Quote:
Originally Posted by 4X4
Better to be familiar with plant care before getting a bonzai. They're expensive and pretty picky.
Well, they are expensive because sometimes the large ones are hundreds of years old. And they have to be pruned regularily. Quite often they are a regular kind of tree or bush, say a juniper, and then you just do not let it grow to mature size. They are trained early on with wires, to get the main trunk shape and after that, it is determined what size they are to grow and at that point, prune, shape, prune, shape, prune, shape. And if you get the exotic variety, they soon die in our very dry Calgary climate.
I recommend a rubber plant. Super easy to care for and good looking as long as you invest a little effort. I received one as a housewarming gift 11 years ago and now this bad boy (his name is Edgar) is about 5'6" and nicely filled out. Nice corner plant that doesn't need much (if any) direct sunlight. All you have to do is water the thing once a week and when it reaches a height you like start picking off new buds on the top.
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Or you can cut each stalk down at half heighth and then 2 new ones will sprout from the one main one. That encourages it to bush out as well. Otherwise, if you do not pinch the top, or prune from lower down, you will have one tall Edgar that will soon be trying to push through your ceiling.
Quite often, if you want a more "unique" or "exotic" type house plant, it will not do well in Calgary. We have a climate that most house plants do not like, by that I mean, very low humidity. If you can provide a solarium setting, you will be fine of course. Now you can grow some of the "unique" ones, but careful how unique they are. Do you wish to be misting regularily or perhaps providing special soil? Because that is what they will need to thrive.
First of all, determine your light conditions and the room temperature conditions. So south light and hot room, or north room with poor light and cool conditions? You need a plant that matches your growing conditions. Most of the nurseries are very good at helping you choose the right plant for the growing conditions you present them.
Someone mentioned a yucca plant, they are good, minimal care for the Calgary area and they will take some abuse as well (do you forget to water your plants?)
Along these same lines are dracaenas. Some are better for the Calgary area than others. This one does quite well, is similar in appearance to the yucca but with finer leaves
This one, also a dracaena sometimes called the corn plant, is not as good, not that it will not grow, but it is more prone to losing leaves from the bottom
A more unique plant that does well in Calgary is the Norfolk pine, fairly slow growing, can stay in the same pot for quite a long period of time, needs a bit cooler conditions and regular moisture, does not like to be drownded though
Chinese evergreens require almost no care at all and will grow under pretty well any light or room temperature conditions. And they come in various sizes. I have one that looks similar to a small philodendron, sort of like the one below, but with larger leaves. And my leaves are much more abundant, you really cant see the stems or trunk. I think it is called some elephant ear variety. I have had mine for 20 years, only restarted and repotted it once. To restart, just cut off a stalk the right length, stick in a pot of water until it roots and replant. Like I said, extremely easy to grow, takes abuse, mine is between 4 and 5 feet high, fills out a corner very nicely.
You can also grow varieties of "ficus" or fig trees in Calgary but they need to be in a corner where the temperature and light is consistent. More importantly, they do not like drafts.
This is the more common fig plant seen around here
This is another variety of fig tree. This one should have been repotted already. As you can see, the bottom leaves are turning yellow and about to drop off, it's roots are too squished and the pot is not in proportion to the size of the plant.
