Released Dec. 13, 2007
MANHATTAN, Kan. - Few houseplants like temperatures below 50 F. A half-dozen popular ones will develop potentially life-threatening problems at temperatures of less than 60 to 65 degrees.
"That´s one reason houseplants can unexpectedly start to look sickly during winter. They may get drafts from a nearby entry door, or they may live next to windows that leak or radiate cold- especially at night," said Ward Upham, Master Gardener head for Kansas State University Research and Extension.
He recommends that owners monitor and maintain houseplants´ needed temperatures. This may require moving plants elsewhere or just pulling shades or drapes to separate them from windows at night.
Upham cautioned that plants requiring temperatures above 60 degrees include the following:
- False aralia (Schefflera, formerly Dizygotheca) - tree-shaped tropical often planted in "groves," producing foliage in groups of seven to 10 jagged, slender leaflets, arranged like fingers. Leaves are coppery unfolding and then dark gray-green. Plant looks a bit like a marijuana and needs 65 F or warmer.
- Chinese evergreen (Algaonema) - popular, clumping houseplant with thick green stems and pointed, shiny foliage that mixes dark or light green with silver-gray. Leaves are 3-5 inches by 10-14.
- Flamingo flower (Anthurium) - prized for its showy, heart-shaped "flower" (often red), which actually is a waxy modified leaf, growing horizontally around the base of a fleshy, upright, yellowish spike or spadix where the real flowers grow. Leaves are a dark, shiny green, shaped like oblong hearts.
- Croton (Codiaeum) - known for its brilliant, leathery foliage in reds, yellows, oranges and/or greens - often with color variations in veins, margins and/or blotches. Leaf shapes are equally varied.
- Balfour and Ming aralia (Polyscias) - look like upright, rather columnar Oriental trees with twisted stems and attractive foliage.
Balfour has round (1.5- to 3-inch "dinner-plate") leaves that are deeply veined, making them look a bit ruffly, plus are often edged in cream-white. Ming is a graceful, yet more bushy plant, due to its lacy, delicate, light-green leaves, growing on zig-zag stems.
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http://www.oznet.ksu.edu/news/
Contact: Mary Lou Peter-Blecha, mlpeter@ksu.edu
