Houseplants and Flowering Plants

Healthier with Houseplants

Live Greener and Cleaner

Did you know that houseplants can promote better sleep? Healthy plants are a source of cleaner air; and because plants release oxygen, they can acutally bring up the air quality of a room.

Actually, houseplants are often overlooked helpers in ridding the air of pollutants and toxins. Growing plants indoors is not only a fun and relaxing hobby, but is also a great way to fight pollution. Regardless of our motivations for having indoor plants, that pothos or cornplant you have is working to neutralize the air in your home.

Some research has shown that houseplants can also improve anxiety levels and mental fatigue. The wonderful news is that improving our quality of indoor air is relatively easy and inexpensive!

You can actually live happier and healthier by adding a few houseplants to your interior living spaces.

We carry African Violets, Orchids, and many, many other great plants to fit your lifestyle! With graceful stems and beautiful flowers that are diverse in color, pattern, shape and size who could possibly resist these beauties! Affordibly priced, so pick one up for the office and one for your home.

At Tagawa's you'll find the traditional favorites Jades, Aloe, Pothos, and Lucky Bamboo, as well as some unusual varieties. From the traditional to the exotic, you are sure to find something beautiful here.

Find out more about other green and blooming houseplants at www.denverplants.com which features a database of hundreds of indoor plants!

Cacti, other Succulents and Bonsai

We offer an excellant selection of cacti and succulants year-round ranging from large specimens to small starter pots for creating your own dish gardens.

We also carry the correct soil, pots and grit toppings for your cactai needs. Let our friendly, knowledgeable staff assist you with all your houseplant needs

Handouts

View our helpful "handout" files for wonderful information compiled for your use by Tagawa's own Houseplant guru, Dee Beckman.

These include:

• Basic Houseplant Care
• Cactus and Other Succulents
• Container Gardening with an Attitude
• General Care of Blooming Gift Plants
• Growing Orchids in Colorado
• Houseplant Instructions
• Top Foliage Plants
• Best Plants For Beginners
• Topiary
• African Violets

Top Ten Questions in the Houseplant Dept.

1. When do I need to re-pot my plants?
Plants need to be re-potted when you can't keep up with the watering, that is, when there is a lot of roots and very little soil. Or, if the soil has become old and compacted. When re-potting, you need only replace the old soil or go up one size bigger in pot size (ex. re-pot a 6" pot into an 8" pot)

2. Can I re-pot this plant that I bought today?
No, you should wait and see how the plant reacts to its new environment. If the plant is drying out too fast then you know it needs to go into a pot that is one size bigger. If you want to put the plant in a decorative pot, you can just slip it out of its old pot and into the same size pot, or just set the original pot and plant into the decorative pot, using the pretty pot as a pot cover.

3. I have bugs flying around my plants, are they fruit flies?
No, they are fungus gnats that are laying their eggs in wet, rotting soil. They tend to bother us humans more than the plants. Their presence is a usually a symptom of over watering. The plant's soil needs to dry at least a third of the way down into the pot to allow oxygen into the soil. Soil that is too wet suffocates the plant and causes fungus to grow, then the gnats show up. One way of keeping gnats in line - especially in plants that love lots of water - is to use dish washing liquid (without perfumes, like Ivory™) at the rate of 1 tsp. per gallon of water, and drench the soil with this mixture about 2-3 times a year. You may also use a systemic insecticide on the soil surface when you see the culprits.

4. When should I bring in my houseplants that were outside all summer?
Usually you should bring just before the first day of frost or when the plant's minimum night-time temperature has been reached. Try to listen to your weatherman, he/she will usually tell you when it's time. Before bringing in your plants from outside, check for bugs and dead leaves. Spray with a pesticide oil spray to take care of any bugs you didn't see. Then cut back the top 1/3 to ½ of the foliage back to prevent the plant from looking leggy in the long run. The plant should be placed in a fairly sunny location, duplicating the amount of light the plant received outside.


5. When and how often should I water??
We can't tell you when and how often but we can say that the plant should tell you by learning the signs and language of the plant. The key to success is to duplicate the plant's natural environment and then allow the top 1/3 of soil to dry down naturally between waterings then thoroughly drench the soil. Make sure the plant does not sit in the drainage water for more than a few hours. Try to gauge how much water was in the tray then next time adjust your watering accordingly.

6. When should I fertilize and with what?
You should fertilize only when the plant is actively growing. Usually that is from the spring through autumn. Use a liquid or water soluble fertilizer, 20-20-20, with every other watering. I like to use Peter's 15-30-15 to induce blooming after I have seen a lot of new growth. You can use a pelletized, slow-release fertilizer just in the spring if you don't like to fertilize often.

7. Don't know how to prune my houseplants, how and when should I do that?
Pruning sometimes can be hard, especially if you have never done it before. The best thing to do is to remember the 1/3 rule and just start out by pruning the top 1/3 of the branch and remember to leaves some leaves behind. You may need to do a second cut later after you start to see new growth after your first pruning. I usually prune when the plant is actively growing in the spring., especially if the plant is starting to get leggy or thin.

8. Can I plant a spider plant at the base of my ficus tree?
Yes, but remember that "companion" plants need to be compatible with each other. You need to make sure the plants don't compete with each other for water and light. It's fun to experiment, but remember that two different size root balls may not work.

9. I have shiny sap on my ficus, what is it?
It is called "honeydew" and it is the excrement of an insect, most likely scale. Scale is frequently found on ficus. Scale looks like a scab or shell under the leaves or on the stems. If the plant is stressed, scale can kill the host plant. Find what has stressed the plant to begin with - usually it is inconsistent watering. You will need treat to kill the scale, then remedy the stressful situation by improved watering practices. Treat the plant with a systemic insecticide, then prune out the worst infected areas, or physically scrape off the scale. Also spray with an insecticide oil containing paraffin. This will help smother the scale.

10. Can I grow herbs indoors?
Yes, but sometimes it can be difficult due to lack of sufficient light. Look at the care requirements for the individual plants then try to duplicate that environment indoors. Sunrooms and a sunny kitchen window tend to work best. I've found that basil and thyme are easy, as well as other tropical (annual) herbs.

Bonus! Can I special order a particular plant that I don't see in your store?
Yes! If the plant is available through our resource of growers at that time. Some plants are very seasonal and are only grown at certain times of the year. All you have to do is ask us. Usually it only takes a week to find the plant but sometimes there are minimum orders from our growers and we will have to wait till we hit the minimum with other plants we need.