Houseplants

» AsbestosMango - indoor growing

Well, everybody's in their new pots.

I hope these things aren't going dormant on me already. They still have a lot of unopened buds on them, and I was hoping they would open for me. Also, a couple of them have new leaf growth on them- miraculously, considering all they've been through.

Separating them was easier than I expected. The roots were a tangled mass, but with soaking and gentle "shampooing" I managed to tease the roots apart without damaging them.

I've seen articles that say some varieties of mini-rose will blossom all winter. I really don't know what variety this one is (these four are, actually). The flowers are a sort of purplish pink, and the buds seem to come one at the end of the stalk, with more a bit further down, sort of forming a crown or circle around the first one. Hope that helps with variety ID.

The smallest (and sickliest) one I put in a 3" pot. It lost its last two buds this morning. I'm hoping I can nurse it back to health. If I can, well, I've got green-thumbed neighbors on either side of me who might enjoy a mini-rose. I'm running out of places to put my plants. I now have a mini-rose bush on each side of my little shrine by the window, I moved my aloe-vera and my lucky bamboo to my icon corner, and a fern (no idea what species, I bought it at Evil Soulless Mart, the sticker just said "hanging fern" in the alcove where my birds' cages are. It's going to be fun trying to keep that alive this winter when the heat goes on and the air gets dry. I'm thinking I'll have to do a lot of aggressive misting.

I'm giving away one mini-rose bush to a lady who works at Rite-Aid.

One more thing- when they're done blooming, should I prune? If so, how much? I want a short and bushy effect, assuming they can be persuaded to bloom next year. Here in Vegas, I see roses blooming year round, my neighbor has put in rose bushes and they're beautiful.

-- posted by AsbestosMango