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.

Best,

Thatboy

Gardenbanter won't give you any help. If you read the blurb at the top, you'll find it merely passes on your question to the newsgroup uk.rec.gardening (urg) and collects any replies you receive. urg posters, however, are helpful and knowledgeable.

Winter is not the best season for growing plants!

Best bet would be bulbs, and I'd suggest Hippeastrum, which should be within your budget. You'd also need pots and potting compost. They put out a small tuft of leaves, then concentrate on a flower stem which lengthens visibly on a daily basis till it's between 18 and 30 inches (depending on light levels - best to go for more light and a shorter sturdier stem). You get about 4 flowers per stem about 6 inches across, pink, white, red or various stripey effects.Then the leaves start growing in earnest till they're about two feet long.

Hyacinths are another tempting option, but a bad idea as they cause skin irritation in some people, which means that shops now provide plastic gloves for their customers to allow them to pick out the bulbs they want.

Daffodils and crocuses also work, but can fail - crocuses, in particular, are dodgy and abort their flowers if you keep them too warm.

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?

Plant or plants? If I were you I would aim for £2 a plant then you can
afford some replacements when the inevitable happens. If you try a few
different sorts then you stand a chance of finding some they can't kill!

It is a tall order to keep plants growing and flowering in winter
without them going leggy but some that might fit the bill and be tough
enough to survive some abuse include:

Prefering dry conditions Pelargoniums, Kalanchoe, Euphorbia Pulcherrima,
Christmas Cactus. Tolerant of over watering Bizzy Lizzie, Spider plant
(Chlorophytum comosum). Some of these can be very easily propogated so
if you do it right you should never need to buy any more.

I'd hedge your bets with a mixture of plants until you find what works
best in the situation. You may be able to scrounge some of these...


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.

Best,

Thatboy






--
Regards,
Martin Brown

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.

--

Jeff

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!

That's a good point. But I would guess that it might be true of many
bulbs, not just the treated ones for indoor flowering. It's probably a
fungicide of some sort.

I haven't bought bulbs for ages, but ISTR that some garden centres were
making disposable polythene gloves available for those wishing to select
and pack the bulbs themselves.

--

Jeff

On Mon, 7 Nov 2011 06:30:37 +0000, 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.

Best,

Thatboy

I'd go the seed route.
Broad beans on blotting paper to start.
Cress. Carrot tops.

--
http://www.voucherfreebies.co.uk

On 07/11/2011 10:17, Sacha wrote:
On 2011-11-07 10:12:22 +0000, Jeff Layman 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.


--
Regards,
Martin Brown

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

On Nov 7, 11:48*am, Janet wrote:
In article , ThatBoy.92d4ed6
@gardenbanter.co.uk says...



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.

On Mon, 7 Nov 2011 06:29:30 -0800 (PST), Dave Hill
wrote:

I would get one or two Pilea cadierei or Pilea cadierei nana, they
are bomb proof, they can go limp through lack of water, thep within an
hour of watering they will be back up, no sign of dammage, they also
root fairly easily, then there are spider plants, the children can
watch the new plants forming then later cut them off and pot them up.
Some of the house leeks are also almost bomb proof and easy to
propagate.http://www.google.co.uk/search?
hl=en&sugexp=kjrmc&cp=9&gs_id=22&xhr=t&q=houselee ks&pq=pilea
+cadierei&safe=off&gs_sm=&gs_upl=&bav=on.
2,or.r_gc.r_pw.,cf.osb&biw=792&bih=443&wrapid=tlj p1320675906640216&um=1&ie=UTF-8&tbm=isch&source=og&sa=N&tab=wi
David

That brings back memories of my time in what was then called "infants
school". There was a large spider plant on a table in the classroom
and when a little plantlet appeared, it would be dunked into water in
a milk bottle (we used to have those third-pint ones every morning)
and we could watch the roots developing before cutting it from the
parent and potting it up. Over time, every child in the class had at
least one to take home so we could continue the process. We had to pay
a penny to cover the cost of the pot and compost but the pennies
always came from the headmistress.

Cheers, Jake
================================================== =====
You can't change yesterday so forget it. You don't know
what tomorrow will bring so don't worry about it. Just
enjoy today. It's a gift; which is why we call it "the
present".

"Jake" Nospam@invalid wrote in message
...
On Mon, 7 Nov 2011 06:29:30 -0800 (PST), Dave Hill
wrote:

I would get one or two Pilea cadierei or Pilea cadierei nana, they
are bomb proof, they can go limp through lack of water, thep within an
hour of watering they will be back up, no sign of dammage, they also
root fairly easily, then there are spider plants, the children can
watch the new plants forming then later cut them off and pot them up.
Some of the house leeks are also almost bomb proof and easy to
propagate.http://www.google.co.uk/search?
hl=en&sugexp=kjrmc&cp=9&gs_id=22&xhr=t&q=housele eks&pq=pilea
+cadierei&safe=off&gs_sm=&gs_upl=&bav=on.
2,or.r_gc.r_pw.,cf.osb&biw=792&bih=443&wrapid=tl jp1320675906640216&um=1&ie=UTF-8&tbm=isch&source=og&sa=N&tab=wi
David

That brings back memories of my time in what was then called "infants
school". There was a large spider plant on a table in the classroom
and when a little plantlet appeared, it would be dunked into water in
a milk bottle (we used to have those third-pint ones every morning)
and we could watch the roots developing before cutting it from the
parent and potting it up. Over time, every child in the class had at
least one to take home so we could continue the process. We had to pay
a penny to cover the cost of the pot and compost but the pennies
always came from the headmistress.

Cheers, Jake
================================================== =====
You can't change yesterday so forget it. You don't know
what tomorrow will bring so don't worry about it. Just
enjoy today. It's a gift; which is why we call it "the
present".

Jake that has just turned the clock back for me as well :-))

I have been following this thread and someone somewhere suggested seeds and
blotting paper, well along with your suggestion, how about the jam jar with
a lining of blotting paper and the Runner Bean between the glass and paper?
Watch it sprout and grow roots :-))

And talking of the past and turning the clock back, we had an Open Day at
Shanklin Theatre on Saturday and many famous people came to reminisce and
give their support, but one asked for me and presented me with a signed
autobiography. Most of you youngsters won't know or respect her, but Helga
Stone, she of 'Mary in the Murgatroyds' became a member and talked with us
for a fair old while.

Mike

--

....................................

Don't take life too seriously, you'll never get out alive.

....................................





--

....................................

Don't take life too seriously, you'll never get out alive.

....................................

Martin Brown wrote:
Prefering dry conditions Pelargoniums, Kalanchoe, Euphorbia Pulcherrima,
Christmas Cactus. Tolerant of over watering Bizzy Lizzie, Spider plant
(Chlorophytum comosum). Some of these can be very easily propogated so
if you do it right you should never need to buy any more.

I would second Christmas Cactus, although mine are coming into flower buds
now, so you may have missed out on the essential start of the progress of
the plant.

Money plants are incredibly tolerant, and if you want to get more, you just
snap a bit off and pot it up!

And cyclamen are flouncy and fairly easy to look after.

Slightly different, how about hyacinths in vases/jars? Then they can see
the roots growing as well as the flowers!

Sacha wrote:
That's a good point. But I would guess that it might be true of many
bulbs, not just the treated ones for indoor flowering. It's probably a
fungicide of some sort.
I've only ever experienced it with the indoor flowering type. Bulbs
for outdoor planting used to be dipped in hot water to kill off
undesirables but Ray doesn't know if that's still done.

I promise it's not just indoor hyacinth bulbs that make /me/ itch!
And it doesn't matter if I touch with my hands then wash my hands and dont'
touch my face, it's my neck and face that itch

On Nov 7, 5:15*pm, Sacha wrote:
On 2011-11-07 17:09:26 +0000, said:

Sacha wrote:
That's a good point. *But I would guess that it might be true of many
bulbs, not just the treated ones for indoor flowering. *It's probably a
fungicide of some sort.
I've only ever experienced it with the indoor flowering type. *Bulbs
for outdoor planting used to be dipped in hot water to kill off
undesirables but Ray doesn't know if that's still done.

I promise it's not just indoor hyacinth bulbs that make /me/ itch!
And it doesn't matter if I touch with my hands then wash my hands and dont'
touch my face, it's my neck and face that itch

Yes, there may be something in them that you're allergic to. A keen
gardening friend of mine was terribly allergic to daffs, which they
also grew as a crop. *She just accepted it as part of life's rich
tapestry!
--
Sachawww.hillhousenursery.com
South Devon

The link I should have used for the Sempervivums (house leeks) is
http://i240.photobucket.com/albums/f.../Semptray2.jpg
You have to think about what happens to the plants in school holidays.
David