When it comes to getting started with your garden, you have two choices; planting seeds, or buying entire plants. Both have their own benefits. If you plant seeds and care for them every day, you will find it is a much more rewarding experience when you have a full, healthy plant. However, this method is a lot more risky. I can’t tell you how many seeds I’ve planted and never seen any trace of whatsoever.

If you choose to buy the plant from a nursery and install it in your garden, it reduces a lot of the work involved in making it healthy. However, I have found in the past that many incompetent nursery workers will absolutely ruin the future of the plant by putting certain chemicals or fertilizers in. I have adapted to this incompetence by learning to choose the healthiest plant of the bunch. Here I will discuss some of the techniques I use in my screening process for plants.

It may sound superficial, but the one thing you need to check for on your prospective plants is how nice they look. As far as plants go, you can truly judge a book by its cover. If a plant has been treated healthily and has no diseases or pests, you can almost always tell by how nice it looks. If a plant has grown up in improper soil, or has harmful bugs living in it, you can tell from the holey leaves and wilted stems.

If you’re browsing the nursery shelves looking for your dream plant, you want to exclude anything that currently has flowers. Plants are less traumatized by the transplant if they do not currently have any flowers. It’s best to find ones that just consist of buds. However if all you have to choose from are flowering plants, then you should do the unthinkable and sever all of them. It will be worth it for the future health of the plant. I’ve found that transplanting a plant while it is blooming results in having a dead plant ninety percent of the time.

Always check the roots before you plop down the money to purchase the plant. Of course if the roots are in absolutely terrible condition you will be able to tell by looking at the rest of the plant. But if the roots are just slightly out of shape, then you probably won’t be able to tell just by looking at it. Inspect the roots very closely for any signs of brownness, rottenness, or softness. The roots should always be a firm, perfectly well formed infrastructure that holds all the soil together. One can easily tell if the roots are before or past their prime, depending on the root to soil ratio. If there are a ridiculous amount of roots with little soil, or a bunch of soil with few roots, you should not buy that plant.

If you find any abnormalities with the plant, whether it be the shape of the roots or any irregular features with the leaves, you should ask the nursery employees. While usually these things can be the sign of an unhealthy plant, occasionally there will be a logical explanation for it. Always give the nursery a chance before writing them off as horrendous. After all, they are (usually) professionals who have been dealing with plants for years.

So if you decide to take the easy route and get a plant from a nursery, you just have to remember that the health of the plants has been left up to someone you don’t know. Usually they do a good job, but you should always check for yourself. Also take every precaution you can to avoid transplant shock in the plant (when it has trouble adjusting to its new location, and therefore has health problems in the future). Usually the process goes smoothly, but you can never be too sure.

Many believe that if you have an aquarium, you have to put fish in it. But a plant filled aquarium can be a lovely addition to a home, even if it has no fish. Some aquarium owners will choose to buy artificial plants because they’ve had bad luck attempting to keep real plants alive. But preserving the health of your plants is relatively simple if you recognize what their likes and needs are. Here are a few of the chief reasons that aquarium plants end up dying or not thriving well.

Failing to provide enough light for your plant. Light is extremely important for a plant. You can provide a plant with buckets of food and nutrients, but if you don’t give it enough light, it won’t last long. Now these days, most of the tanks that you find will come with a light attached to the tank top. Alternatively, it will come with pre-drilled holes that have been setup to allow you to install a light relatively easily. Lacking that, many acrylic tanks will let you drill your own holes so that you can install lighting yourself. On the other hand, another absolutely acceptable choice is to simply place your aquarium on the south side of your apartment or house, near a window where it will be sure to get plenty of light.

Failure to secure the plant roots. If your plant has been doing well for a while and all of a sudden the leaves begin to turn brown and fall off, it may be a simple matter of the roots having come loose. Roots often come loose in aquariums, especially if you have rowdy fish that love to dig. In this case, simply replant or reposition the plant making sure that the roots are well covered and secure. If the plant is new, however, the browning leaves may simply be the plant adjusting to it’s new home. Most plants experience “environmental shock” when being transplanted from one place to a brand new place. Simply give it time to adjust and it should be fine.

Plant crowding. Plants need room to grow. In a crowded aquarium, you have too many plants fighting for too few resources. Give your plants plenty of room to grow by providing it with a large enough aquarium to accommodate it’s future growth spurts. If it starts to get a bit unwieldy, it also helps to trim it every once in a while to control it’s growth.

The wrong plant in the wrong environment. Plants are living things. And like all living things they do better in some environments than in others. You may have fallen in love with the most perfect, beautiful tropical plant to your eyes. But, if you live in the northern part of Alaska, chances are your plant is not going to survive. Many times the cause of a dying plant can be traced directly back to it not being right for the environment it has been moved to.

Many times the fault lies with the purchasing. Not all animal stores or fish stores are set up to deal with plants. To most of them, plants are just a sideline. One red flag is the number of plants that the store has for sale. If they have just a few types of plants and a rather small stock, odds are that they aren’t very knowledgeable about the types of plants that you may need. If many of the plants that a store has are yellowing or brown, or if the plants seem to be loosely planted and not well cared for, it’s probably best to look elsewhere. The last thing that you want to do is to introduce a diseased plant into your aquarium.

If you want enchanting flowering gardens for shade, rely on the fuchsia plant. Whether you plant fuchsia flowers in individual pots, window boxes, or hanging baskets, fuchsia plants are a gorgeous flowering species noted for their grace and splendor. There are hundreds of varieties of fuchsia flowers, single and double, in rose, purple, and white shades, and in both upright and hanging plants. Fuchsia plants are particularly popular in California, where the summers are cool and the winters sufficiently moderate; but fuchsias make handsome container gardens in other climates too.

Except for the hanging types, the fuchsia flower is by nature an upright shrubby grower, fine as specimen plants for container gardens. Under proper conditions, some attain considerable size. The dark purple-and-red Reiter’s Giant grows to five feet or more, and the single red Mephisto is even taller. Alice Hoffman, a semi-double white and pink, is a dwarf, to two feet, as is the three-foot Camellia, a double white and red.

Tree, or standard, fuchsias are always very popular. These are simply the usual fuchsias trained to tree form. With patience, you can develop your own, starting with a four- to five-inch cutting kept tied to a strong four- to five-foot stake. At the desired height of two, three, or four feet, the single stalk can be pinched back and allowed to branch. In the meantime, do not remove all leaves from the stem, because they are needed to manufacture food for your fuchsia plant.

Good varieties to train to tree form include the purple-and-red Muriel, the red-and-white Storm King, the double lavender-and-red Gypsy Queen, and the all-white Flying Cloud.

Many gardeners believe that the best way to appreciate the fuchsias flower is to plant fuchsias in hanging baskets, because their exquisite blooms are seen at or above eye level. They are most decorative for patios, entrances, and on walls and tree trunks. They can also be suspended in redwood slat boxes and in glazed or plastic containers. In moss-lined wire baskets, fuchsia flowers require more water because the roots dry out more quickly.

For basket planting, you will like the double magenta-and-carmine Anna, the single red-and-white Claret Cup, and also the semi-double purple-and-red Muriel, mentioned for tree-training. Among the most brilliant varieties of fuchsia flowers are the double, bright red Marinka; the nearly orange Aurora Superba; the carmine-rose and orange-red San Francisco; and the rose-purple-and-pink Amapola. It is much more aesthetically pleasing to plant just one variety of fuchsia flowers per container.

In planters or raised beds of container gardens, fuchsia plants can be trained into interesting espalier forms against a wall or fence where the space may be too narrow for other plants. Though not difficult, the espalier plant requires time and patience. First make a trellis of wood or wire. Five to seven tiers are customary. Then train your plant as it grows, pinching growth frequently to induce branching and to avoid bare stems. Varieties to espalier include the red-and-scarlet Falling Stars, the blue-and-rose Coquette, and the red-and-white Dr. John Gallwey.

Fuchsia plants can also be trained into pyramids in the manner of formal English ivy plants. Since the young fuchsia shoots tend to break easily, it takes patience and a steady hand to tie them properly to the form.

These tender woody plants do best under cool, humid conditions. They are especially successful in coastal areas, where fog and humidity prevail, though some fuchsia varieties, as the single all-red Mephisto and the red-and-white Mme. Cornelissen, will thrive in hot, dry inland regions. Fuchsia flowers are great favorites because they bloom in shade, not the heavy shade of low-branching trees, but high, open shade and that found on the north side of a building. In dense shade, fuchsia plants get leggy and flower sparingly. In hot, direct sunshine, however, they dry out and the leaves burn. Windy locations should be avoided because of the delicate fuchsia flowers and brittle branches.

Moisture is essential but good drainage is important also. Fuchsias announce dryness by wilting. In container gardens, they usually need water every day and sometimes more often. In the bottom of the container provide sufficient rough material—broken flower pots, pebbles, or cinders—to insure free passage of water. Do not allow pots to stand in water and in hot weather sprinkle the foliage to remove dust and increase humidity.

Fuchsia plants require an acid soil, a mixture rich in organic matter. A good combination consists of one part good garden loam, one part leaf mold or peat moss, and either one part old manure or a small amount in dehydrated form if you want to mix it yourself.

Containers should be large enough to allow for full development of plants during the summer growing season. A small fuchsia plant needs a six-inch pot; if two or three are grown together, use a ten- or twelve-inch pot. Starting with young plants is preferable, although large specimens are satisfactory if they are healthy and vigorous. When fuchsias are wintered in containers and are not treated as annuals, you can enrich the growing medium the first year by scooping a few inches of soil from the top and replacing it with a fresh mixture. The next year, take the fuchsia plants out of containers in early spring, cut back the tops and some of the roots and repot in fresh soil in the same container. Drastically cutting back branches in the spring, before growth starts, will make fuchsia plants branch more abundantly.

When you want to increase your collection of fuchsia plants, take three-inch cuttings from the tender spring growth, dip the ends in a hormone powder and insert the lower inch of each stem in a mixture of half leaf mold and half sand. Protect the cuttings from sun and either spray them lightly from time to time or cover with polyethylene plastic to prevent their drying out.

When roots have formed, transfer the fuchsia plants to small pots in a mixture of light loam and leaf mold. Cuttings can also be taken in late summer or early fall for small plants that are easier to winter.

Voracious in their needs, fuchsia plants require regular feeding through the growing season. Give liquid fertilizer once a month, following directions on the package. Fish emulsion, applied monthly, will give especially good results. Fish emulsion can be purchased as a “deodorized” product which is highly recommended.

During the winter, store your fuchsia plants at 45 to 50 degrees to keep them dormant. Water sparingly, just enough to prevent wood from shriveling. Outdoors, hardy fuchsias will survive to 25 degrees, but where hardiness is questionable; it is safer to winter plants in a greenhouse, cool room, shed, or in a cold frame. During this period, cover the roots with a layer of peat moss.

Now that you know how to plant and care for fuchsias, plant a hanging basket or a container garden and delight in the beauty of fuchsia plants either in your home or yard.

Happy Gardening!

Copyright © 2006 Mary Hanna All Rights Reserved.

This article may be distributed freely on your website and in your ezines, as long as this entire article, copyright notice, links and the resource box are unchanged.

Through the years many plants were considered to be only greenhouse subjects rather then house plants. That, thankfully, has changed and many species can be considered as house plants to decorate your home. Here is a house plant guide to the basics of caring for your plants also known as container gardens. It is best to choose plants that have thick leathery foliage. The reason they can withstand heated rooms is that they have tough leaves and can withstand adverse conditions. This also cuts down on house plant care. It is wise however, to keep the foliage free of dust so as not to interfere with the plants pores.


It pays to get your house plants ready for indoor life. If it is possible buy your plants when you no longer need to heat your home. This way they will get plenty of fresh air to harden the developing foliage, giving it strength against a hot dry atmosphere of heated rooms. This is especially important for tropical house plants. If you buy a tropical plant, such as a begonia, keep it in a room that is warm and moist, like a bathroom. They thrive on moisture and because of the steam from showers tropical house plants will get the necessary humidity.


To keep house plants species hardy they must be in a cool a place as possible. An unheated room that does not fall below 45 degrees is ideal. If you have a very cold spell, bring the plants into a heated room but be sure to get them back to the cool atmosphere as soon as possible. If you have a very large house plant that is not easily moved cover it with material, like several layers of burlap, to shield it from the elements.


When it comes to house plant care, watering is usually the trickiest. The amount of water will depend on how fast the plant absorbs the moisture. Obviously, a house plant that is in active growth requires more water than a dormant one. A good rule of thumb for house plant care is that they will require more water during the growing months, April through October. All container gardens should be watered when relatively dry. Sufficient water should be given to the house plant to reach to the drainage hole. This is important because the feeding roots closest to the bottom need water to continue growth.


A good trick for house plant care is to tap the pots half way down with your knuckles. If there is a hollow sound the plant needs water. But, if you hear a dull sound there is still plenty of water. The exception here is if the soil has been compacted firmly into the pots, then you will always here a hollow sound. If possible use rain water for house plant care. If you cannot use rain water on your container gardens, you can use tap water. Be sure to inspect your house plants daily to see if they need moisture.


If the tips of your foliage turn a sickly yellow you are over watering the plant. Do not water it again until the soil is quite dry. Over watering will also cause a moss or algae to grow on the soil. This must be removed, then use a sharp stick to aerate the house plant.


Another task of house plant care is feeding the plant. Plants that have rooted well and are growing freely need the most feeding. This extra nourishment is especially needed from May to August. Flowering house plants benefit by feeding them as soon as there flower buds appear. There are many types of fertilizers, speak to the people at your garden center to find the right one for your house plants.


These are some tips on caring for house plants. Keep your house plants feed, watered and clean so that you will have years of enjoyment and beauty.


Happy Container Gardening!


Copyright © 2006 Mary Hanna All Rights Reserved.


This article may be distributed freely on your website and in your ezines, as long as this entire article, copyright notice, links and the resource box are unchanged.

Mustard plant is is one of the several plant species that are found in many countries. Their mustard seeds are useful in cooking. Mustard seeds are grinded and mixed with water and transformed into a condiment. From mustard plant we can obtain mustard oil which is very useful. Mustard oil is obtained by pressing the mustard seeds. The importance of mustard plant is also mentioned in the Bible.

Wild and black mustard are some of the species of mustard plant. Mustard plants generally do not achieve their normal height in low rainfall area. Mild white mustard plants grow in North America and the Mediterranean Europe. Mustard plants have the capacity to spread rapidly in areas where they are introduced.

Mustard plant is an interesting plant which is very useful to man. It has both culinary and medicinal value. Black mustard, white mustard plant and leaf mustard are of the many different types of health giving mustard plant. Mustard plant contains volatile oils which have antimicrobial properties Mustard plants are able to cure many problems.

Powdered mustard is used an appetite stimulant, anti inflammatory, rubefacient, diuretic, laxative, digestive aid, emetic, irritant and for many other purposes. Mustard plant is also used to combat sinus problems. It enhances blood circulation. Mustard plant gives mustard flour when sprinkled in socks save the toes from frostbite. Seeds of mustard plant are used as preservatives. They are used as a medicine for spleen and liver complaints. Mustard plant also gives mustard plaster which if used as a dressing, increases blood flow to injured areas of the body. Mustard plaster is also used to lessen rheumatism, arthritis and toothache. Muster plaster is an official treatment for reducing fever. 

Some mustard  plants are grown and cultivated as green vegetables. Mustard if cultivated properly can produce oilseed which is very useful. Leaves of Indian mustard plant is one of the main ingredient in western and Indian food. Mustard plants are used for removing heavy metals from soil as these plants have high tolerance for such substances. These metals are very hazardous for other plant communities and are found in waste sites. Mustard plant store these metals in their cells. Later these plants are harvested and disposed. This method of removing heavy metals is cheaper and less expensive than other methods. This method is also useful in preventing erosion of soil from such sites.

Greeks have described the Mustard plant as the greatest plant because of its usefulness to mankind. Mustard plant has the ability and capacity to sprout, bloom, and mature at a remarkable rate. Despite rapid growth, their quality is long lasting. Mustard plants have the ability to reproduce itself through the process of natural germination. These plants are functional and useful year after year. Every part of mustard plant can be utilized effectively. Mustard plant is also used for treating patients suffering from cold.  Mustard seeds if applied to chest will prevent pneumonia. Leaf mustard can also be used as a salad. So the next time you see a mustard plant do not uproot it as it is extremely useful.

When it comes to getting started with your garden, you have two choices; planting seeds, or buying entire plants. Both have their own benefits. If you plant seeds and care for them every day, you will find it is a much more rewarding experience when you have a full, healthy plant. However, this method is a lot more risky. I can’t tell you how many seeds I’ve planted and never seen any actual plants.


If you choose to buy the plant from a nursery and plant it in your garden, it reduces a lot of the work involved in making it healthy. However, I have found in the past that many incompetent nursery workers will absolutely ruin the future of the plant by putting certain chemicals or fertilizers in. I have adapted to this incompetence by learning to choose the healthiest plant of the bunch. Here I will discuss some of the techniques I use in my screening process for plants.


It may sound superficial, but the one thing you need to check for on your prospective plants is how nice they look. As far as plants go, you can truly judge a book by its cover. If a plant has been treated healthily and has no diseases or pests, you can almost always tell by how nice it looks. If a plant has grown up in improper soil, or has harmful bugs living in it, you can tell from the holey leaves and wilted stems.


If you’re browsing the nursery shelves looking for your dream plant, you want to exclude anything that currently has flowers. Plants are less traumatized by the transplant if they do not currently have any flowers. It’s best to find ones that just consist of buds. However if all you have to choose from are flowering plants, then you should do the unthinkable and sever all of the flowers from the plant. It will be worth it for the future health of the plant. I’ve found that transplanting a plant while it is blooming results in having a dead plant ninety percent of the time.


Always check the roots before you plop down the money to purchase the plant. Of course if the roots are in absolutely terrible condition you will be able to tell by looking at the rest of the plant. But if the roots are just slightly out of shape, then you probably won’t be able to tell just by looking at it. Inspect the roots very closely for any signs of brownness, rottenness, or softness. The roots should always be a firm, perfectly well formed infrastructure that holds all the soil together. One can easily tell if the roots are before or past their prime, depending on the root to soil ratio. If there are a ridiculous amount of roots with little soil, or a bunch of soil with few roots, you should not buy that plant.


If you find any abnormalities with the plant, whether it be the shape of the roots or any irregular features with the leaves, you should ask the nursery employees. While usually these things can be the sign of an unhealthy plant, occasionally there will be a logical explanation for it. Always give the nursery a chance before writing them off. After all, they are (usually) professionals who have been dealing with plants for years.


So if you decide to take the easy route and get a plant from a nursery, you just have to remember that the health of the plants has been left up to someone you don’t know. Usually they do a good job, but you should always check for yourself. Also take every precaution you can to avoid transplant shock in the plant (when it has trouble adjusting to its new location, and therefore, has health problems in the future). Usually the process goes smoothly, but you can never be too sure.

When considering which office plant displays you want to use throughout your business it is important to think about the environmental conditions within the chosen areas. Office plants will only do well if they are kept in conditions that are suitable in both light and temperature, therefore getting it right, or indeed wrong can dramatically affect whether or not they survive.





Many offices and businesses are closed during weekends but any office plant displays inside those premises need to be able to survive during these periods, therefore acceptable climate levels need to be maintained 24/7 in order for office plants to flourish. Conditions during the winter months may also cause problems, as not only do temperatures drop, but light levels may also become much darker. Office plants that can tolerate lower environmental levels may be advantageous if constant temperatures and luminance cannot be maintained.





It must be remembered however that some plants are incredibly tolerant to changes in light and can adapt between the light levels found outdoors to those indoors. The level of light a plant needs to survive is based on Lux, which essentially is the amount of light, or luminance it needs to survive. For instance, a tree that might normally be found outdoors or in a field may normally require 40,000 Lux may well adapt to tolerate as little as 1500 Lux when moved indoors.





There are many different types of businesses, all with their own environmental conditions. So whether you are looking for office plants for atria or large open spaces such as a showroom, narrow and dimly lit corridors, a shopping centre, a regular office building or even a swimming pool it is important to understand which plants or office plant display will be best suited to these incredibly different environments





When choosing office plants for an atrium or other large open areas it is important to ensure that there are sufficient levels of light. It is a common misconception that all atria are light and airy spaces, which is not necessarily the case. In many cases, the many roof beams and walls absorb a lot of the incoming light therefore a lot of unnatural lights may be needed to keep the area bright. Temperature is another point for consideration too. Seasonal changes as well as variations between day and night play a part in any office plant choice.





Office Buildings are probably one of the most popular areas for planted office displays. Obviously, in these areas constant light and temperature levels need to be maintained in order for humans to survive therefore correct plant choices are essential. Some office environments have luminance issues especially where artificial light is relied on. In these instances, extra lighting or perhaps even artificial plants may be the solution.





Planting in shopping centres can often lead to office plants suffering because of the dry air lacking humidity. This provides an ideal environment for both insects and diseases, which can be harmful to office planted displays. Another problem with shopping centres is that they can quite often lack suitable Lux levels for the wellbeing of plants; therefore, additional lighting may well be needed.





Show Rooms often consist of large open spaces, which are needed to showcase the product range in question. Fronted by large glass windows, showrooms can tend to suffer from high temperatures and unless the windows are tinted, high luminance levels. During working hours, air conditioning devices may regulate the temperature but when not in use, office plants may suffer from large changes in temperature, for instance, a showroom will retain heat and therefore be hot during summer months but will seem very cold during winter.





Swimming Pools, with their high humidity levels may seem ideal when it comes to planted displays. However, when you take into consideration chemicals such as chlorine and standing water in the planted displays, it is easy to see why in many cases, artificial plants and displays are favoured.





One universal factor across all of these areas is that modern innovations in artificial plants have led to them becoming a real alternative to live office planted displays. Technological advancements in the look and feel of artificial plants have dramatically enhanced their appeal to a wider audience and are gaining in popularity.





In conclusion, live-planted office displays offer a multitude of health and visual benefits to both customers and workforce alike. However, in sectors or areas where live plants are simply not a viable option, artificial plants may well provide the answer.



Exotic as the dictionary would define it in this context with plants is something introduced from a foreign country meaning not native to the country in which you may reside. To further define these plants, they are usually imported from very warm and frost-free environments and placed in your home in pots or larger containers where climates are much harsher than the native land.

This requires artificial creation of those elements that will result in the exotic plants ability to survive in the environment of your home or place of business. It will,in some cases, test your ability as a gardener because some of the these exotic plants need more tender loving care than do others. To others decor maybe more important for a short period of time than providing a place in your home or garden for a long period of time. This will be up to you to decide.

I am going to assume here that you are the enthusiastic gardener and it will necessitate some close requirements to be followed. This is especially true if you have the desire to raise orchids,bromelaids or exotic hoyas. Exotic Plants are usually from much warmer climates and this relays the impression that they will require intense temperatures. This is actually a misnomer and you will be quite surprised to find that the requirement for cooler almost cold nights are required to process sugars from the leaves to the roots.

One of the real dangers to an exotic plant is the lack of humidity. In the outside world it is dripping with moisture and the humidity is close to 100% but bring it into a heated home and it experiences only a small amount of the moisture it can usually hold. Here there is more evaporation then the plant can possibly replace. This is sure death to your exotic plant. It requires the existence of saucers filled with pebbles and water placed under your exotic plant. It may also require you to mist your plant at least once a day to continue the existence of a higher humidity then would normally exist in the room.

Light is of extreme importance in the ultimate survival of your exotic plant. If you have an exotic plant which is a bloomer then the intensity of light must be close to that of its native land. Even the daylight length is important to some flowering exotics and may require you to provide some type of artificial light to extent the time necessary to flower properly.This is especially true of such plants as gardenias,Amaryllis and holiday plants. Windows without sun will not support flowering plants but strictly foliage plants including tender tropics will do well in north windows with full light.

Temperature is a major element in the life of your exotic plant. A constantly high temperature will induce the plant to use up its stored food during the daytime hours there by bringing exhaustion to the plant. This is the reason a period of such temperatures must be followed by a period of lower temperatures to regain its energy. It is vital that you don’t over heat the area in which your exotic plant is located and you would be advised to follow the instructions that accompanied your plant.

Watering is another important element in the growth of your plant. You would think the tendancy would be to under water your plant. It is found that most people actually are guilty of over watering their exotic plant. The rule of thumb here is not to water until the surface of the soil is dry. A tropical plant with very coarse roots and growing in heavy very loamy soil should be left to “dry out” and then water by soaking the pot until water appears through the drain holes in the bottom. However these plants will need additional watering in a heated room some possibly daily. I have a vine that constantly dries out and needs water on a daily basis. In the summer months this maybe cut back depending on the sun exposure and summer heat.

A word about soil composition. Some of these exotic plants having hairfine fibrous roots will require a more humus soil like leaf mold,peatmoss,sphagnum,shredded fir-bark or a humus compost with sand or perlite for proper drainage. This gives you the advantage ,in most cases, no need for plant fertilizer as the above matter will provide all the nutrients necessary as it breaks down. You might want to add a little fish fertilizer for nitrogen and also some bone to add phosphate. As in the case of watering,there is a tendency to over play this necessity and the plant can meet an untimely death from too much “tender loving” fertilizer.

The answer to the question: Exotic plants in the home? I would vote yes because these plants add so much to the decor and beauty of your surroundings. They are such excellent conversation pieces for your visitors and brings great pleasure and satisfaction to your gardening experience. You can read all about other indoor plants at http://www.gardenersgardening.com/indoorplants.html