Category: Peace Lilly

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A Sick Peace Lily

TheGardenLady received this question from Mary.

I have a diseased plant. I believe it’s a peace lily. It was given to my family after my grandmother passed away and once it became diseased my mother wanted to throw it out but I wanted to try to save it; so I brought it to my house in San Diego. Do you have any suggestions on how I can save it? Almost every leaf is dark and wilted, starting from the tip and moving to toward the root. The part that meets with the soil is turning yellow. Can I send a picture?

TheGardenLady knows how meaningful it is to try to keep something that is inherited from a beloved relative. And plants are treasured for those dear memories. So of course, you can send a photo of your plant. A photo can often help more as a diagnostic tool than just a verbal description.

But even better than sending the photo to TheGardenLady, is to take your plant to your local Master Gardener office for them to see the plant and, hopefully, to recommend a way of saving it. This is a free service with people trained in horticulture who work as a group to diagnose this very type of problem. Here is the website of the San Diego Master Gardeners with a telephone number to call and ask a good time to bring your plant in.

Though Peace Lilies, Spathiphyllum, are quite hardy and easy to grow, they do get some diseases like root rot and bacterial soft rot.

Therefore, even without seeing your plant, this Garden Lady would suggest your taking the plant out of the soil it is in and seeing if there is root rot. If there is, cut the rotten root out till you see healthy root- hope it is not too late. Cut back dead leaves but leave any healthy looking leaves or even green segments of leaves. Wash off any remaining soil left on the root and wash the leaves using cool water.  Then re-pot the lily in either a soil-less potting mix or a regular soil-based potting mix that you can buy in any store or make your own soil. It is important that the soil drains well. Directions for soil (here).  Water the soil and give the plant some fertilizer. Never water too much because the Peace Lily plants hate being in soggy ground. Do not give too much fertilizer because these plants prefer getting their nutrition from good soil – directions for this type of fertilizer and watering instructions are also in the article.

If you grow the Peace lily indoors, put the newly re-potted plant in BRIGHT INDIRECT light – that means no sun shining on them.  If you grow the plant outdoors, it likes moist but well-drained hummus-rich soil in shade.

If your Peace lily does have a disease, the Master Gardeners will tell you and will recommend a fungicide.

Good luck. I hope it is not too late to save your grandmother’s plant.

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Is it an Anthurium or a Spathyphylum?

Anthurium – Arum by Stellas mom

TheGardenLady received this question from Ellen:

I have a peace lily that blooms red instead of white and I wondered how rare this is, as I have never seen anything but the white blooming peace lilies?

Could you possibly have an Anthurium plant that has a red spathe or flower bract? A spathe is a modified leaf that looks like a flower The long-lasting, showy flower bracts come in shades of red, rose, pink, white and some other colors with a protruding pale yellow, tail-like flower spadix.  See here.  The name Anthurium comes from antho- + Greek oura a tail.

Mums spathyphylum - Peace lily by frans schmit
Mum's spathyphylum - Peace lily by frans schmit

The white spathe plant that is generally referred to as the Peace Lily is a Spathyphylum.  See here.  The Latin name Spathyphylum comes from the Greek -spathe- meaning bract and phyllon meaning leaf because the flowers are leaf like in shape.

Scientists and herbalists understood the need for systematic, reliable plant and animal identification and classification. This is so everyone is sure to know exactly the kind of plant or animal you are talking about. Over 300 years ago a scientist by the name of Linneaeus created a system of writing the names of plants and animals in Latin. All scientist around the world have pretty much accepted these Latin names because common names can change depending on where you live. For example, there is a darling plant we grow in the garden that has a common name of Snapdragon because if you were to gently squeeze the flower it has what looks like a mouth. If you were to live in Iran, I was told you would not call it a snapdragon but would call it a monkey mouth.The Latin name for snapdragon is Antirrhinum majus. Thus when scientists in the US and scientists in Iran talk about the Antirrhinum, they know exactly the plant they are talking about. The Latin name Antirrhinum comes from the Greek antirrhinon, from anti- like (from anti against, equivalent to) + rhin-, rhis nose and used in Latin.   See here.

Does this mean one should start learning Latin? It might be fun. And it is a fun challenge to learn the proper name for each plant you have. Go on- impress your friends. Let them know if you have an Anthurium or a Spathyphylum.

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The Filtering Power of the Peace Lily

Distant Peace by chefranden

TheGardenLady received this comment from Rikesh.

I just love Peace Lilly. They have really amazing power of filtering the air.

Rikesh’s comment about the Peace Lilly – Spathiphyllum is correct.

Recently Natural News had an article entitled “Clean Your Air and Brighten Your Day with Houseplants” which not only gives a list of good low light requiring plants for your home or dorm room, but also tells about the research
that NASA and other groups have done to show plants ability to remove some common pollutants from the air. And the research has shown that there are ” other benefits from having indoor plants, such as fighting fatigue and colds.