Indoors

We're having our first heat wave of the summer here in SoCal :-( It's supposed to be 104 here on Sun. This week I got up early the last few days to work and was still miserable. I'm not a fan of summer.

In keeping with the sweltering weather outside making us stay inside, today's post is about an indoor plant. I bought this unusual Aglaonema last September and am happy to say that it's still alive and thriving! Say AG-lay-o-NEE-ma. The common versions of this Chinese Evergreen are different combos of green with gray. I tried to grow one about 20 years ago unsuccessfully. Research says that these pink ones are Thai varieties and were very expensive when they emerged in nurseries about 7 years ago. I never saw one until I bought this and it was $16.00.

House plants are difficult to grow for me. One has to have just the perfect light. And remember NO PLANTS are native to inside! Most of the plants we maintain as house plants come from tropical regions and grow under the canopy of trees with mild temperatures. The tricky part of growing indoors is recreating the humidity of their natural environment. Some need it and some don't. Most plants want bright light indoors but not frying sun. I have 8 plants inside our house all in under 8" sized pots. Besides being ornamental, some house plants clean the air.

I have this plant at the end of our dining room table IN a big window with eastern exposure. It gets morning light diffused through our Tangerine tree. I water it about every 2 weeks and spritz it with water then. I adore the color and hope to keep it alive for a long time.