgeous patio dining set in a comfortable spot where you know you’ll be able to appreciate your garden.
Your sand or gravel will be your base. Gravel is easier to maintain, but either option allows you to create the classic patterns that a Zen garden is famous for.
Choose your plants
A traditional version of a Japanese Zen garden has very few plants. However, this is your garden and you can decorate as you choose. Just keep in mind simplicity.
There are myriad annual and perennial classic Zen garden plants to choose from. Good ones to focus on are moss, cherry blossom trees, Japanese maples, bonsais, and bamboo.
Moss represents beauty and simplicity, bringing cohesion between rocks and plants, absorbing sound, and exhaling moisture. Sakura (cherry blossom) is a prominent symbol of birth and death in Japanese nature.
The Japanese maple exhibits elegance, beauty, and grace. Bonsais symbolise balance and harmony. Bamboo can be used as effective privacy screening to section off your Zen garden.
Prepare your space
Work through these basic preparation steps to build your Zen garden:
Clear your allocated space of plants, weeds, stones, etc.
Use a shovel to remove the top layer of existing soil.
Use stakes and string to determine if the ground is level and rake out uneven spots.
Tamp down the soil.
Place stones around the edge of the garden. This border will contain your sand or gravel.
Dig holes for your rocks and plants.
Install your rocks and plants. Bury part of your tall rocks in the earth for a natural look.
Lay landscape fabric over the soil, cutting out shapes for your rocks and plants.
Apply your sand or gravel, using a rake to distribute it evenly. Then use a wooden Zen rake to create stunning ripples or swirls.
Zen gardens are known to relieve stress. To achieve an uncluttered mind, you need an uncluttered space. Therefore, maintenance is key. Pick up leaves, change the patterns in your gravel, prune, and weed as another form of meditation.
Personalise your garden
This will be your sanctuary, so it’s only natural to personalise it. For example, you could install a meaningful statue as a focal point of meditation and focus. This could be a Buddha statue or something else that holds greater significance for you.
What sounds invoke peace within you? A wind chime or water feature can add gentle background sound.
Water is not a traditional Japanese Zen garden characteristic, but perhaps it’s a characteristic of your Zen garden. You could install a bubbling fountain, a small pond, or a mini waterfall that flows through rocks.
Usually, a Zen garden consists of a muted colour scheme. But contemplate what colours speak to you, and stick to those. If adding a few splashes of colour makes you happy, then there’s no harm in it.
Style your stone path according to your personality. Do you visualise a formal, straight pathway, or something more meandering?
To feel comfortable in a space, you need to make it welcoming. Keep it simple and personal, and you’ll create a backyard Zen garden that’s perfect for you and your home.
A daring husband and wife team in Sonoma county—Laurie and Adam Goldberg, co-founders and owners of Stargazer Spirits—is experimenting with large-scale agave farming by planting test blocks on approximately six acres of varying soil types, with blue Weber as one agave variety. They are deep in the learning stage, so I reached out to Laurie for advice and insights into growing blue Weber agave, a historically significant succulent.
Please keep reading to learn more about this drinkable plant and this adventurous couple.
Photography by Adam Goldberg, courtesy of Stargazer Spirits.
Above: A field of blue Weber agave growing bigger and stronger every year.
First, a little backstory about blue Weber agave: The Greek word that agave comes from is Agavos, which translates to illustrious; in Greek mythology, Agave was the goddess of desire. Blue Weber agave is native to Jalisco, Mexico, and was considered sacred by the Aztecs. The first alcoholic agave beverage was pulque (potentially dating back to 1000 B.C), made from the fermentation of the plant’s sap. When Spanish settlers entered the scene, they began experimenting with the distillation process, eventually using the pulque to make tequila and mezcal. Today, Jalisco remains the source of the best and the majority of tequila.
The Goldbergs’ mission is to create top-notch agave spirits in California. (Side note: in order for a drink to be called tequila, it must be made from blue Weber agave in Jalisco or other limited municipalities in Mexico.) They are among the first to grow agave for spirits production outside of Mexico. “We have around 3,000 tequilana (including several heritage varieties) and approximately 6,000 plants total. We’d hoped that Agave tequilana would be a low-water, low-maintenance, set-it-and-forget-it plant for us, but in fact it requires more water than any of our other agaves (though still around 75 percent less than what grapes need on a per-acre basis),” shares Laurie. The Goldbergs continue running a number of soil amendment, mulching, and watering experiments. “The bottom line is that this agave is likely to thrive in warm areas in full sun without winter frost. It requires 70 to 80 gallons of water per plant in the summer months, though water requirements will depend on location and soils. Lastly, it likes loose, sandy soils in which its roots can spread out.”
“It has been a few years since I submitted anything to GPOD. My pool garden (a filled in swimming pool) has been featured before. It is one of several areas I garden in Maine. Not in these photos are the vegetable beds, Siberian and bearded iris collections, a long border I call the fence garden, a small shade garden, a small roadside garden, the front foundation plantings and some shrub sections. All this keeps me outside for hours every day. It is the backyard with the pool garden that gets most of my attention and this is what I am featuring in these photos taken throughout the 2023 season. It was a very challenging summer with endless rain, weeds that wouldn’t stop germinating and a good share of insect pests liking the wet conditions and lush growth.”
The garden begins with snowmelt in mid April. The early bulbs (Crocus, Zones 3 – 8, and Iris reticulata, Zones 4 – 8, in this area) are more enjoyable close up but here’s an overview.
Sudden warmth ended the early bulbs quickly this year but pushed the daffodils (Narcissus hybrids, Zones 3 – 9) along in early May. Then it turned cooler and they lasted a long time. Daffodils mark my first peak bloom.
The second peak bloom features peonies (Paeonia hybrids, Zones 3 – 8) and Siberian irises (Irissiberica hybrids, Zones 3 – 8) the third week of June.
Carnivorous plants in June. They grow in pots set in trays filled with rainwater.
A month later the daylily (Hemerocallis hybrids, Zones 4 – 9) peak changes the color palette from romantic pink, blues and whites to hot bright colors. Clumps of bright yellow Heliopsis (Zones 3 – 9) are long lasting companions to the daylilies.
Things slow down a month later in August but Allium ‘Millenium’ (Zones 4 – 8), Verbenabonariensis (Zones 7 – 10, or as annual) and a few later daylilies keep the show going. I grow the common echinacea (Echinacea purpurea, Zones 3 – 8) for a long period of bloom. Hylotelephium (formerly Sedum, Zones 3 – 9) like ‘Matrona’ and ‘Frosty Morn’ bloom in August followed by ‘Autumn Joy’ in September. This is one name change I agree with since the upright ones behave quite differently from the sedum groundcovers and edging plants I enjoy throughout the garden.
Long-blooming flowers from late August keep blooming in September. The star for September are the sections of a hardy chrysanthemum, likely ‘Clara Curtis’ (Chrysanthemum ‘Clara Curtis’, Zones 4 – 9). One of those plantings shows here contrasting nicely with a pot of Petuniaexerta (annual) that bloomed all summer long.
October is Aster month. The first, hot pink Alma Potske (Symphyotrichumnovae–angliae ‘Alma Potschke’, Zones 3 – 9) starts things off in September and the last, Raydon’s Favorite (Symphyotrichum oblongifolium ‘Raydon’s Favorite’, Zones 3 – 8) was still blooming in November. You can also see ‘Mrs. T.S. Wright’ and ‘Bluebird’ in thise photo. Colchicum (Zones 5 – 9) also make an appearance in the fall, next to the path. It is worth putting up with its foliage in the spring, just as the lycoris (Lycorissquamigera, Zones 5 – 9) foliage (one of the clumps is in the August picture) also grows and ripens to make a fleeting but anticipated appearance as a naked lady.
Late October brings another hardy chrysanthemum, ‘Apricot’. Calamint (Calaminthanepeta Zone 5 – 7) surrounded by the mums isn’t the showiest but the pollinators certainly found it and enjoyed it. We had a very late frost this year evident from the orange annual emilia (Emiliacoccinea) decorating a bearded iris bed across from ‘Raydon’s Choice’. By November the garden had some blooms but the overall garden was no longer photogenic as I prepared for winter snow.
Have a garden you’d like to share?
Have photos to share? We’d love to see your garden, a particular collection of plants you love, or a wonderful garden you had the chance to visit!
To submit, send 5-10 photos to [email protected] along with some information about the plants in the pictures and where you took the photos. We’d love to hear where you are located, how long you’ve been gardening, successes you are proud of, failures you learned from, hopes for the future, favorite plants, or funny stories from your garden.
What grows in low desert Arizona gardens in January? I’ll show you. All of these pictures come from my garden in Mesa, Arizona.
Low desert includes elevations below 3500 ft in the Southwest, such as the Phoenix and Tucson metro areas.
We garden in many parts of Arizona year-round, but we can’t grow everything all year. Take a look at what’s growing this month, and let me know what’s growing in your garden in the comments.
Disclaimer: This post may contain affiliate links. See my disclosure policy for more information.
“Anyone who thinks gardening begins in the spring and ends in the fall is missing the best part of the whole year. For gardening begins in January with the dream.”
– Josephine Nuese
Low Desert Arizona Garden in January
January is often the coldest time in the low desert Arizona garden. Although colder, it doesn’t mean you should stay inside this month. There are important garden tasks that need to be done this month, such as pruning roses and fruit trees (see a list of garden tasks for January below). Harvests from fall plantings continue throughout the month as you plan for your spring and summer garden.
Keep reading for garden inspiration, a January garden checklist, and a list of vegetables, herbs, and flowers to plant in your Arizona garden in January.
Vegetables growing in the low desert Arizona garden in January
Kaleis a superstar in the Arizona garden in January. Keep harvesting for a continuous supply. Frosty nights will sweeten the taste of kale. Grow several varieties of kale in your garden.
Broccoli harvests begin in earnest this month. Hopefully, you succession planted to have a continuous harvest all month. Plant transplants through the end of January.
Carrotsplanted in September and October are ready to harvest. Plant carrots through the end of March. Be sure to thin carrots for large, delicious carrots.
If you aren’t growing asparagus, consider dedicating a 4-foot by 4-foot raised bed. January is a great time to plant asparagus.
If you are growing asparagus, January is the time to cut back the dormant fronds and amend the bed with a 5-inch layer of compost.
Tips for growing flowers in the low desert Arizona garden in January
Cool-season annual flowers and wildflowers planted from September through December are beginning to bloom this month and should continue blooming through March. Thin seedlings if they emerge in clumps. Water cool-season annuals 4 to 6 inches deep about once a week.
Want better blooms on your seed-grown annuals? Thin them to where each plant’s leaves are touching one another when the plant is 3-4 inches tall.
Most annuals will do well in our cooler winter and spring seasons when chosen carefully. As temperatures heat up, these cool season annuals will die. Keep a garden journal of what worked in the past and what didn’t.
Flowers to Plant Outside & Seeds to Start Indoors Each Month in the Low Desert of Arizona. • PLANTING GUIDE: Each month lists annual flowers and bulbs to plant outside & seeds to start indoors. • BLOOMING GUIDE: Photos show what may be in bloom that month.
Fruit trees in the low desert Arizona garden in January
Plant bare-root fruit trees this month. Look for trees that have low chill hours (less than 400), mature early, and self-pollinate.
Deciduous fruit trees should be pruned before bud break this month.
Blood oranges and grapefruit citrus are ripening this month. Best way to test for sweetness? Pick one and try it! Water established citrus once every 3-4 weeks in January.
Trying to decide which variety to plant next month? This article will help you decide.
Herbs in the low desert Arizona garden in January
Garlic chives are a reliable perennial herb in Arizona. Consider finding a spot to tuck them in and around your garden this month. If you have garlic chives in your garden, January is a good time to cut back and divide the overgrown clumps.
If you didn’t start seeds indoors for tomatoes, eggplant, melons and peppers in December, get them started this month. The seedlings will be ready to be planted by February or March.
Continue planning for February and March plantings. This is seed catalog season; get ideas you would like to try and order seeds. My favorite seed companies with great catalogs are Baker Creek Seeds, Botanical Interests, and Seed Saver Exchange. Look at your garden and plan where you will plant everything. Research different varieties to see which do well in Arizona. A good rule of thumb is to look for short-season crops. Be sure to rotate where you plant each year.
Plant pre-chilled (at least 6 weeks in fridge) tulip and hyacinth bulbs this month.
Plant cold-tolerant trees, bushes, and perennials and protect new plants from freezing temperatures.
January in Arizona is a good time to plant deciduous fruit trees. Look for varieties that require less than 400 chill hours, have early maturing fruit, and are self-pollinating.
Bare-root roses are in-stock at local nurseries – it’s a great time to plant roses.
This is the last month to plant strawberries. Space strawberries 12 inches apart. Plant strawberries with crown of plant above soil line. Mulch and water strawberries well.
January in the low desert of Arizona is a good month to propagate succulents so they establish roots before summer heat.
Wait until mid-to-late February to plant frost-sensitive plants such as lantana and hibiscus.
Begin planting blackberries at the end of the month.
Watering:
If we get heavy rain, trees and shrubs may not need supplemental watering. If not, water shrubs and trees no more than once every 14-28 days.Wateruseitwisely.com is a helpful resource for landscape watering guidelines.
Do not over-water annual plants this month. Water to a depth of about 6 inches, and allow the top of the soil to dry out before watering again.
Water established citrus trees once every 3-4 weeks.
Water established fruit trees once every 10-14 days.
Pruning:
Frost-tender plants such as hibiscus and lantana should not be pruned this month.
Prune established roses this month. Clean up all fallen leaves and debris around roses to discourage disease and insects.
Prune dead branches out of cold-hardy trees and shrubs.
If deciduous fruit trees have been slow to drop leaves, remove any remaining leaves to encourage dormancy.
Deciduous fruit trees should be pruned before bud break this month. Prune dead, diseased, broken and crossing branches and water sprouts (branches shooting straight up from limbs of trees). Consider treating fruit trees with horticultural oil before bud break as well.
Fertilize established fig trees in January. Aged manure is a wonderful way to feed figs.
Protect from freezing temperatures (below 32° F):
Have burlap or frost cloth on hand to protect newly planted citrus, small lemon and lime trees, and other frost-sensitive plants from frost.
Plants in containers are more susceptible to freezing temperatures than ground ones.
If freezing temperatures are expected, water citrus trees deeply to help protect them from frost.
Yard clean-up:
Clean-up around fruit trees. Decayed fruit is inviting for pests.
Consider leaving the leaves in place. If you do rake up the leaves, then save them. Bag leaves and let them decompose; then spread them on plants as leaf mulch in spring. If you compost, they are a great addition to the compost pile.
What to plant in the Arizona garden in January:
Vegetables, Herbs & Fruit to plant in the low desert in January
(Click the link to read “How to Grow” articles on my website.)
SEED, TRANSPLANT, OR BOTH? S = Seed T= Transplant
PLANTING GUIDE: Each month lists vegetables, fruit & herbs to plant outside & seeds to start indoors.
HARVEST GUIDE: Photos show what may be ready to harvest that month.
Planting dates are for the low desert of Arizona (zone 9b).
Vegetable, herb, and fruit seeds to start indoors during January
(Click the link for seed sources.)
Flowers to plant in the low desert in January
(Click the link to read “How to Grow” articles on my website.)
Flower seeds to start indoors in the low desert in January
(Click the link for seed sources.)
Vegetable, Herb, and Fruit Planting Guide for the Low Desert of Arizona
The ultimate resource for gardeners in arid regions with hot summers and mild winters—designed specifically for the low desert of Arizona (Zone 9b/10a). It features information on how and when to start seeds indoors and when to transplant them outside for nearly 100 different fruits, vegetables, and herbs.
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Starting a garden on a budget does not have to be daunting. Here are 12 simple ways that can help you start your garden without breaking the bank:
1. Start Small:
To minimize costs and workload, begin with a small sunken bed or container garden. It’s easier to expand later as your confidence grows. A sunken bed has minimal start-up cost and can be a very effective way to garden. To learn more, read this post about sunken-bed gardening.
2. Reuse and Recycle:
Use items you already have around the house when starting your garden. Old containers, cement blocks, and bathtubs can be used as planters to save money. Think outside the garden box and use the ideas in this blog post about creative container gardening.
3. Swap Seeds and Plants:
Swap seeds or cuttings with friends, neighbors, or online communities. This way, you can get a variety of plants for free. Seed packages often contain more seeds than you will use. Split packages with friends. Learn how to save seeds so you always have some to share. Local libraries often have seed libraries where you can check out seeds for free!
Starting a garden on a budget? Take advantage of local seed libraries!
4. Make Your Own Compost:
Composting kitchen scraps and yard waste will save money on soil amendments and fertilizers. This can be daunting at first, but begin composting kitchen scraps with in-bed vermicomposting. If you have a large amount of yard waste, learn how to compost in this blog post.
5. Choose Perennials When Starting Your Garden on a Budget:
Perennials come back year after year, saving you money in the long run. Some of my favorite perennials are asparagus, artichokes, and strawberries. Learn more about growing perennials in this blog post.
6. Grow from Seeds to Save Money Gardening:
Growing plants from seeds is cheaper than buying seedlings or mature plants. Don’t be intimidated by starting plants from seed. If they have good soil and you start them at the right time, seeds will grow!
7. Use Mulch:
Mulch reduces the need for watering and weeding, which can save both time and money. Places like Chipdrop provide gardeners with free woodchips. Learn more about how to use mulch.
8. DIY Vertical Garden Structures:
Building your own trellises, cages, and supports instead of buying them is a simple way to start a garden on a budget. Look around your house or garage and repurpose a ladder or other items. If you want to learn more, read this post about creative vertical gardening ideas.
9. Water Wisely:
Depending on where you live, water can be an expensive part of gardening. Water in the early morning or late evening to reduce evaporation and save on your water bill. Learn other watering principles in this blog post.
10. Choose High-Yield Crops When Budget Gardening :
Starting a garden on a budget doesn’t mean you can’t grow delicious food. Grow vegetables that produce a lot of food, like tomatoes, zucchini, and beans. You’ll get large harvests with less expense.
11. Use Natural Pest Control:
Use natural methods like companion planting to control pests instead of expensive chemicals. This saves you money and is better for your garden as well. Learn more about successful companion planting principles in this blog post.
12. Learn and Experiment When Starting a Garden on a Budget:
The more you learn about gardening, the more you can save. Don’t be afraid to experiment and learn from your mistakes.
Remember, the key to starting a garden on a budget is creativity and resourcefulness. Happy gardening!
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A fishbone cactus is easy to care for, durable, and fast-growing which makes it ideal for beginners.
But before you can enjoy their unique foliage in your home or garden, you need to learn how to take care of them correctly.
This detailed care guide is designed for you to learn how to grow a fishbone cactus successfully. You’ll discover their ideal environment, the best soil and fertilizer, how to water them, the sunlight, temperature, and humidity requirements, and much more.
The fishbone cactus (Selenicereus anthonyanus) is an epiphytic plant native to the tropical rainforests of Mexico. In nature, it anchors itself in the nooks of trees and absorbs moisture and nutrients from the air and rain.
The flat leaf-like branches climb or drape and feature alternating notched lobes that resemble a fish skeleton, giving the plant its common names zig zag and fishbone cactus. The branches average about 3’ in length, 6” wide, with up to 2” smooth lobes on either side.
They are fast-growing, low-maintenance plants that can take a fair amount of neglect and still survive.
Different Types
There is only one true type of Selenicereus anthonyanus. But, the foliage shares a similar appearance with an Epiphyllum anguliger, or ric rac cactus, and they are sometimes referred to by the same common name.
While closely related, the fishbone cactus is technically a different plant, and has wider, longer lobes that are more jagged and spaced further apart, as well as different colored flowers.
Flowers
Once it matures, your plant can produce nocturnal flowers. The blossoms will open for just a single night during late spring or summer, but only if the plant gets 6 or more hours of bright light in early spring.
These fragrant orchid-style blooms are 4-5” wide on average and feature violet external petals with white internal petals.
Toxicity
Selenicereus anthonyanus is non-toxic to pets, so it’s safe to grow if you have a cat or dog. Though they can develop tiny prickly spikes or spines on the inside angle of the stems, so you still may want to keep it out of reach.
Before we talk about fishbone cactus care, we first need to discuss the best place to grow them. By choosing the right location, you’ll set yours up for long-lasting health.
Hardiness
This is not a cold-hardy or heat-tolerant plant. Temperatures below 50°F (10°C) will stop growth, and anything below 30°F (-1.1°C) for long periods of time will kill it.
The plant’s temperature sensitivity means it can only survive outdoors year round in zones 10-11. Otherwise, you can grow it as a houseplant.
Where To Grow
Choose a bright window with indirect light to grow your fishbone cactus indoors. Keep it away from drafty areas or AC and heater vents, which will dry it out.
You can train the stems to climb, or let them trail or drape, which makes them a popular choice for hanging baskets. Choose a planter that has drainage holes to help prevent overwatering.
When temperatures are above 50°F (10°C), you can move it outdoors to a shady area, but bring your plant back inside before it gets too cold in the fall.
Fishbone cactus in a hanging basket
Fishbone Cactus Plant Care & Growing Instructions
Now that you have the perfect spot in mind, it’s time to talk about how to care for your fishbone cactus. The tips in this section will help you create the best environment for your plant.
Light
Indoors you need to provide bright, indirect light for your fishbone cactus – 5-6 hours a day is best. Put them in a window that gets morning or evening sun and afternoon shade.
Outdoors, choose a spot with dappled shade or where the plant is protected from direct sunlight.
To induce blooming, make sure it gets lots of bright light in the spring. Use a grow light to supplement inside if you have trouble providing enough natural light.
Water
Selenicereus anthonyanus need consistently moist soil and do not like to be bone dry for long. But be careful not to overwater or your plant could start to rot.
The soil should feel dry to the touch before you water again. Then give it a deep drink and make sure all of the excess drains completely from the pot.
If you have trouble getting it right, invest in a moisture gauge, which can help you determine the perfect time and amount of water. Aim to keep the reading between 3-5.
Humidity
Since these are epiphytes, they naturally thrive in high humidity environments. If the humidity levels are low in your home there are a few easy ways to increase it.
Try setting the pot on a pebble tray filled with water, lightly misting the leaves, or running a small humidifier nearby.
You should keep your plant away from heaters and AC vents, because the airflow can create even drier air, especially in the winter.
Beautiful green fishbone cactus plant
Temperature
The ideal temperature range for growing Selenicereus anthonyanus is between 60-75°F (15.5-24°C). They’re not very tolerant of extremes on either end.
Anything below 50°F (10°C) will slow down the growth, while 40°F (4.4°C) or colder can lead to damage, and freezing temperatures will kill the plant.
They handle the hot weather much better, but make sure your plant stays well hydrated during extended heat waves.
Fertilizer
To support the fast growth rate of your fishbone cactus, feed it in the spring and summer as a part of your regular care routine.
You can encourage blooming by applying a flowering fertilizer 1-2 times in early spring, but don’t use it year round because it can cause leggy stems.
Soil
Epiphytes like this one don’t technically require soil to grow. You can plant them in a soilless medium, like orchid bark or peat moss, or even mount them on wood or in a tree.
Since they are so fast-growing, you may need to repot your fishbone cactus every 1-3 years as part of their regular care.
Look for roots coming out of the drainage holes or slowed growth as signs that it’s time to size up, then do it in the spring or summer.
Choose a pot that’s 1-2” larger than the current container. Fill it with a lightly moistened, well-draining medium. Plant the rootball at the same depth it was before, then fill in with soil, and water lightly.
Selenicereus anthonyanus growing in mixed container
Pruning
You don’t need to prune your plant, they don’t need it. However, you can give it the occasional trim to remove dead or damaged stems and to help control the shape and size.
Use sharp, sterile pruning shears to cut stems wherever they’re too long or damaged. If you don’t like the appearance of the cut end, remove the entire branch near the base of the plant instead.
Pest Control Tips
Healthy fishbone cacti rarely have problems with pests, but occasionally mealybugs or scale can become an issue.
Use a cotton swab dipped in rubbing alcohol to remove visible bugs, then treat your plant with an organic insecticidal soap. I make my own by combining 1 teaspoon of mild liquid soap with 1 liter of water.
You can also try using neem oil, which will help to get rid of any persistent pest infestations.
Healthy fishbone cactus leaf
Propagation Tips
You can easily propagate your zig zag cactus from stem cuttings during the spring or summer.
Trim a 4-6” piece of a stem or branch and dip the cut end in rooting hormone. Plant it in a lightly moistened, well-drained medium, and place it somewhere warm with indirect light until roots form, then pot it up.
You can also propagate segments of branches that produce aerial roots without removing it from the mother plant. Pin it down onto lightly dampened soil and wait until it’s rooted, then trim it from the mother and transfer it to a new pot.
Troubleshooting Common Problems
Selenicereus anthonyanus are typically very durable and easy to care for, but no plant is problem free. If you run into one of the common issues below, use my tips to help you get back on track.
Brown Leaves/Stems
Your plant can begin to develop brown stems or lobes from improper watering, too much humidity, or an incorrect amount of light.
Excessive moisture on the foliage or overwatering can cause brown spotting or mushy leaves. Too little moisture, and the stems will turn brown and dry out. Use a humidity monitor or soil moisture gauge to help you get these both right.
Direct sunlight can cause brown scorch spots too, so provide afternoon shade or move your plant to indirect light indoors.
Brown fishbone cactus stem
Yellow Leaves/Stems
Yellowing stems or lobes on your fishbone cactus are caused by lack of light, overwatering, pests, or temperature stress.
Treat any pests you see right away or allow the soil to dry a little more between drinks. Keep the plant above 60°F (15.5°C) and in bright, but indirect light. Use a grow light as needed to supplement.
Red Tips
Red tips are a natural reaction to lots of bright light or a sudden change in sun exposure, but they aren’t harmful.
If you don’t like the look of them or you’re worried your plant may be getting too much light, move it to a shadier location.
Stem Or Root Rot
Too much water or improperly drained soil are most common causes of both stem and root rot.
Use a well-aerated chunky mixture, like potting soil amended with bark and perlite, or an orchid mix to help prevent overwatering. Avoid watering to the point of making the soil soggy, and always let the excess drain from the pot.
New Growth Is Skinny
Leggy, or skinny, new growth on your fishbone cactus can be caused by lack of light. It can also be a result of using the incorrect fertilizer or overfeeding.
Make sure your plant receives at least 5 hours of bright, indirect sunlight a day, or add a grow light to help it out. Avoid using flowering fertilizers with high phosphorus levels as well, and don’t feed your plant during the winter.
FAQs
Are fishbone cactus easy to grow?
Yes, fishbone cactus plants are easy to grow because, with indirect light, average water, and typical indoor temperatures, they require very little care.
Do fishbone cactus plants have spikes?
Yes, a fishbone cactus can develop tiny spikes or spines along the inside bend of the stems. They’re usually very small and barely noticeable, but can be irritating if they get into your skin.
Where is the best place to put a fishbone cactus?
The best place to put a fishbone cactus is somewhere indoors where it will get plenty of bright, indirect light and is away from air vents and drafts. Outdoors, place your plant in partial or dappled shade where it’s protected from the harsh afternoon sun.
Is fishbone cactus a hanging plant?
A fishbone cactus makes a great hanging plant because it has long, trailing branches that drape over the edges of containers. Plus the flowers are long and hang down when they bloom, making it even more lovely.
What conditions do fishbone cactus like to grow in?
A fishbone cactus likes to grow in humid conditions where they get bright, indirect light and consistently warm temperatures.
If you want to learn all there is to know about maintaining healthy indoor plants, then you need my Houseplant Care eBook. It will show you everything you need to know about how to keep every plant in your home thriving. Download your copy now!
More Houseplant Care Guides
Share your fishbone cactus care tips in the comments section below.
If you’re familiar with strawberry geraniums, then you probably know them best as lovely houseplants. But do you also know that they can be just as dazzling when grown outdoors?
In a small indoor pot, Saxifraga stolonifera produces lil’ plantlets that dangle over the sides via pretty red stolons. Cute and classy, yet compact and contained.
Out in the garden, however, these runners allow an individual strawberry geranium to blanket an area with a gorgeous mat of foliage and flowers, making it an ornamentally significant landscape planting.
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Put one in an outdoor planter, and your placement options increase all the more.
The “hows” of indoor and outdoor cultivation are pretty similar, but the latter requires tips and tricks that a strictly indoor grower may not know.
In this guide, we’ll break down everything you need to know for growing these perennials in the great outdoors. Propagation, cultivation, maintenance… all of it and more will be revealed.
Here’s what we’ll cover:
Shall we begin?
Strawberry Geraniums 101
Also known as strawberry begonias, strawberry saxifrage, and creeping saxifrage, strawberry geraniums are herbaceous evergreen perennials from the Saxifragaceae family, which includes species such as jade plants, astilbe, and coral bells.
So in spite of the name, they aren’t actually related to strawberries, geraniums, or begonias.
Hardy in USDA Zones 6 to 9, S. stolonifera hails from temperate regions of China, Japan, South Korea, and Taiwan, and is often found growing in rocky cliffs, like many other species in the Saxifraga genus.
Capable of growing out of the cracks of rocks themselves and fissuring them further, strawberry geranium is one tough customer.
Forming three- to nine-inch-tall rosettes of hairy, dark green rounded leaves with reddish undersides and silver markings, strawberry geraniums spread via their creeping red stolons, forming dense carpets of greenery.
Individually, each plant grows about a foot or two wide.
These strawberry-esque stolons form new rooted plantlets where each one touches the soil.
If the stolons dangle over a container’s sides, then they don’t even need to touch down at all to form plantlets.
In spring, floral stems up to 18 inches tall grow from the rosettes, each blooming with five-petaled flowers – three smaller pink petals up top, and two larger, magenta-speckled pink petals underneath.
Variety Selection
The first step in strawberry geranium cultivation is selecting which one you want to grow. Beyond the standard species, you have a couple of cultivars to choose from.
For a deviation from dark green leaves, you could go with the chartreuse foliage of ‘Harvest Moon.’
Those looking for large, silver-veined leaves would do well with ‘Hsitou Silver.’
For a variety that’s delightfully red, I’d select ‘Maroon Beauty’ or ‘Stephanie.’
The former has reddish hairs and blotches of red between the leaves, while the latter rocks especially red stems and stolons.
Interested in multiple different colors? Try ‘Tricolor,’ a variety that’s variegated in green, white, and pink hues.
You could also choose ‘Variegata,’ which flaunts prominent white to pink leaf margins.
If you want to get your hands on the species plant, it’s available in three-inch containers from Bubbleblooms via Amazon.
Propagation and Placement
First things first: you and your garden must be in USDA Hardiness Zones 6 to 9 to successfully grow strawberry geraniums outdoors year-round.
In colder regions, you’ll have to grow them as annuals, or perhaps in containers or hanging baskets that can be brought indoors before temperatures start to dip below -10°F.
A cool thing about strawberry geraniums is the way they can fill out an adjacent empty area on their own, without a gardener’s help.
But if you want to speed up their expansion, grow some strawberry begonias in another zone of your garden, or fill up some spare outdoor containers you’ve got laying around, then you’ll need to start propagating.
The easiest method is to take plantlet cuttings – preferably in spring, after your area’s final frost date.
To do this, select plantlets with at least five mature leaves and cut them away from the parent with a sharp and sterile blade, making sure to leave an inch of stolon stem attached.
If the plantlets already have roots, then you can plant them straight away in planting holes prepared in moist, fertile, well-draining garden soil with a pH of 6.0 to 7.0.
Make sure the planting sites are in full to part shade and space the plants one to two feet apart. If you’re trying for a ground cover, never fear – the plants will fill in the space in between!
Plantlets bound for containers should go in pots, planters, and/or hanging baskets filled with a 50:50 mix of perlite and peat moss or coconut coir.
Make sure there are drainage holes at the bottom of the pot, with at least an inch between the root system and the container’s sides.
For plantlets with poor or non-existent root development, treat those as stem cuttings and set them in water, keeping the leaves above the water’s surface, which should promote root development.
To pull this off, fill a tall, slender glass with filtered or distilled water, or even rainwater that you have collected.
If the leaves aren’t supported and kept out of the water by the lip of the glassware, then the vessel isn’t skinny enough. If the stem isn’t completely submerged, then you need to add more water.
Need some glassware? Try this hanging, three-tiered wooden test tube station with 15 included tubes, available from Amazon.
Place them in an area with bright, indirect light indoors and change out the water every three days. After a few weeks, the plant should have grown two-inch roots – at this point, they can be moved into their permanent homes.
If you have a large specimen that needs repotting in spring or summer, you can also divide your plants to acquire new specimens!
To divide an existing plant, water it 24 hours before removing it from the ground or container, brushing away the soil from the roots, and splitting it at its horizontal rhizome.
Make sure each division has an even, proportionate amount of roots and shoots, and then they’re ready to go in the ground or a container. Dig planting holes large enough to fit the root systems, then lower the divisions in.
Add a bit of humus like rotted manure or compost as you backfill the planting holes, and deeply water the root zone of your plants immediately after backfilling, which’ll give them a nice start to their new lives.
If you’re transplanting nursery starts, dig holes the same size as the container the plants are growing in, and ensure that they are sitting at the same depth as they were in their original pots.
Growing Requirements
So you have some placed and settled strawberry geraniums in your garden, whether in the ground or in a container. Now what?
You’ll need to irrigate them regularly in the absence of rain, for one.
Allow the top inch or two of the surrounding soil to dry before watering deeply. In fall, your watering frequency will naturally go down as the plant’s transpiration rates decrease – and in winter, when temperatures dip below freezing, you won’t want to water at all.
Monthly applications of a balanced fertilizer will help keep your plants well-nourished.
For an effective product, try this water-soluble, 20-20-20 fertilizer from Jack’s Classic, available via Amazon.
Maintenance Tips
As with many plants, it pays to prune dead, damaged, or diseased plant tissues whenever you happen to notice them.
Your specimens will look better and be much healthier if you do this regularly.
Strawberry geranium flowers are definitely pretty, but if you’re going for a solely foliar aesthetic, then you can pinch back the flower stems as they appear.
Potted strawberry begonias will need to be divided or repotted as they outgrow their containers.
When repotting, choose a container the next size up, or one that provides at least an inch or two between the roots and the container’s sides.
Since strawberry geraniums are prone to spreading, you’ll want to occasionally check the perimeter of your planting area to make sure that no plants escape their intended zone.
If they do, then you’ll need to promptly pull them up and either replant or toss them in the compost.
Even though they won’t die back, dormant specimens grown in USDA Zone 6 and 7 do well with a layer of mulch for additional winter protection.
For ease in moving around, go with a light mulch such as pine straw or finely shredded wood chips.
In climates colder than USDA Zone 6, your strawberry geraniums will need to be brought inside by the time temperatures dip below -10°F and cared for until the following spring.
The best way to prevent pests and disease issues in a plant is to care for it properly and keep it healthy.
Following the above tips, along with using sterilized gardening tools and disease-free growing mediums, should help tremendously.
But when pests like aphids, mealybugs, spider mites, and whiteflies infest and feed on your plants, they can suffer from symptoms such as leaf chlorosis, dieback, desiccation, and even death.
Plus, secondary issues like honeydew secretion and sooty mold formation can rear their ugly heads.
Strong sprays of water can knock pests off of plant surfaces, while sprays of horticultural oil and insecticidal soaps will actually kill them.
Any tissues severely infested with and damaged by insects should be pruned away.
You can find Bonide multi-purpose insecticidal soap at Arbico Organics, as well.
There aren’t many notable diseases that afflict strawberry geraniums, although root rot can occur when gardeners overwater or when they are growing in soil that lacks adequate drainage.
To stop root rot from progressing, immediately stop overwatering and protect your specimens from excessive rainfall, if possible.
To prevent the problem altogether, always be sure to plant in well-draining soil or growing medium.
A Real Sweet Ground Cover
Although S. stolonifera isn’t sweet like an actual strawberry, its appearance is quite savory. Wouldn’t you agree?
Whether you put them in the ground or in swanky containers outdoors, strawberry geraniums will really liven up your outdoor landscape.
Any questions, thoughts, experiences of your own to share? Head on down to the comments section.
And for more attractive foliage plants to add to your landscape, check out these guides next:
OK. I have a question How do you get around gardening burnout? I don’t know if I’ve just had Just gotten too old to want to garden anymore. But the thrill is gone.
Mellisa answers:
Maybe if you quit for awhile? I lose the thrill every summer. Then spring comes and I can’t help it, I have to plant something. It’s exasperating! Then summer comes with the ants and by autumn bidens alba swallows everything. I guess everything has it’s phases
And I wrote:
I do feel like quitting in summer. But the fall weather draws me back into it. Sometimes we try to do too much, too. A big area and lots of different seeds with different planting times can become frustrating, especially when you feel you aren’t doing it well. Instead, I recommend picking a small area, loading it up with good compost, and growing a few things that you love. It’s very encouraging.
And beyond being encouraging, it keeps you in practice! And you must ask…
Why are You Gardening?
It’s important to figure out why you’re gardening. Organic food? Recreation? A satisfying hobby?
For us, it’s my research plot and income, via videos and my writing, as well as the plant nursery.
But also, we started because we wanted to always have food in the ground.
There’s a reason this site is called The Survival Gardener!
We also wanted to save money and have organic homegrown food for our growing family.
2020 got a lot of people gardening when they were worried about the future. You worry less when you know you can grow food, and you get good at growing food by doing it.
It’s not reasonable to assume that your tin of “survival seeds” is going to get you through tough times if you’ve never worked the soil in your backyard and learned over time through success and failure. Sometimes you’ll have luck with a first-time garden, and other times you’ll do terribly. Isn’t it better to not count on luck, but to have experience that teaches you what will thrive in your soil? And give you yields that fill your stomach?
Once you know how to grow in a small space, that experience will allow you to grow a much bigger garden.
Babette knows how to garden. Perhaps a reset isn’t a bad idea.
But for those of you that don’t know, there is nothing like learning to pull good organic food from your own backyard to make you feel better about an uncertain future.
We’ve been noting the slow rise of sparse-chic, Charlie Brown-style Christmas trees in the homes of trendsetters the past few years. But these versions—large, artful, completely foliage-free branches decorated with colorful ornaments and lights—may be the sparsest and chicest of all (not to mention most eco-conscious).
We spotted the festive branches on designer Amy Ilias’ Instagram account recently and reached out to learn the what, why, and how behind her arresting holiday decor. Read on to find out how to make your own.
Photography by Amy Ilias.
Above: Amy and her husband, artist Jim Denney, started the tradition of the holiday branch back in 2010. Their first “was a large branch that Jim C-clamped to our dining table in Brooklyn. It was very humble, kind of sad, and very much inspired by Charlie Brown’s tree. It was a way of re-entering festivity after a long and difficult personal stretch,” shares Amy. After moving into a large Victorian in the Hudson Valley (see the house tour here), they transitioned to much larger, free-standing branches.
Above: The branches are each secured to planks of wood with long screws. Large stones weigh down the planks. “During the Covid pandemic, we had a tradition: Jim would read to me while I did jigsaw puzzles at the coffee table. It was around the holidays, and he was reading Richard Power’s beautiful book The Overstory [a novel about trees and the interconnectedness of everything]. It was that reading, and listening to Hans Christian Andersen’s “The Fir Tree” for the millionth time on NPR that made my decision to commit to fallen branches,” says Amy.
Above: Amy decorates the branches with colorful ornaments, beads, and, of course, string lights.
Above: Pictured on the left are the branches they foraged for the 2021 holidays. Pictured on the right is where they found those branches that year: in a brush pile next to a parking lot near their home. “We have a very small car, so our parameter is that we need to be able to carry it home,” says Amy. “The other is that it needs to be fallen. We usually find the branches in brush piles on vacant lots. Maybe someday we will get an old pickup and our range will expand.”
Above: A few days after we connected with Amy about her branches, they came crashing down, likely from one of the couple’s three overzealous cats. Curiosity killed the Christmas branch. “A bunch of ornament and branch casualties. Practicing non attachment,” she wrote on Instagram.
Hi, I am Belinda Smith Lawson. I live in Riverview, Florida, which is Zone 9.
“My garden is seven years old. I have growing beds in my front, back and side yards for flowers and edibles.”
“This photo is my backyard garden at dawn. Pots and in ground planting are used for flowering shrubs, perennials, succulents, and some annuals.”
Close look at the flowers of a yellow canna lily (Canna hybrid, Zone 8 – 10 or as tender bulb).
“Cannas are well adapted to Central Florida growing conditions so I use several varieties extensively in my garden to create a tropical vibe. They flower year-round here.”
“This is Dahlia ‘Rebecca’s World’ (Zone 9 – 11 or as tender bulb) I planted 4 months ago. No two of the five-inch wide flower are the same.”
“This rose is called ‘Belinda’s Dream’ and I have been growing it for four years. The flowers are 4 -5 inches across and smell delightfully fruity. The rose blooms year round but especially in autumn and spring.”
Have a garden you’d like to share?
Have photos to share? We’d love to see your garden, a particular collection of plants you love, or a wonderful garden you had the chance to visit!
To submit, send 5-10 photos to [email protected] along with some information about the plants in the pictures and where you took the photos. We’d love to hear where you are located, how long you’ve been gardening, successes you are proud of, failures you learned from, hopes for the future, favorite plants, or funny stories from your garden.
“Indoor” and “tree” aren’t two words that always go well together, but I’d say that the banana leaf fig makes it work.
A tall, woody plant that stands apart from your typical small and herbaceous houseplants, Ficus maclellandii can make a powerfully pretty statement in your home.
Add banana-shaped leaves and the fig moniker to the mix, and it may even have your stomach rumbling a little.
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Whether it’s a visual accent in your indoor jungle or the star of the show, the banana leaf fig is simply radiant.
But no matter how you utilize this plant, you’ll need to know how to cultivate it properly. We wouldn’t want such a pretty plant to pass on without reaching its aesthetic potential, now would we?
Our guide will walk you through the basics of banana leaf figs: their propagation, cultivation, maintenance, and more. Hopefully, you’ll find it a-peel-ing, cringey banana puns aside.
Here are the specifics:
What Are Banana Leaf Figs?
The banana leaf fig – aka F. maclellandii – is a member of the Ficus genus, which contains over 900 species of shrubs, trees, and vines.
Hardy in USDA Zones 9 to 11, banana leaf figs hail from east India, Bangladesh, south China, and much of southeast Asia.
In the wild, they are found growing in wet, tropical to subtropical environments.
Photo by David J. Stang, Wikimedia Commons, via CC BY-SA.
Banana leaf figs form trunks of smooth, light brown bark with distinct lenticels. This species is a member of the “strangler figs,” a group of epiphytic Ficus plants that can kill their hosts.
They establish themselves around the trunk of a host tree, put down terrestrial roots while dispatching the host, then continue to grow independently where the host used to be as a self-supporting, tubular trunk. Talk about brutal!
But don’t think that you have to choke out one of your beloved trees just to grow a banana leaf fig, though. They can grow just fine in the ground or a container without a host.
With a growth habit that becomes more rounded and tree-like as it matures, F. maclellandii typically tops out at six to 10 feet tall and four to six feet wide when grown indoors in a container. But in its natural outdoor habitat, it can grow 40 feet tall and 30 feet wide!
Banana leaf figs flaunt simple, spirally-arranged, leathery, glossy, dark green, and lance-shaped leaves that grow about eight inches long and one and a half inches wide.
I’d say that F. maclellandii foliage looks more like banana fruits rather than true banana leaves, although banana-ness is in the eye of the beholder, I suppose.
As a Ficus species, F. maclellandii bears pairs of small green figs from leaf axils in spring, which turn yellow to red as they mature.
Within each fruit is a hollow syconium: a type of inflorescence with small flowers that face inwards towards the empty space in each fruit. Kinda like a geode, but with flowers instead of dazzling crystals.
In nature, specialized fig wasps lay their eggs within the syconiums, pollinating the flowers as they do so. Seed set will not occur without this partnership between fig and fig wasp, which is why banana leaf figs are effectively sterile in foreign environments without their pollinators.
If pollination does occur and seeds form within the fruits, then the seeds will be spread via animals such as birds, bats, and terrestrial mammals as they eat the figs, move elsewhere, and excrete the undigested seeds.
A word of warning: handling the fruits, leaves, and sap barehanded can leave you with contact dermatitis, so always wear gloves and exercise caution!
Banana Leaf Fig Propagation
Unless you can telepathically control fig wasps that you’re okay with having indoors, I wouldn’t try to grow these plants from seed.
Taking stem cuttings, air layering, or simply transplanting a young start would be my go-to’s for propagation.
From Stem Cuttings
Use a sterilized blade or pair of hand pruners to remove six-inch cuttings from the terminal ends of healthy-looking shoots.
Don’t forget to wear a pair of gardening gloves to protect your hands from the sap!
After defoliating the bottom third of each cutting, scrape off the bark from the bottom inch of each cutting and dip it in a rooting hormone like Bonide’s IBA powder from Arbico Organics.
Stick your cuttings two inches deep into six-inch pots containing a 50:50 mix of perlite and peat moss or coconut coir. Moisten the media, cover the cuttings with clear plastic baggies, and set the pots in bright, indirect light indoors.
Still keeping the media evenly moist, yet not waterlogged, remove the humidity covers once roots have formed – which should take about four to six weeks.
Continue with your care, and once the plants begin to outgrow their containers, they’ll be ready for transplanting into their new homes!
Via Air Layering
Air layering is a simple propagation technique for houseplants, or any plants with shoots that are too tough to bend and layer normally.
Rather than bending branches down to soil, air layering brings soil up to the plant!
Select a section of stem 12 to 18 inches away from its tip. With a sharp knife, make two cuts around the stem spaced one inch apart, along with a vertical slit connecting the two. Then, peel away a ring of bark, leaving a one-inch section of barkless wood.
Photo by Krzysztof Ziarnek, Wikimedia Commons, via CC BY-SA.
Powder the wound with rooting hormone, clump a handful or two of moist sphagnum moss around the wound, then wrap it all up in clear plastic or aluminum foil.
Secure the ends with electrical tape or twist ties – they’ll need to be easily un-secured for later watering.
Keep the moss moist while roots form, which could take six to eight weeks or longer. Once the roots are several inches long, separate the new plant from its parent, just under where the rooted wound ends. From here, it’s transplanting time!
Transplanting
Once you have your propagated plant or purchased nursery start, prepare a sturdy container with drainage holes that’s an inch or two wider than the transplant’s root system.
Fill it with a moisture-retaining, yet well-draining growing medium – something like Miracle-Gro’s indoor potting mix, which you can find via Amazon.
Then, dig a hole deep enough to fit the transplant’s root system, and make it just a bit wider so you’ve got room to work.
Remove your transplant from its container, gently ease it into its new container, then backfill it with dug-out soil.
Water it in, set it near a window to receive bright, indirect light, and you’re good to go!
How to Grow Banana Leaf Figs
Now that your banana leaf fig is potted up, let’s discuss how to keep it happy in its new indoor digs.
Climate and Exposure Needs
As a specimen hardy in USDA Zones 9 to 11, the banana leaf fig certainly prefers heat over the cold.
So as a houseplant, it’ll appreciate a temperature range of 60 to 70°F. If you’re a utilities-conscious thermostat-tweaker, then a broader range of 50 to 80°F is acceptable.
Photo by Luca Bove, Wikimedia Commons, via CC BY-SA.
The typical household humidity should suffice, as these plants aren’t too picky.
But you may want to keep your specimens away from AC units, heaters, drafty spots, or any other place where temperatures can change on a dime.
For F. maclellandii, bright, indirect light from an east- or west-facing window is the name of the lighting game.
Soil Needs
A growing media that can retain moisture, yet allow excess water to drain is ideal.
Ensure that the media’s pH is somewhere in the 5.0 to 7.0 range, and you’re golden.
Water and Fertilizer Needs
Constant, even moisture is optimal for banana leaf figs.
To provide this without going overboard and making the potting soil soggy, allow the top inch of media to dry out before you water again.
Photo by Forest and Kim Starr, Wikimedia Commons, via CC BY-SA.
Once a month throughout the spring and summer, an application of balanced fertilizer really hits the spot.
You’ll want to hold off during the fall and winter months, when the plant is dormant though.
Need fertilizer? Check out Bonide’s 10-10-10 liquid plant food, available at Walmart.
Growing Tips
Be sure to provide bright, indirect light.
The growing media should retain moisture, yet drain away the excess.
Deeply water whenever the top inch of soil dries out.
Pruning and Maintenance
As your banana leaf fig grows big and strong, it’s going to become rootbound… unless you repot it.
Once your specimen loses that inch of space between its roots and the container, then it’s time to size up. Make sure you use fresh potting soil and ensure that the new pot is not excessively large – one size up will do the trick.
Photo by Forest and Kim Starr, Wikimedia Commons, via CC BY-SA.
If you wish to set your plants outdoors during the summer months, they can go outside when temperatures consistently reach 50°F or higher.
Make sure to bring them in when the temperatures threaten to drop below that. They can survive in lower temperatures, but they won’t have as quite as many lush leaves.
As an evergreen plant, your banana leaf ficus won’t drop its leaves in fall. But to keep things looking lush, you should prune away any dead, diseased, damaged, and otherwise unhealthy-looking leaves and branches as you notice them.
If any healthy branches happen to throw off the aesthetic, then feel free to ax those as well.
If fruits appear, remove them to keep the plant looking sharp. These figs aren’t the awesomely edible kind, and they’ll detract from the foliage and eventually drop if they’re left on the plant.
Don’t forget your gloves when working with this plant!
When growth slows during dormancy, your plant will naturally use up less water as its transpiration rates decrease, so your watering frequency will go down, as well.
Always check the top inch of media for dryness before irrigating.
Banana Leaf Fig Cultivars to Select
Banana leaf figs aren’t in super high demand for their fruits or landscaping applications, so there aren’t a large number of cultivars available. However, there are a couple that are worth noting.
Photo by Yercaud-elango, Wikimedia Commons, via CC BY-SA.
Take ‘Alii,’ for instance. First grown commercially in Hawaii – ‘Alii’ actually means “king” in Hawaiian – this cultivar has become the specimen you are most likely to find available for purchase.
So if you have a banana leaf fig that you’ve purchased from a public vendor, chances are it’s an ‘Alii.’
You can choose from a white or beige decorative pot as well.
Other cultivars include ‘Amstel-veen,’ ‘Amstel Queen,’ and ‘Amstel King,’ which are broader-leaved versions of the standard species.
With those larger leaves come a greater surface area for conducting photosynthesis, which in turn comes with a tolerance for lower light!
Managing Pests and Disease
Granted, the home is typically more sanitary than the outdoors, but health problems can still occur, especially if you receive specimens that are already infested or infected.
Here’s how to handle some common issues:
Insects
As potential vectors of disease, insects can be a double whammy of awful. But on the flip side, managing them can solve two plant problems for the price of one!
Mealybugs
Congregating in clumps on stems and leaf undersides, mealybugs have pink and segmented bodies beneath their mealy white coatings.
Waxy deposits on the stems and foliage will often become apparent before the actual pests do.
With their piercing-sucking mouthparts, they extract vital fluids from leaf tissues, which can leave infested plants with chlorosis, stunted growth, dieback, or even plant death.
Scale
Scale insects are round, flattened, and come in either soft or armored forms.
Amassing in groups and with no visual legs, they actually do look like lizards or fish scales, or perhaps something you’d want a dermatologist to freeze off with liquid nitrogen.
Scale use similar mouthparts as mealybugs to feed from of plants, which can cause leaf yellowing, drop, and reduced vigor. They also excrete honeydew.
Spider Mites
Far tinier than mealybugs or scale, spider mites are barely visible – to the naked eye, they just look like moving red dots. But if you break out a hand lens, you’ll see itty-bitty red arachnids.
Often accompanied by conspicuous webbing, spider mites leave tiny, stippled feeding marks on infested leaves. In time, the damage can progress to choloris, necrosis, or even leaf drop.
Strong sprays of water should physically remove spider mites, while horticultural oils will actually put them down.
Using sterile gardening tools and selecting disease-free plants from the get-go will go a long way towards preventing disease.
Botrytis Blight
Also known as gray mold, botrytis blight is a condition caused by several different species of Botrytis fungi.
You’ll recognize this disease by the softened brown spots that form on leaves and stems. Additionally, strands of fungal mycelium will move from infected to healthy tissues, spreading the disease throughout the plant.
It generally infects plants kept in overly damp conditions, caused by overwatering or poorly draining soil.
If this disease does strike, make sure to promptly quarantine your plant. Disease spread can be halted with sprays of fungicides, while severely stricken plants should probably be pitched.
Root Rot
Caused by suffocated roots due to over-saturated soils, root rot is an abiotic condition that can eventually kill the plant. Thanks to a root system that’s effectively drowning, the foliage and stems can turn chlorotic, necrotic, and eventually perish.
Root rot can be prevented, halted, and potentially reversed with proper watering practices. Remember: let the top inch of soil dry out between waterings.
For a plant with root rot, it can be helpful to remove it from its container and trim away any completely rotted roots. If more than half of the roots are rotted then the plant is probably a goner.
Best Uses for Banana Leaf Figs
If you’re looking for an indoor tree that thrives in brightly lit spots, then a banana leaf fig really does the trick.
Bursting with thin, lush leaves, this plant is simultaneously dense yet open, in a way that’s quite aesthetic.
You’ll never miss out on viewing the leaves, either – they hang downward, making it near impossible to avoid a glance at their glossy green surfaces.
It’s tough to not love banana leaf ficus, especially if you appreciate large, shapely clumps of indoor foliage and banana-themed houseplants.
Wherever you put it in your home, you’re sure to cherish the banana leaf fig. Give it the proper TLC, and it’s sure to love you, too. As much as an insentient clump of greenery can, anyway.
Still have questions, comments, or concerns? The comments section is the place to put ’em.
