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The Apple Doesn’t Fall Far…

February 15th, 2011

I’m sure you won’t be surprised to hear that my parents are avid gardeners, particularly my mom. She can spend all day, every day, all summer long working in the garden, and she has the gardens to prove it. Growing up our home was always full of houseplants as well, many of the interesting tropical varieties. I was visiting my mom last week and noticed that her big elephant ear houseplant is blooming.


It’s a HUGE plant, taking up an entire corner in the dining room. My nieces and nephews love it, and it’s been the inspiration for a number of drawings I’ve seen them make. It is a really lovely plant, not your typical houseplant, but right at home in my mom’s house with rather tall ceilings. I don’t think I’ve ever seen one of these in anyone else’s home.

She has a sucker from it that she’s going to give me, it should do well in my house because these plants can take the low light. I’m just hoping it doesn’t get to big because my home is a lot smaller than my mom’s. I do love have interesting plants indoors, they cure the winter doldrums especially this time of year when I’m just itching to get outside and can’t

What’s the most interesting houseplant you’ve seen?

18 Comments to “The Apple Doesn’t Fall Far…”
  1. Teresa Rawlings on February 15, 2011 at 9:46 am

    Great photos and a great plant too.

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  2. goatpod2 on February 15, 2011 at 9:47 am

    Haven’t really seen any interesting house plants.

    Amy

    Reply to goatpod2's comment

  3. Mary W on February 15, 2011 at 10:11 am

    Three years ago we started growing these in our wet flower bed every summer. They never get so mature that they bloom, but boy do they get big! And they multiply–we only plant two or three in the spring, but in the fall it’s an afternoon project to divide, clean, and pack away all the bulbs. It’s a very rewarding plant. The only thing I can think that might keep them small is to keep it in a small pot.

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  4. Daedre on February 15, 2011 at 11:04 am

    I’m a big fan of Zamioculcas Zamiifolia (or ZZ plant). They are fairly rare. I’ve never seen one for sale before in a store. I’m lucky enough to work with a whole department of hoticulturalists, so I was able to get a plant from one of my coworkers. ZZ plants are great because they can take almost total neglect and still grow! You can put it in a dark corner and forget to water it and it will be fine.

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  5. Nebraska Dave on February 15, 2011 at 11:11 am

    I’m not so much for inside plants. All my plants are outside. I laughing tell folks that if I would have inside plants that they would have to be fake plants because that’s the only kind I could grow inside. I suppose that I could do it if I really wanted to but the desire just isn’t there so I go with what I like to do. I enjoy seeing other folks growing plants inside during the winter. I suppose the real gardeners satisfy their garden plant desires by have plants inside during the winter months. I actually enjoy the rest from gardening during the winter months but I’m certainly anticipating the arrival of spring this year.

    Have a great inside plant day.

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  6. risa b on February 15, 2011 at 11:12 am

    LOVE the wall stencils!

    Reply to risa b's comment

    • Susy on February 15, 2011 at 1:48 pm

      Thanks, I stenciled that on the wall when we were living in my parent’s home while they were in South America, it’s the Fruit of the Spirit verse from Galatians – it wraps around the entire dining room.

      Reply to Susy's comment

  7. Kylee from Our Little Acre on February 15, 2011 at 11:19 am

    That is one beautiful houseplant! Let’s see…most interesting I’ve personally had? I’m not sure it’s the most interesting, but it does get a lot of comments. I’ve got a twisty-leafed Lipstick Plant (Aeschynanthus ‘Rasta’) that is really low care. Mine doesn’t bloom often, and its deep plum colored flowers are unremarkable, but its foliage more than makes up for it!

    Reply to Kylee from Our Little Acre's comment

    • Susy on February 15, 2011 at 1:47 pm

      I’ll have to look that up – sounds fascinating!

      Reply to Susy's comment

  8. melissa on February 15, 2011 at 12:54 pm

    I’m really in love with my little bloodleaf plant. It’s getting quite big already and the leaves are this deep, blood-red color. http://plantgasm.com/ is full of interesting houseplants–he has some that evolved to look like rocks, and a timelapse video of a really unusual-looking amaryllis blooming.

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  9. Lynda on February 15, 2011 at 1:51 pm

    The most interesting housplants I’ve ever seen are the marijuana plants my elderly mother-in-law took care of for my sister-in-law when she was in the hospital! We went to check on the house and there was my mother-in-law watering away! She had moved them from the closet to the window sill so they could get more light! My husband and I still laugh about that day. My mother-in-law passed away a couple years ago and we lost my sister-in-law 8 weeks later…both were excellent gardeners in their own way. ;)

    Reply to Lynda's comment

    • Susy on February 15, 2011 at 1:58 pm

      Too funny – we have a neighbor that enjoyed those kinds of houseplants – the sheriff didn’t thing it was very funny though.

      We also had a neighbor in Colombia that grew cocaine plants for herbal medicinal purposes.

      Reply to Susy's comment

  10. amy on February 15, 2011 at 2:21 pm

    The most interesting plant I ever had was a shrimp plant. I’m sorry I don’t know it’s real name but it’s blooms looked like shrimp. I brought it back with me from the ocean and in the summer I would plant it outside. Then in the fall dig it up and move it indoors for the winter.

    Reply to amy's comment

  11. Angela on February 15, 2011 at 3:19 pm

    I like your elephant ear houseplant!

    Some of my family are from Central America and they have the coolest houseplants–big leafy tropical things–and my grandmother has aloe! I tried to grow a Meyer lemon plant in my home now (zone 7a) and it didn’t work so well. I love living in a zone where I can see all four seasons, but I would also love to have tropical houseplants.

    Reply to Angela's comment

  12. Sheryl at Providence Acres Farm on February 15, 2011 at 5:30 pm

    I love elephant ear plants! I have bulbs in the cold cellar waiting for summer. I think I will pot up a couple of them this week and grow them indoors!

    I have a monstera philodendron. It’s small now but I can’t wait for it to get big!

    Reply to Sheryl at Providence Acres Farm's comment

  13. Kathi on February 15, 2011 at 6:19 pm

    Our local historical society has a beautiful specimen camellia tree that is kept in the sun room of the house museum. It is over 60 years old and blooms every Christmas during their house tour. It belonged to the house’s owner (Gertrude Hotchkiss) who died in 1956. The house remains just as she left it and the camellia lives on.

    Reply to Kathi's comment

  14. Kaytee on February 15, 2011 at 7:28 pm

    That plant is gorgeous!

    My favorite houseplant is my “goldfish plant” (Nematanthus wettsteinii). My roommate in college had one and she is TERRIBLE with plants, so I was constantly bringing that thing back from the dead. It takes little care and the bright orange flowers against the glossy dark green foliage is gorgeous.

    Reply to Kaytee's comment

  15. Sincerely, Emily on February 16, 2011 at 4:25 pm

    Your mom’s elephant ear is beautiful. People grow those here and leave them outside all winter (S. TX) and it is one I would like to try one day. We used to have a really really big split leaf philodendron inside. It would go out in the summer (in a pot) and inside for the winter. It is neat to see what other interesting plants the commenters have also. Fun!

    Reply to Sincerely, Emily's comment

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This is a daily journal of my efforts to cultivate a more simple life, through local eating, gardening and so many other things. We used to live in a small suburban neighborhood Ohio but moved to 153 acres in Liberty, Maine in 2012.

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