Cypress Vine - Easy Climbers

The Cypress Vine or Ipomoea quamoclit,  is yet another plant that can give a lot of confidence to those like me who are new to apartment gardening. This is one of the first plants that I planted about 6 weeks ago. I am fascinated to see that it is growing beautifully and with tremendous speed. This is definitely one of the fastest growing annuals. I was fortunate in the fact that there had been steady rains for the past 4 weeks. Not really sure if that and the humidity helped this plant to grow to such lengths. Now I see plenty of buds and can hardly wait for them all to flower. 

Saplings or Seeds?

While I have heard that these vines grow easily from seeds too, I have yet to experiment on that. I am going to let my flowers seed and try that. But they can sure grow easily from saplings. You can get these saplings in any nursery. I got just one sapling and planted it along with a tropical oregano plant – mine is the variegated variety. Since I am balcony gardening, I choose horizontal plant containers (you can see that in the image) and plant three or four varieties of plants in the same container. I usually choose a bushy plant (the tropical oregano), a climber (the cypress vine) and a hanging plant.

This is mainly to make maximum use of the available space and give the apartment garden a fuller look.

Potting Soil and Fertilizer for the Cypress Vine

The Cypress Vine grows easily in any good soil. I used a mixture of compost, coco peat and clay soil as the potting mix. After two weeks, I added NPK fertilizer -1 table spoon in 1 liter of water. I water them only when the soil gets dry. I didn’t have to do a lot of watering since there had been rains. 

Where to Plant the Cypress Vine

Since these are easy climbers, I suggest you use a corner of your balcony to ensure that you help the plant trail along the corners. Since they have the tendency to cling on to any support to creep, it is sensible to plant them in such a way that they don’t attach themselves to your other plants. If you don’t have railing in your balcony like I have, you can actually use twines or threads to guide their growth. 

This is a blog by Farhan that shows the Cypress Vine actually growing up to 20 feet in height. http://farhansgarden.blog.com/2012/08/20/cypress-vine/

These plants are planted in the ground. But you can do something similar to your potted Cypress Vines too. Happy planting!

What You Need to Get Started

Space: Once you have decided to have a balcony garden, you can do so in as little a space as possible. Try and make maximum use of all the available space. At the same time bear in mind the fact that you should be able to maneuver between you containers to give each plant their due attention. You can use the vertical space for hanging pots for spillers and hanging plants. You can use the walls of the balcony too to nail in containers that are specifically created for it. You can construct ladder like railings in your balcony to place more containers. For tough climbers, you can also build support structures with bamboo sticks. 

What is important to note here is that you should make allowance for drainage. You don’t want your plants water logged. This means container gardening involves quite a bit of water spillage. While, almost all commercially available containers do come with plates that hold drainage, you should be prepared for the floor getting wet. Allow space to mop away the water. Also make sure that you don’t displace the pots too often. 

Sunlight: While it is impossible for a balcony garden or an apartment garden to get a whole day of sunlight, you are sure to get at least 5 to 6 hour of it every day and sometimes even more. There are some plants, especially ornamental plants with foliage that require good sunlight – Pothos, Agave, Cypress Vine are some of them. There are some other plants like Coleus and Asters that are quite happy with dappled sunlight or shade. Position your containers to meet the requirements of each plant. 

Containers: Plan your balcony garden and the plot placements before you decide to buy the pots. The four most important things to bear in mind while you make your container purchases are:

1. The containers should be such that it is large enough to support plants when they have reached their optimum growth level.
2. They should have good drainage facilities like pores and holes.
3. They should be able to hold the soil mix without spilling
4. The material of the container should be hardy enough to hold the soil, the grown plant with all its roots and foliage.  
   

Large Containers:

You will need larger pots for plants that thrive well for years. The best examples of these plants are foliage plants like Vines and Climbers and other large foliage plants like Umbrella Palms. If you planning to plant bulbs of Gladioli or Dahlia, it is wise to use large containers with enough depth. Planting up to 5 bulbs in each of these containers placed no less than 6 inches apart will give them enough space to grow and bloom very well.

Medium Sized Containers: 

You would need these for small foliage plants like Golden Sage, Ferns, Fox Tails and Hostas. Such containers are also ideally suited for growing flowering plants like Petunia, Asters, Zinnia, Marigold and Phlox. Once the flowers area in full bloom, you can use these potted plants for indoor decor too.

Small Containers: Plants like Ghost Plant, Jade Plant and succulent plants like Cacti that don’t have a bushy growth can be grown in small containers. 

Hanging Basket Containers: They too come in a variety of sizes and shapes. Such containers can be used for hanging and spilling plants like Portulacas, Table Roses, Spider Ivy and many hanging Ferns.

 

Potting Media: A good potting media consists of a mixture of compost, soil or sand and, moss peat or coco peat. For all plants to grow and thrive happily, it is absolutely necessary for them to get the right nutrition and this is why you should pay a good deal of attention to getting the potting media right and mixing them in the right proportion. 

Fertilizers: The all-purpose fertilizers that are sold in markets or plant nurseries have the 10-10-10 combination of NPK (Nitrogen, Phosphorous and Potassium). Nitrogen helps in the growth of stem and leaves and Phosphorus aids in the development of a healthy and strong root system. Potassium helps the plant withstand adverse weather conditions and helps the plants in resisting diseases. 

The Polka Dot Plant

The Polka Dot plant is yet another lovely ornamental plant that can easily be grown in pots and hence very well suited for apartments. When I first saw this sapling in the nursery, I actually thought it was a coleus variety. But the leaves are much smaller than the coleus and it actually belongs to the Acanthaceae Family. They are available in many nurseries. Although I bought it from the Army Nursery, I saw many roadside nurseries selling them. In Hyderabad, this is the right time to get hold of them. The weather till next March is going to be beautiful and they will certainly flourish.

Polka Dot Plants - Hypoestes phyllostachya

These plants are very easy to grow. The scientific name of the plant is Hypoestes phyllostachya. The don't need much of sunlight. I give the plant about three to four hours of bright sunlight and they they get dappled shade. What I love about this plant is the lovely vibrant color of the foliage that makes it standout so well against other plants with green foliage. It certainly enhances your indoor decor. I mean you have a party or invite guests home, you can show this plant off in your living room strategically placed to invite lots of "oohs" and "aahs" :).

Planting Polka Dot Saplings

I potted these with the usual combo of vermicompost, soil, coco peat and added a large table spoon of NPK fertilizer in a medium sized pot. I have managed to get two varieties of these plants. One with pink 'polka dots' and one with white. There are a few more varieties of these and I am trying to get hold of it.

Care For the Plant

The plant does not take too long to shoot up new leaves (just 1 week for me). I had to just ensure that the soil is well drained. The plant also loves humidity. Since there have been a lot of rains in Hyderabad, I had to keep it away from direct rains and ensure that it got just the right amount of water. The plant above is just a month old and growing beautifully.

 

Green thumb and me?

Nothing could perhaps give one more pleasure than creating life. And when you are 50 years of age and think you have done all that you can when it comes to procreating and taking care of your progeny, perhaps life could come to a standstill? That's what happened with me! The only thing I used to look forward to is the arrival of my son or daughter for a visit. That could be a sparse two months spread across a year! Freelancing to create content or virtual assistance to remote people from Australia to USA was not fun any more. The money was welcome of course but then the work became monotonous.

I NEEDED A CHANGE!

That's when I thought I could perhaps experiment with some gardening. Living in an apartment that too on the 5th floor in Hyderabad is not really conducive to having pets - and by pets I mean only a Labrador. I did have a fantasy life for a few months with Tito (the lab of my imagination - he is very handsome too - full of grins and smiles - (you wouldn't think a lab would grin would you? - but this guy does) and the right amount of mischief, follows me around wherever I go, plonks his heavy body right under my foot when I am working and stuff like that you know - Sigh! - Well how long could the Tito of my imagination keep me company?! So my next option......

Well you may wonder as to how living in apartment that too on the 5th floor in Hyderabad, like I have said earlier, could be conducive to gardening? Surprise! IT IS! Very much so. So here begins my journey or to be exact - it began on the 19th of June 2013. I got up at 5.30 am and decided I want to create a beautiful garden in my balconies (I have two you know).

These are the pictures of the plants that I have started with.

I honestly wish I had taken a BEFORE picture of my balconies - since I have not, you should see the pics above with nothing but rusty iron grills and lots of pigeon droppings. The idea of this blog is to not only keep me on the go, but also, to tell those who love greenery and whose mouths water when they look at amazing garden pics either on the net or in others' bungalows, terraces and even apartments, that they too can create magic. Believe me it is more than satisfying - I mean you are actually creating life all over again!
http://gardensinapartments.blogspot.in/

I have to mention that two lovely people in my life - my sister-in-law Chitra Shanker and Sudha Balasubramanyam, my cousin, have given me so much of moral support in my venture that I feel I have to live up to their expectations.

So here's hoping I carry through with this blog to show the progress I will be making. I have decided to add various sections to this blog - read on if you think it could help you.

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