Not Another Jungle: Comprehensive Care for Extraordinary Houseplants

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Jane: So this is a converted barn. So you've got these lovely big beams to hang things from, which you've taken full advantage of. I'm glad to see that you've got some Rhipsalis, or is that the Lapismium, over there? I can't see. There's too many plants for me! Tell me about some of the things in here. Obviously, you've got the classic Swiss Cheese Plant. Tony: Yes. There was a waiting list when I first got it. The first batch that went out were ten that went out all over the world and this is the second batch of them. Tony: It's turned into a competition now! Yes, this is desperate. I mean, feel how light that pot is. It's nothing. Products mentioned: LED lights, Sandwich bags, sphagnum moss and rooting hormone. Dale Foot wool-based seed peat-free compost. Not Another Jungle specialist Houseplant Super Food. Empathy RootGrow.

Tony: The biggest problem is over watering, right? But it's sort of not. It's that the plant's not getting enough light. If you had a plant in the right amount of light, it's very difficult to overwater it. Jane: I think that is the best tip ever. I think people spend so much money. I'm all up for artisanal pot makers and supporting those people, but I'm also up for having my plants in pots because I can't afford to have everything in an artisanal pot. So if I can get a waste paper bin, great! Jane: That is a really nice grouping, actually. Dieffenbachia, I've kind of fallen out of love with in that they're so much less happy in my house than Aglaonema, but they are beautiful and, especially now, all the new cultivars coming out, there are some amazing, really, really pretty patterns. This isn't any ordinary houseplant book. In fact, there is nothing ordinary about these extraordinary plants. From growing his own collection, Tony Le-Britton of Not Another Jungle, shows you how to grow and care for the world's most sought after plants.

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The myth is that people think when you put it into water, the plant is absorbing the water it wants and the roots are basically taking up the water. That’s not the case. The soil is absorbing all the water. And then from there, the roots sometimes take up water from the substrate. Tony: Xanadu Gold, that's right. There's just an endless... but at the moment, it's Thaumatophyllum. I just love the new leaves. More than most houseplant books, Not Another Jungle goes into the science behind growing, explaining photosynthesis, pollination, and thigmomorphogenesis – where plants react to movement. Jane: That doesn't look anything like it. It's got a really elongated, spear-shaped leaf and, well, that's starting to fenestrate presumably. What's that going to do? Is that going to continue?

Jane: This is where Aroid taxonomy is mind-blowing, isn't it? I always laugh when you see people selling something like Philodendron brasil and, obviously, that's a hederaceum cultivar and then there's all these kind of variations on the theme and it's just hederaceum being this weird thing of doing lots of different stuff. Need a podcast that sates your desire for house plant information, relaxing chat and general leafiness. You're in just the right place. This is on the ledge podcast, and I am your host Jane Perrone. And in this week's show, I visit Tony Le-Britton to find out about his new book, Not another Jungle.Tony: People ask me the names of these, but in every garden centre, depending on which grower it's come from, they have different names.

Jane: I think that'll be amazing! We're experiencing the warm fug we were talking about earlier! It's so nice. This is kind of set into - I don't know what this was originally - a niche in the side of your house?Meanwhile, ‘plant profiles’ put the spotlight on some of the more unusual plants in Tony’s collection, including Monstera obliqua‘Peruvian Form’, which is smaller than the more commonly grown members of the monstera family. Since then, he’s moved to a house with a garden and opened the Not Another Jungle shop. Yet, despite now being able to grow veg and flowers, it’s the houseplants that hold his heart. Jane: You can walk through here but it is quite crowded, Tony. Is it going to get more crowded? Are there more things on the horizon? Tony: So that is Monstera adansonii variegata, but this is the Aurea, so the yellow form. So it starts green and then the variegation emerges as it matures. Tony: It needs a repot. It's been in that pot since I got it, when it was a lot smaller. It's only recently, this year, it's started putting out some new growth.