| Four years ago, Margaret Roach picked up two nearly identical Paphiopedilum orchids at her local garden center. Paphiopedilums: These showy orchids, widely available at garden centers and supermarkets, are surprisingly low-maintenance, although they do best if the pot is soaked in water once a week. Clivia: A big hit with the Victorians; your grandmother may have been a fan of these exotic yet easy-going plants. " . If she knows the recipient well enough, she'll add that potted plants are a great value. Just as you don't want to be the guest who shows up at Thanksgiving with a casserole that requires major oven space, you do not want to be the one who shows up with a plant that requires elaborate care and feeding. She has had some that have lasted more than 25 years. Fancy-leaf begonias: Also called rex begonias, the ornamental leaves of these plants can be flushed pink, speckled with white or splashed with red. The orchid rewarded her with four years of nearly continuous blooms. "She'll call me and say, 'Oh, I just got another (flower) spike on my orchid. Also critical is how you present the gift. Roach prefers a lighter touch: "I loved this, and it's going to last longer than cut flowers. "It's partly what you choose, and what, as they say in Olympic diving, the degree of difficulty is. A Paphiopedilum orchid might cost $25 and, if you buy it when the first blooms are just opening, it can flower for two to three months. It bloomed, happily, for about six weeks and never sported another flower. Roach gave the other to her sister, an occasional gardener, who plopped her plant near her desk in its original, too-small container and gave it minimal care. Apparently, however she treated it, she just treated it right. She was very anxious at first because she hadn't had an orchid before, and she ended up just having the knack. The worst-case scenario when you give a reasonably sized, low-maintenance plant is that it ends up in the garbage when it stops blooming. "That (darn) orchid," Roach says of her sister's perennially blooming plant. com) or Kartuz Greenhouses (kartuz. For long-distance giving, consider mail-order from a source such as Logee's (logees. Here are three of Margaret Roach's favorite plants to give. |
Tuesday, 3 April 2012
Giving houseplants as gifts
