Three thrifty houseplants to grow in 2023

Want to save some pennies? Here are three thrifty ways to grow some cool plants this summer. 

1. Grow some eddoes

Elephant ears (Colocasia esculenta) aka eddoes are edible and can be found for sale as corms in some supermarkets (Sainsburys in the UK for instance) and veg markets for a few pounds: give them some bottom heat (as you would Caladiums) and you will grow some large-leaved foliage plants. Use them indoors, or outdoors as summer bedding. More on this in On The Ledge episode 57. If you want named varieties and are in the UK, Farmer Gracy has a good range. 

2. Sow coleus seed

Coleus (Coleus scutellarioides - pictured above) are criminally underrated. These wonderful foliage plants come in a rainbow of colours and can be grown extremely cheaply from seed. They tend not to do well indoors over winter, but you can take cuttings and stick them in water for the coldest months, then replant in spring. If seeds are too much work, buy cheap plugs from the garden centre. Instant joy. More on coleus in On the Ledge episode 62. In the UK, Dibleys has the best range of Coleus sold as plugs. 

3. Grow ground ivy

Now this is an odd one, but bear with me. Ground ivy (Glechoma hederacea) is a European native plant with a creeping habit whose variegated form is widely sold as a summer bedding and hanging basket plant. If you look in older houseplant books, you'll also find it listed for indoor growing. Try buying some plug plants and putting them in a hanging container in a sunny spot indoors. If you have outside space, you may have some of the (more preferable in my opinion) plain green species you can dig up and bring inside. Smell the leaves, too - this potherb has culinary uses and was used to flavour beer before hops came along. To me, the leaves smell of roat beef crisps. 

This blogpost was taken from The Plant Ledger, my twice monthly email newsletter about the houseplant scene. Subscribe here and get my free in-depth guide to fungus gnats.