Now that everything’s pretty much dead outside, are you noticing your houseplants a little more? I sure am. I noticed that several of them were dead! But they were just pileas (Pilea peperomioides, sometimes called a pancake plant), and I have so many of those that I didn’t feel too sad about putting them in the compost bin. My question to YOU is, are pileas becoming like the Amish friendship bread of years ago? I was so excited to divide that first pilea that I got from a friend several years ago, and now I can’t even give those things away.

Many of you must be thinking about houseplants right now, too, because the hort society has been getting some calls about them. Let’s start with two that are related:

Q: What should you do with a houseplant that is still in relatively good health but you just don’t have room or energy for it anymore? Are there houseplant swaps in the Twin Cities?

A: There are quite a few houseplant swap events in the Twin Cities each year, but most of them take place in the spring and summer, often at farmer’s markets, breweries, or as part of a bigger plant sale. What is the best way to find out about them? One way is to join a local gardening or houseplant group on the social media platform of your choice-there are many.

Another resource for giving away unwanted plants is Buy Nothing groups on Facebook. Search “buy nothing group” in the Facebook search bar to see if there’s one in your area; there are many around the Twin Cities. These groups function as an online, ongoing free garage sale and there are always interesting items up for grabs, including houseplants.

There are other groups with names like “free stuff” or even free listings on Facebook Marketplace. It doesn’t hurt to harness the incredible reach of the internet, especially during these winter months when in-person plant swaps are not happening.

Other plant swap resources

If you’re not on social media, why not try a local bulletin board? I see all kinds of interesting things on the local bulletin boards at my south Minneapolis coffee shops and grocery stores.

I also found PlantSwap.org, which has listings all over the world. I saw some intriguing ones right here in the Twin Cities by using the Map view (Listings > Map view) and zooming in. Orange pins on the map are people seeking plants, green pins are people looking to rehome plants. You must register a free account in order to post either type of listing-this functionality was not working when I tried it in late November 2022 but it is likely worth trying again.

General winter houseplant care

Pot-bound houseplants that dry out quickly are good candidates for repotting during the winter months. Just remember that with the cooler temps and shorter daylight, ease up on the water, especially for a newly-repotted plant. More houseplants die from overwatering than underwatering, especially succulents! I killed more succulents than I’d like to admit, until I started holding myself to a strict once-a-month watering schedule for them. Switching from tap water to purified water also made a big difference for my houseplants.

If you are finding that you have bugs on your houseplants in the winter, try using Google to determine what the bug is: type in a description of it and include what type of plant it’s on. That way you can use any university extension website or other reliable information source to find information specific to that type of bug and how to best get rid of it.

Just remember, most houseplants slow down considerably during the winter, and they may even lose some leaves. Hold back on fertilizer and just keep them alive for now. Many houseplants will have a growth spurt in February when the days start getting noticeably longer.

More resources for houseplants:

• Tips for repotting houseplants
• Give your houseplants a fresh start

Do you have houseplant questions? Ask them in the comments below! We’ll check in and answer as many questions as we can for the rest of this week. If we don’t get to yours, you can Ask a Master Gardener via our online form, or call the Yard and Garden Line at (612) 301-7590.

Other helpful resources:

• Yard & Garden Home
• What’s wrong with my plant?
• What insect is this?
• The Master Gardener Volunteer Program

Jennifer Rensenbrink is a University of Minnesota Extension Master Gardener Volunteer for Hennepin County. She somehow has two mini-prairies on her tiny south Minneapolis property.

@jenniferrensenbrink