Best Indoor Plants for Bonsai

People in every culture have been decorating with potted plant for centuries. However, no container plant has had more attention than the Bonsai.  This potted miniature tree's popularity took seed around 1800 in Japan when it evolved from the Chinese Penzai into an art form and was renamed Bonsai. The oldest known living bonsai tree is in the Tokyo Imperial Palace. It is thought to be at least 500 years old; making its way in the world in 1610.

If you want to train a bonsai, understand that it is an art form not a specific plant.  Traditionally, bonsai are outdoor trees and do not adapt well to the warmth of the typical home. However, its popularity, especially in American, has prompted the cultivation of tropical and sub-tropical trees for indoor use.

While you can train any woody plant into a bonsai, the evergreen and other temperate trees will not fare well indoor without some skill and exquisite care.  Make life and the art of bonsai easy by investing in one of these beautiful indoor plants that will happily be sculpted to your artist heart's desire.

Best Indoor Plants for Bonsai

Click to Buy Baby Jade

Crassula ovata arborescens or the BABY JADE plant is a very popular succulent bonsai. Native to South Africa with round, pale green leaves. Jades store water in their fleshy leaves as well as their trunk and branches.  They require less care than the average bonsai.  Just make sure they are dry before you water again. They can also stand less than bright full light. Good choice for the beginner.

Dracaena marginata or DRAGON PLANT is a palm style bonsai. Native to Madagascar, the Dragon  has a thin trunk and center focused mass of narrow pointed green leaves with gorgeous red to purple stripes. Dragons are easy to care for as long as you don't over water.  They can tolerate less than full light. The   Dragon is especially healthful for your home's air quality.

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Click to Buy Weeping Fig

Ficus benjamina or WEEPING FIG train well in the classical, upright form. Native to India and Malaya it has bright shiny dark green leaves and develops a thick trunk at early age. Shown here is the Ginseng Weeping Fig, which  is especially durable for indoor living. Likes full direct sunshine for at least part of the day and dislikes drafts. You will find its care more inline with the average houseplant.

Ficus neriifolia or WILLOW LEAF FIG is also known as the Mexician Ficus. It has small enlongated, light green leaves and is a natural for the the traditional bonsai size and shape. Shown is the  Shohin (tiny thing) bonsai. Shohin should not exceed 10" in height.  It has all the beauty of a large tree in miniature.  Does well in low and moderate lighting. For the true miniature lover.

Click to Buy Willow Fig

Click to Buy Dwarf Jade

Portulacaria afra or DWARF JADE is one of the easiest indoor trees to care for.  It is not a true jade plant and is much hardier that its namesake. Will tolerate  low light and  short periods of dryness. Its  compact growth make it easy to train in many bonsai styles.  But take care with wire training as the leaf pads can easily break off. Great for beginners and bonsai artists.

Schefflera arboricola or HAWAIIAN UMBRELLA TREE is one of the most popular indoor bonsai.  It has tiny dense green umbrella shaped leaves that form a little canopy.  Tolerates low light but doesn't like to dry out.  Easier to train that the standard bonsai and can be done with just some pinching and pruning. It is not the best choice if you have children and pets because all parts are poisonous Recommend for the inexperienced or green thumb challenged.

Click to Buy Hawaiian Umbrella

How to Grow Lavender Indoors

Lavender is an easy to grow herb and will adapt well to most indoor conditions. If it isn't growing in your home, you're missing out on the everything-lavender craze.

This herb has so many benefits it's hard to decide whether to use it in baking a sweet bread or to add elegance to a hot bath.  Indecision is perfectly ok because just by sitting in its pot, lavender will fill your home with fragrance and beauty.

• Never compromise on your potting soil for any plant or you will have a fish out of water quandary. Putting a plant in the wrong soil is a lot like exchanging money in a foreign country; you're bound to lose a few. To avoid losing your beautiful new lavender plant, add lime and sand to a high quality potting mix.

• This lovely herb loves to spread and most indoor growing ventures go wrong with this herb when it's put in a too small pot for it spreading root system. Check that the root ball has several inches of pot room but not so much more as lavender demands its soil be on the drier side.

• A clay pot will ensure that the soil dries out nicely for this arid herb. The pot must also be large enough to accommodate a 1-2 inch layer of gravel at the bottom or you will end up with root rot. Don't attempt to use a shallow pot.

• Lavender is a bit of a show off and likes the attention afforded by a sunny windowsill. Never put this herb in a corner, it simply will not tolerate anything but a day of bright sunlight.

• Lavender is neither a sipper nor a hardy drinker. It will not tolerate frequent watering nor a soggy environment. Let the soil become just dry to the touch then give it a good watering before leaving it to dry again.

• Never mist the foliage and avoid getting it wet when watering.

• Native of the Mediterranean, lavender can enjoy the warm temperatures in most homes. Just don't put it directly next to a heat source and check the soil more often if your home is very warm.

• Perhaps hypnotized by its own scent, lavender will quickly fail in a stuffy or smoke filled home. If not too cold for humans,  give it a bit of fresh outdoor air a time or two per week and especially if there is a light breeze.

• Despite it aromatic beauty, lavender is a hardy dessert plant and was born to wander. It can grow one to three feet tall and endless feet wide. Once your plant has reached the limits of its pot, put it out in the garden or prune it heavily (and cut back the root ball if necessary) rather than continue its confinement.

• Use a general purpose fertilizer sparingly just once or twice at the most in the growing season. Give your herb a nicely ground up eggshell a few times per year for an extra limey treat.

• Lavender is too fragrant for most pests but, while outdoors, an occasional caterpillar may dine on the leaves. Other than root rot, your herb is safe from all creatures except the over mothering or neglectful human.

French lavender is usually recommended for growing indoors. You will recognize this variety by its serrated leaves. However, it is the least aromatic of the three varieties; English and Spanish being the other two.

So if you're set on having the most fragrance possible, choose English first then Spanish. At some point, you will have to give them up the great outdoors but if you lack an outdoors planting area, with care you can at least enjoy a temporary relationship.

Should you want a more permanent relationship with your lavender, go with the French and summer it on a patio. Unless you live in Florida, this variety will not survive a winter outdoors so bring it back in with the first chill of fall.

How to Rid Your Houseplants of Pests

So you've done everything right and your dear houseplant still has pests. Don't give in to infestation so easy.  Get to know your the enemy and learn your best defenses.

Know Your Bugs

Aphids, also called plant lice, are the cruelest of pests as the suck the juice out of the newest plant growth. They really look like bugs but can be hard to detect as they are usually don't move and blend in with their little green bodies (some are yellow or black). Aphids are extremely destructive, multiple like wildfire and are hell-bent on devouring the plant that feeds them. Find them sucking the stems or on the underside of the leaves. They cause leaves to curl or distort and blooms to fail.

Fungus Gnats are tiny black flies that circle your plants like mini-vultures. Unlike other pests, gnats are easy to spot as they are frequently airborne. They are easy to eliminate because they are attracted to water lovers. If you have been over watering your plants,  they will likely have gnats. If you find they have infiltrated the soil, repot your plant with fresh soil and ease off the water.

Mealybugs look like little bits of cotton and prefer the stem of the plant.  The female can lay 600 eggs and totally infest your plant overnight. Mealybugs excreted a sticky waste that are a breeding ground for mold. Can it get worse? Yes, mealybug saliva is toxic so while it sucks the life out of your plant, it is poisoning it too. Mealybugs cause leaf yellowing and curling prior to final destruction.

Scale aren't commonly found on houseplants because they prefer trees and shrubs. Should you find little scabs on your plant or see bits of sawdust by the stems, you have found scale.

Spider mites are aptly named. They look like tiny spiders complete with tiny webs but you'll need your magnifying glass to see them. Without, they just look like dots. Mites love the warm conditions found in most homes.  You'll find them on the backside of the leaf. Mites pierce the plant leaves and dine on its contents.  They make tiny holes in your plant's leaves and cause the leaf  to become dry and brittle before it falls off.

Getting Rid of Pests

You can buy all sorts of insecticides, some more harmless than other, to kill off the pests. But there are a couple of ways to keep pests out of your plant's life and more healthy conditions in yours.

• Give your plants a sink dish soap bath or for large plants use a soft cloth or paper towel with some soapy water. A very small amount of mild dish soap will destroy the toughest bug. Avoid soaping the soil but if you do, not a big concern. Dish soap will not harm your plants and they will enjoy a refreshing bath to rid both bugs and accumulated dust. Give a gentle rinsing and repeat in a couple of days if necessary.

• Neem oil, a medicinal vegetable oil native to India, is the safest anti-pest product that any plant will love. Neem oil is an insecticide, a miticide and a fungicide so you'll only need this one product. Mix a little oil in water and spray or wipe over stems and leaves. A cue tip works great for little areas and a little neem oil goes a long ways.

How to Care for your Houseplants

There's nothing a true gardener loves more than to bring the garden indoors. But indoor plant care is totally different story. Less light, more heat, usually too much water, stuffy dry air, pets and kids can have your houseplants planning an escape.

Here's where you can go wrong by your houseplants and the ways you can keep them from running away from home:

• Light - without light plants can't convert carbon dioxide into organic compounds (known as photosynthesis) and they literally die of starvation. If your plant is spindly, it's time to move it to the light.  Pick the right spot for the right plant in your home:
  • Low light - (northern exposure) - cast-iron plant, Chinese evergreen, corn plants, devil's ivy,  mother-in-law's tongue and philodendron
  • Medium light (eastern and western exposure) ferns, begonias,  ficus, rubber plants,  umbrella tree and African violets
  • High light (southwestern exposure) - cacti, ficus, hibiscus, succulents, and velvet plants
• Water - more plants are killed with kindness or over watering than by any other means. Use the finger test for best results. Just put your index finger an inch into the soil and if  you feel dry soil, it's time to water. Otherwise test again in a day or two.

  
  

  Plants are like people, some like a lot to drink, other not so much.
  Know how much water your plant variety needs.

  
  

  Don't want to dirty up the fingernails? Use a moisture meter instead. If you can't remember to water or are out of town frequently, use self-watering pots and let the plants drink when they are thirsty.

  Plants don't like chlorine, so let your water sit out overnight so the chlorine evaporates. This will also ensure the water is at room temperature.

• Humidity - plants lose moisture through tiny openings in their leaves. Although moisture is replaced through the roots, too much loss will cause leaves to shrivel or wilt and develop brown tips. Misting plants helps but isn't too kind to furniture.Check soil wetness more in winter when the furnace and fireplace is in use. Use humidifiers; they're good for people too. Place your plant pot on a tray of stones and add a little water. The water evaporates and gives the plant a little sauna experience. Just make sure the plant doesn't sit in the water.

• Pets and kids - plants are wonderfully healthy additions to the home. They produce oxygen and purify the air by filtering out toxins, pollutants our own exhaled carbon dioxide.However some plants contain compounds that harm people and pets. If your plant is listed here and you have kids or pets, either put the plant high out of reach or get it out of your home entirely.

• Pests - especially aphids, spider mites and mealybugs, love our homes and our less than healthy houseplants.  There's a safe and effective way to rid yourself of these critters that you may never have heard of.   Read how.