Heirloom House Plants

virino

I'm very interested in house plants and indoor gardening. I'm wondering about old indoor plants in Ireland, you know, the sort you see in windows for years and years that are passed actually or as cuttings down through families. If you know of a plant like this, I'd love to hear about it.
For instance, a friend was given a cutting of a very old geranium (in the family since around 1900) which was on a window ledge in a B & B where she stayed. This has piqued my curiosity. I know in my own family my grandmother grew a large plant known simply as The Plant, which was polished and re-potted every year with the spring cleaning, the soil coming from a small backyard. No-one knew what it was called. An aunt in her nineties identified it in a house plant book ten years ago as an aspidistra, which perhaps we might have guessed.

virino

virino wrote: »

I'm very interested in house plants and indoor gardening. I'm wondering about old indoor plants in Ireland, you know, the sort you see in windows for years and years that are passed actually or as cuttings down through families. If you know of a plant like this, I'd love to hear about it.
For instance, a friend was given a cutting of a very old geranium (in the family since around 1900) which was on a window ledge in a B & B where she stayed. This has piqued my curiosity. I know in my own family my grandmother grew a large plant known simply as The Plant, which was polished and re-potted every year with the spring cleaning, the soil coming from a small backyard. No-one knew what it was called. An aunt in her nineties identified it in a house plant book ten years ago as an aspidistra, which perhaps we might have guessed.

I have a Spider plant with lots of new growth on it, you are welcome to some if youd like it.
Chlorophytum comosum,

looksee

Its not really all that long ago that you would not buy house plants, they were always passed on as slips or cutting. There is one known as 'mother of thousands' that has hundreds of tiny plants all round the edge of its fleshy leaves, and another (saxifrage) called pickaback plant that produced babies a bit like a spider plant. I haven't seen either of these in a while, but the Money Plant or Friendship plant is still common. Along with tradescantia and spider plants they all have the benefit of being very easy to propagate.

I only have one 'passed on' plant at the moment and I have no idea what it is called, or exactly how long it has been going, and unusually I do not know what it is, it does not have any distinguishing features to look it up by. It is rather attractive though, dark glossy leaves, slightly trailing, and easy to propagate and care for.

'DID YOU KNOW??? :pac::P

Spider plant and several other plants are great for air purifying in the home.

''NASA researchers suggest efficient air cleaning is accomplished with at least one plant per 100 square feet of home or office space.'


results of a clean air study conducted by NASA

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NASA_Clean_Air_Study

magicbastarder

in my family, it's hostas which get passed on and split every few years, but i have an aloe (i think aristata) which is now on it's sixth iteration, and possibly more - i was number four in the chain, and it's been propagated twice since.

yellowlabrador

I've got a money tree that's 25 years old. It's about 1m tall. I've given away a lot of babies and the parent of my plant was also about 25 years old at the time. I've also got an aspidistra who's parent was at least 100 years old. The tradition with them was to take them out when it rains. I've also got a cactus that's about 1m tall age unknown.
I put all my house plants out for the summer and bring them back in in Autumn.
I don't over feed and I only repot once in a blue moon.
I also do this with the pergaloniums(spelling?) the old geraniums.

virino

Hi Looksee. if you had a photo of your no-name plant perhaps it could be identified. I know exactly those two old plants you are talking about, Saxifraga sarmentosa and Tolmeia menziesi; the latter was the pickaback plant or piggyback plant, carries the baby plants on the old leaves. Both those plants are more or less hardy, maybe that's why you saw them in old house windows where there was no central heating. the saxifrage was called mother-of-thousands too, or strawberry geranium. There is a kalanchoe also called mother-of-thousands, which grows tiny babies all along the edges of the leaves. The old names show how cherished these plants were by people not into scientific nomenclature.

I saw that research, Jake. Though there is a list of the best ones for cleaning the air of pollution, I suspect all plants must have this effect indoors.
Magicbastarder, is your aloe the variegated one with pointy leaves and the tall red flower? I've seen Aloe vera in houses a lot too, people keep it in kitchens in case of a burn or scald, no doubt you know. Also, apparently hosta were often kept as house plants and do very well in that slug-free (hopefully) environment.
yellowlabrador, you seem to have the classic house plants. Your money tree is a good age. I agree they really like being outdoors in summer.

Day Lewin

@looksee, @Jake1 -- if you come across anyone who HAS either of these, I am still hunting for both!!
They are both in the class of houseplants that you can't buy - you always have to get them from somebody who owns one.
My last Tolmeia was grown from a couple of the tiny plantlets snitched from a parent plant stood on a table in a nursing home...yes, I am a plant pickpocket!
But I've got plenty of other plants, might be willing to do some swaps??

virino

katemarch, I don't have them, but I'll keep my eye out for you. I got the variegated mother-of-thousands saxifrage years ago in Tesco, but it's not anything like as strong as the red one which was the usual seen, and I lost it. It was a greenfly magnet, too. I'll go on a hunt ! In a few weeks I will have Hoya bella, Ledebouria socialis, Ludisia discolour and Ceropegia woodii to share. If interested, anyone can pm me. It's great to know I'm not alone in my love of house plants, old ones particularly.

looksee

I would rather like another one of the kalanchoes myself, haven't seen one in years. I deliberately used the folk names as these plants seem more suited to those names than the latin names - they were never, ever referred to by their latin names!

Yes I will get a pic of the mystery plant, would be good to figure out what it is.

katemarch

katemarch wrote: »

@looksee, @Jake1 -- if you come across anyone who HAS either of these, I am still hunting for both!!
They are both in the class of houseplants that you can't buy - you always have to get them from somebody who owns one.
My last Tolmeia was grown from a couple of the tiny plantlets snitched from a parent plant stood on a table in a nursing home...yes, I am a plant pickpocket!
But I've got plenty of other plants, might be willing to do some swaps??

Would you like some of the spider plant? You're more than welcome to a plant if youd like.

looksee

Do we gather you have spider plant you want to get rid of Jake? :-)
I have a noble one here that i have to keep cutting swathes of babies off before it reaches out and strangles someone...

Nah, I just have lots of new plants on it

virino

There are different types and varieties of spider plant, e.g. green ones, ones with white on the leaf edges, ones with green on the outside and white in the middle of the leaf, and a curly-leaved one known as 'Bonnie'. Some of these are very much sought after. Maybe you and Looksee have different ones, Jake.

looksee

I think white middle green edges is the bog standard one, which I have!

The leaves on mine are green with white stripes down center of leaves

virino

That sounds even more unusual, Jake. I forgot Chlorophytum 'Fireflash', although I don't think that produces babies.

looksee

virino wrote: »

That sounds even more unusual, Jake. I forgot Chlorophytum 'Fireflash', although I don't think that produces babies.

No, Jakes is the same as mine, the 'normal' one, very profligate!

virino

I have a couple of babies from that kalanchoe, Looksee. If you want them I'll just pop them in an envelope to you.

I agree, the common names just suit the plants, they're part of the magic.