How to Grow Desert Rose Plants

The desert rose (Adenium obesum) is a striking plant with swollen succulent stems and deep red flowers. The plant is deciduous in cooler winters, but it can be kept in leaf provided there is sufficient warmth and light water. There is no part of these plants that doesn't command interest, from the dramatically...

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Growing Cyclamen Houseplants

Cyclamen are the most rare of houseplants: a natural winter bloomer with beautiful, swept-back flowers and stunning leaves. These plants are snapped up during the grey and long winter months to provide a jolt of color and life. And they deliver in spades: cyclamen flower for months at a time, and their...

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Growing Codiaeum Variegatum

The croton (Codiaeum variegatum) appears to have it all: colorful foliage, nearly limitless leaf forms, and a cultish following. But these plants do have a drawback—they're difficult to please indoors. In their native habitats, crotons like humid, warm conditions, with dappled light and plentiful water....

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How to Grow Dracaena Fragrans

The corn plant is an oldie but goodie in the houseplant industry. Europeans have been using them as indoor plants since the mid-1800s and they’ve been popular in the United States since the early twentieth century. Corn plants are grown as thick canes that sprout from buds along the cane, achieving a “false...

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How to Grow Cordyline Indoors

Cordyline are common decorative plants that appear under a few names in garden centers. In fact, the whole thing can get rather confusing. The most popular indoor cordyline is the C. terminalis, which is often sold as C. fruticosa or Dracaena terminalis. Likewise, these plants are often referred to as...

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How to Grow Coleus Plants Indoors

Coleus are one of the rare plants that are grown almost exclusively for colorful foliage. In this regard, they're like crotons, but they're smaller and perhaps somewhat easier to grow inside. Coleus are truly in their glory in masses—their leaves are available in green, purple, orange, red, yellow, and...

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How to Grow Lycopodium Squarrosa

Club Moss is a striking plant that resembles a host of giant, furry caterpillars. Technically classified as fern allies, these ancient plants are among the oldest forms of plant life on the planet—yet also among the most striking. Be aware, though, that Lycopodium of any species tend to be challenging,...

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How to Grow Cast Iron Plants

Known as cast iron plants, Aspidistra have earned their reputation as nearly indestructible houseplants. They are fairly undemanding and will survive through neglect that would easily kill a lesser plant. These tough, attractive plants are members of the lily family. They feature upright, strappy leaves...

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How to Grow Calathea

 The genus Calathea includes some of the most beautiful and striking tropical foliage plants in the world. Closely related to the similarly gorgeous Maranta, Calathea species generally have boldly marked, upright, oblong leaves in a dazzling array of colors held on long, upright stalks. As true tropical...

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How to Grow Caladium

 It's a pity caladium are rarely thought of as houseplants. These plants are almost unparalleled for their foliage. They have large, arrow-shaped and paper-thin leaves that come in a striking array of colors and patterns. A mass of caladium is an explosion of whites, greens, reds and pinks ... mottled,...

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Growing Brassavola Orchids

I will admit that I'm biased: I'm a Brassavola enthusiast. For one thing—and perhaps the most important thing—B. nodosa possesses my favorite fragrance in the world. You can have your roses and gardenias, your citrus flowers and even your night-blooming jasmine. Give me the haunting scent of a B. nodosa...

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How to Grow Bougainvillea as Houseplants

Bougainvillea are not typical houseplants—in their natural form, they are sprawling climbers and shrubs with formidable thorns. They are suited to a somewhat arid, subtropical to tropical climate. Nevertheless, these plants possess something many indoor gardeners prize: color. During blooming season, their...

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Growing Nephrolepis Ferns

 The Boston fern is only most well-known of the nephrolepis ferns, but all of them share certain desirable traits. They are relatively tough ferns, with a higher tolerance for light than other species. And they are typically attractive, with long, graceful fronds bedecked with tiny leaves. As far...

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Growing Asplenium Nidus Ferns

 Bird's nest ferns are actually one of two asplenium species found in cultivation. The other, often called the spleenwort or mother fern (A. bulbiferum) is much harder to grow and looks nothing like its cousin. These ferns are naturally epiphytic, and in their rainforest homes, can be found growing...

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How to Grow Strelitzia

Cousin to the banana, the bird of paradise is one of the best known of all the tropical flowers. Who hasn't walked into a swanky hotel or event and seen magnificent table centerpieces built about these remarkable flowers? Surprisingly, birds are easier to grow than many tropical plants. The plant is a...

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Introduction to Growing Begonias

 Begonias are among the most popular of cultivated plants, indoors or outdoors. These lovely plants are grown for both their leaf forms and their blooms, depending on the type of begonia. In some areas of the world, the wax begonia is easily the most popular bedding plant, while serious plant collectors...

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Growing Bananas Indoors

Bananas are without a doubt one of the most economically important plants in the world, so it makes sense that most people don't often think of growing bananas indoors. That's a shame, though. Because of the way bananas grow, you can create a stunning, large and very tropical summer container display using...

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Australian Tree Fern

Calling an Australian tree fern a houseplant is a bit like calling a leopard a housecat—in their native habitats, these plants grow to 40 feet or more, easily too large for most indoor growing situations except for the largest of greenhouses. But they deserve inclusion because of their sheer beauty. These...

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How to Grow Asparagus Ferns

The asparagus fern isn’t exactly a common houseplant, but it’s attractive with feathery, light foliage and can be successfully grown indoors. In warmer regions, the fern can be easily adapted to outdoor culture, where it sometimes grows like a creeper and can even become invasive. Indoors, the key to an...

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Growing Ascocentrum and Ascocenda Orchids

 The Ascocentrum genus is a relatively small group of about 10 species that hails from the Asian tropics—yet from a collector's point of view, these are extremely important plants. Ascocentrum plants are closely related to Vandas and easily hybridize with these orchids. The resulting Ascocentrum x Vanda...

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How to Grow Syngonium alias Arrowhead

 The arrowhead vine makes a pretty trailing or climbing vine that tends to aggressive growth under the right conditions. Sometimes mislabeled as Nephthytis, the arrowhead vine is a tropical climber in the Arum (or aroid) family. Many varieties have variegated leaves to one degree or another, and like...

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How to Grow Anthurium Plants

The are two groups of anthurium grown in greenhouses: flowering varieties and those with magnificent foliage. The only ones you're likely to see in the garden center are the flowering varieties with their multicolored spathes and red or yellow tail-like flower spikes. But if you are intrepid, you might...

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Alocasia amazonica

 This popular elephant's ear (Alocasia amazonica) is a striking and beautiful houseplant, with deep green leaves accentuated by whitish or light green leaf veins. The leaves are roughly serrated, and in some cases, the leaf color appears as an almost purple green. They are fleshy, truly tropical plants...

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Growing Hippeastrum Amaryllis Bulbs

The popular amaryllis seen in grocery stores and blooming around Christmas is most likely a Hippeastrum. There is a true amaryllis (the A. belladonna), but it's rarely seen in cultivation. Amaryllis is a indoor bulb that grows long, strappy leaves and tall heads of 2–4 lush, colorful flowers. Red and red-and-white...

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How to Grow Aloe Plants

Native to Africa and the surrounding regions, there are about 400 species in the Aloe genus. Of these, about five are commonly found in cultivation. The most famous is Aloe vera, which has been used medicinally for centuries. All Aloe plants are succulents, forming low rosettes of lance-shaped fleshy leaves...

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