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Barb wrote:
I have lots of plants around my house - I haven't the faintest idea
what
most of them are! - including a 3ft palm-tree thing - all of which are
doing
very well. I'm obviously "good" with houseplants.

However, I'm going away for nearly four weeks in June and no longer
have
someone I can ask to pop in and water them once/twice a week.

Some of them have been with me for a while, and I'm quite attached to
them -
is it feasible to put them outside for the duration? On the basis
that the
outside temperature is in the teens during June?


I'm no gardening expert but to answer your question, yes it is feasible
to put at least some of your houseplants outside for a while because
I've done this myself in the past. From memory, I put a Yucca, Dracaena
and cheese plant outside for about 3 weeks one summer and they
survived. In fact, they thrived. The Yucca in particular shot up, and I
actually started to put it out every year in mid summer whether I was
away or not.

Warnings: I really can't guarantee that all houseplants will survive,
and you will need some luck with the weather. Also, I suspect most
houseplants wouldn't appreciate windy spots. One other thing to be wary
of is that when you bring them back inside, they may well have bugs, so
will need a thorough examination/clean.



In the absence of torrential rain, light showeres will most probably
evaporate away, at a guess around 80% of non succulents plants will
be stone dead within four weeks, if left outside unattended in warm
conditions.
Plants in pots are especially vulnerable as they have only
the compost in the pot to replace moisture being constanly lost
through plant respiration and evaporatation.
While anyone who can confidently forecast torrential rain is
clearly in the wrong job.


michael adams