Ask MetaFilter questions tagged with plant

BotanyFilter

range — Fri, 25 Dec 2009 14:16:25 -0800

What kind of vine is this? Found growing all over the place, though mostly in the shade, while hiking near Santa Monica, CA. I've never seen it before, which points to either (a) an invasive or (b) poor observational skills on my part for 20 years. Closeups:
Leaves, flowers

At least the question isn't "should I eat it?".

soleiluna — Tue, 15 Dec 2009 12:52:14 -0800

Name that veg: what is this green, vine-y vegetable/lettuce/herb thing that showed up in my CSA box this week? I live in San Francisco and get deliveries from Farm Fresh to You, but this week there was a mix-up and I got our neighbor's box, not mine. Said neighbor has "exceptions" in her box (disliked fruit/veg that is replaced by other veg) so this unidentified item replaced bok choy. But the folks at Farm Fresh to You couldn't identify it. Please help?

I'm sure the pictures above are more useful, but here's some other info:
-It's possibly seasonal (December) to Northern CA, but the only CUESA-listed item that seemed close was "cress". The company occasionally includes produce from neighboring states.
-I tasted it, it tastes nondescript.
-My cat sniffed and nibbled on it a few times. She doesn't care about vegetables normally, just herbs (and grass.)
-The Farm Fresh employee on the phone thinks it is broccoli raab, but there's no florets, it doesn't taste bitter like normal broccoli raab, and the stems are hollow. And there are those weird vines that almost look like grape vines.
-Nothing on the Farm Fresh list of "exceptions" shipped this week matched this description.
-The vines are the predominant feature, and there's some tiny yellow flowers in there too.

Thank you!

tall, cat-safe indoor plants?

sentient — Wed, 09 Dec 2009 14:40:34 -0800

Wanted: recommendations for tall, indoor, cat-safe plants/trees. Superior, NASA-approved air-filtering and oxygen-producing properties are a plus. I've looked the previous askme and have seen the ASPCA list of cat-safe plants, as well as a helpful post on Apartment Therapy (last comment the page), which has some good prospects. But perhaps there are some others.

I'm looking for an indoor floor plant that's more tree-like than bush/shrub like -- maybe five feet tall, or so. It can't be toxic to cats, and being exceptional in the air-filtering department would be nice. Any recommendations?

How much should I charge for my fruit tree planting service?

Sentus — Sun, 06 Dec 2009 10:11:02 -0800

I am doing a lot of landscaping gigs lately, and want to start planting Edible Landscape for folks. How much should I charge for an edible tree package? Hello there fellow Mefi friends!

Fruit trees, Berries and Nut trees.

I will come to the customer, asses and test his soil for P.H and drainage, check the amount of sun the area is receiving, see that the area is large enough to provide space for future growth.

I am not going to push stuff that will not grow well in the area/problematic/high maintenance just to make a sell. Only trees that "want" to grow there, and will prosper without much maintenance, disease and pest problems.

Included:
* Healthy vigorous plants that have been checked for disease, been found free of "root bounding". Specific verities that adapted to the growing zone.
* Beautiful organic soil mixture tailored for new trees.
* Thick Layer (4"-6") of good mulch.
* An information pamphlet about the tree history, the specific variety, growing tips, watering schedules, pruning advice.

My questions will be:

1. What is the price range you would be willing to pay for something like that? How much for one tree? How much for a package of five shrubs/trees?
2. If the client have deer problem/huge dogs I can install a small durable fence. How much extra you think that worth to you?
3. What other services/extras I can offer that you think will make your decision more smooth?
4. Generally speaking, would you want a cheaper younger tree (2'-3' feet tall) or a more expensive and established tree (5'-8' feet tall)?
5. Any other suggestions and nuggets of wisdom?

Thank you and have a great day,

Houseplant SOS

Ziggy500 — Tue, 01 Dec 2009 09:59:25 -0800

Help me rescue my Ficus Benjamina! My little indoor ficus benjamina has started looking really unhappy ever since the cold weather started and I've had to keep the heating on indoors. It's shedding a lot of dry, crumpled leaves. How can I stop this without moving the plant or keeping the windows open (it's freezing where I am)?

Please be gentle with a rookie indoor gardener. I know zero. I've had the plant for months. It's always been fairly happy till now even though it doesn't get a ton of direct light.

Stay Away from the Banana Plant

billysumday — Tue, 27 Oct 2009 05:13:19 -0800

My cat is slowly killing my indoor banana tree by scratching the hell out of it. Now what? I live in Central Pennsylvania and in the spring of this year purchased a dwarf plantain plant/tree. It grew very well outside in the summer but now that the weather has taken a turn for the cold, I've brought the plant indoors and have placed it on a small table in front of our large south-facing window. It's continued to thrive and is still sprouting new leaves, but my cat is intent on killing it. He loves to scratch at its trunk and tear at the leaves. He doesn't dig at the soil or eat the plant, so I don't need advice regarding that. Just: how to keep the cat away from the plant? I'd prefer to find a solution that saves the tree while keeping it aesthetically pleasing - i.e., I'd rather not wrap the tree in aluminum foil. My strategy thus far has been to shoot him with water from a water bottle when he gets up in/on the plant, but now it's like he just jumps up there and looks at me for attention. If I don't shoot him, he'll cry and then scratch at the tree until I do shoot him, at which point he runs away. He's a bit challenged in the brain department.

Are there any sprays or anything I can use that would cover the plant in some sort of anti-cat repellent? I did some Googling but came up empty.

Thanks, mefi.

Name this plant/suggest similar ones

melissasaurus — Sun, 18 Oct 2009 14:00:24 -0800

What kind of tree/plant is this? Someone dug out and stole this little tree from in front of my building. I'd like to replace it with the same or something similar.

Any ideas on what it is?

Any ideas on other plants that don't take up too much space (probably about a 2ft radius for the plant), survive year-round in NYC, in partial shade, and are generally safe for dogs (i.e. no poisonous berries)?

Thanks!

Why shouldn't I put small plants in bigger containers?

tumbleweedjack — Sat, 17 Oct 2009 13:50:37 -0800

I've read that it's a bad idea to plant small plants into larger pots (the idea being that they will grow into the large pot). Instead, you're supposed to keep the plant in the smallest appropriate container and move up as it grows. Why? What will happen if I just start a plant in a container that's bigger than it needs?

What's that plant?

giraffe — Tue, 13 Oct 2009 11:22:37 -0800

What is this weird-looking flowering plant? This neat alien plant thing has been sprouting along the sidewalks in my neighborhood. Sometimes one long "stalk" will randomly pop up in one of the large flowerpots my neighbors favor, so I don't think they're intentionally planted. It seems like they come up around mid-to-late summer. I'm bad at estimating measurements, but I'd say that they grow to about a foot in height.

I live just outside Boston, MA. I've lived in the area nearly all my life, and I'd never seen these things until I moved to my current neighborhood!

It's so very, very cold...

bolognius maximus — Wed, 30 Sep 2009 10:26:20 -0800

I have an uninsulated sunroom that gets pretty chilly in the winter, and want to make it so that it is at least room temp. and can be used for plants (without breaking the bank). Any ideas? My house has a sunroom that was built on to it, and I would like to use this room like a greenhouse for my houseplants. It isn't really insulated, and it has 3 very large windows and a sliding glass door. The floor is ceramic tile. I would like to not send my electric bill sky-high. I usually have to keep the door between the living room and sun room closed from late October until about March or April, because I am in Indiana where it is so cold (and it sucks) and cranks up my heating bill.

My idea was to use Gila Heat Control Light window film, to keep heat in. Then I wanted to use free-standing plant lights of some sort (so I don't have to drill holes, if I don't have to).

Does anyone have any ideas about how to best accomplish this? Has anyone tried any of the Gila films on their windows? Can anyone recommend a plant light? Thanks in advance.

Help me save a dying houseplant!

gilsonal — Sat, 19 Sep 2009 18:45:36 -0800

Help me save my vanilla plant! Its leaves are turning black and rotting from the bottom up. Too much water? Not enough? Lost cause? Help me green thumbs! I got a vanilla planifolia vine from logees and it came with a root ball. I planted it in coconut chips as instructed, and gave it a trellis to grow up. It was doing fine until I had a friend plant sit while i was in the hospital. Now the roots have died and the vine is now separate from the roots. the bottom most leaf is dying, turning black and rotten looking. Meanwhile, the other leaves seem a bit wrinkled.

The plant is indoors, in 70 degree temperature under plant suitable lighting approximately eight hours a day.

What can I do to help keep this plant alive and happy? I've been misting it once a day with water with a tiny bit of fertilizer in it, but its too soon to say if that has been helping or not. The leaves seem less wrinkled than before though.

What do you think?

How to remove ornamental grasses?

guptaxpn — Wed, 09 Sep 2009 11:55:35 -0800

I'm being offered $100 to remove "Ornamental Grasses", any experience with the removal of plants would be greatly appreciated. I need the money, badly, I just have never done this kind of work before. I'm being told that it will be a b**** of a job and that I should be able to do it with a shovel. Brief googling is telling me that people have needed hatchets and axes to get rid of the roots of these plants.

Have you ever had any experience removing this sort of plant?

I believe they just want it gone.

I'm just curious to know how I can prepare for tomorrow.

Thanks MeFi!?

I'm a lost little plant, what's my name?

dpcoffin — Mon, 07 Sep 2009 15:20:44 -0800

What's this Plant filter? Seems to be a 2-ft.-tallish volunteer in an abandoned pot on our back deck in southern coastal Oregon, but then again, it might just be something we forgot we planted.
TIA!

Can you identify these plants?

H. Roark — Mon, 24 Aug 2009 18:03:58 -0800

Can you help me identify this berry plant in my backyard? I am in Santa Fe, NM at about 7500 feet. The whole plant is about 3 feet high and spreading to around 10 feet around. My Curious-George inspired 3 year old is picking them and who knows if she is eating them...

Thanks in advance!

Identify this herb/spice!

lisawin — Sun, 23 Aug 2009 22:36:42 -0800

Please help identify this herb/spice! one, two

As you can see in the pictures, it's sort of... soft? Fluffy? The smell isn't sweet or spicy, just... different. And sort of strong, too. It just sort of looks (but doesn't smell) like potpourri, but it was given as a gift with a few other herbs/spices/seeds, so I'm going to go ahead and assume that this is (supposed to be) edible, too.

Furthermore, how do I cook with this, and what can I do with it?

Help us identify this plant!

pghjezebel — Mon, 10 Aug 2009 05:52:46 -0800

IdentifyPlantFilter: A new plant has sprung up in my Mother's rock garden this year. She loves it, but had no idea what it is! Can you help us identify it? IdentifyPlantFilter: A new plant has sprung up in my Mother's rock garden this year. She loves it, but had no idea what it is! Can you help us identify it?

Characteristics:
Perennial
Tall
Silver somewhat fuzzy leaves
Spreads (in clumps) easily
Pink Flowers

I've upload a few photos of it over here on Flickr.

Oh, so that's why I've been sweeping up so many leaves lately.

pemberkins — Fri, 31 Jul 2009 10:16:05 -0800

How do I save my house plants from a sudden pest infestation? One of my house plants has somehow picked up a host of what I suspect are aphids (pictures: 1, 2; correct me if I'm wrong in my ID). They're mostly accumulated on new growth, but the plant is losing both new and old leaves.

I've tried wiping the affected parts down to physically remove the aphids, but I end up knocking off more leaves than I clean, so this doesn't seem like a good long term strategy.

I would spray the whole thing down with a hose, but I don't have a hose (not even a sink sprayer!).

How else can I get rid of these guys? This plant has been with me for a long time, and I feel like a bad parent for letting it get this infested. I'd rather not have to get rid of it.

Identify this houseplant please.

mrgoldenbrown — Mon, 13 Jul 2009 17:44:23 -0800

Please identify this houseplant. This tall and skinny houseplant intrigues me, and I would like to get my own. Who can tell me what it is, and possibly where I would go to get one? (i am a plant newb)

What is this strange helicopter/fan/pinwheel-like fruit?

buttercup — Thu, 09 Jul 2009 12:35:13 -0800

A friend of mine made this mobile for my soon-to-be-born baby's nursery from found objects on hiking trips in several states. One of the dangly(sp?) things is this weird pinwheel shaped fruit. Its about 5" across and as you can see the pods dehisced along the one edge--no seeds were found in the fruit. He thinks he found it either in California or Nevada (or the desert SW).
We're both botanists/ecologists who work in the northeastern US and we don't really have anything like it out here. I spent a little bit of time researching it, but I don't have much to go on. Its a little embarrassing when my friends ask 'what's that plant?" and I have no clue. Any help is greatly appreciated!

How do I grow rosa rugosa indoors?

Salvor Hardin — Wed, 08 Jul 2009 15:27:18 -0800

Oh hive mind: wield your mighty collective horticulture-fu to help me bring the seashore to my apartment! Help me figure out how to grow Rosa Rugosa inside and make my sweetheart happy! The beach rose is my SO's (mefi's own Cygnet) favorite flower in the world, largely because of the smell. However, I can't find any resources for learning how to grow it inside. I know it's a little crazy, and that it isn't the sort of plant that one usually grows inside. But is it totally impossible? What will it take?

I have read that it requires well-drained sandy soil, that it doesn't tolerate fertilizer, and that it needs partial to full sun. I've found companies that will sell me either seeds or bare-root plants. I'm pretty good with plants, but I'm no expert, so I'm not very confident in my ability to improvise this.

My Cambridge, MA apartment gets some sun, but not a lot. We have windows with southeastern and southwestern exposure, including one bay window.

I would also appreciate any other general gardening tips regarding Japanese roses. Thanks!

What the heck is this plant?

christinetheslp — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 17:21:15 -0800

Help me identify this weird plant growing in our garden. My husband and I bought a house in Milwaukee recently and we found this weird plant growing in our garden (pic 1, pic 2). At first the stems were curly like a pig's tail, but as the white buds have gotten bigger the stems have become more like hooks.

Does anyone know what this is? It's driving us crazy. Thanks!

Holly-weird and Vine

headspace — Wed, 01 Jul 2009 13:36:46 -0800

What is this ornately-leafed vine we found in our yard? It was growing on the east side of our south-facing house, mostly shaded, slinking across the sidewalk rather than climbing the house. We are in central Indiana.

Agave Ahoy!

quatsch — Tue, 30 Jun 2009 14:11:22 -0800

Where can I buy an agave plant in New York City? I'm looking to purchase an agave plant and, preferably, have it delivered to Queens. I'm not exactly sure where I should be looking. Plant nurseries? Florists? Underground agave syndicate? Any help would be greatly appreciated, especially specific recommendations. My searches are mostly turning up tequila bars.

Also, would an agave even be a good houseplant?

What plant is this?

Sourisnoire — Wed, 10 Jun 2009 00:13:54 -0800

What plant is this? Friends of mine (number of green fingers: none) got a few plants last year. No description was included, but they duly planted them anyway. Now this is growing in their garden.

Now they'd like to know what it is, and whether they'd not better move it away a bit from the tree already there...

Locale: the Netherlands.

Name That Plant

escher — Mon, 08 Jun 2009 11:15:04 -0800

It's time for another round of Name That Plant. I got a flat of plants for free and i'm not sure what they are. Can you help identify? pic here The picture is a closeup of a 4"x4" square single plant, i think the flat has 9 of those or so. Currently the plant stands about 4-5" tall.