The ‘easy’ tag must apply only to plants grown in the garden room or greenhouse, as the light conditions available indoors would present problems. In the light garden room they can he most impressive when in full colour; to achieve this it is important that plants should be kept very much on the dry side during the winter months when they are resting.

When new growth is evident, usually in February, the amount of water should be gradually increased and thereafter the compost should be kept moist but never permanently saturated until the plants begin to shed their leaves naturally towards the end of the summer.

Richly coloured bracts will give a much more effective show if growth is trained to a trellis or wire support in the shape of a fan. Plants should be hard pruned in February, the previous year’s growth being cut hack to an inch or two in length. Good light is all important as results are invariably poor in shaded conditions. Pests are not too troublesome, though mealy bug can he a problem, particularly when growth becomes matted and there is difficulty in making contact with the hugs when spraying.

There are many smaller and more compact varieties which do well as indoor plants and one has only to send to a specialist nursery for a list in order to make a selection. All will do well in a temperature in the region of 16C. (66F.), and require more or less standard house plant treatment. When plants become old and leggy, as they do in time, new plants may be raised from cuttings which will root fairly readily in close, warm conditions.

Plants can be raised from cuttings; we are usually advised to insert one cutting in a small pot, but better results will be obtained if four or five cuttings are inserted around the edge of the pot. A convenient way of raising them is to fill the pot with J.I.P.2 compost, make holes for the cuttings with a pencil and fill the holes with moist peat. The cuttings are then inserted in the peat in which they will root before finding their way into the compost, where they will grow very much better.

The Destroying Angel (Amanita virosa) is another poisonous mushroom, although quite a rare species, which is distinguished from the other type of Death Cap (A. phalloides ssp. yam) by its sharp club-shaped cap and frayed stipe. It grows predominantly in mountain forests on a limestone subsoil. It is as potentially dangerous as the Death Cap and its fruit-bodies contain another type of toxin called virosin, whose toxic effects can be compared with those of amanitoxins. It should also be mentioned that amanitoxins are present in some other fungi, which are not necessarily related to the Amanita genus. These poisonous substances were in clusters on rotten wood. It can quite easily be mistaken for the edible mushroom Kuehneromyces mutabilis.

Experiments have proved that although high temperatures lessen the virulence of the poison, they do not destroy the toxic substances. Finally the character of the Death Cap arises during which the poison fully penetrates the blood stream so that any late stomach-pumping is ineffective.

Agaric has a stupefying effect and in some countries it is used as a narcotic. It resembles the deistic potion known as Soma, which dates back. more than 3,000 years. It is also the same hallucinogenic drug: which was used long ago in Siberia, Kamchatka and Chukotka.’ by the indigenous population.

D. godseffiana Florida Beauty is an entirely different plant in appearance and is much more suitable for room decoration; leaves are smaller and much more numerous and the plant has an overall golden appearance. The improved type is considerably more attractive than D. godseftiana, which has dull green leaves faintly speckled with white.

Not easy to grow (many of my professional colleagues consider them difficult), we have found that by planting from six to nine of these in earthenware saucers some 3 ft. in diameter and 6 in. in depth they grow extremely well. In the larger area plants have a much better root run and respond by growing to a height of or 4 ft., which is unusually tall for this variety. Plants placed in offices in such containers also give much better results than those growing in more conventional pots. Temperature and general conditions should be similar to that recommended for the first two dracaenas.

Of the flowering pot plants Azalea Indica is undoubtedly 90 one of the most important and, in spite of the ever-increasing price, one cannot imagine that azaleas will fall off in popularity. Almost all the better quality plants available in Europe originate from Belgium where, it seems, there arc areas particularly suited to the culture of Azalea indica. Available in a wide range of colours from white to deep red, they present little difficulty for the house plant grower who can provide the conditions they prefer.

For such a colourful and diverse family of plants it would be impossible to give a country of origin. The temperature given above is merely fired as a general guide and, on the whole, they are moderately easy. Begonia rex is probably the most familiar as far as pot plants go, and these are offered by nurserymen the world over in a wide range of exciting colours. Reasonably good light is required and a temperature of not less than 16C. (66′ F.) should he the aim. The majority of pot plants will last for at least one year after purchase before they need potting on into larger containers.

Have you ever wondered why that lovely flower you’re holding smells good? Believe it or not, this is a natural mechanism that’s important to the plant’s survival.

We spray perfume on our bodies to smell good and attract members of the opposite sex. In a way, this is what flowers do.

Like humans, flowers need to reproduce or face extinction. They do this by producing pollen grains that need to reach other flowers. This is where pollination comes in.

Pollination is the process where pollen is transferred from one flower to another for the sexual reproduction of plants. This is accomplished in two different ways.

In abiotic pollination, pollination is done without the help of other organisms or pollinators. This is accomplished mostly by the wind (a process called anemophily) that carries the pollen to other plants. Another form of abiotic pollination is hydrophily or pollination by water which is common in aquatic plants.

Abiotic pollination occurs in only 20 percent of plants. Of that number, anemophily accounts for 98 percent of pollination while two percent is by hydrophily.

Not strictly house plants, the echeverias are succulents which are little trouble to care for and do very well on the light, sunny window ledge. This is another species to which anyone who wishes to build up a collection of interesting and unusual plants may well turn his attention.

In appearance, however, the leaves are very different to the rosette-forming leaves of the echeveria. The epiphvllum has much longer leaves, either flat or slightly triangular in shape. They are not particularly attractive, but any deficiency in foliage appeal is more than compensated for in the flowers which are brilliantly colourful.

In recent years epiphyllums have become much more popular and as a result there arc many new hybrids available, and there is little doubt that they would provide considerable interest for anyone wishing to specialise. New plants can be raised from seed or from leaf sections a few inches in length inserted in sandy compost. Cuttings may be taken at almost any time if the conditions are favourable.

Everybody’s favourite, this plant can often he seen growing in the most appalling conditions and must surely rate as one of the most durable of all house plants. There can be few schools and offices about the country that do not have their sprinkling of chloroph vtums dotted around the window-sills.

With all these attractions the plant is almost bound to be costly, even if you discount the length of time it takes to bring it to maturity: the longer plants spend in the heated greenhouses of the nursery the more the customer will have to pay for them.

Whenever the plants are mentioned among a group of people the question of leaf tips turning brown will invariably crop up. All sorts of answers are put forward and remedies suggested, but to my mind chlorophytum leaf tips turn brown simply because of starvation. As they increase in size the plants develop an astonishing number of thick, fleshy roots which wind around in the bottom of the pot and, having nothing to feed on, the paucity of nourishment is reflected in the brown leaf condition.

There are two kinds suitable as house or garden room plants: Cyperus dUjiisus, the smaller of the two, is more suited to the living room, while the tall and stately C. alternifolius will do better in more spacious surroundings. Both must have a lightly shaded position in which to grow and must be kept very moist at all times. In fact, these are two of the few indoor plants that will benefit if their plant pots are left standing in water. It can be a shallow dish of an ornamental pool.

The following notes on general care apply to all the many different varieties likely to be encountered. Adequate heat is essential and the minimum temperature mentioned above would really be rock bottom; 16C. (600F.) would be more satisfictory. In the garden room light shading of the glass would be necessary, as well as the maintenance of a damp atmosphere. Water more freely in summer, and feed regularly with a liquid fertiliser. Potting on is best done between April and the end of June, using a standard house plant compost. New plants are propagated by means of stem cuttings, no leaves being required.

In the main it is generally reckoned that the more colourful the foliage the more difficult the plant is likely to prove in cultivation, but there are exceptions to almost every rule and the coleus is just that. These plants may he raised from seed or by means of cuttings, but cuttings of named varieties are far and away the best bet as they produce plants in colour and habit which are much superior.

Cuttings of firm young shoots root with little bother at, almost any time of the year, and an interesting and varied collection of these plants’ can quite quickly be built up. When they become too large and overgrown they should be replaced; in fact, it is wise always to have a few young plants coming along for this purpose.

Growing a few on to make standard plants can give a collection a new dimension, and it is much easier than may at first appear. With some varieties it is quit e,possible to produce 4-ft. tall standards in the autumn from spring-struck cuttings. Do this by allowing one strong shoot to develop unchecked in the centre of the pot, and as side growths are produced pinch them back to about two joints.