Episode 284: Aspidistras, aglaonemas, choosing plants for a front room and potting mix packaging

This variegated Aspidistra elatior is kept under a growlight in winter to maintain its cream stripes. Photograph: Jane Perrone.

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TRANSCRIPT

[0:00] Music.

Jane Perrone [0:16] Hello and welcome to On The Ledge Podcast. It's episode 284 and all your questions will be answered. Well, I mean, maybe not all of them. As many as I can within my powers at this time. I mean, I know a fair bit about houseplants, but I'm not a miracle worker. worker. Introduction and Cold Weather in the UK [0:41] I'm Jane Perrone, houseplant expert and host of this here podcast, On The Ledge. It's cold here in the UK. We've had a cold snap. So I am doubled up with a cashmere jumper and another jumper on top. So I'm keeping warm here. I hope that you are doing okay, wherever you are. What are we covering in today's episode? Well, I've got a clutch of questions concerning plants for a living room.

[1:13] Aspidistras, potting mix, packaging and more. So hopefully if you've asked a question and it hasn't been answered, well, listen on because it might be answered in this episode. And a quick shout out to Laura, who became a crazy plant person, and Amy and Hillary who became Superfans and thank you for a five-star review from elikqitie, I hope I've got that vaguely right - thank you so much for responding to my plea for reviews, it all helps! If you haven't checked out my Patreon offering do have a look, you can join and get extra access to bonus episodes of the podcast - one per month - plus ad free versions of the main podcast and if you're a Superfan you also get access to my audiobooks Legends of the Leaf and The Allotment Keepers Handbook, and if you pay annually rather than monthly you get a discount of about i think it's 16 so if you're already subscribed but you're paying monthly do do look at that. You can save yourself some cash. If you know you're going to go on supporting me, that is the way to go. And don't forget, if you want to hear more of my voice, then my books, Legends of the Leaf and The Allotment Keeper's Handbook are both available on Spotify and Audible. If you've got a subscription to either of those, you can listen as part of your subscription and you can also buy them as one offs on various other Audible platforms. And just head to janeperrone.com to check out all the buying options for Legends of the Leaf and my houseplant cards, Houseplant Gardener in a Box. Right, enough plugging it's time for question and answering with your questions.

Question 1 - Sustainable Packaging for Houseplant Potting Mixes And the first one came from Samantha and concerns buying houseplant potting mixes - now if you are an indoor gardener, the likelihood is you're not going to want to buy a massive 50 litre sack of compost slash potting mix/substrate, whatever you choose to call it, because you probably aren't going to have anywhere to store it. You may not get through that much potting mix that quickly and it's just a bit of a pain. And it is better to buy fresh potting mix if you can, rather than having stuff sitting around year after year.

[3:43] That said, the smaller your quantities of potting mix are when you buy them, the more packaging is inevitably going to be involved. So Samantha is looking for houseplant potting mixes that aren't sold in plastic bags. Now, as ever with anything that tries to be sustainable, it's kind of complicated. There are pros and cons to all the different packaging packaging methods and no one option is hands down better than the others. In my experience, the main thing I would say is be aware of this. There is a good reason why lots of potting mixes are supplied in plastic, and that's because it really cuts down on wastage. And that is an important factor in terms of not only the profitability of the business, but also just being sustainable. If half of your packages arrive arrive broken and you can't sell them, well, that's a waste of resources too. So plastic bags should be recyclable and they should be made from recycled material. And this is increasingly happening. Read the small print on your potting mix bags and just check what they say. Are they made from recycled plastic, which is becoming much more the norm these days? And also, can you you recycle them. Now, I'm not sure about other parts of the world, but here in the UK, recycling soft plastic bags is entirely possible, but it isn't always possible from the kerbside recycling services we have. That said, lots of supermarkets and other shops now offer a soft plastics recycling service. So what I do is I just save up all my soft plastics. So from food packaging and any plastic bags that end up in the house and so on and also compost bags, make sure it's all clean and dry, they go into a bag and then when I go to the supermarket they get taken with me and put into the big recycling bins there to be recycled - that is a good option. I can understand, though, why people might want their potting mixes to arrive in a paper or cardboard option.

[6:00] If you've got a compost heap, you're probably crying out for paper and cardboard because that's a really valuable addition to your heap. And even if you don't, at least with paper and cardboard, you can put it into the recycling and it's usually something you can put into your curbside recycling. The other issue with paper and cardboard is that the potting mix inside tends to dry out more quickly. So usually this stuff is sold and it's just sold not quite totally dry. It'll be slightly damp so when you get something in a paper or cardboard box the likelihood is it might be very very dry and will need a bit more hydrating that's great that's fine but you just need to be aware of that so in the UK there are a few options I've come across: The Plant Point in Leeds which is a house plant shop is selling house plant potting mixes in paper so small quantities of aroid mixes and other bespoke mixes for specific houseplants. That is definitely an option.

[7:00] Eco Thrive have an Eco Life potting soil, which is sold in a cardboard box. Again, probably fine as a base for your houseplant mixes. You might need to add a bit more drainage material for certain things, but a good enough base. And then ForMyPlants does a 27 litre paper bag of potting mix. I have to say, I've not tried any of these, so I can't vouch for them personally, but they will certainly be choices that I'd be looking at if this was something that I needed. Where do I buy my compost? Well, as you know, if you've listened to the show before, I buy these really big bags. They're like garden size bags of Melcourt Sylvagrow. I'm lucky I've got a garden. I've got a shed where this stuff goes and that's my base for my houseplants and also for any containers that I'm filling. So I do get through probably two or three of these large bags a year and that's where my houseplant compost comes from. The sacks, I tend to reuse them a lot for collecting garden waste and then at the end of their life, they go into the soft plastics recycling.

[8:07] It's not ideal and I think that Melcourt are offering a service where you can go and have like a grab bag filled up, a reusable grab bag, but I'm not close enough to any of their centres to be able to have access to that at the moment. It's also worth checking with your local houseplant shop because some of them are selling potting mixes via a kind of potting mix bar where you can sort of get a bespoke amount of each one and fill up a bag or bring your own container. So that's another option if you are concerned about this issue of packaging, which, of course, you should be.

Question 2 - where to buy aspidistras Next up on the questions front is one from Mark, who got in touch after reading The Plant Ledger, my email newsletter about the houseplant scene. Thank you for subscribing, Mark. And if you want to subscribe, you can find that at janeperrone.com/ledger and you get my free in-depth guide to fungus gnats along with your subscription. The email comes out every Friday and it's packed full of stuff. So do subscribe.

[9:14] Mark wanted to know about where to buy an aspidistra because I think he was having problems tracking one down. Let's get into what an aspidistra is, why it might be hard to track down and some little workarounds that might be useful for you. Aspidistra elatior, the cast iron plant, has been a stalwart of the houseplant scene since Victorian times. And it's called the cast iron plant because it's got a cast iron constitution. It's very, very tough. And there's a whole chapter on this plant in my book, Legends of the Leaf. I'll just tell you one little story from there. Aspidistras were from around the end of Victoria's reign up until the 50s the object of quite a lot of abuse. And I did find a great example of this in a local newspaper, a series of letters to the letters page in this local newspaper called the Whitstable Times. Whitstable is a town in Kent in the UK. And the letters concern something called the Aspidistra Club and the stated aim of that club. Well, it was the total abolition of the Aspidistra. Now, Now, this was all very tongue in cheek. There were exchanges going back and forth. The president apparently was a professor, N.F. Ritchie, founder of the Anti-antimacassar and Wax Fruit League.

[10:41] I mean, it's just brilliant. I can't share the actual ads with you because they're part of a newspaper archive, which I don't have the copyright for. But it's really fun to see these letters bringing to life the whole hatred for the Aspidistra at this period of time and there's more examples of that in the book these letters actually didn't make it into the book because there wasn't space but there's lots of other examples of Asperdistras and their role in popular culture which is kind of fascinating just as an aside if you've no idea what an anti-macasa is maybe I should just explain that so macassar oil was a hair oil used by men in Victorian times which was invented or named by a barber called Alexander Rowland.

[11:35] In the 1780s, I think he started, and this was used for over a hundred years. It was made from oils that were imported from Makassar in Indonesia, and men used this to try to style their hair and also to keep it in good condition. Unfortunately, that meant that every time a gentleman sat on a chair, he would leave an oily mark, and hence the invention of the anti-macassar, which was a crocheted or knitted piece of fabric that was placed on the back of the chair to catch that oil and stop it damaging the upholstery of the seat and obviously then what happened is come the end of the Victorian age macassar oil became rather like the Aspidistra seen as a bit of an outdated fashion and so it's been lumped in with the aspidistra here the anti-macassar league is obviously people saying oh this is really old-fashioned having this doily thing on the back of the chair this is a sign of a past time that we want to forget about - so that's what an anti-macassar is, just in case you were wondering. Moving swiftly back to the cast iron plant, the good news is that aspidistras have definitely had a renaissance in the last few years, and I kind of in a small way I count myself as a tiny bit responsible for that. They are wonderful foliage plants.

[13:01] They're not going to knock your socks off when it comes to an amazing flower. The flower is cryptic, which means it's at ground level and kind of hidden. But that's fine because it's pollinated by fungus gnats, which are looking for fungus. And they kind of look a bit like a mushroom. So works for the plant. Doesn't do us any good, I guess. But fascinating flowers. but not that showy. The leaves, however, and the architectural nature, I think there's something wonderful about the Asperdistra. And that's why I have a couple in my house and I enjoy them a great deal. If you want to get hold of one and you're looking for one, you may come up against the problem that they're just not that easy to get. Or when you do find one in a houseplant shop, it's going to be what seems like an expensive price for its size. So looking around, you know, know, you might be paying 50, 60, 70 pounds for an aspidistra that's a decent size. Whereas if you were buying the same size of, say, a peace lily, you might be paying 20 or 30 pounds less for the same size plant. The Price and Value of Aspidistras and Where to Find Them

[14:09] Why is that? Well, quite simply, the aspidistra grows rather slowly. It's a slow growing plant. It takes a while to reach a decent size. And so the price reflects that investment.

[14:22] That said, once you've got one, they will last for generations. They're tough old boots and it's an investment is the way I would look at it. If you're looking for one and you want to get the best value, what I would recommend doing is look at outdoor plant nurseries, because remember that this is a plant that can grow outside.

[14:43] It's surprisingly tough. I have a pot of this outside that is has been fine in the sub-zero temperatures we've been having, it's in a pot but it's tucked against two walls so it's sheltered but it's absolutely fine in freezing temperatures outside over the winter it doesn't lose its leaves it stays evergreen such a good plant so it makes a good garden plant too and oftentimes you'll find that these nurseries will have pots of Aspidistra for a slightly cheaper price than you might find in the house plant shops. So I had a look around today and I found that Farmyard Nurseries, which is a UK nursery, has a five litre Aspidistra elatior, the basic species, going for £29.99. And another firm called deserttojungle.com they had the spotted Aspidistra sichuenensis for 18.50 for a two litre pot and the regular elatior, same size, two litres for 17.50, so hopefully you might be able to go to a local nursery and pick one up for a slightly cheaper price if that's what you're looking for. And if you do end up with a small plant, what I can recommend if you want it to grow grow faster is do stick it outside in the garden. And you find that their growth rate outside is really quite phenomenal and that might bulk it up enough for you to then dig it up and bring it inside. I've done that with several of mine over the years. You can dig it up, bring it inside, stick it back outside. They are not that bothered. They're growing from an underground rhizome, which you can split to make more or propagate your plant. As long as each piece of that tough rhizome has got a growing point, you know, a bud where there's a leaf emerging, it's good to go.

[16:35] So I'll put those links in the show notes if you are in the UK and want to check out those places to buy. There are other places. I think I bought mine in the past from Cotswold Garden Flowers when they've had a sale on. I don't know how many they've got in stock right now. And I suspect not many, but they are worth keeping an eye on if you are interested in some of the more unusual Asperdistras, including the wonderful Aspergillus.

[17:06] From Aspidistra zongabyi 'Uan Fat Lady', which has got an amazing set of spots and stripes and splashes on the leaves. The one I really want to get my hands on is 'Okame'. I don't have this one. It is very variegated, so it has a lot of cream on the leaves, cream stripes. Again, haven't been able to get hold of that one yet, but I recommend that one. And the one I do have that, again, is good in with variegation is 'Asahi', which has a cream sort of flare to the top of each leaf you do find though that the variegation on these ones is weak indoors unless you are giving this plant really quite good light so bear that in mind if you've got it inside you can't stick it in a dark corner because it just won't do very well of course if you've got a plain green one then it it will take a lot more shade without any problems. The nursery that I did find in the US that seems to have a really, I mean, mouthwateringly good selection of aspidistras is called the Plant Delights Nursery, which is in North Carolina.

[18:19] I mean, they've got everything from ones I've never heard of, including one called 'Clouded Leopard' which is a sichuanensis cultivar that looks amazing - oh gosh, I want to be going to that nursery now yeah do go and have a look at that if you're in the US they seem to have a really good range and seem to have things in stock so yeah plant delights I'll also put a link to that in the show notes but happy aspidistra buying folks, I hope that's given you some inspiration. They're wonderful plants and do check out my chapter in Legends of the Leaf if you want to find out more. I do hope that helps Mark, oh and you can also go back and listen to episode 138 of this podcast where i interview Philip Oostenbrink who is the holder of the NMational Collection of Aspidistra here in the UK, so that's another episode that zones in on these wonderful foliage plants.

[19:18] Music. Tillandsias and a possible link to the film Avatar

[19:28] Now a pause from the planty questions to bring you an email that came in from long-time listener Greg. I love this. Greg has obviously read Legends of the Leaf and been inspired by some of the plant stories in there and Greg got in touch with the story and Greg got in touch with the story about Tillandsias that I thought was really cool. Now this is a story that we haven't been able to completely back up we don't i don't have any evidence firm evidence that this is true but i like the way that it is going so see what you think greg visited a tillandsia nursery called rainforest flora greg was there buying tillandsia tectorum which is a lovely air plant with really long trichomes those are the hair-like structures that help the plant to catch water and nutrients because they don't have much of a root system and greg was buying one of these when the member of staff said oh these are the plants that the avatar people like and greg's ears obviously perked up at that point and the member of staff told greg that people who worked on the avatar movie.

[20:46] Had visited the boss of the nursery a guy called Paul Isley because they were friends and had a deep sea diving connection. They were both into deep sea diving. And the Avatar people came to the nursery to get inspiration for the landscape of the home, for the landscape of the Avatar world. I think it's called Pandora. My daughter would kill me for not knowing that because she's a massive Avatar fan. Anyway, apparently the Tillandsia tectorum was inspiration for the trees in the movie, the sacred trees in the movie. Now, Greg did a bit of research and he thinks this might be true, but I'd love to know if anyone can confirm this or has any firm evidence about Tillandsia tectorum being the inspiration for some of the plants in the Avatar movies. Movies fascinating story greg thank you very much for sharing it it sounds totally believable and of course plants are amazing and some of the plants we have do look like they are from another planet so i'm totally prepared to believe this one i absolutely love this thank you so much for sharing it greg.

Question 3 - plants for a living room with morning sun

Next up comes a question that came in via Instagram and it comes from Mica who has has had a rearrangement of their front room, or as I used to call it when I was a kid, the lounge. Is that a very English thing to call it a lounge? I don't know. The more I say the word lounge, the weirder it sounds.

[22:22] Anyway, Mica wants some plants for their front room and has handily sent through an image of the room with a couple, actually three circles of the places where the plants would be heading and yeah it's a lovely room I can see a beautiful navy blue feature wall a lovely doggo in his bed or her bed chilling out I love to see a doggo in location like that and to me this looks like a pretty standard UK front room in that there's a fireplace with with bookcases on either side and a window on the other side. So there's actually not that much room for plants. Certainly in the window, I suspect you won't have room for any plants. There's a big armchair there. So we're not able to put plants right up against the window and that is going to be a factor here.

[23:21] Mica tells me that the room gets morning sun, but not much after that. So that is the major consideration whenever we're thinking about plants for a room is how much light there is. And Mica, I would really recommend really thinking about light levels before you go any further. I'm going to be talking to Daryl Cheng about light in an upcoming episode. So if you don't want to invest in a light meter, which will give you a reading of how much light is actually in your room, how can you tell how much light there is? Well, at the very simplest level, if it's too dark to read a book in an area of a room, that means it's way too dark for houseplants so usually if you're measuring light in foot candles usually the absolute minimum would be about 75 foot candles but you ideally want it to be getting up to 100 to 200 foot candles in uh for any kind of plant really so the two spots that micah has pointed out are basically these bookshelves on either side of the fireplace. So one is just across from the window. The other one is two spots at the top and bottom of the bookcase on the far side of the room. So that's going to be quite a relatively dark area. The window, I can't actually see the window, it's just curtains, but it looks like quite a big window. So I'm hoping it's a big bay window, which is going to be letting in lots of of light.

[24:46] Mica also says they have had plants like peace lilies and palms in the past as well as prayer plants but have found them difficult to keep alive in recent times. I totally sympathise - winter is not fun for us houseplant growers - but if you're going to start again and given that you have a limited amount of houseplant experience - I hope you don't mind me saying that Mica - I think you need to go with reliable things that are going to thrive in those spots without too much care. I would advise you to go and have a good old listen to episodes of On The Ledge where i talk about houseplant care generally because you can learn a lot where you might be going wrong with these plants so your investment is a long-term one what's going to work though well for those bookshelves that are closest to the window you've got quite a few different options morning sun in the northern hemisphere tends to be a bit less intense than afternoon sun so we don't want to be going for anything that's going to be bothered by the fact that it's not getting high light levels all day long so I'm going to rule out things like cacti and succulents from this equation given that it's a bookshelf I think we're also looking for trailing things and in a way I think think simple is best for this scenario.

[26:09] Rather than having two or three different plants with different textures, maybe you just go for impact here and you buy the same plant for all three spots and see how it does. Now, I'm going to make a suggestion here that may be surprising to some of you, but I think this plant is such a good trailing plant. So undervalued. And that is is Cissus rhombifolia, the grape ivy. This is a classic, classic house plant. It's really easy to grow. It's not fussy about light particularly. It'll do fine, certainly in that spot nearest the window. I think it'll be absolutely fine. And I would certainly try it in the further window as well, because I think it'll do fine there. It's just a really easy plant. It's native to South America and it's non-toxic for people and pets. So it should be fine in that regard. It can get quite cold. It can get down to, you know, 10 degrees centigrade without a massive amount of problem. So it's not going to be bothered if you turn the heating off at night - it's going to grow and trail but you can always chop it back if you want to it's got interesting leaves which are like a grape leaves that's why it's called the grape ivy the common name and it's just a really underrated plant i don't think you can go wrong with that it's fairly easy to pick up now in house plant shops have a look online micah i would highly recommend this one and you could just Just keep it really simple, as I say, and have by three of these, stick them on the bookshelves. It's going to look classy. It's going to please the eye to have the same pattern and color repeated three times across the room. It's not going to look jumbled and you're going to have the same care regime for those very three plants. You know, as I get older, I'm just realizing that sometimes just really simple is the best.

[28:04] It's taken me 50 years to realize that, but anyway, that's what i probably would recommend invest in some really nice pots you don't have to spend a lot of money these could be things that you're repurposing from the kitchen it could be some old copper pans that you pick up at a junk sale or an auction i don't know go on facebook marketplace if you follow my newsletter the plant ledger you'll you'll know that I always slip into Jane's Planty Week, a few things off Facebook Marketplace. It's a really interesting place to go look at pots and stuff. People are always selling pots, plant stands, jardinieres, interesting things. You can get them for good prices. So have a little exploration about containers. Find something that suits the style of your house. It may be given that it's quite a modern house. You just want to go for plain black containers or or plain white containers. Keep it simple.

[28:58] Love it for you I think this could really work Mica, so that would be my recommendation. The other option you could go for is again cheap and cheerful - find a friend with some Tradescantia plants and see if you can take some cuttings root those up in a glass of water or in some potting mix and you have got yourself pretty much an immediately growing plant that will get nice and big it'll be interesting to see how the color varies across the ones closest to the window and furthest away you can always swap them around periodically so the ones that are away from the get moved to the window and so forth to keep the growth even throughout the year I'd recommend that probably whatever you are growing in those slots. Mica is also looking for a plant that can stand on the floor so something with a bit of height to it I'm going to be really basic here and say a Monstruo Deliciosa, the Swiss cheese plant, or a moss pole supporting Epipremnum aureum or one of its cultivars, the golden pothos. I don't think you can go far wrong with either of those choices. Again, I'm not trying to reinvade the wheel here. I'm not trying to bring you some rare and unusual thing that's going to cost you a fortune, but something that will actually work.

[30:18] Depending on how much money you've got to spend, you could either start with a really small specimen that you can grow up or you can buy a decent mature-ish plant and in the case of both of these species it won't cost you that much money. If you want to splash out a mature-ish Kentia palm is always a lovely choice. Howiea forsteriana will be able to cope with the light levels in that room, looks beautiful and is relatively easy if you like that palmy look that's a great one to go for. I want to to know how you get on with this. I've kept it simple and other people may have much more elaborate schemes for you, but I kind of feel where you're at right now, you need to aim for something that's going to bring you success because success will power you on to more houseplant adventures rather than throwing you off course right at the beginning by saying, okay, go for this unusual houseplant that's going to be quite difficult to look after that then doesn't do well. So that's my advice Mica, I hope that helps and if you want to come back to me in a few weeks or months time and tell me how you're getting on and what you actually chose I would love to hear from you.

Question 4: the price of Aglanonemas aka Chinese evergreens

[31:29] And our final question today comes from Kai and concerns aglaonemas. These, well, I've tipped them as the plants of 2024, so it's a good job we're talking about them in this episode. So aglaonemas, aka Chinese evergreens, these come from Southeast Asia. So places like Bangladesh, Indonesia, Thailand, Vietnam, that's where these plants come from. There are maybe a couple of dozen species in the genus and several of these have contributed to the plants that we see used as houseplants today in the breeding programs. Kai got in touch to say "why in the world are some of the colourful aglaonemas so expensive? They really don't seem to be very popular at all and they are extremely easy to grow so I am just not sure what is driving the prices up. The lower priced ones are all repeats of just a few common varieties and everything else is just wildly expensive. This is very frustrating as I adore a durable low-light plant that is actually colourful but my budget and my sensibilities balk at spending more than 25 bucks on a plant let alone 250 dollars."

[32:45] I sympathise Kai, this is an issue that often troubles us plant people, and I did check this with a big aglaonema grower in the Netherlands they're called Ansu and they grow mainly aglaonemas and also vanda orchids and I'm hoping to do more with them in an upcoming episode but for the minute Dave Bovenlander from Ansu answered this question for me and explained that yes the brightly coloured aglaonemas they've just got less chlorophyll in them. Chlorophyll is what powers photosynthesis, it's how they they take in energy from the sun and turn it into chemical energy and when you've got less chlorophyll in any variegated plant that means the rate of photosynthesis is that bit slower therefore the plant will grow that bit more slowly that means it takes longer to get these plants prepared for market they won't grow as quickly as the green and silvery aglaonemas and therefore that's why they are more expensive and you know these colorful cultivars have not been around for that long they probably in the last five maybe ten years have exploded loaded onto the market.

[34:08] If you look at older houseplant books, you know, you will just see the classic silver and green aglaonemas, common name Chinese evergreens, and you'll see the silver queen, the silver king. And maybe a couple of others and the hybrids that were developed usually in the 60s and it's really only in recent years that we've had this real explosion of breeding.

[34:31] The pink cultivars are not entirely new - I found a paper on aglaonema breeding from 1988 that talks about the pink tinged plants and the fact that they're on their way and that they're coming so obviously this was something that's been a while to develop and the current interest in houseplants the surge in popularity has meant that more money's been spent on breeding these new highly coloured varieties. Obviously this breeding work takes time and money, and therefore breeders are keen to protect their rights to produce that plant and stop others from producing it so they can capture the market and that means you get things like patents and plant breeders rights where you're not allowed to reproduce that plant for sale unless you happen to be the holder of those plant breeders rights and that means that prices are pushed up for all of these plants it's the law of supply and demand is in operation here and the new the unusual that always has a premium on it so those I think are the main reasons Kai why the colourful aglaonemas are not as budget-friendly as the older varieties which anyone can propagate and grow. So I think the good news is Kai that in the future this will gradually work its way around so that these plants become cheaper I've certainly seen a massive expansion in the aglaonemas available online and in shops and hopefully the more publicity there is about them, the more we'll see these plants becoming really popular and in demand and therefore more producers will start growing them and the price will come down.

[36:20] The other thing just to mention about these very colourful aglaonemas - these very colourful Chinese evergreens, do require more light than the dark plain green ones. So yeah, it's like an aspidistra really. Really, we were talking about earlier about the aspidistras and the fact that the variegated ones need more light to stay variegated. And the same applies to these aglaonemas. If you do have a brightly colouyred, brightly variegated aglaonema, it's not going to be happy in the same darkish corner as a plain green one just because it lacks chlorophyll content. Lacks as much chlorophyll and therefore it needs greater light intensity in order to, photosynthesize at the same rate. So maybe you learn to love the plain green ones! I personally have a real thing for the green silvery aglaonemas. I think they're really beautiful. I'm not a great fan of pink plants, I can totally understand why people are, but I really like the green ones. Perhaps I'm just a boring old fart. I don't know. But anyway, that is my thoughts on Aglaonemas. And as I say, I'll be hoping to bring you more on Aglaonemas in an upcoming episode. I do think they're amazing plants. If you're making a choice between a Dieffenbachia and an Aglaonema, I would always go for an Aglaonema unless you're a very experienced grower and you've got really good light. Aglaonemas are just tougher they will survive better in lower light conditions than a Dieffenbachia.

[37:57] Music.

[38:05] That is all for this week's show - I do hope I've answered your question, if I haven't, don't despair, do drop me an email to ontheledhepodcast@gmail.com and I try to answer a question every week on the show and it's fascinating to see what you're asking about and it helps me learn too so do get in touch that's all for this week's show i will see you soon have a great week enjoy your plants and let me leave you with a quote from one of my house plant heroes rose, Thalassa Cruso. "Indoor horticulture can be immensely rewarding if you have fun with your plants and refuse to allow them to take over your life. A firm but relaxed attitude, allied with a little common sense, usually provides exhilarating results for the novice horticulturist and the garden-less gardener alike. Why don't you go ahead and try?" Bye!

[39:05] The music you heard in this episode was Roll Jordan Roll by The Joy Drops, The Road We Used to Travel When We Were Kids by Komiku and Overthrown by Josh Woodward. All Tracks are licenced under Creative Commons. Visit the show notes for details.

[39:28] Music.

Host Jane Perrone answers four listener questions, and we hear an intriguing story from listener Greg about the airplant Tillandsia tectorum.

Want to ask me a question? Email ontheledgepodcast@gmail.com. The more information you can include, the better - pictures of your plant, details of your location and how long you have had the plant are always useful to help solve your issue!

The Victorians loved their aspidistras, so much so that the plant became a symbol of 19th century respectability.

Chapters
0:02:22 Question 1 - sustainable packaging for potting mixes
0:09:17 Question 2 - where to buy an aspidistra
0:11:35 The Origins of the Anti-macassar and its Decline
0:14:09 Try garden nurseries for good aspidistra deals
0:20:46 Tillandsias and their possible connection to Avatar
0:22:03 Question 3 - choosing plants for a living room that gets morning sun
0:31:31 Question 4 - why are colourful aglaonemas more expensive than green ones?
0:39:10 Music credits

Notes to accompany this episode…

QUESTION 1 - potting mix packaging

Samantha wanted to know where to buy potting mixes in the UK in paper or cardboard rather than plastic packaging.
i suggested The Plant Point in Leeds, Growell Echothrive which is sold in carboard boxes, and Formyplants.com’s 27 litre bags of potting mix.
It’s also worth checking in with your local houseplant shop, as some now have ‘substrate bars’ where you can dispense various potting mix ingredients into a container you bring along.
QUESTION 2 - aspidistras
Mark wanted to know where to buy the cast iron plant (Aspidistra elatior) as they seem not so easy to get hold of. The answer is that this plant is slow growing and therefore it takes a while to grow to a saleable size.
My tip would be to try garden nurseries rather than houseplant shops as they tend to offer them at a slightly better price. Perhaps surprisingly, this plant is extremely cold hardy and does well growing in shady spots outside.
I found Farmyard Nursery in the UK is selling Aspidistra elatior in two or five litre pots, while deserttojungle.com have the species as well as a couple of other species of aspidistra. I got mine from Cotswold Garden Flowers but they seem to be out of stock at the moment. In North Carolina in the US, Plant Delights Nursery has a really lovely range of aspidistras.
There’s a whole chapter of information about the cast iron plant in my book Legends of the Leaf: Unearthing the Secrets to Help Your Plants Thrive. Get your hands on a copy now.
Also have a listen to episode 138 of On The Ledge podcast where I meet Aspidistra National Collection holder Philip Oostenbrink.
QUESTION 3 - finding plants for a front room
Mica got in touch to ask for help choosing plants for a front room. I suggested that given the relatively low light (morning sun only, positioned away from the window) the bookshelves could be adorned with the reliable classic grape ivy (Cissus rhombifolia - which is a synonym of Cissus alata).
I also suggested Tradescantias (possibly sourced as cuttings from friends or family) as a cheap and reliable option.
Mica was also looking for a freestanding specimen so I suggested the swiss cheese plant (Monstera deliciosa) or a moss pole-mounted devil’s ivy/golden pothos (Epipremnum aureum).
QUESTION 4 - Aglaonema pricing
Kai wanted to know why Aglaonemas - the colourful pink and red ones, that is - are so expensive compared with the green and silver ones.
Thanks to Dave Bovenlander from Dutch Aglaonema producers Ansu for helping me answer this question. There are a couple of reasons, but a major one is that highly variegated plants contain less chlorophyll than plain green ones, so tend to grow more slowly, and are therefore more epnsive to produce.
Aglaeonema breeding has exploded in the last few years - the green and silver older cultivars are cheap to produce as they don’t have patents or Plant Breeders’ Rights rules that push up the price.
The Aglaonema breeding paper I mention from the 1980s is this one by RJ Henny.

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