On The Ledge

When Alice Vincent asked me to take part in a panel discussion at the Garden Museum about houseplant trends past, present and future, I couldn't have been more excited, and when I heard my fellow speaker was Catherine Horwood I nearly bit her hand off.  This week I am bringing you a recording of the talk that took place last Tuesday, April 10. It's long, and the sound isn't of the best quality, but I hope you'll forgive that for the chance to listen to a really interesting discussion that goes deeper than the usual "ten houseplants you can't kill" stuff.  If you haven't come across Alice Vincent before, she's a Telegraph journalist and plant addict who featured in episode 14 of On The Ledge talking about balconies. You'll find her on Instagram as @Noughticulture and her book How to Grow Stuff is an excellent guide for beginner gardeners.  Catherine Horwood is a social historian whose book Potted History is a wonderful insight into the houseplant's back story. She appeared in episode six of On The Ledge talking about pots, and is on Instagram as @potted_history. She talks about the origins of my favourite houseplant book, The Houseplant Expert, but she also mentions another great book about houseplants, The Indoor Garden Book by John Brookes.  Thanks to the Garden Museum for hosting the event - if you've not come across this place before, it's a wonderful place! The museum explores and celebrates British gardens and gardening in various ways, including exhibitions, talks, displays and its garden. If you're ever in London, do visit - the restaurant is excellent too!

It all started with a single fiddle leaf fig. Now Summer Rayne Oakes has hundreds of houseplants in her Brooklyn apartment, plus a chicken. Yes a chicken! I talk to Summer Rayne about how it all began, how to keep maidenhair ferns alive, the cool things you can grow in a vivarium, and why chickens and Calatheas don't mix in this week's show. If you want to find out more about Summer Rayne, the best place to start is her Homestead Brooklyn page (her Instagram is @HomesteadBrooklyn); find out more about her workshops, talks and the NY plant swap she's involved in here, and details of her houseplant masterclass are here.  Here are a few useful bullet points picking up on topics we covered in our chat: Summer Rayne mentions Anubias as great aquatic/semi-aquatic plants.  Hoffmannia is a genus of tropical plants from Mexico, Central and South America. Try growing them under glass! Summer Rayne mentioneds hydrospikes as a great way to water maidenhair ferns: http://amzn.to/2qxeBrh. Find out how Summer Rayne built a green wall in her apartment (this is covered in more detail in On The Ledge: An Extra Leaf 2*): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Owel8LjIV3Y&t=4s. Summer Rayne on how to organise a plant swap: http://homesteadbrooklyn.com/all/2017/10/12/how-to-organize-a-plant-swap-like-a-pro The Plant One One Me YouTube channel is here. *Want to find out more about my Patreon offering? Keep scrolling down - details below! Question of the week  I wanted to know how to perk up my Epiphyllum anguliger aka fishbone or ric rac cactus with some new growing medium when I repot: I posted a cry for help on Instagram and got a great response from listeners. The consensus is that it needs houseplant compost mixed with some orchid bark and perlite, but the exact ratio I'll have to decide for myself!  Want to ask me a question? Tweet @janeperrone, leave a message on my Facebook page or email ontheledgepodcast@gmail.com.  On The Ledge joins Patreon So I've joined Patreon so that you can show your support for the show and get the extra On The Ledge content you're calling for. For example, this week patrons can listen to an extra chunk of chat with guest Summer Rayne Oakes. For as little as $5 you'll get at least TWO bonus podcast episodes per month, plus extra posts and info you won't find anywhere else. Confused? I'll be putting up a FAQ shortly to answer your query. If you're already supporting others via Patreon, just click here to set up your rewards! On The Ledge talks, live show and houseplant chats  If you are in or near London and around on the evening of April 10 2018, come and see me talking to Alice Vincent of the Telegraph and plant historian Catherine Horwood about the future of houseplants at the Garden Museum. Book your tickets now.  I'll also be making an appearance at Gardeners' World Live in Birmingham on June 14 on the Blooming Interiors stage - check out the schedule here. I am also going to be at the Hampton Court Palace Flower Show on the afternoon of July 4 giving talks on houseplants in the roses theatre - do join me if you can. And on the evening of Friday October 26 I'll be bringing a live show of On The Ledge to the RHS London Urban Garden show, with special guests including Alys Fowler and all kinds of leafy fun! Put those dates in your diary NOW! Buy me a coffee!  If you like the show, please do go and rate and review On The Ledge on iTunes, Stitcher or wherever you listen. It's lovely to read your kind comments, and it really helps new listeners to find the show. You can also buy me a coffee! A donation of just £3 helps keep On The Ledge going: helping to pay for me to travel to interviews, and for expenses like website hosting and audio equipment. Don't forget to join the Facebook page for news of what's coming up on the show and bonus blogposts! Credits This week's show featured Roll Jordan Roll by the Joy Drops, An Instrument the Boy Called Happy Day Gokarna by Samuel Corwin, and Oh Mallory by Josh Woodward, all licensed under Creative Commons.

Around eighteen months ago, veterinarian Mohamed Osman led a pretty regular life in Cairo, Egypt: working, spending time with wife and children, going to the gym. Then he had a cardiac arrest and his heart stopped for four minutes. Doctors managed to revive him and operated on his heart. When he got out of hospital, he was advised to rest at home for a month. He decided to buy a couple of cactus plants to look after during his recuperation. They died due to overwatering, but then Mohamed started to read up on houseplants and bought replacements. Before he knew it, his plant collection began to grow rapidly.  Now a few houseplants has turned into dozens of houseplants, a huge following on Instagram and a shining example of how to create an indoor jungle. I talk to Mohamed about how it all began, what his family think of the transformation, how plants helped him psychologically, and what's next for Behind The Seeds. You can read more about Mohamed and his plants in this feature in Cairo West magazine.  Question of the week Jacob Fuentes Navarro writes: "I have many plants in my home that are still in the pot i bought them in and I'm not quite satisfied with the soil. Some are basically just peat moss and others the soil seem almost solid and hard for me to even put my finger to check if they need water. My question is can I remove most of the soil they currently have and replace it with a more lightweight mix of coco coir and other mixtures something that lets the roots breathe better and i know exactly what its made off?" The short answer is yes! Houseplants often arrive in your house in less-than-ideal potting mix. It's wise - especially at this time of year when it's prime repotting time - to take them out of their pots and check that the growing medium isn't too dense. Cacti and succulents like good drainage, but often are sold in very heavy, damp compost, so they will need repotting.  Compost with a high organic material content can be a problem for houseplants, especially if they are not repotted annually, as the organic material continues to decompose and slumps down in the pot, blocking air pockets that allow oxygen to reach the roots. So consider switching to a soil-based compost such as John Innes No 2 - which you can buy or make your own mix - there's a recipe here, and I think you could substitute the peat content for coir (but I haven't tried this! Coir is a more sustainable alternative to peat, and definitely worth considering as an additive to your houseplant potting mix.  Want to ask me a question? Tweet @janeperrone, leave a message on my Facebook page or email ontheledgepodcast@gmail.com.  On The Ledge talks, live show and houseplant chats  If you are in or near London and around on the evening of April 10, come and see me talking to Alice Vincent of the Telegraph and plant historian Catherine Horwood about the future of houseplants at the Garden Museum. Book your tickets now.  I'll also be making an appearance at Gardeners' World Live in Birmingham on June 14 on the Blooming Interiors stage - check out the schedule here. I am also going to be at the Hampton Court Palace Flower Show on the afternoon of July 4 giving talks on houseplants in the roses theatre - do join me if you can. And on the evening of Friday October 26 I'll be bringing a live show of On The Ledge to the RHS London Urban Garden show, with special guests including Alys Fowler and all kinds of leafy fun! Put those dates in your diary NOW! Buy me a coffee!  If you like the show, please do go and rate and review On The Ledge on iTunes, Stitcher or wherever you listen. It's lovely to read your kind comments, and it really helps new listeners to find the show. You can also buy me a coffee! A donation of just £3 helps keep On The Ledge going: helping to pay for me to travel to interviews, and for expenses like website hosting and audio equipment. Don't forget to join the Facebook page for news of what's coming up on the show and bonus blogposts! Credits This week's show featured Roll Jordan Roll by the Joy Drops, An Instrument the Boy Called Happy Day Gokarna and A Man Approaches with Bowed Sitar, Rishkesh by Samuel Corwin, and Overthrown by Josh Woodward, all licensed under Creative Commons.

The Maranta group, aka the prayer plants, all share an incredible plant superpower: they can open and shut their leaves. If you've never spotted this slow but steady transformation, check out this timelapse video on YouTube.  It's a process called nyctinasty, but how does this work? There's a great explanation here, but in essence a little organ called the pulvinus at the base of each leaf swells and shrinks to help the foliage move. They're also one of THE houseplants of the moment, because they all have intricately patterned leaves that the current generation of houseplant fans just love. Here's a rundown of the four clans of Maranta, most of which hail from South America: The plants that gave the group their name! They were named after a sixteenth century Italian botanist and physician, Bartolomeo Maranta, and have been grown for centuries as houseplants.  There are three types you are most likely to see: • Maranta leuconeura kerchoveana (rabbit tracks) • Maranta tricolor aka M. leuconeura erythrophylla (herringbone plant - pictured above) • Maranta leuconeura massangeana 2. The Calatheas The plant taxonomists have thrown us off the scent again by reclassifying the genus of this plant from Calathea to Geoppertia, just to let you know. For now I am sticking with Calathea. Here are some of the houseplant highlights of the genus... • Calathea makoyana (peacock plant)
 • Calathea ornata (pinstripe plant)
 • Calathea lancifolia (rattlesnake plant)
 • Calathea orbifolia 
 • Calathea roseopicta - specifically 'Dotty' (pink accents) and 'Manoa Blush' (slivery) 
 • Calathea zebrina 3. The Stromanthes These are mostly known at present through the extremely popular Stromanthe sanguinea 'Triostar', but Stromanthe amabilis is also worth hunting for.  4. The Ctenanthes This genus is probably the hardest to find, but seek out Ctenanthe oppenheimiana 'Tricolor' and the silvery-leaved Ctenanthe lubbersiana. I am a big fan of Ctenanthe burle-marxii, too, named after the Brazilian landscape architect Roberto Burle Marx. It's on my wishlist, so let me know if you know where to get one in the UK! So that's the Maranta group, but how do you look after them, and are there any new varieties we need to be aware of? I talk to Paul Holt, creative director of N1 and W6 garden centres in London, to find out which of the Maranta group are proving most popular with his customers. We also cover the perils of spider mite, how to keep humidity up at the levels the Marantas need, and the best potting mix to use when repotting. Here's a list of the newer cultivars Paul mentions: • Calathea 'Network' (Paul recommends this as being particularly easy to grow if you are a forgetful waterer!) • Calathea 'White Fusion' - this one has incredible cream, white and green variegation and is very high on my wishlist! • Calathea 'White Star' - this one's all about the white stripes. • Calathea leopardina - a refined, elegant plant that doesn't get too big. • Question of the week Andrew sent me a question about his new cactus; he wants to know whether the brown spots are corking, fungus, or something else? "Is it safe to put with my other cactus plants?" he asks. First off, I always recommend a quarantine period for new plants where you keep them away from the rest of your collection for a few weeks. Particularly if you suspect a problem with the new plant.  There are loads of reasons why cacti get marks on their skin, but one common issue is corking - it's cosmetic rather than a serious problem. Here's a useful guide on what corking is and why you shouldn't worry about it. The same site has advice on physical damage to cacti and sunburn. Incidentally, if you can ID Andrew's cactus do let me know! Want to ask me a question? Tweet @janeperrone, leave a message on my Facebook page or email ontheledgepodcast@gmail.com.  On The Ledge talks, live show and houseplant chats  I announced in this week's podcast that I am a special guest at Gardeners World Live in Birmingham on June 14 on the Blooming Interiors stage - check out the schedule here. I am also going to be at the Hampton Court Palace Flower Show on the afternoon of July 4 giving talks on houseplants in the roses theatre - do join me if you can. And on the evening of Friday October 26 I'll be bringing a live show of On The Ledge to the RHS London Urban Garden show, with special guests including Alys Fowler and all kinds of leafy fun! Put those dates in your diary NOW! Buy me a coffee!  If you like the show, please do go and rate and review On The Ledge on iTunes, Stitcher or wherever you listen. It's lovely to read your kind comments, and it really helps new listeners to find the show. You can also buy me a coffee! A donation of just £3 helps keep On The Ledge going: helping to pay for me to travel to interviews, and for expenses like website hosting and audio equipment. Don't forget to join the Facebook page for news of what's coming up on the show and bonus blogposts! Credits This week's show featured Roll Jordan Roll by the Joy Drops, An Instrument the Boy Called Happy Day Gokarna by Samuel Corwin and Oh Mallory by Josh Woodward, all licensed under Creative Commons.

I have heard from so many cat owners who find their pets just can't stay away from their plants: either they're chewing them, or pulling them out of their pots, or finding some other way to destroy that cool jungle vibe you've been cultivating. So this episode is dedicating to giving cat owners some help in keeping cats and plants equally content.  For instance Anne Kostalas, who lives in Montreal, wanted to know what plants would cause no harm to her kitten Norman - he's on Instagram! She wrote: "Can you help me come up with a list of houseplants that won’t poison him, that look nice and perhaps some he won’t even want to nibble?"  The ASPCA website has an excellent list of plants that are toxic to cats and those that are non-toxic, so if you are not sure, check this out. I speak to the ASPCA's Dr Tina Wismer about what plants are particularly dangerous - the most prominent being members of the lily family - and what to do if you think your cat has eaten something it shouldn't have. (Clue: Speak to your vet sooner rather than later...) I also hear from cat owners Rachel Morgan, Amie Gillingham and Karen Hugg about the havoc their cats to cause when it comes to houseplants: Karen has an excellent blogpost on her website on her solution to the problem - protecting her plants with decorative birdcages she sources from TK Maxx and elsewhere. Question of the week tackles questions about Calatheas, or more accurately, a question about a Calathea and another about its close relative, the Stromanthe.

My guest this week is Matt Candeias, host of botanically brilliant podcast In Defense of Plants, and he's also a PhD student at the University of Illinois in the US, studying how plants are responding to climate change. I discovered Matt's work at about the same time I started On The Ledge (you can read my top five gardening podcasts post here). I've been a fan ever since, so it was a privilege to chat to Matt about everything from why we're both serial Begonia killers to why his family have finally stopped buying him moth orchids for his birthday.   'll be chatting to Matt on his podcast soon so do go and subscribe now! Here's a list of the plants we mention: Pleurothallis orchids Pinguiculas (I mention my cultivar, 'Tina' Nepenthes Philodendron 'Pink Princess' (currently available in the UK here) Heliamphora Disa orchids Sinningias Begonia luxurians Maidenhair fern (Adiantum raddianum) Stapelias Question of the week Listener Matt wanted to know what to do about the fuzzy fungi on the surface of his seed tray... so I offer up some advice on how to prevent damping off. There's a good RHS page on the symptoms of and solutions of damping off here.  Want to ask me a question? Tweet @janeperrone, leave a message on my Facebook page or email ontheledgepodcast@gmail.com.  News on the newsletter... Subscribe now for a chance to get hold of my monthly newsletter, and it's packed full of useful info for plant parents, including my 'lust list' of plants you are going to be crushing hard on, four incredible plant lover Instagrammers to follow, and links to some excellent resources for the #OTL sowalong.  Not signed up yet? You can get your email on the list for the March edition here. On The Ledge live show and houseplant chats  I am going to be at the Hampton Court Palace Flower Show on the afternoon of July 4 giving talks on houseplants in the roses theatre - do join me if you can. And on the evening of Friday October 26 I'll be bringing a live show of On The Ledge to the RHS London Urban Garden show, with special guests including Alys Fowler and all kinds of leafy fun! Put those dates in your diary NOW! Buy me a coffee!  If you like the show, please do go and rate and review On The Ledge on iTunes, Stitcher or wherever you listen. It's lovely to read your kind comments, and it really helps new listeners to find the show. You can also buy me a coffee! A donation of just £3 helps keep On The Ledge going: helping to pay for me to travel to interviews, and for expenses like website hosting and audio equipment. Don't forget to join the Facebook page for news of what's coming up on the show and bonus blogposts! Credits This week's show featured Roll Jordan Roll by the Joy Drops, and An Instrument the Boy Called Happy Day Gokarna, and Oh Mallory by Josh Woodward, all licensed under Creative Commons.

I blabber on about houseplants every week on On The Ledge, but I thought it was about time I gave you a room-by-room account of the houseplants I own. I am starting this week with the kitchen, where I have more than 25 plants on the go at the moment. Here's a list of all the plants in my kitchen, along with some useful links... White Dendrobium orchid Phalaenopsis x 2 - one pink, no ID, one 'Golden Leopard' Monstera deliciosa 'Variegata' seedlings  Begonia listada - striped begonia Begonia maculata 'Wightii' Begonia luxurians - palm leaf begonia Aloe aristata - lace aloe Didymochlaena truncatula - mahogany maidenhair fern Pellionia repens - watermelon begonia (it's not a begonia!) Ceropegia linearis subsp. woodii - string of hearts Scindapsus pictus 'Argyraeus' - satin pothos Asplenium bulbiferum - hen and chicken fern (which came from listener @joon123 - thanks June!) Schlumbergera gartnaeri - Easter cactus Pilea libanenis aka Pilea glauca aka many other names - Laidback Gardener explains why Marimo moss balls - I wrote as blogpost about these here. Peperomia polybotrya 'Raindrop' Pilea peperomioides - Chinese money plant (often confused with 'Raindrop', above)  Cyanotis somaliensis - pussy ears Epiphyllum angulier - fishbone cactus Oxalis triangularis - false shamrock Callisia elegans - striped inch plant Tradescantia 'Green Hill' Can anyone ID my air plant, please? The stick-on containers I mention are called Stugvik from IKEA, as recommended by Robbie Blackhall-Miles in episode 11. Question of the week Queries about fiddle leaf figs (Ficus lyrata) are always present in my Q&A 'postbag', so I tackle two this week: one from a listener dealing with a fig that's suffering from being planted in too big a pot, and another whose leaves have brown spots on them. There's a good article on gardenista.com about one houseplant lover's struggles to keep a fiddle leaf fig happy, here. Want to ask me a question? Tweet @janeperrone, leave a message on my Facebook page or email ontheledgepodcast@gmail.com.  Merch is here!  Visit my Facebook page to find out how to lay your hands on one of my fridge magnets... while stocks last! News on the newsletter... My newsletter for February has now gone gone out to subscribers, and it's packed full of useful info for plant parents, including my 'lust list' of plants you are going to be crushing hard on, four incredible plant lover Instagrammers to follow, and links to some excellent resources for the #OTL sowalong.  Not signed up yet? You can get your email on the list for the March edition here. On The Ledge live show and houseplant chats  I am going to be at the Hampton Court Palace Flower Show on the afternoon of July 4 giving talks on houseplants in the roses theatre - do join me if you can. And on the evening of Friday October 26 I'll be bringing a live show of On The Ledge to the RHS London Urban Garden show, with special guests including Alys Fowler and all kinds of leafy fun! Put those dates in your diary NOW! Buy me a coffee!  If you like the show, please do go and rate and review On The Ledge on iTunes, Stitcher or wherever you listen. It's lovely to read your kind comments, and it really helps new listeners to find the show. You can also buy me a coffee! A donation of just £3 helps keep On The Ledge going: helping to pay for me to travel to interviews, and for expenses like website hosting and audio equipment. Don't forget to join the Facebook page for news of what's coming up on the show and bonus blogposts! Credits This week's show featured Roll Jordan Roll by the Joy Drops, and An Instrument the Boy Called Happy Day Gokarna, and Oh Mallory by Josh Woodward, all licensed under Creative Commons.

Episode 37: kokedama

In early January I made a resolution for 2018 that I would grow as many houseplants from seed as possible. Fast forward a month and a half and I'm devoting a whole episode to the topic of growing your own houseplants from seed. In this show I look at what you need to get started; what water, compost and containers to use; how to sow and what to do once your seed germinate. Want to join in? Sow your seeds this weekend (February 17/18) and use the hashtag #OTLsowalong to share your exploits.

Lots of listeners have asked for an episode on hydroponics, so I called up Kevin Espiritu of epicgardening.com to get the lowdown on what hydroponics is, how it works and what you need to get started. And I answer a listener's question about an unhappy boston fern.

Episode 34: Isabel Hardman

This week's most satisfying plant ID was helping listener Marielle ID her Plectranthus tomentosa aka Vicks plant, with the assistance of the RHS and Plectranthus expert @steveedney4 - because, weirdly, it smells like the gloopy, menthol decongestant stuff! Heather needed help with her first ever indoor plant, a Calathea lancifolia or the rattlesnake plant (pictured above - not my plant, sadly, but I want one!).  Rajul sent a tragic email about the blackening of her succulent collection. There's a  good blogpost on how to save cacti and succulents from rots here. I struggled to pronounce Xanthosoma sagittifolium (pictured below) then wisely started referring to it by one of its common names, tannia. Sofia was desperate to know why her plant was losing leaves: I tried to reassure her that everything was going to be OK! Sometimeshaiku wanted advice on moving home with houseplants - I suggested packing them in bubble wrap in cardboard boxes, and a few other tricks (including making sure the heat was on at the new place before they arrived). There's some advice from the professionals here. Paul wanted to know whether his golden pothos/devil's ivy (Epipremnum aureum) could be removed from a moss pole and allowed to hang down. By all means, but I pointed out that it's botanical name actually means "on a tree trunk"...  Credits This week's show featured Roll Jordan Roll by the Joy Drops, and An Instrument the Boy Called Happy Day Gokarna, both licensed under Creative Commons, and Hot Lips by Bill Brown and His Brownies. Find out more about Jane Perrone and On The Ledge at janeperrone.com.

Episode 32: the venus flytrap

Jane Perrone investigates the houseplants that make up the Tradescantia clan: inch plants, spiderworts, purple heart, teddy bear vine, and more. Find out how to look after them, which ones to choose and what to do when things go wrong, from spider mite to spindly stems.

What's on your houseplant wishlist for 2018? I share my plans for the coming year, and pass on plant-related resolutions from listeners and other gardening podcasters, including Ben Dark of the Garden Log podcast, Peter Donegan of the Sod Show, and Isabel Hardman of the Wild Flower Half Hour podcast.