You all have such beautiful gardens and as much as I would love to have them again, I am too old and too tired to take care of them the way they should be cared for. Therefore, I propagate and play around with house plants.. here are a few I still keep alive:

Jasmine, (Royal/Confederate and Maid of Orleans)

- Star

-Maid of Orleans

Spiders:
Curley, "Bonnie"

"Shamrock"

"Hawaiian"

"Vittatum"

"Variegatum"


Steptocarpus - Cape Primrose



Schlumbergera
Too many to show, but here is one of my favorites:
S. Carnival Brazil


Goldfish


I must stop now, but you get the idea. Please show us your favorites and tell us about them. I am sure we can all share some stories. Looking forward to seeing you.

hi, JB. What a great topic! I especially love your jasmine and your streps! I love the smell of jasmine.

I don't currently have any plants in the house, but this past winter I had a few amaryllis bulbs plus a kalanchoe and an asparagus fern. I'm definitely doing amaryllis again--it's such fun to have something growing in the house during the winter months--but I'm afraid I haven't figured out how to avoid the fungus gnats with indoor plants , so I'm really minimizing them. Of course this means I must either resign myself to treating tender perennials as annuals, or forego them!

Here is my favorite amaryllis from the winter, 'Double Dream':

I, too, am not an "indoor plant" person, however I plan to change that this cold season, also with Amaryllises... (Amaryllilii? heehee) Got an order placed and they should be arriving in October... darned if I can remember which ones they are now. I think one of 'em is Red Lion, but I'm not totally sure.

JB, I love your "Spider plants", I didn't realize there were so many varieties! We have some at work, part of combo hanging baskets. Of course, when I noticed some of the 'babies' had roots, I cut a couple off and brought 'em home to pot up. I have 2, and I guess those will have to get potted up and come inside for the Winter this year as well. ... And a new era has begun.

Amaryllilii--love it! I'm having trouble remembering which amaryllis bulbs I ordered, too, but I think one was 'Double Dragon', so Speedie we are thinking along the same lines in wanting a nice red one!

There are so many spider types that you would not believe it. If you want to be blown away, check out this site: http://www.johnjearrard.co.uk/... and you can spend hours looking at the pictures of each different genus. I love it and have decided to start a collection of them.
I love the way he tells you exactly what to expect from each one.

The new one Chlorophytum laxum ' Bichetii' is the latest I got and it is really neat.

This is how it looked when it arrived a few months ago.


This is how it looks now....and he said it really has not done well as a houseplant. It is also called "Wheat Plant"....It is said to be a good border plant for a warm greenhouse. I love the tiny flowers and mine seems to be doing well here in the house...it was in the greenhouse for awhile to get it going.

Here is is now:

thanks for the link, JB--I had no idea there were so many spider plant varieties! That
'Silver Surfer' and 'Fire Flash' sure are pretty.

I agree with you about the Wheat Plant--those flowers sure are pretty!

I also like Silver Surfer. Wonder where a person could find one or even seeds?

hi, @bluepoppy. That's a good point! I just did a quick google and they seem to be hard to find. Maybe @JB will have some ideas about that.

My favorite houseplant is my rubber plant. I purchased it just after I got married, and we didn't have any money for stuff like houseplants, but for some reason I had to have THIS plant. The leaves are a dark blue color, which I have never seen before or since. My husband begrudged the plant for a long time and I think the plant liked that so it thrived. For a few years, we lived in apartments without a balcony so it stayed inside all year. Now it goes out on my covered porch all summer. I cut it back when I'm tired of walking around it and root the cuttings in water. I'll be pretty sad if it ever dies. It's like a pet!
A few years ago, I got a fiddle-leaf fig and I'm hoping that I can figure out what it likes, it's far more tempermental than its cousin. The leaves get brown on the edges during the winter but it does fine in the summer outside. Probably loves the Baltimore heat and humidity!

That rubber plant sounds very cool! Photo please when you get a chance!

You may want to check out eBay or Etsy for the Silver Surfer. I personally find some unusual plants there but, you must be sure you get what you think you ordered. Some plants are mislabeled unfortunately. If I find the Silver Surfer I will certainly let you know.

I have never had a rubber plant, nor a snake plant. I love peace lilies and my old one is dying. I really want a new one but have not taken the time to look for one.

Hopefully we will find more houseplant people on this Forum and maybe we can find new sources for plants also.

My goodness JB, your Bichetii is magnificent, what a beauty!! And thank you for that link, what an amazing source of info! (of course I had to save it) :)

Etsy is amazing when trying to find stuff, the possibilities are endless.

Wanted to ask you all if you have many of your houseplants outside for the summer? If so, which ones do best in the sun and which do best in the shade. I have mixed feelings about some of mine.

I had several plants indoors last winter and this spring but the only one I'm planning to do next winter is my amaryllis. My problem with indoor plants is they always get fungus gnats even with new potting soil. not sure why this is the case.

Inside I keep my amaryllis on a sunny table next to a western exposure window and it does well there. Right now the amaryllis pot is on the front porch northern exposure. No blooms since it's been there.

I had 3 amaryllis bulbs last winter: double dream, flamenco queen and misty. Misty never bloomed for me! this fall I'm getting a few more amaryllis bulbs for the winter.

I don't do well with houseplants - I am terrible about neglecting their water needs and most of them die off eventually. However, I can't seem to pass up new purchases despite my track record. I bought an oleander from the Dutch Plant Farm rehab table really cheap at the end of last winter, and a not cheap at all meyer lemon tree from another nursery around the same time. I brought them outside as soon as the temps stayed above freezing. Both are alive and thriving since they weren't subjected to my neglect inside. The oleander has been blooming all summer and the lemon tree has lemons that are starting to get big (not ripe yet though). I've been treating my amaryllis the same as Cat by keeping them outside on the northern exposure front porch steps. They started regrowing leaves early on in the spring and half of them re-bloomed in early June. So, bottom line - yes, any houseplants that I manage to keep alive through a winter season from here on out will be moved outside for the summer

Aspen I'm right there with you in not being able to resist pretty faces in the nursery even when I know I probably shouldn't bring them home!

The lemon tree sounds wonderful--i'm just imagining nice fresh lemon smells and tastes. Mmmm.

Which amaryllises (amarylii? ) do you have Aspen?

Things that do well for me outside during the summer but inside during the winter:
Jade plant, amaryllis in mostly full sun, but with afternoon shade
Echeverias love the full sun in the summer
Rubber plant, Fiddle leaf fig, draceana live on my front porch during the summer. They get bright shade, but full afternoon west-facing sun.
I used to have phalaenopsis orchids that I kept in the bright shade at the back of my porch. They never got direct sun and loved it there.

Last year I took my begonias that live on the front porch inside, and they all survived with minimal attention from me and only a few rays of light from the grow lights where all of the coleus were hogging the shelf space.

@JB I think your best bet is to put the plants in as bright shade as you possibly can without subjecting them to direct sunlight. Most houseplants are happy there. Safer to put them in the shade, where they may get leggy, than in the sun where they could get fried.

Anyone have any tips on avoiding fungus gnats in the soil of indoor plants?

Fungus gnats are a mess this year. They are all over and I never had them in the soil before. I would love to hear from members too regarding them.

@typwc I have jasmine, that if I put it anyplace other than full sun it will die. Crazy plants. That is both the Star (Confederate) and Maid of Orleans.

My big Orchid cactus likes only morning sun and the camellia likes morning sun. My Tea Rose begonia like a bit more, but will not tolerate the full afternoon sun. Fortunately I have two decks , one for morning and one for afternoon. Works for me. Some of the Christmas/holiday Cactus (schlumbergera hybrids) that I do not use for selling cuttitings, are beside the greenhouse on a bench facing the North...they are ignored and they seem happy as can be. The ones inside my house are not as happy since the AC takes the humidity down and they get too much water and drop their segments. I must cut back in watering the inside CC big time or I will have nothing left to sell.

I have a little Goldfish plant that has been in the greenhouse and she is just so happy. She gets filtered sun but the doors are open and the temperature fluctuates and I was wondering if anyone puts their goldfish (if you have any) out in their gardens.