The Rural Voice, 2002-12, Page 47Bring on
Rhea
Hamilton -
Seeger and
her husband
live near
Auburn. She
is a skilled
cook and
gardener.
By Rhea Hamilton -Seeger
Manufacturers and merchants have
it all figured out. Each and every year
there seem to be more and more
artificial greens for us to choose
from. Swags for the doors and fence
posts, garlands of every description
for every conceivable purpose.
This need to have greenery in our
homes and decking our exteriors goes
back farther and deeper than green
plastic evergreens. It is part of our
primitive nature to want to bring
greenery into our homes — to extend
the growing season, to preserve the
spirit of the garden through the cold
dark winter. The circle of the wreath
depicts the never ending circle of life,
birth, life, death and rebirth.
In the garden section of our
grocery stores you can see the
greenery popping. We feel the need
to nurse something green through the
winter. The house plants that were
neglected through the long hot
summer may not be rejuvenated, and
so off to the store. There are some
interesting old standbys that have
been brought out and still make for a
lovely display at Christmas and
through the winter. I saw a display of
50 Jerusalem cherry plants last week.
They were so tantalizing. The lovely
orange -scarlet fruit, about one inch in
diameter, perched above rich dark
green oval leaves that come to a
lovely point. The fruit is not edible.
Its Latin name is deceiving.
Solanum pseudo -capsicum. Solanum
is from solamen, meaning
"comforting" and refers to the
sedative properties of some species.
Pseudo -capsicum is part Greek, part
Latin, and means false pepper and
relates to this plant being mistaken
for a pepper plant. It is naturalized in
places like Florida but is a popular
Gardening
the greens for homes in winter
house plant in northern climes when
it produces fruit for the holidays.
Easy to grow, you can start them
from seed indoors in March, handling
as you would tomatoes. After frost
danger is past, sink pots, one plant
per pot, in a sunny garden spot. Bring
indoors to bright light or full sun in
early fall for flowering and fruit at
holiday time. It will grow to two feet.
You only need standard potting soil,
and keep it moist, not wet.
One other plant that is a treat to
grow is the miniature orange tree.
Look for the calamondin variety. It is
one of the few edible ones. When we
were children our Dad had one
growing in a south east window.
As kids we had a great time
monitoring its flowering and fruiting.
The small oranges were dainty and
tart. The fragrance was heady and
often the small tree would be
flowering at the same time it would
have fruit on its branches.
As house plants go, calamondins
are a medium sized plant. Our 20 -
year -old tree is in a 16 -inch diameter
pot and stands about four feet high. It
has been severely pruned over the
years to clean up dead branches,
caused by neglect. Yes neglect
happens in our house.
Miniature orange trees don't need
high temperatures. They are quite
happy with average home
temperatures of less than 75°F. They
like sunny to semi -sunny (sunny is
five hours of sunlight a day). The
catch is humidity. They like 30 per
cent or more. We like it too but most
homes struggle to keep humidity
levels above 20 per cent. When we
light our fireplace the humidity drops
dramatically.
You can use a soil mixture of
equal parts loam. sand, and peat
moss. Keep it evenly moist.
occasionally allowing to approach
dryness. You can feed every other
week except in late fall and early
winter. There are some great
fertilizers on the market for acid
loving plants. Check them out.
There is one more plant I want to
tell you about. The wonderful
Norfolk Island pine (Araucaria
excelsa) is also called star pine and
has to be one of the most admired
plants. It will reach tree height, ours
is well over eight feet. Easy to grow,
ours sat in a dark corner of the cabin
for years. We would haul it out once
a year to wash off the dust. The
spacing between the branches are
over -wide and we have a few gaps
from branches that dropped but the
gaps are covered with drooping
branches from above.
Easy to care for, they need
standard potting soil and you water as
you would your other house plants.
That being said, don't make the same
mistake I did and not give them
enough water. The edges of the needles
were browning and a few of the little
branchlets were dropping. I checked
with a local nurseryman and when I
told him how much 1 was watering he
knew the problem. The tree was
suffering through a drought so we
upped the water to a gallon and a half
and I haven't seen it stop growing
since. Too large to move outdoors to
under a shade tree. we lay a plastic
sheet on the floor around it and mist
it. Unfortunately. only twice a year.
Long after the plastic evergreen
garlands come down this holiday, you
will be enjoying greenery for many
months more with a Jerusalem
cherry, Calamodin orange tree, or a
lovely Norfolk Island pine.
Just think. only three months
before we plant the seedlings for that
fabulous garden we contemplate
through the winter. Season's
greetings to you and yours from me
and mine.0
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DECEMBER 2002 43