Home Plants Made Easy

Home Plants Made Easy!
There are a wide variety of ‘Easy Care’ plants avalable to you to liven up
small gardens, balconies and patios all year round.
By Pat Fitzgerald, MyPlant.ie
In today’s topsy-turvy world the one place we can have some refuge and surround ourselves with
beautiful things of our choosing is our home and garden. Whether you have a small garden a balcony
garden, a large garden or something in between, the plants you choose to surround your home with are
an important part of the ambience you create. One of the basic considerations for developing new
plants has been what garden and living spaces are going to be like in the future and how much energy
do we need to grow these plants for you.
A number of years ago I developed a presentation called ‘New Plants New Spaces’ for a nursery
conference and since then I presented this paper on a few occasions. This concept has become part
our philosophy for testing different plants from microclimates around the world to use in applications
which in some ways mimic the plants natural environment.
If we look at the modern garden plant container or patio border as possibly more like a crevice in a
high altitude rock face in Chile, a shaded woodland a dry hill slope in Japan or a sandy free draining
seaside dune in New Zealand we can begin to get more of an idea what type plants we need and how
adaptable they can be for urban living spaces. Together with this idea of what we need in this changed
environment we combine the skills of plant breeders. These breeders with a lot of help from nature
come up with numerous attractive varieties which give us longer lasting and more easily maintained
plants for the small garden or balcony container and our long term enjoyment. Today we have a much
wider choice of plants for these close to house spaces than ever before we now bring many of these
exciting plants from our own breeding and our international breeder colleagues for everyone to enjoy
and decorate the new ‘outdoor room’.
If you live in Northern Europe the thought of anywhere being sun baked and dry may seem ludicrous
this past summer but try sitting against a white or light coloured wall on a sheltered balcony or patio
even on a normal summer day for hour after hour without protection then maybe you can sense the
drying heat your plants must tolerate. If you try the same test in winter then a sense of how strong a
plant must be can be appreciated. In such situations and especially without optimum care the choice
of plant is crucial so that you get the best value for your money.
In selecting plants for the MyPlant range we want to explore all possibilities and boundaries to
conventional patio and balcony gardening and take the complication out of gardening to leave more
time for the enjoyment which is ultimately what the garden, balcony or patio is for.
You don’t need to own a garden to enjoy a plant and you don’t have to be an
expert to enjoy MyPlant™.
Scarlett Pineapple.
For the small balcony or patio space we have plants such as the hardy
Bromelia Fascicularia bicolor from mountainous cliff faces of Chile which can resist the most
difficult of conditions including drought, cold and exposure to wind. Commonly known as Scarlett
Pineapple this plant looks fantastic all year round in a container
and then once mature in September will give you a wonderful
treat with its bright red foliage bract and metallic blue flower.
Better again Scarlett Pineapple is extremely drought tolerant so
requires little care once potted correctly in Shamrock MyPlant
container compost mixed 2 parts Shamrock to 1 part MyPlant
vermiculite. Scarlett PineApple has been grown by
knowledgeable plants people since the late 80’s in UK and now
can adorn even the most novice gardeners patio, balcony or
garden a touch of exotica from South America yet thoroughly adaptable to your garden or outdoor
living space a must for your collection and it will stay with you for years with little care. See
www.myplant.ie for more information.
Libertia Goldfinger is an introduction of the native NewZealand Libertia ixioides. This tough
drought and wind tolerant plant is unbelieveable versatile and provides striking evergreen foliage
colour right through winter when it turns from its bright golden hues to more deeper old gold colour.
Goldfinger is an ideal plant for landscape, small
garden and patio contaiers. Like its fellow native
New Zealander Phormium, Libertia is an even
tougher and more versatile groundcover and
conatiner plant. At MyPlant we are proud to have
introduced this variety into Europe from its New
Zealand breeder and we are sure in time this plant
will become a favourite of both professional and
amateur gardeners alike. The real bonus with
Goldfinger is its versatility and easy care attributes
when used in patio and balcony conatiners. See
www.myplant.ie and watch out for more of our
Libertia introductions we are not finished with this
wonderful range of plants yet, we have more shapes and colours to come!
New Zealand Cabbage Tree. Cordyline Red Comet is
a new Cabbage Tree similar in colour to the well known Red
Star. Red Comet was discovered by the MyPlant team here in Ireland and selected for its superior
tolerance to adverse weather conditions and tolerate Irish conditions far better than the standard
variety Red Star. Red Comet has been through a four year testing process and proved to be the most
stable and wind resistant Cordyline tested out of 9 other varieties tested. The MyPlant team
recommends Red Comet for large patio containers, landscaping and garden use. The name Red Comet
was given to the plant due to its more Smokey than bright red colour, this plant is a sister variety to
the new and outstanding pink Cordyline Charlie Boy being launched in 2009 by Myplant. Cordyline
has been our passion in the nursery for many years and watch this space for a number of new
Cordyline varieties selected from pure Cordyline australis seedlings rather than hybridized crosses.
We are happy to recommend Red Comet for those large containers in open spaces or for planting into
the garden or street containers to give excellent effect all year round. See www.myplant.ie and watch
out for the brother of Cordyline Red Comet , Cordyline ‘Charlie Boy’ which will be appearing in all
good garden centres from June 2009.
New Zealand Flax. Phormium cookianum Black
Adder is another selection from the MyPlant team. Black
Adder was discovered here in Ireland and selected from
Phormium Platts Black. This new Phormium won the best
plant award in Balcony and Patio category at Europe’s
biggest professional horticulture show IPM Essen in
Germany. Black adder has wide deep purple almost black
foliage and is suitable for landscaping, small gardens, patio
and balcony containers. This new Phormium will give
value all year round and a single container plant or
plancted in large containers in combination with summer
flowering plants such as white flowering Osteospernum or
winter flowering pansy. Alternatively Black Adder looks fantastic with other foliage plant
combinations such as Carex Evergold in winter planter combinations.
www.myplant.ie