Keep soil moist - Plant Encyclopedia Results

This deciduous plant is an excellent groundcover where it has to be kept low-growing, and it will reach no higher than 2ft. It's semi-shade tolerant and requires careful and attentive care. The Chrysothemis pulchella can be found native to Panama, the West Indies, and Brazil. It thrives in USDA Zone 9-11, but in colder areas, it must be grown in a pot in order to provide protection during winter months.

This tropical perennial is perfect for gardeners looking to add a splash of vibrant colors to their landscaping. It displays bright, ornamental foliage and beautiful flowers in shades of red, yellow, orange, and crimson. Its delicate blooms attract butterflies and hummingbirds as well, bringing a unique charm and ambiance to any outdoor space. The flowers are particularly eye-catching as each have a yellow corolla with red striping or spotting, and are about twice the length of the calyx.

Whether grown indoors or outdoors, it is essential to keep the soil moist at all times. Chrysothemis pulchella is hardy and can survive cool weather, but temperatures below 60F will cause the leaves and stems to vanish. The best position for it is a spot with plenty of filtered light and regular watering. All in all, this plant is an attention-grabbing addition for any garden and a wonderful choice for adorning any sunny or semi-shaded area in the garden.

The "leaves" are actually large bracts that surround the less-conspicuous inflorescence. The bracts are white at the base, becoming green at the tips.

Echinodorus palaefolius has round leaves with a horizontal leaf base. Under water the leaves are narrower and longer. The next leaves will then become shorter and the plant will remain under water. Common as aquarium plants, they grow even larger as emersed pond plants.

The Rose is the most popular garden flower. Highly valued for its form, fragrance and endless variety of color. Tremendous progress has been made in raising new varieties by crossbreeding and selection. New types have arisen; the season of blooming has been prolonged to such an extent that many modern varieties (including climbers) bloom intermittently or in some instances continuously throughout the summer and autumn months. Only a severe frost puts an end to their blooming season. The species of wild Roses are classed under Rosa and a few hybrids that resemble wild kinds, but for garden purposes, the remaining types are grouped in various ways: according to their habits of growth; according to their ancestry; according to the manner in which they are grafted, budded or trained; and in a number of other ways. These groups are not always clear. They often overlap, but are generally convenient and practicable. It's important that the person interested in Roses be familiar with the different types of Roses even though he may not be able, at sight, to place any given Rose in a specific category. The basic of the Rose classes are: Hybrid Teas, Hybrid Perpetuals, Floribunda Roses, Polyanthas, Hybrid Sweetbriers, Miniature Roses, China Roses (Rosa chinensis semperflorens), French Roses (Rosa gallica), Damask Rose, Moss Rose, Shrub Roses, Rugosa Roses, etc. Roses need special care and diligence in the spring and early summer in fighting pests. The most important thing is having deep and rich soil. By digging deeply, adding manure and good loamy soil, Roses of high standard may be grown in any sunny garden. Whether the soil is light or heavy, deep digging is necessary. This consists of breaking up the subsoil or underlayer and replacing the top layer. Light sandy soil needs an addition of fibrous rooted turf that has been stacked for a year or two, with layers of farmyard manure between. Compost is also good. Generous amounts of rotted cow or horse manure is recommended. See Roses Page

Tree-ferns are the largest of the ferns and can provide a spectacular addition to most gardens. They grow in habitats ranging from tropical rain forests to temperate woodlands.

Leaf blade sagittate, entire or pinnatifid, with aculei long veins on lower surface. Spathe greenish brown to purplish, to 55 cm long and slightly twisted.

The plant is harvested from the wild for its edible leaves and various medicinal uses. It is also sometimes cultivated as a vegetable crop along the margins of ponds.

Although no specific mention has been seen for this species, it belongs to a family where most of the members contain calcium oxalate crystals.

Indoors, Calathea is tolerant of lower light conditions making it a fine houseplant. Your soil for Calathea should be highly organic and well drained. Use plenty of coarse material in the soil mix to help water flow through. Never allow roots to be soaked with standing water but they do enjoy continuous availability of water in their soil. Keep your Calathea roseopicta on a pebble tray to increase the humidity level near your plant, but do not allow your plant to sit in water. Calathea's prefer a warm location, away from cold drafts. Keep the soil moist but not soggy. If the water in your area is extremely hard, or of poor quality, water your plants with bottled water. Hard water will cause leaf spotting. If you're fortunate enough to have soft water, let the water sit out over night before watering your plants. If you have an aquarium, your can recycle the tank water, for watering your plants. In USDA zones below 11, grow as a houseplant or seasonal container specimen.

Heliamphora nutans is a highland plant preferring consistently cool and humid conditions, and loose well drained soil. It is native to several Venezuelan Tepuis including: Mount Roraima, Kukenan, Yuruani, and Wei Assipu. In cultivation, these plant do well in a terrarium in an air-conditioned room with bright indirect light.

Leptospermum is a lovely tree, with flowers which resemble tiny wild roses and spiky little evergreen leaves. It is distributed in Australia, New Zealand and South East Asia. This genus was first recognized by Johann Reinhold Forster in 1776, and comprises 86 species, 83 occurring in Australia, all but two endemic.

The common name of Tea Tree derives from the practice of early Australian settlers who soaked the leaves in boiling water to make a herbal tea rich in Vitamin C. It is said that Captain Cook brewed tea of Leptospermum leaves to prevent scurvy amongst his crews. The nectar from the flowers is harvested by bees; this is used to make Manuka honey which has strong antibacterial and anti-fungal properties.

Leptospermum makes a desirable garden plant, valued for its fine texture, pleasant citrus-like scent of foliage and attractive flowers. It is also great for container and bonsai culture.

In the ground, it can be planted as a single specimen tree or as several plants close together for a terrific wind-breaking thicket. Cultivation is pretty easy as most adapt well to a variety of soil types, preferring slightly acid. Give young trees plenty of water to establish deep roots - this enhances their natural drought tolerance in later years. Shape a single-trunk tree in its early years by cutting off any stems that sprout near the base. Look for the trunk to gnarl and grow "hair" in a few years - it's an outstanding feature of older trees.

When grown in container, Leptospermum requires a bit more attention. Lack of water is the easiest way to kill this plant: it won't wilt, but will go from healthy to dead in a matter of hours. Soil must be kept uniformly moist; the plant can tolerate poor drainage, however excessive water may cause root rot. Water when the soil dries slightly on the top. Leptospermum needs lots of light; if kept indoors, requires a very bright location. Tip pruning after flowering improves the vigor and tends to avoid the woody appearance.

Some species (for example, L. scoparium) are hardy to lover 20's; others are sensitive to frost. Leptospermum prefers it to be a bit cool in winter (below 55 degrees).

In contrast with its relative, a valuable Tea Tree, this Melaleuca has rather disturbing story. Being a tough plant, tolerating both standing water or dry upland situations, Melaleuca quinquenervia was introduced in Hawaii and the Florida Everglades, in order to help drain low-lying swampy areas. It has since gone on to become an invasive weed with potentially very serious consequences being that the plants are highly flammable and spread aggressively.

Melaleuca quinquenervia is an evergreen tree with a slender crown and drooping branches. Melaleuca grows very fast, up to 6 ft per year, and produces dense stands that completely shade out all other vegetation. It usually gets about 40 ft tall, but can get up to 100 ft if conditions are favorable. The bark is whitish and spongy, peeling off in thin layers. The leaves smell like camphor when bruised. The flowers are creamy white and arranged in "bottle brush" spikes; they are followed by fruit - small woody capsules, each containing several hundred tiny seeds, dispersed then by wind and water. A single tree that starts blooming when two year old, can produce 20 million seeds per year. The seeds are stored until some form of stress, such as frost, fire or human- induced injury, including herbicide, causes the capsules to open. The plant re-sprouts from cut stumps and from roots of fire-killed trees. Mature melaleuca trees survived Florida record-breaking freezes. Freezing is yet another environmental stress factor known to trigger mass seed release.

In Southern Florida, Melaleuca occupies now several million acres, primarily within the Everglades system. Its populations have nearly quadrupled over the past decade, it has become one of the state's worst invasive weeds and represents a severe threat to the integrity of the Florida Everglades. Melaleuca was introduced into Florida in 1906 as an ornamental and widely planted for landscaping and for "swamp drying." Seeds were scattered from airplanes over the Everglades in the 1930's in an attempt to create forests and drain the swamp. Even as late as the 1960's, Melaleuca was still being recommended as an ornamental. Today, state and federal agencies are actively working to control the spread of this exotic menace. Biological control agents from Australia have been released. Crews are at work continuously cutting and herbiciding melaleuca trees in state parks, Everglades National Park and Big Cypress National Preserve.

Melaleuca quinquenervia is similar to Melaleuca cajuputi but its old leaves are not conspicuously dotted with glands, not thin-textured and have obscure reticulations.