2009 Indoor plant sale coming up

If you are like me, you can't make it through winter without the companionship of your houseplants. At the upcoming Indoor Plant Show and Sale, April 21st, you get a chance to donate some of your plants as well as buy new ones.

Many of my plants spend the summer in the garden and once the garden beckons, I seem to have less time for my houseplants. So, now is the time to ready your plants for the garden, for the show and for the sale. During the next few weeks, look at your houseplants and decide which ones have to be divided and repotted. This will give them some time to settle.

Are your African Violets overcrowded in their pot? What about the huge Billbergia (Bromeliaceae) in bloom now, that has to be divided soon? Or the Walking Iris (Neomarica gracilis) that you enjoyed all winter? It has so many new shoots to share, so pot them all up.

The Haworthia looks happy enough, but it is crowded in its pot and the same goes for the Stapelia with its stunning flowers resembling buttons. Maybe you grow Begonias or you have a beautiful Coleus you can take cuttings from?

If you want to read up on “How to prepare your plants for the Sales Table”, I recommend Pat Russell¹s excellent description in the OHS NEWS, April 2007. (see below)

Bring your plants labeled but do not worry. If you are not sure of your plant's name, somebody will be there to help identify it.

Since plant sales are an important fund-raiser for the OHS, we will help you carry your donations in, and your new acquisitions out!!!

And, don’t forget - it is all a lot of fun.

Preparing Your Plants for the Sales Table

By Pat Russell

A clean, well-potted and clearly labelled plant is going to sell more easily and for a better price than a plant that has not been carefully prepared. Here are a few simple steps for doing a good job whether you are dividing plants, taking cuttings of indoor plants or potting up seedlings to donate to the Horticultural Society’s fund raising sales :

Use Promix as a potting medium. It is a soilless mix, very easy and clean to work with and has excellent drainage. (Plants can stay quite happily in it indefinitely; in fact, I use it for all my house plants, fertilising lightly in the summer months.)

Dampen the Promix with warm water in a large bin or container until it just holds together when squeezed, but no water runs out. Prepare a sufficient amount ahead of time as you are going to use quite a bit and it will stay moist in a container with a lid.

Shake off a good deal of the garden soil and loosen the roots of your division by dipping them in a basin of water; trim off excess roots.

Select a pot large and deep enough for the root system without crowding it too much. If necessary, divide the divisions into smaller pieces and/or trim off more roots to fit the pot.

Green plastic pots always display well. But, if the division is quite large, you will need a large and deep black pot that you have probably acquired from a nursery. Make sure they have been washed inside and out.

Cover the bottom of the pot with a layer of Promix, set the plant in the pot and add enough Promix around the plant to secure it. Gently tamp down the Promix around the plant to get rid of any air holes. Add more Promix as needed to bring the level up to the depth the plant was in the ground.

Top dress with Promix. This “finishing touch” sets off the plant and gives it quite a professional look.

Place in a container of water to ensure that the whole pot is moist and will last for a few days without more watering. Let the pot stand for a while to allow any excess water to drain out.

Wipe off any loose Promix from the outside of the pot.

And, finally, place a clearly written label in the pot indicating the botanical name, height, colour of bloom, etc. Use an indelible ink pen to ensure that the writing does not wash off should it get wet. I use old vinyl blinds, cut and trimmed to size, as labels.

Please contact the OHS or the author if you wish to republish these articles. © Ottawa Horticultural Society

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