Moss & Timber
St. George plant shop offering houseplants, cacti, succulents and gifts for very dry indoor conditions.
Moss & Timber is a St. George plant shop stocking houseplants, cacti, succulents and gifts. Indoor plants face a peculiar difficulty in this valley: the inside of a house here is drier than the inside of a house almost anywhere else in the country, and most popular houseplants come from rainforests.
Context
Relative humidity outdoors in southern Utah frequently sits in single digits, and conditioning the air does not help - air conditioning removes moisture as it cools, and winter heating lowers relative humidity further by warming already dry air. Indoor readings below twenty percent are ordinary. The tropical understory species that dominate the houseplant trade - calathea, maranta, most ferns, many aroids - evolved in air that rarely drops below sixty percent, and the visible result is browning leaf tips and edges, crisping on new growth and unopened fronds.
Several things genuinely help. Grouping plants together raises the humidity in their immediate vicinity through their own transpiration. A pebble tray with water beneath the pot does the same on a small scale, though it works only close to the plant. A room humidifier is the effective answer for a serious collection. Adjusting the watering rhythm matters too, because dry air pulls moisture through a plant faster and pots dry more quickly than any general instruction assumes. The alternative is to choose for the conditions rather than fight them: succulents, cacti, snake plants, ZZ plants, hoyas and euphorbias are adapted to exactly this air and thrive where a calathea suffers.
Related on the site: the Tonaquint Nature Center and gift and souvenir shops. Browse all Garden Centers & Nurseries in the directory.
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Contact
- Website: https://www.mossandtimber.co/
Frequently asked questions
Why do my houseplant leaves get brown, crispy tips?
Usually humidity rather than watering. Indoor relative humidity in this valley often sits below twenty percent, and it drops further with air conditioning in summer and heating in winter. Tropical understory species evolved in air that rarely falls below sixty percent, and the mismatch shows first at leaf tips and edges.
How can I raise humidity for indoor plants?
Group plants together so their own transpiration raises the humidity around them, use a pebble tray with water below the pot for a localized effect, or run a room humidifier, which is the only method that reliably changes conditions for a whole collection. Misting has a very brief effect and does not substitute for the others.
Which houseplants suit a very dry house?
Plants adapted to arid conditions: succulents and cacti, snake plants, ZZ plants, hoyas, euphorbias and many aloes. They tolerate low humidity and infrequent watering as a matter of design, and they will look better in these conditions than a fussed-over tropical will.
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