On The Ledge

When days are short, gloomy and cold, there's a lot to be said for fixating on your indoor plants. And Christmas is a great excuse to treat yourself to some new plants: be it something traditional such as poinsettias and Christmas cactus, or something a bit more, well, trendy, like terrariums and succulents.  Jane Perrone

Lisa Eldred Steinkopf is the Houseplant Guru: she describes herself as being a little obsessed with houseplants although I know that she’s under-exaggerating for effect! She lives in Detroit, Michigan and her new book Houseplants: The Complete Guide. You can find her website at thehouseplantguru.com. I chatted to her about her huge plant collection, why there’s no such thing as a black thumb, and why feeding sick plants is a bad idea.  And I answer a question about deadheading Crassulas.

The thrill of buying new houseplants quickly turns to horror when the plant promptly drops all its leaves once you get it home. Jane Perrone gives her top tips for taking care of newly-bought houseplants, from the shop to your shelf. And a question about a floppy Aloe vera prompts a bit of a singalong...

Houseplants come, houseplants go, but there are some that stick with you through thick and thin. I've talked to people about the longlived leafy friends: where they came from, how they kept them going and what they mean to them. From the aspidistra that's more than 100 years old, to the haworthia that symbolised the power to keep going - and growing - through adversity.

It's easy to overwater houseplants, especially at this time of year when many of them are having a rest, temperatures and light levels are lower and less water's required. In this episode, I look at a few of the thorny issues around watering, such as whether it's better to water with rainwater or tap water, what temperature the water should be, and how to tell if your houseplants need watering in the first place. Find out more at janeperrone.com

I visited Prick, London's first boutique for cacti and succulents, and met its charismatic owner, Gynelle Leon.  Find out more about Gynelle and the cacti we tal about by visiting the show notes at janeperrone.com

Have you met Mr Plant Geek? Not only is Michael Perry an expert on plants of all kinds, he's also a horticultural trendspotter, globetrotting from China to Costa Rica in search of weird and wonderful species. And let's not forget his wonderfully cheeky Rude Botany t-shirts, either - who new botanical Latin could be so downright lewd? We discuss the big trends in houseplants, why we should all be growing cacti from seed, and why mainstream media still haven't latched on to indoor gardening. And I answer a listener's question about a triple-headed ponytail palm with an identity crisis.

All those nagging houseplant questions - why is my succulent leggy and wan? What kind of Monstera do I really have? Why is my Pilea looking peaky? - are answered in this Q&A special. Find out more at janeperrone.com.

Alys Fowler's new book on houseplants, Plant Love, is out now - I visited her at home to talk about why top-selling houseplants are like tights, how Instagram has made variegated leaves popular and why propagating cuttings in water works (despite my doubts).

Fellow houseplant nut Margaret Roach of awaytogarden.com is my guest this week: although she's got a garden of two-plus acres in New York state, she still manages to find time for houseplants. A LOT of houseplants. (Sound familiar?) We discuss the struggle to get all your houseplants inside at this time of year, find out about her obsession with caudiciform (or "fat") plants and compare notes on begonias and clivias.

Fungus gnats - those frustrating little pipsqueaks of the pest world that float about your houseplants in clouds and ruin the cool indoor jungle vibe you’ve been aiming for - are the bane of many a grower’s life. I find out what they are, what they do and how to eradicate them from your plants. And we’ve got a reader question about growing olive trees indoors.

Autumn is here which means it's time to start getting your succulents and cacti winter-ready. I take a trip all the way to my front room to check on my fleshy charges and consider what you need to do as you wind down your plants towards dormancy. It's also time to start preparing the Christmas cactus for flowering, so I'll explain how it's done. Plus there's a question about a mushy thimble cactus ... Let me know what you think of the show! You can read my show notes at janeperrone.com and leave a comment, or tweet @janeperrone, leave a message on my Facebook page or email ontheledgepodcast@gmail.com.

Instagram is awash with it; but where do you lay your hands on a specimen of the Chinese money plant, Pilea peperomioides? If you are in many parts of the world, this plant is in such demand that they sell for fifty dollars or more for a small one. Despite the Chinese money plant’s superstar status, the story of how it came to be so popular isn’t so well known: it's a tale that takes in a street of houses in a London suburb, a Soho hairdresser, a Norwegian au pair, a journalist at the Telegraph and a missionary to China. Question of the week tackles how to grow the tropical pitcher plant, Nepenthes, successfully in the home.

If you've blown your houseplant budget for the year on a beautiful Boston fern or a towering Euphorbia, this week's show will help you get your new plant fix without spending a penny. Although they grow to 20 metres tall in their native central America, avocados make surprisingly good houseplants - a little like a bargain basement fiddle leaf fig, if you will. And the best bit is you can have fun trying to get one to sprout from an avocado pit or stone.

Jane Perrone talks to Dan Torre about his new book Cactus, which explores the world’s love-hate relationship with cacti. Find out why one Australian state banned cacti altogether, and ponder whether this plant family could be the answer to the world’s food shortage. And question of the week is back, we’ll be finding out what fool proof plants are best for a newbie houseplant grower.