A Plant called Spider (Spider Plant)

Member Name: SueMagee

Product:	Spider Plant
Date:	09/09/01 (521 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Robust plant for indoor and out, will stand some neglect, easily propogated

Disadvantages: Not frost hardy, flowers are unexceptional

Eighteen years ago my husband's Aunt died. She was a dear lady and her plants were her pride and joy. As we cleared her house I packed as many as I could into the car and brought them home with us. Spider, as he became known, went into the conservatory. Well, it's not exactly a conservatory, more a sort of lean-too veranda, but "conservatory" has a rather more elegant ring to it, don't you think?

Well, Spider came in for some healthy neglect pretty well straight away when I spent much of the following months in hospital and it was spring before he got more than the occasional sip of water. He's a survivor, though and he came through it all.

Spider plants, or Chlorophytum, to give them their correct name have been grown indoors for over two hundred years. There's a good reason for this - they're not a fussy plant and they have a reputation for being air-cleaners, although their speciality is formaldehyde rather than tobacco smoke! They like to live in a well-lit place but not in direct sunlight. So far as temperature is concerned they're not frost hardy. I've found that a touch of frost will brown the leaves but the plant will come through once it's had a hair cut.

Spider was fortunate that his previous owner died in September. He'd had a summer of being well-watered and otherwise pampered and then he came to us for a winter of sparse watering and general neglect. I repotted him in the spring, as the growth of the roots had started to push him up out of his pot, and began to pamper him again. This is an ideal routine for him. Add only a little misting with water if the air is particularly dry and he achieves plant heaven.

In the summer he threw out cascading wiry stems in addition to his green and cream arching leaves. First there were tiny white flowers (rather unprepossessing, but I wasn't going to complain!) followed by tiny plantlets. You can propagate the pl
ant by pegging these plantlets down and severing the wiry stem once the roots are established. This doesn't take long at all - generally a few weeks in the summer and the new plant will start growing away. At this stage they can be severed from the parent.

Spider rapidly became the proud patriarch of a brood of young Spiders and it looked as though we were aiming for world domination. Visitors (including, on one memorable occasion, a meter reader) went away clutching a plant pot and reciting a set of instructions. We got postcards telling us how they and their offspring were doing.

Soon the house became too small to accommodate the growing Spider clan and we had to decide whether to move house or let Spider spread himself into the garden. He settled first in the hanging baskets, taking particular delight in sprouting through the bottom of wire baskets and trailing, on occasions, nearly to the ground. He looked wonderful with trailing Lobelia and Petunias and more than content with Busy Lizzies, but his supreme moment was when he met scarlet geraniums.

Tubs were his next conquest and his favourite spot was the edge of the balcony so that the young Spiders could trail over the edge and play in the wind. Our first fatalities came when the young Spiders reached ground level and attempted to colonise the flower beds. The resistance of the native Slug Thugs proved too much and they were finished by the aphid attacks on the weakened plants. Further generations have been sternly prevented from straying into that foreign land.

First Aid for the sturdy plants is rarely necessary, provided that they are given a weak feed with every watering. If this is forgotten the brown tips to the leaves soon remind me of my failings. Amputation of the leaves and a stern smack on my wrist soon corrects this. A cooler temperature (although not near to freezing) but with sufficient light is needed in winter or the leaves become limp and yell
ow. Don't be tempted to over-water in winter when the plant is not growing or the leaves will develop brown streaks.

If the leaves become curled and there is yellowing and leaf fall this is an indication that the root ball has dried out. A good soaking, but not to the extent where Spider starts asking for swimming lessons, will correct this.

Because Spider is so easily propogated you will almost inevitably be offered one by a friend at some point. Failing that I find that there are any number of them for sale at village fetes, usually for less than a pound. At a garden centre you shouldn't expect to pay more than £3 or £4 for a mature specimen.

As I look out into the garden I can see between thirty and forty of the Spider Clan, all looking glorious in the summer sun. Old Spider himself, huge now, sits in his own tub near the geraniums. Auntie Helen would have been so proud.

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