Episode 72: Dutch houseplant adventures part one
A Bloom growlight illuminates houseplants on display at the Waterdrinker trade centre in the Netherlands. Photograph: Jane Perrone
I recently visited the Netherlands as a guest of The Joy of Plants; it was an informative and fun trip, and a brilliant opportunity to understand the fascinating world of Dutch ornamental plant production. This week I’m talking about the plants I saw at the Flora Holland trade show during day one of the visit - next week I’ll cover the greenhouse growers we visited. Former OTL guest (I think we can now call him a friend of the show…) James Wong was there too so we got to geek out over houseplants together - fun!
(Oh, and don’t forget to check out my new Christmas gift guide for planty people, too…)
Here’s some notes on what I cover this week: scroll for a gallery of more images to view as you listen.
Check out livinwax.com for that wax-coated ZZ plant.
The artificially coloured plants are a range called Make-upz. Scroll down for a photo of some of their artificially coloured Fittonias. Let me know what you think…
Didn’t think much of the Phalaenopsis ‘Singolo’ with painted petals - see below to make your own mind up!
The Eden Collection had so many plants James Wong and I were lusting after, including Begonia ‘Old School’ which James thought looked like B. brevifolia, Peperomia langorius, Peperomia liadensis, Asplenium nidus, Philodendron bipinnatifidum, Begonia maculata, Microsorum musifolium, and Cissus amazonica.
I don’t know much (yet!) about Streptocarpus ‘Snowlina’ but will try to find out more!
Polyscias are back! Ming aralia and dinner plate aralia made a strong showing at Flora Holland.
James was reacquainted with devil’s backbone aka the zigzag plant, aka Pedilanthus ‘Mystery Planet’.
The Kalanchoe with the pink flowers I didn’t ID was K. ‘Femini Pink’.
Anthurium ‘Olivius’ with its interesting pistachio tones seems to be available as a cut flower rather than a houseplant right now, likewise A. ‘Jambo Black’.
We wren’t sure about Xanthosoma ‘Lime’ either although I am sure many will love it!
Find out more about Swampworld carnivorous planters here.
The ant plant aka Dischidia pectinoides, is a fascinating plant: it’s being marketed as Snaily, growing in a snail shell to echo the shape of the leaves.
Disclosure: The Joy of Plants paid for my flights and board to get to the Netherlands but didn’t pay me to attend, and had no say over the content of this podcast. They are making a video about my trip which I’ll link to once it’s available.
Question of the week
Pinesnake On Instagram wanted to know if there were any British native plants grown as houseplants: with a little help from members of our lovely Facebook group Houseplant Fans of On The Ledge, we came up with a few: Hedera helix aka English ivy; ivy-leaved toadflax (Cymbalaria muralis), Sedum acre, and a few others. See the full discussion here.
Want to ask me a question? Email ontheledgepodcast@gmail.com.
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Credits
This week's show featured Roll Jordan Roll by the Joy Drops and Overthrown by Josh Woodward, all licensed under Creative Commons.