Indoor "miracle" cheap house plant

TravellingAbuela

jfdi - that bit about the orchid has cheered me up! I had one bought in March and it was beautiful for months and months. Eventually the flowers dropped off and I was left with a tall empty stem. Not knowing if they came back or not, I cut off the stem and left it on the window cill. New leaves have appeared but no sign of a flower stem. However, I now live in hope! (Just hope I haven't ruined its chances by cutting off the stem!!)

maypole

oops sorry Lidls Cyclamen are £1.79 and not £1.49 as I had thought:o

hybernia

maypole wrote: »

oops sorry Lidls Cyclamen are £1.79 and not £1.49 as I had thought:o

But still better than £3 at Tesco.

(Though I'm not going to tell husband. At £1.79 a time, he'll probably rush off out to Lidl and come back with enough cyclamen to crowd us out of hearth and home.)

noxon

loucroft wrote: »

Wow, my friend has one that I always joked was a realistic lookalike made from very good materials! I'll tell her to put in a larger pot after hearing this!

I've had a great indoor plant, given to me by my parents in Jan. I planted its huge buld - around 15 cms across. First the leaves came up, and as I'd thrown away the box I have no idea what it is.

When it flowered, it had three huge pink lily-type flower heads and was about 70cms tall so it had to be supportedd. I cut the heads when they started to die back, then cut the flowers and noticed more leaves were growing. Since then, i've had 3 cycles of these gorgeous flowers. i daren't move the pot though!

I'd love to know what it is but don't know where to start looking.

Like meanmarie I reckon amaryllis (hippeastrum).

loucroft

Thanks meanmarie and noxon, had a google image search and yes its an amaryllis, an amazing plant. It's having a rest since I posted but am going to plant again this week with some feed and see how she goes!

Cyclamen - go to your local plant nursery, not homebase not b&q but a local place thats open to the public. Not only will they have what you need, they will have more variety of plant that you can ask about and that they will know the anwser to

sparrer

I have a bromeliad which I rescued from a skip in a garden centre some 12 years ago, it has a stem of 10 -12 stunning blooms on it every year, vivid orange serrated petals with a creamy centre. When I asked if I could buy it (I just liked the long, dark green strappy leaves) they gave it to me, saying those plants only bloom once. It's at least four times bigger than the original, been potted on twice, has multiplied into three separate plants...I'd love to take it back to let the garden centre see what they threw out.

I also have an African violet given to me 4 years ago which has been dropped, dried out, covered with sticky stuff (white fly?) which I wiped off with a mild washing up liquid solution. It sits on the kitchen window sill and atm it has 27 blooms with more to unfold.

I'm terrible with plants, remember to water them about once a month. My late dad told me always water from the bottom, apparently it makes the roots reach down for the water hence making them stronger. Don't know know how true that is but it works for my two

hybernia

sparrer: what a lovely post! I for one am definitely learning something new every day here.

I wish there was some way of re-titling this thread along the lines of 'Plants that come back from the dead'.:)

As to watering from the roots up, as it were, my now expert husband (sigh) says you're right, he thinks "his" cyclamen has flourished -- now entering its seventh month in continuous flowering -- because of the pot he bought, and whatever capillary action it has in its base which allows the roots to draw moisture without the surface of the pot being too damp.

Thanks again for the info, sparrer.

maypole

sparrer wrote: »

I have a bromeliad which I rescued from a skip in a garden centre some 12 years ago, it has a stem of 10 -12 stunning blooms on it every year, vivid orange serrated petals with a creamy centre. When I asked if I could buy it (I just liked the long, dark green strappy leaves) they gave it to me, saying those plants only bloom once. It's at least four times bigger than the original, been potted on twice, has multiplied into three separate plants...I'd love to take it back to let the garden centre see what they threw out.

I also have an African violet given to me 4 years ago which has been dropped, dried out, covered with sticky stuff (white fly?) which I wiped off with a mild washing up liquid solution. It sits on the kitchen window sill and atm it has 27 blooms with more to unfold.

I'm terrible with plants, remember to water them about once a month. My late dad told me always water from the bottom, apparently it makes the roots reach down for the water hence making them stronger. Don't know know how true that is but it works for my two

I agree and also to give them a good soaking once in a while to give them a really proper drink, rather than just a little dribble every day:)

devilbunny

There are lots of orchids around in supermarkets at the moment at special offers. I bought a slightly sad looking one in tescos yesterday reduced to £1.20, but Sainsburies have special offer ones for £5 every month or so.

The flowers can last for literally months, and orchids don't need much feeding or even watering, which is good value anyway, but you can also persuade them to flower again year after year. Not all of mine did and some turned into dead stalks, but it's definitely worth a go, especially if you see a cheap one.

There's loads of info on the net about how to get them to 'come back to life' - but Burnham Nurseries has a very good guide on their website, which I use.

sassyblue

Cyclamens are bulbs so although the top dies off but they do come back.

devilbunny, l love orchids l always thought they were hard to grow but they aren't at all. I've got some in large south facing windows where it can get hot even in winter but they seem to love it

Hubby and son got me one from Tescos for mothers day in 2009, it's flowered continually ever since apart from 3 weeks where the new shoot hadn't flowered before the old ones had died, l never feed it just water.