Pincushion plant heads outside
Polka Dot Plant, Freckle Face Plant,-- it's all in a name for the pretty pink, red, or white dotted foliage plant that until recently was largely considered a houseplant in our area.
Now with new, hardier varieties available, the pincushion plant is moving off the inside window sill and into the garden plot below. Modern garden designers are using its amazingly bright and beautiful foliage to fill in gaps in flower beds, with beautiful results.
It takes a little courage to change our way of thinking about plants, and a sense of "what will happen if I...?"
Or, as Sir George Sitwell put it in "On the Making of Gardens" written in 1909, the garden, like beauty in landscape, is inimical to all evil passions.
"It stands for efficiency, for patience in labour, for strength in adversity, for the power to forgive."
This is the year, then, for us to forgive ourselves for our traditional thinking about the pairing of plants and introduce new and unexpected shows of foliage into our beds. An excellent way to start is with the Polka Dot Plant.
Also called the Freckle Face Plant, Pink Dot and even the Flamingo Plant, it's Latin name is Hypoestes. That is from the Greek word "hypo" meaning "under" and "estia" meaning "house," a picturesque reference to the way the floral calyces are covered by bracts.
The Polka Dot Plant is enticing because of its boldly patterned and variegated foliage. It is available in a variety of patterns and sizes and in shades of pink, red and white.
In the perfect climate, this plant can actually grow quite large, but the ones we keep as houseplants stay smaller.
If you want to get your children interested in gardening, this is a perfect plant to start with, since it is extremely easy to grow and very forgiving of the occasional forgetfulness. All it needs is a bright location with some direct sunlight to maintain its vivid colour. In the hot summer, filter the light a bit, however, as it does not like intense heat.
The soil-less mixture should be kept evenly moist from spring to fall and watered less in winter. Mist the leaves frequently in a room with average warmth. You shouldn't let this plant sit in a room that gets colder than 13 degrees Celsius (55 degrees Fahrenheit).
Sometimes people ask me what happened to the leaves of this lovely plant. When they purchased it, they were covered with splashes of pink, but over the next few weeks, the leaves reverted to just plain green. If that has happened to your Polka Dot Plant, it is not getting enough light. If you don't rectify the problem, the plant will become very straggly and unpleasant.
By the way, if your plant is still splashed with pink, but is getting very leggy, it is also not getting adequate light.
You should repot your Polka Dot Plant each spring if you are using it as a houseplant. If you put it in your garden bed, you should dig it up in the fall, ensure it is not bringing bugs or pests into the house, and repot it for a warmer and safer winter inside.
You can propagate it by seed or stem cuttings in the spring or summer.
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For your diary:
May 16 - Official opening of 10th anniversary of Kingsbrae Garden in St. Andrews.
May 17 - A seminar on Dwarf and Unusual Conifers will be held at Corn Hill Nursery near Anagance. Expand the textures and colours in your garden. The session is from 10 a.m. to 12 noon, and there is no charge, but pre-registration is strongly advised as there is a limit of 50 people per seminar. To register call 506-756-3635.
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