On 07/11/2011 10:54, Martin Brown wrote:
On 07/11/2011 10:17, Sacha wrote:
On 2011-11-07 10:12:22 +0000, Jeff said:

On 07/11/2011 06:30, ThatBoy wrote:
Dear Garden Banter,

I need some help please!

I am doing some work with children with severe learning disabilties
(SLD) and one of the projects is to get the children to look after
indoor plants during the winter. First thing is we have a budget that
needs to buy 12 plants so I was thinking about £4 to £8 max per plant.
What plant should I get?

Requirements:
- Indoor plant
- Easy to maintain but also that you can see change at least week to
week. So potentially something that flowers

Any advice would be greatly appreciated.


You might want to look at treated bulbs such as hyacinth or paperwhite
daffodil. The latter will most certainly start to grow and be in
flower by Christmas. The flowers of both are scented, too, which will
be a bonus as a different sensory stimulus for the children.

Other small pots of bulbs would give some continuity and perhaps
flower early in the new year - snowdrops, crocus, and dwarf iris come
to mind.

I would expect that the children are carefully monitored. One thing I
would be careful of with any plants you choose would be to make sure
they do not eat any part of them.

Sorry to butt in here but if using bulbs, don't let the children touch
those which are treated for indoor flowering at Christmas. There's some
preparation on them which can cause intense itching if fingers touch
faces after touching bulbs!

Plants that are non-toxic or at the very least sub lethal is essential.
I'd be a bit wary of hyacinths in this environment because the active
ingredient can be quite a bad sensitiser for some people with intense
itching. And eating the bulbs would really not be good for you.

My own suggestion of E. Pulcherrima is also a bit iffy in this respect.
Most Euphorbia sap can cause severe irritation and possibly blindness if
rubbed into the eyes. Jury is out on the actual risk from Poinsettia.

My feeling is that any Euphorbiaceae (and Solanaceae) should be avoided,
just in case.

Pity, as they're plants which often have showy displays at this time of
year.

--

Jeff