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Gardening Guy Kills Plant!

Ivy Killed by under watering

Okay, this is a warning to all you folks who have houseplants: spring is here. That means that your plants are speeding up Gardening Guy Kills Plant!their growth, particularly of roots. The sun is stronger, too, which means that your plants are losing water faster than earlier in the winter. And there are more hours of sunshine. This all adds up to a need for more water.

Rosemary is one plant that is very susceptible to drying out at this time of year. If you have been watering once a week, you’d better water twice a week. Sarah Milek of Cider Hill Gardens in Windsor, VT (www.ciderhillvt.com) tells gardeners in her wonderful herb workshops that ”A totally dry rosemary is a dead rosemary.” I tend to grow rosemary indoors in plastic pots even though they are not as nice looking to my eye as the old fashioned unglazed terra cotta pots. I do that as the clay pots dry out, wicking water away from your roots.

All of this is just to admit that it appears that I recently killed a nice ivy plant that I’ve had for several years. It is in a clay pot in a west-facing window that gets hot sun. I’ve been busy, and forgot to water it enough. It appears to be dried up and dead. And although I continue to water it, thinking perhaps the roots are still alive, no amount of water will resuscitate a dead plant! Still, I will cut back the foliage and keep an eye on it, hoping for signs of life. Don’t make my mistake!