Make | A Jam Jar Garden

You’ll need:
Glass Mason jars or ordinary jam jars; a bag of hyacinth bulbs; a bag of gravel.

To make:
1 Give the jars a good clean and dry, then add gravel up to the shoulders of each jar.

2 Fill with water to above the top of the gravel in each one and place a hyacinth bulb on top of each jar.

3 You’ll need to keep the water topped up as the bulbs sprout. Just gently move the bulbs to one side and top up with a jug.

4 Gather all your hyacinth jars together on an old tray, in a small wooden crate or any other receptacle to make a centrepiece for a dining or coffee table, or simply line them up on a windowsill, or anywhere that catches your eye and create your own indoor jam jar garden to remind you that spring is just around the corner.

This is just one of the ideas for things to note and notice, plan and do from our Almanac pages. Find more seasonal inspiration in the February issue, in shops now or available to order from our online store.

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How to | Talk to Your Plants

“You’re a lovely little houseplant, aren’t you? YES you are. Such a GOOD little houseplant!”

Banish all thoughts of Prince Charles chatting to his geraniums, if you want healthy blooms, you need to find plenty of conversation 

It’s official: plants grow better when you talk to them. At one point it was thought that the CO2 we breathe out as we speak was good for plants’ health and that’s what made them grow, but more recently, experiments have shown that actually it’s all about what we say and how we say it. Here are a few tips and conversation starters for your greenhouse or kitchen windowsill.

Big them up

An experiment by the TV show Mythbusters back in 2004 found that plants who were spoken to in a positive way about nice things grew faster than plants who were talked to about negative topics. Well, we all like to hear a few compliments now and then. 

If you can’t say anything nice, DON’T say nothing at all

The same Mythbusters experiment found that the plants that were told negative things and spoken to in a nasty way still did better than the plants that were kept in silence. So don’t worry if you can’t think of anything nice to say - even a few insults are better than nothing. 

Read to them

If you find keeping up one half of a conversation tricky (spider plants aren’t known for their verbosity), just read out loud to them. We recommend Day of the Triffids or something else with a central character they can relate to. 

Play them music

Research projects from Smithsonian and NASA seem to suggest that it’s the vibrations that make plants grow so if you can’t be bothered to chat to your plants, just pop a playlist on. Go for something with plenty of bass; plants in the Mythbusters experiment grew better when they were ‘listening’ to heavy metal than classical music. Try some Guns ‘n’ Roses, with the emphasis on the Roses.

If you’re inspired to treat your plants even more and like the look of the macrame plant pot holders in the picture above, you can buy them at saroraknots.co.uk. The owner of Sarora Knots, Sara Al Bander, tells us about her day in cups of tea in our November issue, which is on sale now.

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Nest | Pilea

Once a rare sighting, the round, glossy leaves of pilea are now seen increasingly in our homes. This is largely because they are so easy to propagate.

Plantlets that spring up around their base can be snipped off and potted on in a twinkling, with the resulting plants dispersed among friends.

“They’ll lean towards the light,” says Alice Howard of Botanique Workshop, artisan store and flower shop, “so keep them out of direct sunlight. Otherwise, they are as easy to care for as they are to propagate.”

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Nest | Succulents

We’ve all bought succulents expecting them to be a breeze to look after, only to find they bolt or simply perish. 

“Most succulents are killed from over-watering,” says Alice Howard of Botanique Workshop, artisan store and flower shop. “Wait until the soil is completely dry, then water. They need constant light to prevent straggliness.” 

Hang them in a pretty planter, like these, to keep them in your eyeline for daily pleasure and monitoring.

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Nest | Cacti

You can be fooled by cacti: they look unchanged week after week, bristling stoutly in their pots, not growing. Worried, you water around their roots, and then you water a little more. Then suddenly, they rot and die. “Cacti are a good option for the negligent plant owner,” says Alice Howard, owner of Botanique Workshop, artisan store and flower shop, “as long as you make sure the soil is dry before watering. And don’t water during winter.” Replicate their desert origins in a
well drained pot on a sunny windowsill and they will thrive.

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Nest | Oxalis

For a plant with such theatrical qualities – its purple leaves track the light and fold up at night like butterfly wings – an oxalis is remarkably low maintenance. Alice Howard, owner of Botanique Workshop, artisan store and flower shop, recommends adding grit to the pot, and feeding every so often. And don’t give up on it during winter when it dies back – it will recover in spring and reward you with pretty lilac flowers in summer.

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Nest | Calathea

No one puts a calathea in the corner. This most flamboyant of houseplants with its dual-tone leaves – stripes on one side, deep purple on the other – deserves to be centre stage. As long as it’s kept out of direct sunlight, that is: “Its natural habitat is the jungle floor,” says Alice Howard, owner of Botanique Workshop Artisan Store & Flower Shop, artisan store and flower shop, “so direct light will scorch its leaves. Mist regularly and water consistently, so the soil doesn’t dry out.” Do all of that and a pot of tropical lushness will be yours. 

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Nest | Ferns

With its delicate, feathery leaves, a potted fern will bring a soft lushness to any room.

Cluster a few different varieties together and the effect is even lovelier, conjuring up the speckled shadows of the forest floor.

Alice Howard, owner of Botanique Workshop Artisan Store & Flower Shop, recommends keeping its woodland origins in mind when bringing a fern home: “Don’t place it in direct sunlight,” she says. “And don’t let the soil dry out – mist regularly, especially when the air is dry.”

A little sylvan corner right there.

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Nest | String of hearts

This pretty plant with its string of heart-shaped leaves is just lovely tumbling from the top of a cupboard; add a couple more to create a delicate screen. 

“Let the soil dry out and then give them a good drenching,” says Alice Howard, owner of Botanique Workshop, artisan store and flower shop. “And mist the leaves, otherwise they can get scorched.”

They are easy to propagate, too. Each strand can be planted in a new pot to make a new one – in no time at all, your flat surfaces will be festooned with verdant delicacy.

String of hearts in terracotta pot, from £10; Brass mister, £14, both from Botanique Workshop, Exmouth Market, London EC1 (botaniqueworkshop.com)

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Nest | How to make your home your sanctuary

• Make the most of the healing benefits of natural light and fresh air
• Choose objects and furniture made with quality materials and care
• Every now and then, have a really good clean. Tackle windows, rugs, fireplaces and all the rest of the spots that gather dust
• Improve the flow: move that annoying door, piece of furniture, pile of shoes or bike you always bump into
• Bring life and energy into your home with plants
• Pick colours that remind you of a happy place – greens for nature, blue for water, and so on 

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Give it a Grow: Pilea Pepermioides

WHAT IS IT?

A rather trendy leafy houseplant that, until fairly recently, caused a bit of a brew-ha-ha in the horticultural world because none of the experts knew what it was called. For years it had regularly appeared at Royal Botanic Gardens Kew’s help desk to be identified by mystified members of the public. It wasn’t until the late 1970s that it got a name, when Kew botanist Wessel Marais suggested that it was a Chinese species of Pilea. It now has several common names, including the Chinese money plant, the missionary plant and the pancake plant.

WHY WOULD YOU?

It has a rather appealing story attached to it: the plant was introduced to Europe in 1946 by a Norwegian missionary who had been travelling in the Chinese province of Yunming. Making the most of the plant’s easy-growing nature, he gave cuttings to friends and family in Norway, who in turn passed it on to friends in Sweden, then the UK and so on. It’s easy to grow, needing indirect light, good drainage and an occasional drink when the soil is dry.

WHY WOULDN’T YOU?

It can be hard to find a plant because more often than not, it’s ‘passed on’ rather than sold via nurseries. Try eBay. 

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