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October 22, 2013 · 2 Comments

The Benefits of Outdoor Time — Plant Division

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The research is pretty conclusive that spending time outdoors is good for people. The fresh air, the sunlight, the chance to connect with our natural surroundings are all good for physical and mental health. But outdoor time is good for plants, too, as my mother demonstrated this summer.

For a couple of years, she’s had a succulent dish that we put together. She was inspired by one of the articles in Northern Gardener. The dish has struggled a bit, partly because the plants in it had different watering needs. This summer, she decided to move the dish out to her back patio. The patio faces south, is somewhat protected from wind by the house and a privacy fence, and, of course, is open to natural rain.

Here’s what the succulent dish looked like a couple of weeks ago just before she moved it back into the house.

succulent dish 2013

Here’s the before shot: (You can see she lost a few plants, but the survivors are huge now.)

succulent before

I had a similar experience a few years ago when I put a hoya plant outdoors for the summer. The plant, which had never bloomed before, suddenly was spouting cool, waxy blooms. Interestingly, once it started blooming, it now blooms every year, near the end of the summer. I still put the plant outdoors and it is very happy.

In a recent article on herbs, Nancy Leasman calls these plants “commuters” because they travel in and out of the house. Do you have any commuter plants? Do they benefit from their outdoor time?

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The Beauty of Late Fall »

Comments

  1. Linda Perry says

    October 25, 2013 at 7:18 am

    I had a hoya that my parents couldn’t get to bloom but it did great for me hanging just out of the sunlight in a west facing window and I didn’t water it much. The problem is that the blooms ,while beautiful ,stink terribly at night and my husband hated the plant so I finally sold it at a garage sale .

  2. Mary Schier says

    October 25, 2013 at 9:15 am

    I haven’t noticed that much of a smell on my blooms, but they usually bloom outdoors. I hardly water mine at all in the house and they seem to do great. What a fun plant!

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It’s National Gardening Day! I’m not much for It’s National Gardening Day! I’m not much for special days (sorry, siblings, I missed that one last week) but any excuse to post a picture of a gorgeous peony, I’ll take! 

Peonies are a huge part of Minnesota’s horticultural heritage. They aren’t native but our cold climate is perfect for peonies. They’ve been hybridized in Minnesota for over 150 years, and the state still has several peony breeders based here. If you ever get a chance to go to a peony open day in June, jump on it. Seeing rows and rows of peonies all blooming at once is a northern gardener’s joy. 

Peonies will last forever, too. Plant one in the right place and it will outlive you by decades. What’s your favorite plant? 
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Bulbs aren’t that tricky to grow, though you will have to pull dahlias, gladiolus and canna lilies for the winter. Lilies can stay in the ground. This winter, I left some in their pots and held  them in the unheated garage. They survived and are already putting up foliage. 

Check the 🔗 in bio for links to my interview with Mike Heger as well as the blog post on growing bulbs in containers. 
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Fun news 🗞! I have an essay in the upcoming iss Fun news 🗞! I have an essay in the upcoming issue of Gardening for Health, a special interest publication of Better Homes & Gardens. It’ll be on newsstands and in grocery stores, home centers, drugstores and more starting tomorrow. The essay is about why gardening matters, for our health, our spirits and our communities. I haven’t seen the layout yet, but I’ll be prowling my local Barnes & Noble tomorrow! Can’t wait to see it. 
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