Houseplants You Can't Kill

The following 6 houseplants pretty much grow themselves. In fact, your biggest problem my be what to do with all the baby plants they’ll produce. All 6 can be grown in the indirect light from a window and like the same indoor temperatures as most people (55 - 75 degrees F.)

As with any houseplant, there is always the threat of insect pests like aphids, scale, spider mites and whiteflies. But disease-wise the only things you’re likely to incur is root rot, from too much watering. So these 6 indoor plants are perfect for someone who always forgets to water their plants.
Easy Houseplants

   1. Cast Iron Plant (Aspidistra elatior) Earned its name by growing under the worst of conditions, even outdoors in deep shade. Prefers low lights. Grows in a clump. Leaves are sword-like, pointed, about 4" wide & 2' long. Occasionally flowers indoors. A variegated version is available with white stripes. (USDA Zones 7 - 9)

   2. Christmas Cactus (Zygocactus or Schlumbergera) A trailing member of the cactus family that produces deep pink / red flowers in early winter. Seems to do its best when ignored. Can handle low light, but you’ll get more flowers in bright light. Pruning after blooming with keep the plant bushy.

      You can force your Christmas cactus to bloom in December by keeping it in complete darkness for 12 hours a night, beginning in about mid-October, until buds appear. An even easier method is to subject it to cool temperatures (50 - 55 degrees F.) starting in November. Just leave it on a windowsill at home while the heat is off, because you’re at work. (USDA Zones 9 - 11)

   3. Dragon tree (Dracaena marginata) & Lucky Bamboo (Dracaena sanderian) Dracaena have long been the centerpiece of container plantings. Street plantings in towns across America feature 1 spiky dracaena stuck in the center of red blooming geraniums in a half whisky barrel. But there is actually a good amount of variety in dracaena and most make excellent, easy care houseplants. In particular, Dragon Tree (Dracaena marginata) which resembles a small palm tree and can reach heights of 10 ft. and Lucky Bamboo, which isn’t bamboo at all. Both have stems that can be trained to bend or spiral hin stems are topped by clusters of slender arching leaves with narrow purple margins. They grow best in bright light and if allowed to dry out between waterings. Even if allowed to wilt, dracaena will spring back after watering, although the leaf tips may turn brown. Will tolerate low light. Lucky bamboo is often grown in water, but once substantial roots have formed, it is happier planted in soil. (USDA Zones 10 - 11)
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Growing Heirloom Vegetables

There's only one reason needed to try growing heirloom vegetables - Taste. There are thousands of heirloom vegetable varieties available for the home vegetable garden. Heirlooms vegetables became heirlooms because people prized them enough to save seeds. You won't find many of these varieties in your grocery store because they weren't developed for mass production or storage. That's all the more reason to make room for growing some heirloom vegetables in your own vegetable garden.

1. Bean: Blue Lake, Kentucky Wonder and Romano
If a vegetable can be popular for hundreds of years and still be grown today when there are hundreds of new introductions each year, it deserves some respect. That's certainly true of this trio of beans. Blue Lake is a particular favorite of mine because it is so prolific and I have limited space. [p]A very popular hybrid of Blue Lake and Kentucky Wonder heirloom pole beans is the All America Selections winner 'Kentucky Blue', shown here. 'Kentucky Blue' has some disease resistance and vigor bred into it, but many gardeners still prefer one of its parents. The final taste test is up to you.

2. Cucumber: Lemon Cucumber
Usually yellow cucumbers are a bad thing, but lemon cucumbers are a real gem. Pick them small, about lemon size, and you can eat them like a fruit. The pale yellow skin is thin and the inside flesh is crisp and juicy. They make an excellent edible bowl for salads and an interesting choice for pickles.

3. Eggplant: Violetta di Firenze
Eggplants are stars among heirloom vegetables, because of the variety of size, shape, color and flavor you won't find elsewhere. Violetta di Firenze is a heat lover, but it's worth the extra work. The stunning lavender fruits are striped with creamy white. Picked early, the skin is thin enough to leave unpeeled. The flavor is at its best when given plenty of sun and heat. Violetta di Firenze can be the silver lining of the dog days of August.

4. Garlic: Spanish Roja and Red Toch
If you live where the winters are cold, it's hard to beat the flavor or Spanish Roja. It's a hardneck variety with 6-10 cloves per bulb. Spanish Roja is prized for its taste and it also stores well for up to 6 months. Red Toch is easily one of the best softneck garlics. The large, pink-streaked cloves can be eaten raw, with no unpleasant aftertaste usually associated with garlic. Since garlic isn't grown from seed, you can safely save garlic bulbs to replant each year, without concern for cross pollination.

5. Lettuce: Red Salad Bowl
Red Salad Bowl What's so wonderful about lettuce is that it is one of the few vegetables we all eat fresh. Salad bowl is a classic favorite and red salad bowl does it one better by being beautiful too. This looseleaf variety is very slow to bolt, making for an even longer harvest. The beautiful bronze tinged leaves are crisp and inviting.

6. Melon: Moon and Stars Watermelon
Moon & Stars has been called the poster vegetable of heirloom gardening. It is quite an attention getter with its dark green rind speckled with tiny yellow stars and usually at least one larger moon. Even the leaves are dotted with yellow. Inside all of this beauty is wonderful sweet, rich red flesh. These are large melons, about 20-30 pounds apiece, with a sprawling vine to sustain them.

7. Pepper, Hot: Bulgarian Carrot
Bulgarian carrot peppers are in the mid to extreme section of the Scoville Heat Scale, but they have flavor as well as heat. They do somewhat resemble a small carrot, maturing to a bright orange and about 4 inches long. They also have thick, crisp walls that hold up well in cooking.

8. Pepper, Sweet: Jimmy Nardello
This is one of the Italian frying type peppers. The long, slender fruits can easily grow to 8-9 inches. The plants are tall and bushy and may require staking because they produce a large crop. The peppers are extremely sweet when red and nice and tangy when picked green.

9. Squash: Ronde de Nice
You may think the last thing you need is more zucchini, but Ronde de Nice makes itself useful. It is, in fact, round and it can be picked small enough for single servings. The thin skin is very delicate, which means you won't find it shipped and sold in stores. The flesh is creamy and rich and the bowl shape makes it perfect for stuffing.

10. Tomato: Lillian's Yellow & Brandywine
If it weren't for the incredible flavor of Brandywine tomatoes, I'm not sure there would be that much interest in heirloom vegetables. Brandywines reminded people of what tomatoes used to taste like. I've given them a tie here with Lillian's Yellow, because Miss Lillian wins so many local taste tests. If she can beat out Brandywine, imagine what you're missing.

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