Indoor plants can be given to anyone of any age

December 23, 2012 at 12:00a.m.

By Kathy Van Mullekom

Daily Press (Newport News, Va.)

When in doubt about what to take to a hostess or give as a last-minute gift for someone special, select a plant that can be enjoyed indoors.

Houseplants — let’s change their nickname to indoor plants — are affordable, caring ways to show your appreciation for anyone of any age — even school-age kids.

Just like a garden outdoors, plants indoors can help children learn responsibility because they can monitor the plant’s water, light and fertilizer needs.

They can research the plant, write a paper about it, discuss its progress with you and even use it for show-and-tell times at school.

Just think, one plant could help a child develop a passion for a lifelong pastime, or maybe even a fulfilling career.

Before giving any child a plant, learn about its safety for nontoxic properties.

Indoor plants offer many other benefits, too — they cheer the elderly, help clean household air and improve mental health, according to research and experts.

Fruit-producing miniature lemons and oranges add to the fun.

5 PLANT GIFT IDEAS

Norfolk Island Pine. This open-branched evergreen fits into small spaces — on top of desks, counters and tables. It likes bright light near a window, but not direct sun or hot heat, or its needles quickly drop. Keep the soil moist but don’t let it dry out or stand in water. It’s perfect for year-round miniature embellishments — shiny red ornaments for December, red paper hearts for February, bunnies for March-April, American flags for summer and pumpkins for fall.

Cast Iron Plant. This indoor plant is as rugged as its name because it needs virtually nothing to thrive. Its foot-long, upright dark-green leaves are narrow and nice — they just need dusting occasionally with a clean, damp cloth. Place it near bright light, not full sun, and don’t water it very often. To add color for gift-giving any time of the year, place some fresh-cut florist flowers in water tubes and insert them among the plant’s foliage. Cast Iron Plant is a cold-hardy ground cover. It’s cold hardy outdoors in zones 6-11.

African violet. These grandmotherly flowers, often grown on wide, bright windowsills in country kitchens, are returning as favored plants for indoor miniature/fairy gardens. These violets like bright, filtered sun, nothing hot and direct. Give them moist, not wet, soil; feed with a special African violet fertilizer.

Combo planters. Using a basket, china bowl, small metal tub or whatever container strikes your fancy, tuck a few small pots of greenhouse-grown plants — miniature ivy, creeping fig, ferns, mini orchids — and group them in the container. Tuck packing straw, moss or shredded paper round them. Your recipient can enjoy them on a windowsill or permanently plant them as a terrarium or dish garden to enjoy for months to come.

Water misers. Succulents and bromeliads are ideal indoor plants for anyone who has difficulty keeping plants alive. Watering plants too much is as bad as watering them too little; in fact, over watering is the common cause of plant death indoors and outdoors.

Kathy Van Mullekom is a gardening and home columnist for the Daily Press in Newport News, Va.