HOW’S YOUR GARDEN BY L OIS T R IG G C H A P L I N
A Tropical Christmas Tree Norfolk Island pine (Auracaria heterophylla) is a houseplant often sold during the Christmas season because it looks a bit like a Christmas tree – especially when decorated with lights and ornaments. Small trees do well on a table top, and larger ones make good floor specimens that then remain as a nice houseplant after the holidays. Not really a pine, this tree is a tropical relative of the monkey puzzle tree. In New Zealand, where it is native, trees grow to 200 feet tall. No worries, it won’t burst through the roof. Here it makes a nice potted plant that must be protected from freezing weather, but will stand well on a patio in spring, summer and fall. Indoors it needs bright light on a sun porch or south-facing window. If you are looking for something a little different for another room of the house, or even as a gift for a houseplant-loving friend, consider the bright-green-needled, Norfolk Island pine.
too. Seedlings are sometimes seen in produce departments for folks to include in a morning smoothie. Trays of wheat seedlings sown so thickly that they look like sod also provide a munchy for cats and dogs that live exclusively indoors. And for gardeners, it’s also a pretty, tall, wintertime green grass for containers! Planted in fall or late winter, the seedlings grow during mild weather to make a nice pot of green grass through winter and early spring. The green is so fresh and bright that it doesn’t matter if there are no flowers. And the tall, grassy texture is interesting and different for use as a winter annual. So, if you are looking for something different for an empty garden pot, sprinkle some wheat seeds into a pot and see what you get.
SIMPLE TIMES
THE CO-OP PANTRY
Norfolk Island pine makes a good houseplant Christmas tree.
Wheat in a Container? A plant with many faces, wheat isn’t just about the grain. Wheatgrass, the tender young seedling leaves of wheat plants, are regarded as a healthy dietary supplement for their antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties. They contain many vitamins and minerals,
Wheat makes a pretty annual grass for winter and early spring.
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