A Profile In Diversity: Philodendrons

Another day in Test Garden Paradise

            Welcome back to another episode of Lost In The Farmer’s Market, where we take a look into varied topics regarding sustainability, horticulture and organic practices. This week I had intended talk about Philodendrons, but due to the extreme cold at the beginning of the year many of my specimens simply did not make it. While this is sad it allows for some unique and interesting filler material before we get to the main topic. I rarely use filler material in these posts but since I only have five specimens of Philodendrons, and technically one of those is a variegated version of one of the others that doesn’t make for a satisfying read. So, with that in mind, expect a bit of a test garden update. Let us start with some interesting stuff, first I did promise in an earlier episode that I would post more pictures of the Limelight Christmas cactus in normal camera settings to help you the reader get a better grasp of how different the variety really is.

I like this one because of the large bud in the background and the neon-pink looking petals.

Obviously I used flash to try and get more out of the petals themselves to show off the yellow-chartreuse.

Oh myyy! theres that yellow-chartreuse I was talking about!

How about that, it’s pink, and yellow-chartreuse and totally outrageous by Christmas cactus standards. I hope these new photos help all you out there really grasp what kind of colors Limelight is capable of.

But what’s this down here? What you see is a Dwarf Peace Lily in a domed terrarium, I recently came across a large batch of these plants, which were legally cloned. They do get larger eventually but what makes them much more interesting is that their blooms which are actually called Spadix, and the ‘petals’ are actually a modified form of bract.

If you recall, bracts are modified leaves that serve in place of flower petals for plants with differing floral arrangements. The colored ‘flowers’ on poinsettias are actually bracts while the true flower is the tiny thing at the center. Likewise, with Peace lilies which are not lilies but actually Arum, the crinkly thing at the center of the ‘flower’ is actually a cluster of flowers. In case you are wondering, this little gem is available at LeClair’s General store along with a selection of other terrarium options.

Phone photo does this no justice.

This picture is of the bloom of Hatiora/rhipsalis type cacti, it’s a bit blurry because it was taken with my phone but it does give a general idea. Now it’s time we get onto the actual topic at hand, the Philodendrons.

 

Epipremnum hybrid ‘Marble Queen’

Marble queen is sort of a hit and miss in the industry because it’s either got the genetic toughness of normal devil’s ivy or it simply does not. Add in that the unique white variegation inhibits its ability to photosynthesize and you get a very slow growing form of devil’s ivy that is almost anti-invasive. Unlike normal devil’s Ivy or golden pothos, the marbled white colors of Marble queen make it an excellent secondary plant in a pot with a faster growing but taller primary plant. For the purposes of accuracy there is a common misconception about devil’s ivy that is somewhat of a problem. Devil’s Ivy is not a true philodendron it belongs to the family Araceae, whereas the true philodendrons belong to the family Aroideae. Some could say this is splitting hairs as Aroideae is a sub-family of Araceae. The Aroideae sub-family includes two other very famous tough to kill house plants; Anthurium andraeanum aka Flamingo Flower and Zamioculcas zamifolia or the Zig-Zag plant. Ultimately the mislabeling of Devil’s Ivy is a minor offense because it is still somewhat related and true philodendrons and it go together so well that in terms of care they pretty much want the same things. In the pictured example (sorry, phone photo) I planted four marble queens around two tree philodendrons. The tree philodendrons would provide moderate shade for the marble queens and the marble queens keep anything else from sprouting in the planter. By the way this planter was at Leclairs and sold recently which is why I had to rely on a phone photo I didn’t get to the store with an actual camera in time.

Philodendron bipinnatifidum / selloum – Tree philodendron

            These house plants are nearly indestructible, they have a moderate growth rate and tend to be available in three separate forms (Leclairs offers two).  Normally in the plant trade you will see the variety pictured, a variant with less frilled leaf margins and another with incredible amounts of fills on the leaf margins. The variety that has smaller leaf margin frills is depicted below for reference. 

Philodendron bipinnatifidum / selloum – Tree philodendron

Tree philodendrons are nice because they are more tolerant of cold than most of their species, they can handle some dryness in the soil but are dramatic enough when wilting that it’s hard to miss that they need water and they make plants for containerized arrangements. For note, the word Philodendron comes from the Greek words Philo meaning love or affection and Dendron meaning Tree. Since most philodendrons will climb up any surface they are offered it is no surprise where the name came from.

 

Philodendron hybrid ‘Moonlight’ – Moonlight Philodendron

            This central stem type philodendron is the sole survivor of my collection of varied philodendrons of it’s type. The Duke of Orange and Midnight philodendrons of the same type all were lost in the deep freeze during early January.  As sad as that is, this moonlight philodendron has been vigorous all winter and as you can see is doing quite well in the living room. What makes this plant unique is that it’s new growth emerges bright chartreuse green, then it matures to a darker shade of the same color. In theory it also will bloom in a few years and the bloom is a spadix that emerges white or pink.  I should say that this Philodendron is a moderate to slow grower which is refreshing when compared to a lot of philodendrons. I may have some of these at the market this spring/summer.

 

Philodendron cordatum – Heart Leaf Philodendron

            Don’t mind the dust folks, I’ve had this specimen for years and it’s the most tolerant house plant I’ve ever seen. For those of you who are thinking, ‘why don’t you use leaf polish on those leaves…get that dust off.’ The picture does not accurately show how big this plant is. There are hundreds of leaves that would need that treatment and honestly in nature dust isn’t an issue so why bother in a house setting? If you can get a heart leaf philodendron, then you’ve got your self an air purifier that can also to some extent purify water. While I do not quite understand the mechanism that triggers this response at times heart-leaf philodendrons will exude water from the tips of their leaves. This may be surplus water or a means of increasing humidity, but at times there can be a noticeable amount of it. Unfortunately, I do not know of any scientific studies that have ascertained how clean the water is but since my plant is a house plant it’s not exactly receiving acid rain. Either way, in Heart-leaf philodendron is moderate-somewhat fast growing and its clinging roots can latch on to your walls. Fortunately cutting it back does no real harm and the cuttings can be rooted in water and given away or sold with a relatively quick turnaround. If the plain green foliage isn’t your thing then Philodendron cordatum ‘Brazil’ is your alternative.

Philodendron cordatum ‘Brazil’

Brazil is much more colorful, is a bit slower growing but the random bright green banding on the leaves is quite charming. As a final note to those of you with pets,philodendrons contain insoluble crystals of calcium-oxalate which are released by a chewing action and are mildly or moderately toxic to cats and dogs. Symptoms of poisoning by philodendron include drooling, frothing at the mouth, vomiting, lack of appetite and pawing at the mouth. This may also include swelling of the oral cavity and this could lead to respiratory complications if left untreated. But enough on philodendrons, this brings to a close the second post of February 2018 and a look at the biology of Arum and Aroids when grown as house plants. For note this is where the advertising starts because it keeps the Test Garden’s supplied. As always barring terribly wet and cold weather or illness I still manage a vendor’s space at the Fayetteville City Market at 325 Maxwell street between 9:00 am and 1:00 pm on Saturdays. I sell four things primarily during the winter months and they are:

Soup Kits - $6.00

Seasoning Packets – $2.00

Whole Garlic – $1.00

Beyond the expected faire I am pleased to announce that the first vegetable plants of 2018 will be offered this weekend. All plants offered are cold hardy, but may need some protection if the weather dips below 35 degrees. This is the start of many good things to come as I can confirm that I will be offering Nobel Spinach and Purple Vienna Kohlrabi in the coming weeks also. Stay tuned for all those garden crops you didn’t know you wanted but suddenly you do.

Parris Island Romaine Lettuce – $3.00

Lacinato/Dinosaur Kale – $3.00

Italian Parsley – $3.00

If the market isn’t your thing or your schedule does not allow you to go there my premium exotic house plants can be purchased in attractive clay pots with unique embellishments at LeClair’s General Store. LeClair’s General Store is located on 1212 Fort Bragg Road in Fayetteville North Carolina.

This is their Facebook Page:

https://www.facebook.com/leclairsgeneralstore/

The Visit NC page’s Listing:

https://www.visitnc.com/listing/leclair-s-general-store

These days I am generally at the store at least twice a week, maintaining stock and/or delivering new materials so if you go to visit the store there is a fair chance I’ll be present to answer your questions. If not, you can always send me questions through this blog or visit the farmer’s market or pay attention to what Sustainable Neighbors is doing at the link below.

https://www.meetup.com/SustainableNeighbors/

            This brings to a close the fourth LITFM post of the new year, stay tuned the next episode which should be posted on the 8th of March. The topic will be: A Profile In Diversity: The Aloe Family.

P.S.

            Hit up LeClair’s General Store and be the first to own a pre-made terrarium with a exotic plant that is guaranteed to be the focus of conversation. Currently in the store there are four terrariums; with a single plant in each. The options are Dwarf Peace Lily, Artillery Plant, Fairy Castle Cactus and a Dwarf Arrowhead vine.

A Profile In Diversity: The Sansevieria Family

Welcome back to another belated episode of Lost in the Farmer’s Market or LITFM for short. It’s funny how one might think everything stops cold (no pun intended) in the winter because most things are not actively growing. The reality is that January, February and March are all good months to plan, and begin laying the foundations of a successful garden. Due to this and a sudden uptick in field operations my writing time got slashed so this update is a bit late, but since I know we have a rainy day this Wednesday expect the first February update to be then. Ironically as I write this post the rain is coming down pretty hard which is good because I spent yesterday afternoon cleaning up several areas of the test gardens and planting a border of white daffodils around the memorial bed. Also, a thick layer of pine straw was added to the bed since it’s been in almost a year and the cypress mulch while nice isn’t holding up well. But before I bore you any further with normal test garden procedure let me tell you what made the maintenance run special. 

In the front bed which is a bunch of overgrown, there is a single red amaryllis. For months I planned to dig it and move it to a spot where it would not be smothered by shrubs and never got to it. Yesterday I finally did, and as I was digging around to find it since it had no foliage I discovered that it was two bulbs. Two identical sized bulbs each roughly the size of a baseball which means they were mature offshoots of the original amaryllis. This was very fortunate because I wasn’t quite sure where I was originally going to put the single amaryllis. I walked up the driveway and for the briefest moment thought, “hmmm…two amaryllis I could put them on opposite sides of the Martha’s Vineyard stone in the memorial garden!” Within seconds of me finishing the thought I heard a noise up in the pines at the back of the property and looked up to see a large brown hawk landing on a branch and it sat there for a moment. As I got to thinking, how close it was and just the sheer size of it, it took off and then a second hawk farther out on the branch took off a second or two later to follow. It was a mated pair probably, but were I the sort to really believe in omens, this was definitely one. The two amaryllis went in the memorial garden and the maintenance run was completed. This means that sometime in summer 2018, the garden will be all white, except for those two-red amaryllis.

            Test garden happenings aside, today’s plant topic is the Sansevieria family all of whom are commonly called ‘snake plants’, ‘mother-in-law’s tongue’ or ‘Lawyer’s Tongue’. Only the first common name really is any sort of kind to this family of sturdy succulents from Africa. In general, all forms of Snake Plant take roughly the same care, they are soil insensitive as long as the soil isn’t constantly wet. You can fertilize them, but do it sparingly and only during the growing season (April-October in NC) and even then, use a liquid fertilizer with low nitrogen. Snake plants can tolerate somewhat low light, and can weather some cold temperatures but will not tolerate freezing or frost. Frost damage can permanently disfigure a snake plant or be the cause of phantom frost damage. Phantom frost damage is generally seen in succulents and some cacti, the signs of PFD, are that an otherwise healthy succulent that may have been exposed to a frost upwards of a week or two prior suddenly suffers stem collapse and or growing tip disfigurement followed by stem or root rot. Only close observation can reveal this  culprit as root and stem rot may move in so quickly after that a misdiagnosis of rot may occur. Of course, some think that the snake plants are bland, and for the most part they are right, the common plain green snake plant is bland as hell. However, as proven by NASA, and a few other organizations Snake plants are able to remove benzene, formaldehyde, trichloroethylene and xylene from the air.  Below is a link to a rough list of what houseplants clear what pollutants from the air, yes, I know it’s Wikipedia, but at the bottom of the page it cites where the information came from.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NASA_Clean_Air_Study

Sansevieria trifasciata – Snake Plant

So, with all that said let’s look at some of the varieties of snake plant one could have in the home. Starting with plain old common, variegated snake plant. This specimen (on the left) was brought into the Test garden houseplant collection as a fairly small offset of a plant grown at Fayetteville Tech. In the time I’ve owned this one it’s reached mature form and bloomed twice and the flowers are something to behold. They come out on thin stems and look like little off-white pills with droplets of honeydew/nectar which probably is to entice ants to hang around for when the flowers open so they get pollinated. The flowers once open are pure white, have tassel-like petals and are incredibly aromatic, but do not stink. Unfortunately, the picture of this specimen does not reflect its current state as this plant was heavily damaged by our two plus weeks of temperatures at or below 20 degrees. It may or may not survive.

Sansevieria trifasciata - ‘Moon Shine’

            Although tiny, this little one is quite spectacular because it is all-white…sort of. It has a noticeable variance in how it’s off-white variegation works because on one leaf you see it has the traditional banding and on the other the leaf is solid white with a green margin. This little plant was given to me by the Cactus lady at the Fayetteville City Market because she found out I was looking for one. This is a cheap promotion here but please hit her up this spring and summer she makes some great full decoration terrariums. As for care, I presume ‘Moonshine’ is to be treated like a traditional snake plant, limited water, small infrequent fertilizing during the growing months and, unlike the normal snake plant, one should expect a much slower growth rate. In plants with a white or nearly white leaf color, often the striking hue comes with a cost as the given planet is unable to photosynthesize as readily so it may need more regular fertilizer or special care to prune out any reverted growth.

           

Sansevieria trifasciata ‘Hahnii’ – Bird’s Nest

            The Bird’s Nest is a dwarf form of Snake plant that forms an almost cup-like cluster of leaves that someone at some point decided that it resembles a bird’s nest. I personally can see the comparison and really, I’m glad it’s not called something negative. The chief advantage to swarf forms of snake plant is that they don’t use up as much vertical space so you get all the air purification, but less of the clutter. Also, dwarf snake plants offset more readily and require repotting less frequently as they are cluster forming and adapted for close quarters.

Sansevieria trifasciata ‘Golden Hahnii’ – Golden Bird’s Nest

            I know what you are thinking, ‘hey that’s not much different than the last one!’ you are right, it isn’t, that’s is because the golden birds nest comes in a few separate forms, and the yellow-green banded type show is one of them. I should note that a golden-yellow variety is sold that carries all its color on the leaf margins is also called golden bird’s nest. These succulents take the same care as the bigger snake plants, and seem to respond more to fertilizer.

Sansevieria laurentii – Golden Snake Plant

            I should note, that the Laurentii type snake plants don’t actually have a common name so I just rolled with a rather obvious one for them. The bright golden-yellow margins of this plant are striking and help define the green banded parts incredibly well which is why this is the preferred type of snake plant for living arrangements and generally for gift-giving to those who seem to be unable to take care of house plants.

Sansevieria cylindrica – Spear Snake Plant

            I first read about Spear Sansevieria in a book called ‘Bizarre Botanicals’ by Larry Mellinchamp and Paula Gross (pg. 272-273).  Honestly, I agree with their assessment of the plant, it’s literally as minimalist as it gets and yet as with plain snake plant it’s blooms are incredible, and it is equally as interesting as a pencil cactus for the fact it is so simplistic. I bought this specimen about five or more years ago from a Nursery in Sanford North Carolina called ‘Big Bloomers’ when they randomly and out of the blue had a crop of spear sansevieria. Since then the mother plant you see has been repotted a few times, and I’ve given away or sold numerous pups. As far as houseplants go, this one is easy, and in theory could be the plant I decorate for Christmas next year given it’s size.

This brings to a close the second post of January and a brief look into the Snake Plant family and a few of it’s options. For note this is where the advertising starts because it keeps the Test Garden’s supplied. As always barring terribly wet and cold weather or illness I still manage a vendor’s space at the Fayetteville City Market at 325 Maxwell street between 9:00 am and 1:00 pm on Saturdays. I sell four things primarily during the winter months and they are:

Soup Kits - $6.00

Seasoning Packets – $2.00

Whole Garlic – $1.00

Fresh Organic Ginger - $1.00

Also, I will be bringing a number of random house plants every week if weather permits and While the assortment is purely random, there is not a thing for sale that is above $8.00.

If the market isn’t your thing or your schedule does not allow you to go there my premium exotic house plants can be purchased in attractive clay pots with unique embellishments at LeClair’s General Store. LeClair’s General Store is located on 1212 Fort Bragg Road in Fayetteville North Carolina.

This is their Facebook Page:

https://www.facebook.com/leclairsgeneralstore/

The Visit NC page’s Listing:

https://www.visitnc.com/listing/leclair-s-general-store

Currently, as of last delivery (02-02-2018) the store has a number of barrel cactus, a few tree philodendrons, some prickly pears, haworthia, rare and unusual aloes and other surprises. These days I am generally at the store at least twice a week, maintaining stock and/or delivering new materials so if you go to visit the store there is a fair chance I’ll be present to answer your questions. If not, you can always send me questions through this blog or visit the farmer’s market or pay attention to what Sustainable Neighbors is doing at the link below.

https://www.meetup.com/SustainableNeighbors/

            This brings to a close the second LITFM post of the new year, stay tuned for the first February update of 2018 this Wednesday. The topic for the next update is Christmas cactus, and there is a special treat because the Test Garden’s specimens of ‘Lime Light’ Christmas Cactus bloomed and I snapped a photo and trust me, the colors are not what you expect.