Episode 257: introducing the sowalong 2023, plus the sensitive plant

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TRANSCRIPT

[0:00] Music.

[0:07] Jane Perrone

On The Ledge is proud to be supported by True Leaf Market, suppliers of superb seed since 1974. Sowing season is here, and whether you're looking for vegetables, herbs, flowers, cover crops, microgreens or seeds for sprouting, True Leaf Market has you covered. Check out trueleafmarket.com for a superb selection of seeds, plus tons of free advice, including their downloadable guides to microgreens, herb growing and more. Get $10 off orders of $50 or more now using code ONTHELEDGE10. That's $10 off orders of $50 or more using code ONTHELEDGE10 now at trueleafmarket.com. True Leaf Market, bringing the seed you need.

[0:55] Music.

[1:15] Jane Perrone

Hello and welcome to a podcast that is six years old! Gosh I feel ancient!

[1:22] Music.

[1:30] Jane Perrone

I just realised the other day, on Wednesday this week, that it was exactly six years since On The Ledge started back in February 2017. So happy anniversary to me and thank you to all of you who've been there since day dot and those of you who have joined along the way. You are all immensely welcome. I'm your host, Jane Perrone, and in this week's show, it's the On The Ledge sowalong’s fifth year of running this particular feature where I get you to grow houseplants from seed. And I'm going to introduce the sowalong this week and chat to UK houseplant expert Joe Bagley about one of the plants that's very, very popular for people to grow for sow along and that is of course the sensitive plant Mimosa pudica. Before we get on to that, a very quick thank you for all your fabulous feedback about last week's show where we heard from LGBTQ+ people about what houseplants mean to them. The response was phenomenal and it was lovely to hear all your warm, kindly comments about the episode, which of course I take no credit for. That was down to the wonderful listeners who stepped up. So thank you to all of you who helped make that episode so special.

[2:53] Jane Perrone

Thank you also to a bunch of listeners who've been digging deep into their pockets to help On The Ledge keep going week to week. Darren gave a one-off donation via ko-fi.com, while Wynne and Chloe became legends and Laurie and Will became crazy plant people, while Megan upgraded from Crazy Plant Person to Ledge End. Thank you all of you for being lovely individuals. And if you want to support the show via Patreon, all the details are in the show notes. Alternatively, if you don't have the cash, then just take a minute of your precious time to write a review for the show. I recently realized that you can actually leave reviews on Spotify. You can't say anything, but you can give shows a star rating. And indeed, lots of you have done that. So please, if you're on Spotify or on any other platform that offers reviews, please do give the show a review. It really does make a difference.

[3:51] Jane Perrone

And as the launch date for my book, Legends of the Leaf, is coming ever closer on April the 27th, I promised you a fact from the book in every podcast episode between now and then. And here's this week's fact. It's about one of the 25 iconic species in this book that I profile in depth.

[4:11] Jane Perrone

And on this occasion it's Howea forsteriana, commonly known as the Kentia palm. One of those really fascinating houseplants that was beloved of the Victorians, well the rich Victorians anyway, because this plant was blooming expensive. And I found a report in the New York Sun from 1893 that said that a large kentia palm would cost $50 in 1893, which is roughly about $1,500 today in today's money. So the plant was so valuable and, you know, so exclusive that a lot of people just couldn't afford one, even a small one. So they would just buy cut fronds, which they would place in vases and display to give that image of luxuriousness. I love that and you know it's something we can still see today in the way that people surround themselves with little ciphers of luxury. So there you go we thought that the trend for hugely expensive houseplants was a new thing but no it goes back to Victorian times and well before. There are loads more fascinating facts about the kentia palm in the book, so if you haven't pledged for a copy or pre-ordered a copy, do go and do that now. It's coming out, it should be available from all the usual places and you can find a link in the show notes.

[5:39] Music.

[5:45] Jane Perrone

Now onto the meat and drink of today's show, which is the On The Ledge sowalong, as I've already said. Now, if you haven't been around these parts very long, you may be wondering what on earth I'm talking about. Well, being thrifty sort and I mean, also the kind of person who likes to be as sustainable as possible with my houseplants. I love growing houseplants from seed. And often when I say that to people, the response I get is, can you grow houseplants from seed? And the answer is a resounding yes, you can.Admittedly, not every single species that you can buy as a houseplant can be grown from seed for various different reasons. But there are tons of things that you can grow as houseplant enthusiasts from a packet of seeds. And there are loads of benefits. It's a really thrifty and cheap way of growing. And you end up with lots of spare plants that you can give away to friends and family. And you learn loads about your plants as you grow them from seed, way more than you would just by buying a mature plant. So it's a fantastic experience that I'd encourage you all to have a go at this year.

[6:54] Jane Perrone

So how do you take part? Well, it's very, very simple. Everybody can take part. There are no bars to being involved. So if your kind of propagation doesn't happen to involve sowing from seed and you just don't have the time, equipment or whatever for sowing from seed, you can join in with a bit of vegetative propagation instead with cuttings or the like. But if you want to sow from seed, then there is loads of advice available. I will link in the show notes to all the previous On The Ledge episodes covering every aspect of growing from seed, from sourcing the seed to sowing it, the equipment you'll need, what you can try and specifics about things like growing cacti from seed, growing ferns from spores and loads more. The main things you need to take part really are just somewhere light and sunny or indeed a growlight.

[7:55] Jane Perrone

A small amount of seed compost, which is compost that's specially designed for sowing seeds. It's got less big lumps in it and generally works much better for seeds. Some kind of pot or container, a clear plastic bag or a propagator. Those are the basic things you need. Maybe some labels would be helpful too. You don't need a lot to take part. Go and look in the show notes for information about where to source your seeds. And my main message would just be to have a go. Some things won't work. Every year I have various packets that do not germinate. Sometimes it goes really pear-shaped. Last year I lost all my succulents because they got fried in my greenhouse while I was on holiday. But I keep going and I've had some wonderful successes too. So even if you've never sown a seed in your life, this is your chance to get involved. So please have a go.

[8:47] Jane Perrone

Sow some seeds and let me know how you're getting on. Probably if I was trying to work out a top five of types of seeds sown. It would run roughly along the lines of cacti and succulents at number one, maybe the Swiss cheese plant, Monstera deliciosa at number two, maybe Coleus, the brightly coloured indoor-outdoor plant, cheap as chips and delightful at number three, and I think maybe at number four would be the plant we're going to talk about today, Mimosa pudica, the sensitive plant. So a bit later on we're going to hear from Joe Bagley who is an expert at growing this plant from seed and has loads of info to impart about how to do that if you fancy giving it a try.

[9:35] Jane Perrone

So practicality wise at this stage of the game the thing to do is to get hold of your seed if you haven't done so already and get ready for sowing in the next few weeks. If you are on social media then anything you do regarding the sew along please post about it and add the hashtag, OTL sowalong then I will be alerted here in my plant cave On The Ledge towers and I will do regular roundups of what everyone's getting up to with the sew along so you can feel involved. If you're not on social media that's fine just drop me an email to ontheledgepodcasts at gmail.com. Equally, if you've got questions regarding seed sowing, chuck them my way.

[10:21] So start in the next few weeks as you have time and materials available. Start using that hashtag #OTLsowalong. If you're in the Facebook group, Houseplant Fans of On The Ledge, there'll definitely be posts on there for the sowalong and you can look back, at what other people are doing. It's a wonderful, friendly group. Please go and join if you happen to be on Facebook. You can also post about the OTL sowalong in my regular Twitter chat houseplant hour, which happens every Tuesday at 9pm UK time, that's 4pm Eastern time. So if neither of those is your time zones, you're going to have to do a bit of Googling and work out when it is where you are. But it's an enormously fun Twitter chat, relaxed, fun, informative, and I'd love you to take part if you happen to be on Twitter. I should also say what would be number five? I haven't thought about this. What would be the top? What would be number five on the list of things people sow? Oh gosh, I'm gonna have to think now.

[11:21] Jane Perrone

We've said cacti and succulents, we've said coleus, sensitive plant. I guess it would probably be something edible like microgreens or chilies. Lots of people enjoy doing that and I'm going, to be sowing my chilli seeds this very weekend without fail. If I haven't sown them by next week, tell me off, please do, because I need the motivation. So that's a basic outline of the on the ledge sew along. As I say if you're new go and look at those show notes and listen to other episodes from the past. There's a cornucopia of info out there and in the coming weeks I'll be dropping in snippets of info for you as well to enhance your on the ledge sew along experience. I'm also planning to do an epic twitter thread about growing houseplants from seed. I'll link to that once I've done it too.

[12:15] Jane Perrone

Now on to today's interview. My guest today is Joe Bagley, the creator of ukhouseplants.com. He's a wonderful chap who is a real houseplant expert, who if you're in the UK you might remember from Gardener's World where he showed off his wonderful indoor jungle. So without any further ado, let's start talking about the sensitive plant.

Joe Bagley

Hello everyone, my name is Joe Bagley. I have a little blog and website called ukhouseplant.com and I also do some work for BBC Gardeners World which is a very big show here in the UK.

Jane Perrone

Joe, I think you're being a little modest to say that you've got a little website. Your website is a really amazing resource on houseplants which I do go and recommend everyone goes and has a look at.

[13:02] Joe Bagley Oh thank you.

Jane Perrone

And it's great to have you finally on the show. We've been planning this for over a year and various things have got in the way, but it's great to have you on the show. The topic that we are talking about today is the plant known as Mimosa pudica. I saw it actually was looking at various websites and books on this and I'd never heard it called the shame plant before, but I know it as the sensitive plant, but that's one of its other names. It's a really popular plant with my listeners. Lots of them grow it from seed for the so along every year. So it seemed only right to dedicate a whole episode to this plant. Is this something that you have tried growing? Do you like this? Is this one that's in your repertoire?

Joe Bagley

Definitely. Me and my best friend always have a competition who can grow the tallest one because they grow so quickly. By the end of the year, if you start in March, you usually get about a foot, two feet of growth on there. So yeah, it's definitely a plant I recommend. Really, really good for little kids as well. So if you have kids or you're a teacher, you want to get them into houseplants or just gardening in general, I'd definitely have a look at the Mosa because of course they move very quickly and kids like instant responses to things like Venus flytraps. So I definitely recommend them.

[14:16] Jane Perrone

Yeah, that's absolutely true. If you say to a kid, yeah, in about four weeks to six weeks, it's going to flower. They're like, really? Do I have to wait this long?It does provide immediate gratification which I think probably adults enjoy as well actually. So do you grow those, are you growing from seed every year, those, your competition plants?

[14:37] Joe Bagley

Yes, so I grow them both ways. You can grow them from seed and you can get the seeds very, very cheaply online. Or you can go to local garden centres, sometimes DIY stores, and buy them in a 12cm pot. They're usually about £5. And if you don't want to be waiting around for a few weeks before you get a nice little baby mimosa, head along down to the garden centre and have a look. But yeah, both ways are really, really good. I usually buy them ready-made.

[15:05] Joe Bagley

But last year I did do them from seed which is equally as fun and even more cuter because the leaves are so so small and oh they're so adorable.

Jane Perrone

Do they still respond at a tiny size? Do they still close up?

Joe Bagley Yeah they do, they're not as fruitful as the like the adults would be but no they still do and the older the plant gets the more individual leaves are on the on the little branch and what happens then is if you have more than 20 leaflets in the mid-rib, then what happens is if you touch the right at the end of the little branch, each individual pair of leaves will shut one after the other and it'll be essentially like a little domino effect. And yeah, the older they get, the more interesting they behave. But when they're younger, they're not as quick, but they still will shut.

Jane Perrone

Oh, that's really interesting. I've not had a tiny one like that. So it's interesting to see how they respond. And what is this all about? Why are they doing this in the first place? It's not a particularly common reaction or ability in plants to be able to move so fast. I guess really the only other obvious example being the Venus flytrap or maybe the squirting cucumber, you know, squirting out seeds but why does the sensitive plant take this approach?

Joe Bagley

Yeah, so they're not carnivorous plants. When I used to work at a garden centre, people always used to ask, oh, do they eat flies? And I’d say, no, no, no, no. They're a very delicate plant. They're lovers, they're not eaters. There's a thing called the pulvonic valve or muscle, essentially. And if you touch the little trichomes, little hairs on the leaves, similar to the venus fly trap, then a lot of the fluids will exit the leaf back into the stem, and the stem will secrete a hormone which will rapidly shut or open up the leaf depending on the plant but in this case all the leaves will fold upwards and if the plant is really you know touched quite a lot or wind or there's rain involved then the actual branches also will bend downwards and when the branches bend downwards it takes a little bit longer for the plant to open its leaves and you know become turgid again but it does take a lot of energy out the plant. So if you want to have a look at it and have a go, what I would do is video record it, so whenever you have that urge to touch the leaf and see it shut, just watch the video instead, because the plant won't use all its energy. A really good little fact is they also will shut at night as well. You don't need to touch them. They will naturally do this, a little bit like the prayer plants. It's quite amazing, because they shut before it starts to get dark, as if the plant already knows exactly the moment that twilight's going to start happening and the light levels will diminish. They don't just shut once it's fully dark. They kind of predict half an hour before it gets dark, which is really, really fascinating.

Jane Perrone

That is fascinating. When I was researching my book, why leaves do that at night time, and it turned out, as ever, there's never a simple answer to these things. It's a really, really complicated answer to do with all kinds of things, mainly to do with complex interactions between predators and herbivores and the plant. Yeah, you realize, well, it's obviously worth the plants putting their energy into shutting those leaves. And top tip to take that video. Great idea. Because I know if anyone is like me, you just be like, let's do it again. Let's do it again and then your plant's dead the following week. It's not ideal.

Joe Bagley

Yeah, not good.

Jane Perrone

I’m presuming this plant is something that we're not going to be putting outside in the garden. We do need it inside as a houseplant because it's a tropical, subtropical species?

[18:54] Joe Bagley

They are best indoors. You can have them outside, but the only issue is, of course, if there's sunlight on the leaves, that will dry the plant out. If there's wind, of course, the wind resistance will soak up and whisk away all the moisture in the roots, the stem, the soil, etc. And of course, aphids would like it because they're quite soft tissue on the leaves. The aphids will think that's a very nice little burger and chips meal right there for them. But you can have them outdoors but because they're quite delicate for me I definitely try and keep it indoors. Some people do give them a bit of direct sun and I do. The issue is you've got to watch them like a hawk all the time because as soon as you, if you miss a day and it's in direct sun, even if it's just a few hours in the morning or the evening, they can dry out quite quickly. It's not like a spider plant where they've got quite thick tuberous root systems that look essentially like a little potato. They hold the moisture for a long period of time if the plant's underwatered. These little Mimosa have such thin roots, thin leaves, thin stems. They need that nice, reliable moisture. What I would do is just keep them on a north or a northeast-facing window and then just keep them moist. What I do is I'd make a little pebble tray as well, just get a little plant saucer, put some stones on, fill the water up so that the stone level it's just a bit higher than the water level and then put the plant on top and that seems to help slow the rate of drying soil as well.

Jane Perrone

I'm wondering whether this might be also a plant that I might put in a self-watering pot or something like that to kind of try to keep that moisture going.

Joe Bagley

Yes. No, you just took the words out of my mouth. Self-watering pots would be really good. If you can get one which is on the smaller side, that's great. If you do buy the little Mimosas from the garden centre and they're already in like a 12, 15 centimetre pot, then you definitely repot it into the next size up because you'll notice very quickly that there are a lot of root system going on in there. You'll also smell, they do have an antifungal property in the roots so that mushrooms, fungi don't grow within the root space, but they smell really nice. Every time I smell the root system, it sounds really strange, but if anyone's ever repotted one, you'll know the scent. For me, I always repot them at the start of spring, and it's like a smell of spring. You know that the warmth is going to come for the summer. But yes, definitely repot it if you’ve got a little 12-centimetre pot, bought specimen. If you've got little seedlings, just try and space them out and then pop them in a self-watering pot. If you can't afford that, or you don't know where to get them, you don't know what they're about, the pebble trick is, pretty much just as good. It's just a more classic way of doing that.

Jane Perrone

Immediately, every listener is rushing off to smell their mimosa roots for that elusivescent of spring. I love that. I've never come across that, but I'm definitely going to give give that a try?

Joe Bagley

It's just quite an earthy smell, but it's a nice earthy smell. It's weird. But yeah, there is definitely a smell. It's one of the only times where I smell the roots and I'm like, yes, spring is here everyone. Let's go.

Jane Perrone

See, I know that you're a man after my own heart, Joe, because the fact that you're smelling roots, that's exactly what I'm like. I'm going to be like, okay, I need to smell these roots, check they're not funky smelling, because obviously that's a really good indicator, isn't it? That you've got a problem under the surface. It's actually really worth using your nose around houseplants, but I think a lot of people don't realise that.

Joe Bagley

Yeah, and exactly. If you grow herbs like basil, for example, you can smell the nice freshness of the leaves. Or some types of orchids like the cymbidium, they have nice scented flowers as well, sweet scented. And then, yeah, the roots. So yeah, houseplants aren't just visual and you don't just have to touch them, you can smell them as well. Probably wouldn't eat a lot of the houseplants but you can certainly smell them.

[22:55] Jane Perrone

Absolutely. Absolutely. Yeah. And I think it's, as I say, it's using all your senses to really get a sense of what's going on with your plants is absolutely vital. And, um, I mean, everyone has different assessments of smells though. I don't know if you find this, but my partner finds certain plants smell, the flowers just don't smell good to him when they do flower, even ones that are meant to smell good. So it's all in the individual nose.

Joe Bagley

Yes.

Jane Perrone

But I'll be interested to just hear from listeners about what they think the roots of Mimosa pudica smell like? We'll find out.

Joe Bagley

I'd love to know because they do have a scent. I feel like I go insane when I say it, but they do. For me, it's the scent of spring and summer.

Jane Perrone

This is the kind of deep information we're absolutely all about on this podcast. So that is amazing. That is amazing. I'm discovering that so many houseplants have traditional medicinal purposes. I always sort of preempt these conversations by saying, don't try this at home, but are there any uses of this plant that people have traditionally used in the wild?

[24:01] Joe Bagley

Pretty much everything. When I researched all the different medicinal properties that this plant has, the amount of things that this plant was used for over the years, over the decades, over the centuries, it's all sorts. It's gone from fatigue to depression, piles as well. I don't know what's in the mimosa for them to do everything. It's like the multi-purpose medicinal plant. Everything was used for it, pretty much. Headaches, everything. So yes, I wouldn't recommend eating the leaves or boiling them in for soup or something.

[24:37] Joe Bagley

But no, they did have quite a strong impact, especially in China and Oriental Asia as well. There was a lot of different background information on that. It's weird because they are from the Americas. It's obviously been introduced to Asia, to Africa, to Australasia as well quite recently, but they were still used for medicinal purposes. So yeah, if you've got piles then maybe have a look at using mimosa. I'm joking, by the way.

Jane Perrone

Yes, seek guidance from your doctor before using this plant. That's what I always have to say. I don't know what...the mind boggles. I'm sure that like a lot of houseplant species, probably scientists are just catching up on what might actually be useful in a modern Western medicine sense. So that's interesting to know.

[25:32] Joe Bagley

Yes, yes. They do have thorns, so especially with piles, don't be using that. You're not killing two birds with one stone, you're doing opposite. Double-ended sword that's the word.

Jane Perrone

Oh my gosh, oh yeah, good point.

Joe Bagley

It's amazing, absolutely amazing. Maybe the roots were used as well, you never know, those nice smelling roots, that could have been used as well.

Jane Perrone

Absolutely. When you're growing them from seed, are the seeds those really tiny seeds that you have to, hold your breath while you're sowing? How do you sow them? Would it be familiar to anyone who's sown something like coleus seeds in the past?

Joe Bagley

Yeah, they're not massively small. They're a few millimetres in diameter. They're slightly flatter. They're not like a perfect sophia, but they're a lot bigger than poppy seeds, for example. If you breathe wrong, then they'll obviously blow everywhere, off the table, off the potting bench. But no, mimosa seeds, you can see them, you can pick them up. So yeah, you only want to put them around about one, two, three millimetres into the potting mix, or just sprinkle some fine vermiculite over them when you want to sow them. But yeah, they're quite cute. And if you do keep the seedlings alive over the year, in September, October, November, they begin to produce those really beautiful flowers. Try and have a go at self-pollination on two different flowers. Sometimes they can self-pollinate within one plant. It's not often, but if you have lots of them all growing at the same time, hopefully they will, different individual plants will flower at the same time. If you try and cross-pollinate them, you'll get the seeds again and you can actually try and do it every single year, which is a really, really good idea. It's a bit like lupins, essentially. Once you get the knack of trying to pollinate them or if the bugs outside, airborne pollinators can do that, then you'll get seeds every single year. Essentially, you don't have to buy any more mimosas because you'll have a nice little family history of them, a little family tree going.

[27:29] Jane Perrone

That's a top tip. Are the flowers worth it? I mean, sometimes I always think some flowers are sort of damned in houseplant books where they say, flowers insignificant. And you think, well, they're not that insignificant. What are the mimosa pudica flowers like?

Joe Bagley

Oh, they're beautiful. A typical mimosa, to be honest. They're just kind of like a globular pom-pom, a light pink, slightly purpley pom-pom basically. Very, very delicate to touch and all the pollens on the outside and no, they're really, really beautiful. They only last for a few days but when they do flower, take photos because they're so intricate and they're beautiful. Definitely take photos of them.

Jane Perrone

There's something quite beguiling about them. I can't quite put my finger on it. Any scent? Do we have any scent to offer? Once you've stopped smelling the roots...

Joe Bagley

Once I've gone down from the roots, I'll work my way back up to the flowers. I can't remember them ever really making any nice smells, but if you do touch them, you'll get the yellowy cream-coloured pollen on your fingers. It's more of a visual thing. Try and pollinate them because me and my best friend, we've both done it together. It was the first year we had them, I think, when we were 15, 16. And we did it as a joke. We just thought, oh, let's try and pollinate them, see if they actually work. Didn't think anything of it. And lo and behold, you started getting little seed pods developing. So yeah, have a go. The flowers are really beautiful, but they don't really smell. So keep your nose down at the roots.

[28:55] Jane Perrone

And do you sow them? Do you need to have some warmth on there? Is this one something where you need a heated propagator to really get them going?

Joe Bagley

Yeah, they're from the Central America, South America kind of area, so they are used to quite warm environments. If you do it this time of year, which to be honest, even now, you can grow them. You can grow them at any time of year. If you have a nearby heater or radiator, just put them in the soil, maybe vermiculite or another very fine bit of soil on top, put some cling film or a lid over it so they don't evaporate to moisture really quickly, and keep it near the radiator because it's a good little side heat source instead of getting a little heat mat, which costs money to run. Just use the radiator. But yeah, a little bit of moisture is great, but not anything colder than about 16, 15, 16 Celsius, which, if my conversion is right, it's about 59, 61 Fahrenheit if I remember rightly. I'm not very good around that kind of area. But yeah, not too cold because they can, you can get some fungus growing and the soil just doesn't doesn't perform well in cold environments when it's wet.

Jane Perrone

You're absolutely right. A bit of heat is helpful. But if you you can keep the costs down in this day and age. We're all grateful for not having to run any more things.

Joe Bagley

Exactly, yeah. So radiators are the new propagators, I think.

[30:21] Jane Perrone

Yeah, absolutely. I can definitely see that taking off. Once you've got them going, presumably then you need to kind of prick them out into separate pots once they get to, you know, a few centimetres?

Joe Bagley

Yeah, yeah. I wouldn't essentially put them in individual plant pots. I do find they do tend to work better together. Of course, there is a limit of how many you can get in one pot.The ones that people grow in the nurseries for British garden centres, at least in Britain, I'm not sure about Europe or the rest of the world, but they do grow quite a lot in one pot. Sometimes a little bit too many because they all fight over moisture, as I said at the start.

[31:00] Joe Bagley If you get a 12 or 15 centimetre pot, then you can definitely get 10 in each one. Also, when you are sowing them, give them a bit of space, a little bit of breathing room and that's really, really good. But yeah, pricking is quite fun because the root systems are very delicate. Of course, they are young and if you touch the leaves, they will fold. That uses the energy. You may lose a few because of how delicate they are and the energy loss. You can try that or what I sometimes do is if you've got a little seed tray, but then you can get another seed tray which is deeper, essentially just repot the entire seed tray, which is quite thin at that point, a few centimetres in depth, into a wide, deeper pot with some fresh soil at the bottom. That's a really good way, especially with mimoas, where you can eliminate transplant shock.

Jane Perrone

It's always a risk when you're dealing with seedlings, isn't it? That you can just mess everything. It's easy to mess things up. I've been there, done that on that front.

Joe Bagley

Yes.

Jane Perrone

And that's the trouble with growing things from seed is that you can do really well all the way along and then one silly mistake or forgetting about them for a couple of days and it's all over. But then again, a packet of mimosa seeds, it's not a great deal of money. So you can always try again.

[32:13] Jane Perrone

These are quite short-lived plants, I think, in a way a good idea, as you say, to self-pollinate them and get some more seeds because probably a mature plant might get to say 12-18 months before it decides to kind of keel over?

Joe Bagley

Yes, they don't last massively long. Not the Oxalis triangularis. They have the lovely colour of the leaves and the leaves fold up at night, open the day. They can last years and years. You can propagate them. But the thing with the Mimosas is they are pretty much just an annual, but we've got, me and my best friend have got one which survived for two years once. The little trick is, once they get to about a meter, a foot, a foot and a half, they're not that big, a foot and a foot and a half, then what we did was we quite literally decapitated it by half, took the top half of the growth off and left just a few clusters of leaves, which was really, really good. Then that just forced some new energy, some new branches to come out, and it did actually last two years. It's weird because when you cut the stem in half, the new leaves that come out, they tend to be a lot smaller. I find it really weird. They go from being very small as they're a little seedling or babies. The leaves get bigger and bigger, and then they'll get a big cluster of leaves on one per branch, and the leaves go small again. But when you cut them down., they keep with that small attire to them. And the leaves tend to be a bit thicker. I don't know whether it was just my individual one that we pruned back, but the leaves and and the plants seem to be essentially more mature, like it knew, it was like, okay, Joe's, you know, forgot to water me again. I'm not going to dehydrate as quickly this time. I'm going to deal with neglect better. But they tend to be better behaved, if that's the right word, after the second year. So yeah, I'd say that the limit is, you know, 18 months, maybe 24 months, if you really know what to do with the plants, but they are more of an annual thing.

Jane Perrone

I bet there's going to be some listener go, well actually I do have a metre tall Mimosa pudica. There's always somebody out there who’s going to prove us wrong, but you're absolutely right. Probably it would be impressive to get one that lasts that long and reaches a metre tall. I don't know how tall they grow in nature. I imagine they're more sort of scrambling plants anyway. They're not going to be getting to any great height.

Joe Bagley

No, they do grow, I think, hours. Mine and Megan's. I do have a photo. I'll send a photo to you if you want of it. It was, I'd say it must have been about 60, 70 centimetres, but they're amazing when they're that tall. They're really amazing. The thing is, it's quite poignant to remember that pot of the plant, and I re-potted it in the next size up, but there was about 20 in there. And by the time that little mimosa was about 70 centimetres in height, there was only three in the pot. So you can see how many do die off because of essentially the fight to light and the Darwinian theory of only the strong survive, essentially.

[35:21] Joe Bagley

They're beautiful when they're quite tall, though. They are absolutely stunning.

Jane Perrone

It's a real lesson for us, I think, with houseplants, because oftentimes it's so frequent that you buy a plant in the garden centre and it's not one plant in the pot, it's several. I think people think it's a multi-stemmed plant, whereas actually it's it's just loads of seedlings and so many people are like, why is my plant dying off? And you're like, well, you know, you could go either way. You might lose all of the seedlings because they all get out competed or you might just have the strongest ones that last. But it's a really good lesson to actually look at what you're dealing with and take them out of the pot, and maybe separate them out. Although I imagine with this particular species, because of that fibrous root system, it might be tricky once they've established try to tease out separate plants?

Joe Bagley

Yes, with the root ball I'll essentially tease half of them out so it's two semicircles of root balls and you do get that lovely smell again, I will say that. You can tease them apart but you do lose a few and it's difficult. As long as the soil is moist, that's pretty much the only thing you can do to limit transplant shock. But try and split them is good, or get them from seeds, give them a bit of room to grow each individual one, Job’s a good’un.

Jane Perrone

Sounds great. Well, I know lots of listeners have already given this plant a try, but hopefully we've inspired a few more to crack on with the On the Ledge Sow Along this year and sow some mimosa seeds. Any other houseplants that you like growing from seed?

Joe Bagley

I like doing the coleus, it's really good because the colours, if you get really nice deep purples, that's a really good one. And then also, I'm going to try this year, my air plant is with child. It's pregnant at the moment with seed pods. We haven't got the seed pods to open up yet, but we are getting there. So I'm hopefully, fingers crossed, I don't know how long it will take, maybe a few more months. I've had it for two months and it hasn't done anything, is grow little air plants from seed. Obviously, it's going to be quite strange because you don't grow them in soil. So I'm going to try the cotton wool trick, keeping it wet, sprinkle them on top and then put like a little lid with few holes in, see if that works. But yeah, that's my next project. But things like basil, for example, and herbs, I do like trying to grow stuff from herbs. And there is one funny thing I do do, is I sometimes get HelloFresh, which is like the, you get like a little box of recipes of ingredients. And you'll always get like the peppers and the apples and stuff. What I do is I take all the seeds out and I sprinkle it in nearby pots around the house. And you get little pepper growth spurts coming up. It's just quite fun actually. I find they grow better in other plant pots than they do in their own pots, you know.

[38:09] Jane Perrone

That's really interesting. I wonder what's going on there.

Joe Bagley

I know. I don't know whether it's me or whether they just like growing with friends, no new mature friends or what, but I've always found it difficult to grow certain things in normal seed trays, but sprinkling them in, you know, almost carelessly in random plant pots around the house, they come up like, you know, the life of Riley.

[38:28] Jane Perrone

Well, there you go. I'm going to give that a try this year. I've saved a few chilies from the chilies I had last year, which I didn't actually grow from seed. I had some, those were ones I bought from an allotment that was doing a big plant seedling sale. But I've saved them and I'm thinking, yeah, I'm going to do it. But that's actually a really good tip. That sounds like my kind of tip. Less work and better results. I like the sound of that.

Joe Bagley

And the good thing is, it saves more space so you can get more mature houseplants. So it leaves up, greens your house up even more, which I've admittedly had to do now. I'm starting to put plants into the same pot because I don't have any more room.

[39:07] Jane Perrone

I seem to remember that you have a lot of houseplants. Do you count or are you kind of, like me, a bit of a non-counter when it comes to you just don't need to know exactly how many you've got?

Joe Bagley

No, I haven't counted in almost three years. I'm a bit scared, trying to say. But no, there's a lot. Upstairs, downstairs, it's more empty, not empty, but it's more of a living space. Of course, if you're bringing friends, family around, for example, or the postman drops a parcel off and he looks into your house and he's thinking, gosh it's like Blooming Kew Gardens in here, how do you live? Then yeah, downstairs is, you know, that's where you entertain, but upstairs, you know, walking through rooms, you have to walk through branches. I live opposite my grandmother and she owns the house and she's been quite annoyed with me before because it's like trying to break through through the Amazon, getting upstairs.

Jane Perrone

The funny thing is my house is the opposite really, in that all the plants are in the living areas and I have very few plants in my bedroom. Mainly because there's very little - there’s no windowsills in my bedroom. And there's just nowhere really - my bedroom is quite relatively small. My daughter's got the big bedroom, lucky child. So she's got a big, a big Homolomena in there, and some other plants, but there's not much room in my bedroom. And I've had plants in the bedroom before on a shelf above the bed in a previous house and I've been banned from doing that because I basically had a nightmare, literally jumped up and started grabbing the plants above the bed and chucking them on the bed. So yeah, I've been banned from having plants by the bed, which is actually fair enough really. But yeah, everyone has to find their own best solution to these issues. But it sounds like your house is a delight. And I'm sure that lots of listeners will be inspired to be giving the sensitive plant a go this year. So thank you so much for joining me, Joe.

Joe Bagley

No, that's okay. Miimosas are really good. It's one of the first plants I ever grew. So it's got a very deep place in my heart. They're really fascinating plants. They're not the easiest, to be fair. You do have to mollycoddle them a little bit, keep them moist, but they are fantastic. If you keep them alive, they are a talking point. And if you have any kids in the house, definitely show them what they do. Maybe before you buy them, show them on YouTube. And every person I've showed, even adults, they always, it lights their face up seeing them shut, and especially as they mature, and each individual pair of leaves shuts like a domino effect. So definitely go out, go to a garden center, see if they have them in. It's usually March, April time when they come in, or get the seeds online because they are fantastic plants.

Jane Perrone

Thanks so much, Joe. I am in complete agreement.

[41:52] Music.

[41:59] Jane Perrone

Thanks so much to Joe and remember do start using the #OTLsowalong and sending me pictures of what you're doing and what you're getting up to. There will be more sew along episodes in the pipeline just for you. No question of the week this week but a Q&A special is steaming into view so if you've got a question for me do drop me a line. I need your questions for the Q&A special so drop me a line to ontheledgepodcast.gmail.com with lots of info about your plant. Pictures are also really helpful and I'll do my damndest to try to include your question and provide you with all the answers you need. And if you're a patron at the Ledge End or Super Fan level, this very Sunday, Sunday, March the 4th, 2023, I'm doing a repot with me session on zoom at four o'clock UK time. Please join me if you can for repotting chat, tips and suggestions. If you can't make it in person, then I will put the recording up on Patreon for those tiers. One of the many benefits of becoming a patron of the show.

[43:07] Music.

[43:18] Jane Perrone

That's all for this week's show. Thank you so much for joining me along these last glorious six years and let's hope for many many more episodes, Have a fantastic week, And fear not. I'll be back next Friday just for you. Bye!

[43:34] Music.

[43:51] Jane Perrone

The music you heard in this episode was Roll Jordan Roll by The Joy Drops, The Road We Used To Travel When We Were Young by Komiku, and Whistle by Benjamin Banger. The ad music was Whistling Rufus by the Heftone Banjo Orchestra. All tracks are licensed under Creative Commons, visit the show notes for details.

[44:12] Music.

I introduce this year’s On The Ledge sowalong and talk to Joe Bagley about one of your favourite houseplants to grow from seed, the sensitive plant.

This week’s guest

Joe Bagley (pictured left) aka The Houseplant Doctor is a UK-based houseplant expert. Check out his website: he’s on Instagram as @ukhouseplants.

*Mimosa pudica* flowers. Photograph: Hafiz Issadeen on Flickr.

Check out the shownotes as you listen…

The On The Ledge sowalong is my annual mission to get listeners growing houseplants from seed. I wrote a thread about it on Twitter!

There are loads of houseplants you can grow from seed: some of the favourites of On The Ledge listeners include cacti and succulents, the swiss cheese plant (Monstera deliciosa), coleus and the sensitive plant (Mimosa pudica). But there are loads of other options including Clivias, carnivorous plants, asparagus ferns, ponytail palms,
If you haven’t listened to the podcast before, you can catch up with all the sowalong episodes from previous seasons here, covering everything from sourcing seed, how to avoid scams, what equipment you need and how to grow particular types of plant including succulents and ferns.
To take part, just choose something you’d like to grow from seed indoors, and let me know what you are up to, either by emailing ontheledgepodcast@gmail.com or tagging me on social media using #OTLsowalong.
You can share your experiences and ask for advice from other listeners by joining my Facebook group Houseplant Fans of On The Ledge, or joining in my weekly Twitter chat, #HouseplantHour.
If you can’t grow anything from seed, it’s fine to try other kinds of propagation, such as cuttings.
Mimosa pudica, the sensitive plant
Mimosa pudica is a popular houseplant, loved for its ability to close up its feathery leaves when touched. It comes from Central and South America.
They can be bought as young plants at many garden centres, or grown from seed at home. In the Uk, the seeds are widely available, including Chiltern Seeds and Mr Fothergills.
When growing Mimosa pudica, remember their root systems are quite fragile and delicate, so do not let the substrate dry out. To help with this issue, use a small self watering pot, or place the nursery pot onto a pebble tray.
They can take some some, especially in the morning, and you can put them outside in the summer, but protect them from strong sunglight and keep them in a sheltered spot.
The seeds should be sown with just a fine covering of a couple of millimetres of soil on top - or use vermiculite to cover them.
Spring is a great time to sow them as these plants don’t tend to survive longer than a year. They like to be kept warm while germinating, so make sure you cover the pot or tray with clear plastic or a clear plastic bag, and keep near a heater or use a propagator.
The roots have an antifungal property and smell delightfully springlike and pleasantly earthy, so give them a sniff!
The flowers (pictured above) can be pollinated so you can save your own seeds and sow the following year.
If you have tried growing Mimosa pudica already, why not grow its relative the prairie mimosa, Desmanthus illinoensis? This also has leaves that close up to the touch.

THIS WEEK’S SPONSOR

Thanks to True Leaf Market for supporting this week’s show. True Leaf Market have been supplying of superb seed since 1974: check out their website for a huge choice of seeds including vegetables, herbs, flowers, microgreens and seeds for sprouting, plus their free growing guides to help you get started. Get $10 off orders of $50 or more off now at trueleafmarket.com with promo code ONTHELEDGE10. Limit one use per customer.

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