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Long-Lasting Potted Plant to Begin our Marriage

emilys13
9 years ago

My fiancé and I decided we wanted to honor our parents and grandparents during our wedding ceremony by planting a plant together, symbolizing the collective nurturing and support they have provided for us (they are providing some soil brought from their homes). We love the idea and the symbolism, and although my fiancé and I are both lovers of nature, we are not plant experts or green thumbs. In fact, I have a poor track record with house plants. Eek! Can anyone suggest a hearty plant, that is relatively easy to care for and also long-lasting (we want it to last throughout the years!)? Or are we being too optimistic? We live in Phoenix, AZ - It could be indoor or outdoor. Thoughts? Many thanks!!!

Comments (5)

  • oxboy555
    9 years ago

    Wow. No pressure. When you say 'outdoor' does that mean in ground or does it have to be in a container?

    If the former, how about a small shade or patio tree? Something evergreen, hardy and amazing blooms. My choice:

    Texas Mountain Laurel

    Just throw it in the ground wherever you want (can get 10 or 15 ft tall), water it once a week deeply in summer and once a month in winter. It's a slow grower initially so be patient (more marriage symbolism).

    Aaaannnd...because no marriage is perfect, you may have to pick off some little caterpillars each spring that munch on new leaves. But it's a small price to pay once you smell the grape bubblegum flowers.

    If you want something smaller that is portable and can be used in a bright indoor room or outside shade/porch, find a nice colorful aloe plant. Care is pretty easy as long as the soil is fast draining. No afternoon sun.

    You may also want to go post in the Arizona Gardening forum.

  • aurorawa
    9 years ago

    Hoyas. Especially carnosa and pubicalyx (for easy care). Love to be rootbound, thrive on neglect, water infrequently, can be moved outside in the summer (indirect sunlight only), blooms smell excellent on some, and HERE IS THE BEST PART: if it looks like it is dying, you simply take a cutting and start fresh! You can go to the hoya forum to find out more about these lovelies.

    My hoya carnosa compacta:

    Here is a link that might be useful: gardenweb hoya forum

  • aurorawa
    9 years ago

    sorry duplicate

    This post was edited by AuroraWA on Fri, Aug 29, 14 at 11:07

  • rebuilder
    9 years ago

    Congratulations on your upcoming marriage!

    You said: "they are providing some soil brought from their homes"

    Be very careful if you are choosing a container plant when using soil from the ground. I would only use token amounts of soil mixed with a good well aerated potting mix such as the 5-1-1 or even better the gritty mix found here on this forum. If you are new to container gardening then I would definitely choose a plant with a high survival rate when mistreated. One of the first plants we got in our marriage(25 yrs) was a golden pothos. I now have about 25 plants that I've cloned from that one plant. I'm a newb to container gardening so that means it had about 22 years of really bad neglect....under watering, over watering, no fertilizer for years, poor lighting, extremely bad potting mixes.....yet it survived somehow! My second choice for a flowering survivor is a dragon wings begonia that could be pruned and brought in for the winter. Full of blooms all spring, summer and fall and some in winter if it can get enough light. It could be divided occasionally and cuttings are easily rooted

  • emilys13
    Original Author
    9 years ago

    Thanks Everyone for the advice!! My fiancé and I went to the nursery today to look at the advised plants in person. We decided on the peace lily (another suggestion from another thread) and took one home. We are excited! Thanks for all the suggestions-- we have decided we need many more plants in our house.

    We are only putting a couple tbls. of soil in from our loved ones... it'll be mostly potting soil.