How to care for houseplants

Life in a four-season zone like New York State can be gloomy when winter sets in. When the view out the front window is a glimpse of barren trees, cleared-out perennial beds and snow, it's no wonder so many people turn to houseplants. Not only do they lend a little green to a gray season, but the truly inspired use them all year round as part of their home's decor.

Like artwork, houseplants can add beauty, texture and many different colors to your living space.

No one knows this better than Ellen Ingber, of Valley Stream, who has been keeping houseplants for 36 years.

"It's not just the plants," she said, "it's how you display them."

Every room in Ingber's home contains houseplants, among them succulents, philodendrons, spider plants, ferns, African violets, cactuses and some so exotic and unusual she never even caught their names. And Ingber's containers compete with the plants themselves for center stage.

There's a hoya growing in a giant Hershey's mug in the dining room, a cactus growing in a fire helmet planter in the entry and two philodendrons and an arrowhead vine in repurposed tequila bottles on a shelf in the dining room. Some of her plants grow in pebbles and water, while others grow in soil.

So how much work is it?

"I tend to go for easier plants because I do work and don't always have the time to take care of them," Ingber admits.

She's amassed a bunch of books along the way and keeps her own research library for quick and easy reference. "When I see a problem, I research it and correct myself," she says.

While Joyce Kohl of Lindenhurst grows fewer plants, her appreciation for them is equally enthusiastic: "My small dining room is my secret garden," she said, adding that she cannot remember a time in her life when she didn't have houseplants.

"I worked in Manhattan for 40 years, and all that time I grew plants in the office," she recalled. "I used to leave the desk light on for the plants."

Now Kohl has 11 plants in her home, including a spider plant hanging in a window, aloe and red impatiens. A pothos sitting in the corner of the dining room and snaking its way around the windows has begotten several offspring, which Kohl has moved throughout the house.

The care she gives her plants ranges from the basic -- sunlight and water -- to the more personal. "Every day, the first thing I do in the morning is walk into the dining room and open up the blinds for my girls," she said. "I check them out to make sure they're OK, and I talk to them."

Kohl said her houseplants add much more than aesthetics to her home. "I think that plants not only are pleasurable to look at, but they always make me feel good when I'm amongst them," she said. "I think a house without plants is boring."

So, you wanna grow houseplants?

If you're just starting out, there's no need to be intimidated. Just about anyone can grow houseplants successfully by becoming educated about their basic needs and ensuring they are provided.

Too much water can kill your plants, even after you've realized the mistake and allowed the soil surface to dry out. When roots get too soggy, they can begin to rot and, often, cannot recover. Likewise, not enough water can lead to certain death, though this transgression is a bit more forgiving. If you forget to water, most plants' leaves will wilt. Catch this right away and you can undo the wrong.

So how much and how often should you water? Don't water on a schedule. Instead, assess your plants' needs every couple of days by pushing your finger deeply into the soil. When it starts to get dry down there, it's time to water.

Put the pot in the sink (or bathtub if the pot's very large) and water until it runs out the drainage hole in the bottom. This practice of flushing the soil also helps prevent salt buildup from fertilizers, which can stunt and otherwise stress plants.

Equally important is sunlight. A southern exposure offers the brightest light. Eastern and western exposures will provide medium light, while northern exposures likely will produce lots of shadows and, therefore, low-light situations.

While there are exceptions, most houseplants require a lot of indirect light, but even your brightest window likely won't cut it during winter, when sun exposure is at its lowest.

If plants don't get enough sunlight, they won't be able to photosynthesize properly, and green leaves can lose their brightness, taking on a grayish hue. New leaves may not grow as large as they should, and the entire plant can become leggy as it tries to reach out for the sun.

Still, most houseplants will not do well basking in strong, direct sunlight, so it's important to strike a balance. East- and west-facing locations are ideal for most, but keep plants a foot or two from the brightest windows or place a sheer curtain over windows to filter the sun.

Most houseplants come from the tropics, where they're exposed to the high levels of humidity they need. That can be hard to duplicate here on Long Island. One telltale sign of low humidity levels is browning leaf tips. You can rectify this by trimming off the brown parts with sharp scissors and providing more moisture to the air. For many plants, this can be as easy as placing the pot into a baking pan that contains about an inch of pebbles and water (but not so much that the pebbles float).

Another way to provide ample moisture is by misting once a day during winter. And if you have a house full of plants, running a humidifier would be a better solution.

Be sure to keep plants away from the flow of air from forced-air heating vents and off radiators, or else you'll face soil and plant-tissue dehydration. Worse, your plants can be "cooked" to death.

Flowering houseplants typically are more sensitive to drafts than foliage plants, but all can suffer from being placed near an open or drafty window or an exterior door that is opened often.

Houseplants should be moved to bigger potsonce a year as they grow larger. This should be done just before they begin their active growing phase in the spring.

Don't be tempted to repot a small plant into a large pot in the hopes you won't have to repeat the task for a few years. Instead, move up to the next-size pot, typically just two inches larger in diameter. Cover the drainage hole with a small rock or fragment from a broken clay pot. This will be sufficient to keep soil in while allowing excess water to drain.

Add as much potting mix as necessary to ensure the plant sits at the same level as it was when growing in its old pot. (Get step-by-step instructions for making your own potting mix at newsday.com/garden.)

Roots likely will be crowded and encircling themselves, indicating the plant has become "pot-bound." Gently separate the roots with your fingers. This will direct them to grow outward into the soil, where they'll soak up water and nutrients. Insert the plant into the pot and fill gaps with more potting mix. Tamp down firmly to eliminate air pockets, and water well.