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Gardeners’ World
December 12, 2019
Gardeners' World
I was asked by the Dutch Gardeners’ World magazine to write something about my ‘urban jungle’. Below, you find the translation of my piece. Click ‘download’ to get the PDF of the original Dutch article.
Download Dutch article
My own spot
In every edition of Gardeners’ World we share the experiences of enthusiastic gardeners with you on this page. They are happy to take you with them in their garden, greenhouse or living room and gladly elaborate on their passion. They also give you handy tips and hints if you want to get started yourself. This month: Marieke from Nimmaplants.
It all started in my student room with a sad tomato plant. Now I live in an “urban jungle”. How did that happen? And what’s so great about it? I hope my story inspires you to ‘garden’ more with your houseplants!
Pancake plant
After years of growing vegetables in pots, I received a pancake plant (Pilea peperomioides) from a friend a few years ago. It was a little one that had started growing next to her larger mother plant. Shortly after I got that ‘baby pancake’, it was getting babies itself and on my turn, I gave them to friends. Due to this plant I discovered that with houseplants, you are able to garden year round in your indoor garden (better known as ‘the living room’ by most people).
From cuttings to sowing
After this pancake plant, many other plants followed and of course I propagated all of them. First only a few: in a tiny greenhouse on the windowsill in the guest bedroom. However, it didn’t end there: everything that could possibly yield a plant was put in soil. Lemon seeds, dragon fruit seeds, seeds from the Madagascar Jewel (Euphorbia leuconeura). This plant is shooting its seeds meters away! And I just kept searching the floor when I had heard another seed dropping somewhere…
I also grew a mango plant! To do that, I even used a saw! On my website you’ll find a photo blog of that process.
I also grew a mango plant! To do that, I even used a saw! On my website you’ll find a photo blog of that process.
Greenhouse 2.0
In the meantime, the little mini-greenhouse made way for two larger, heated ones (approx. 50x50x100cm) with growing lights for the dark winter times. The guest bedroom is now a plant room: guests can sleep on an air mattress between my plants. It’s all a matter of priorities…
Inside I now have my homegrown bird of paradise (Strelizia reginae), mini cacti and a lucky bean tree (Afzelia quanzensis, photo below). In pots outside I have coleus, umbrella papyrus and my pride and joy: a fountain palm! All grown from seed by myself.
Inside I now have my homegrown bird of paradise (Strelizia reginae), mini cacti and a lucky bean tree (Afzelia quanzensis, photo below). In pots outside I have coleus, umbrella papyrus and my pride and joy: a fountain palm! All grown from seed by myself.
Harvesting seeds yourself
I am currently fascinated by harvesting seeds. When my coleus (Plectranthus scutellarioides) bloomed last year, I waited until the seeds dropped from the plant. For weeks, a half dead plant stood in our house, much to the annoyance of my boyfriend… On the other hand, we now have coleus from our own seeds! Great right?
Some polkadot Begonias are really easy to pollinate yourself, so I recently harvested seeds from my Begonia maculate tamaya! On the picture above you see its leaves and flowers with pollinated seed pods (below) and not yet pollinated flowers (above, lighter pink). Meanwhile, the first green spots appear above soil… and that’s what I’m doing it for!
I love growing and experimenting with plants and capturing it to share with others. I do that by means of my Instagram account @nimmaplants and my website www.nimmaplants.com. Nimma is an informal name for Nijmegen, the city I live in.
Tell me, after reading this piece, do you feel like “indoor gardening” yourself this fall?
Some polkadot Begonias are really easy to pollinate yourself, so I recently harvested seeds from my Begonia maculate tamaya! On the picture above you see its leaves and flowers with pollinated seed pods (below) and not yet pollinated flowers (above, lighter pink). Meanwhile, the first green spots appear above soil… and that’s what I’m doing it for!
I love growing and experimenting with plants and capturing it to share with others. I do that by means of my Instagram account @nimmaplants and my website www.nimmaplants.com. Nimma is an informal name for Nijmegen, the city I live in.
Tell me, after reading this piece, do you feel like “indoor gardening” yourself this fall?
Read my other articles for Gardeners' World Magazine here.
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Aroids: so diverse!
What does it mean if you receive a cactus as a gift? It's probably your birthday or a houswarming gift. After all, a stylish cactus is a hip accessory in a modern living room. However, it was not a suitable gift in the past: it was said that if you gifted someone a cactus, you would secretly experience the recipient as 'prickly' and unpleasant. Or maybe you underestimate the recipient's green thumb? Since a cactus just stand there, on your windowsill, whatever you do or don't do for it. But is that really the case? Let's take a closer look at these spiky statues.
Euphorbia is a genus with many diverse species. From native Marsh Spurge to Madeiran trees and bulbous succulents. Our poinsettia also belongs to this genus!
In the 17th century, something remarkable happens: botanist Rumphius places a plant between the animal kingdom and the plant kingdom. Why? Because it moved when touched. At the time, such sensitivity was only ascribed to organisms in the animal kingdom. But this was a plant!
Caudex plants are extremely popular these days. But the concept of caudex plant is not so clear. What exactly is it and how do you take care of them?
Confession: until recently, no orchid was allowed in my house anymore… Years ago I had 2 Butterfly orchids and planned to take better care of them, hoping to get more flowers. I did everything to make them feel good! Until one day in the summer I didn't pay attention and the poor plants burned to death on my south-facing roof terrace… Together with my good intentions I threw the plants away. No more orchids for me!
I wrote about a fast-moving plant before, in my article on carnivorous plants : the Venus Flytrap. The dancing plant is also a fast-moving plant, albeit not as fast as the flytrap. Yet it can be seen with the naked eye! I sowed some of these plants and made some timelapses, see the video below.
A succulent plant with partly transparent leaves! I got it from Rogier after our first meeting, about two years ago. This little Haworthia cooperi was a 'pup', a little one that had started growing on the mother plant. This mother plant was collected by an acquaintance of Rogier (with permission) in the Bolo Nature Reserve in South Africa. My love for weirdos in the plant world immediately bubbled up. And there is much more to discover about succulents!
