Some perks of having houseplants...

You get to come home and - if they're happy - they'll make a bad day better.

Buster the Pilea is on the left, Mimi the Abutilon is on the right. Both were bought on the same day and they both enjoy hanging in my west-facing windows. Mimi is going through her second round of blooms.

I haven't named this Anacampseros Telephiastrum Variegata yet, oddly enough. However, she has grown a bit in the ~month she has been here. She sits with the other Overachievers.

See why she (haven't named her yet) wins the gold star?

Diva the Kalanchoe Calandiva has been blooming proudly since September. She is setting new buds and new sets of red-trimmed foliage.

The Overachievers, said like 'The Avengers'. Even my cuttings top left and second from the right are overachieving.

I call this my "desert". I know the Hypoestes Phyllostachya is the odd girl out. Poor Chaka.

Julia the Senecio is enjoying the afternoon sun. I just had to have her almost a month ago. Gave her a trim that she is quickly growing out of. (I went back to Lowe's a week or so later and the other two they had were DEAD. So sad.)

Yep, I was a happy girl. That's not even the half of it.

Hoya on the brain.

I found the Hoya section on GardenWeb.

This is trouble. Everyone is so nice and 'buy yourself another Hoya!' I even found a site where I can buy rooted Hoyas, which makes me feel good since I'm just simply average at rooting cuttings.

My Krimson Queen, Miss Hoya, hasn't bloomed and from the way everyone speaks of them...it won't happen for years. Maybe when she goes from Miss Hoya to Mrs. Hoya will she bloom for me.

Back to gawking at Hoyas. This is bad.

I'm on a roll. (This one is non plant related.)

From Plowing Through Life:

11 Questions For You:

1) Do you keep different foods separate on your plate, or do you not care if they touch/overlap? (This question was inspired by WebDebris, author of Remembering The 70s.)


Nope. I'm the queen of mixing everything together.

2) Do you take the shampoos and conditioner bottles from hotels?
Depends on how it smells.

3) If you were offered one million dollars, would you pose nude for a magazine?
Nope. I'm no prude, but an ex Victoria's Secret model put it this way, in more words: "I'm not going to do this anymore because I'm married, and my body is for my husband." That's it.

4) What skills do you possess that would help you survive a zombie apocalypse?
I'm wicked with handheld weapons, and I have a mean roundhouse kick. I can also run for miles when I need to. I'm good at sneaking.

5) If you could have only 3 electrical appliances in your house, what would they be?
My laptop, fridge, and TV.

6) If you could travel to one destination for free, where would you go?
Hong Kong, where my family is from, or Italy. I would LOVE to have my honeymoon there. It would also help me work on my rusty Italian that I studied for 6+ years. Mio dio.

7) If you could change one physical feature, what would it be?
I wish I had longer legs. I've been blessed with strong legs, but they're short! I always have to mess with the hems on my pants. I have a 28" inseam.

8) If you had the chance to go back in time for 24 hours, which day in your past would you revisit?
That's a hard one. Maybe my first date with my boyfriend? I would loosen up.

9) If you were on death row, what would be your last meal?
Sirloin, mashed potatoes, veggies, and a big HUGE red velvet cupcake.

10) What is the one single food you could never give up?
Turkey subs. I have ordered it the same way for years and I love it. The sandwich makers love me, too, because it's so easy.

11) Do you scream on roller coasters?
F yes. I am scared of heights and very easily motion sick. I can get motion sick reading a book in the car.

Show-offs.

Shortly after I got the plant. Almost 3 weeks ago. Her name is

 Jazzy.

Today. It started shooting off like crazy, almost literally overnight. The right side is busy blooming. The left is doing goddess knows what!

The blooms smell fantastic.

All light green is new within a week.

Meet Catalina. She was a rescue from my boyfriend's job. His coworker had already given her her name, but was overwatering it. She gave the plant to me willingly, and so I went to town on it. I cut off all of her dead leaves and staked her since she was severally lopsided. She still wants to show off her pretty spathes, even though she's been through a lot. I'm not going to tell her she still looks a little sparse.

Catalina has to be fairly old. I'm guessing a few years. I've never seen an anthurium pushing out spathes like this, but I'm no Anthurium expert. I just buy them and try to keep them alive.

My Thanksgiving Cactus, Sally, wanted to say thank you for me rescuing her from impending underwatering! She was also a rescue from another of my boyfriend's coworkers.

This is Sammy, the mystery Chlorophytum. I posted him up for ID on Gardenweb, and there has been no positive ID on him yet. It doesn't matter much to me, as he has come a LONG way in just a few weeks. I cut off all his dead leaves, gave him all new soil and tried to give him as much light as I could provide. This is a north facing window, but he doesn't mind. He's truly a trooper.

My haul from yesterday. I don't think I'll be naming them just yet, but they're just so adorable.

And the winner of the imaginary houseplant gold star is...Fuchsia 'Lena'! I bought her in a small ~2" pot. She had blooms but I moved her too much and she had a hissy. However, after leaving her alone and giving her a little less water, she is trying to outgrow her pot! I don't know if she will ever put out buds again, but I think she's still very pretty.

There we have it. Every plant is basically doing well, but these are trying to show off. Hence, they get shown off.

Odds and ends

I saved this pretty Alworthia 'Black Gem' at Lowes about a week ago. He was dry as all get out, but had many pups. How could I not support a single, struggling dad?

FYI: I have average sized female hands. I just love Anthuriums - even if the 'flowers' die on me, I know I will have a gorgeous foliage plant.

I think I may be in love with Euphorbia Milii. Saw this at Urban Jungle yesterday and my heart soared. I haven't seen any Crown of Thorns since the flower show. It also came in my favorite color. :)

Mini-rant about Lowes and Home Depot:
Unfortunately, I do not drive so I am limited to HD, Lowes, City Planter, Urban Jungle and maybe Greensgrow Farms (which is not open when I'm available). CP and UJ are a little pricier but I love supporting independents who care for their plants. When I am in need of random hardware or new sets of keys, I happen to step feet in your establishments. Predictably, your plants catch my eye. When it's a new shipment, they look very happy to be there.

In a week, they're all almost dead. What gives? You hire people to take care of the plants - or at least water them every blue moon. Last time I checked, it's usually hard to kill a succulent. They don't mind going without for a while. What I see when I look at them tells a different story - lack of light, poor watering, possible lightning damage. I just don't understand. I know they're loss leaders - I have worked retail before - but wow! These are living things, and didn't ask to be here.

Tsk. I try to salvage what I can. HD decidedly does a better job with keeping plants alive but tends to over water. Luckily, I'm a plant hoarder (this is the first time I have admitted this. Everyone else pretty much knows once they walk into my apartment) and I have a bleeding heart.

Love, Lauren

-----

I have 41 plants. I have lost one Aeonium but the others seem to really like being here. I just finished watering and I have some happy plants. My Manettia Inflata had some sort of bug on it (tiny, silver, crawly. No wings.) So I sprayed the crap out of it with neem oil mixed with water. I knew buying the neem would come in handy. No other plants have bugs that I can see.

Later today I will take some pictures of the plants who apparently are working to achieve some sort of gardening gold star. I have the day off (had to take a mental health day or my head was going to explode from stress) and so I can finally do these things.

Stay blessed, everyone.

One of many I bought today.

Some girls buy clothes or bags. I buy plants when I'm stressed.

This makes 41.

Plant list as of 3/22/12

1.        Ficus Benjamina

2.       Kalanchoe Calandiva – red blooms

3.       Crassula Ovata

4.      Portulacaria Afra

5.       Crassula Tetragona

6.      Hypoestes phyllostachya

7.       Pothos ‘Marble Queen’

8.      Haworthia Limifolia

9.      Anacampseros Telaphiastrum Variegata

10.    Senecio Rowleyanus

11.     Echeveria ‘Dondo’

12.    Sedum ‘Burrito’

13.    Tradescantia Zebrina ‘Quadricolor’

14.    Fuchsia ‘Lena’ – white outside, purple inside

15.    Abutilon Pictum Thompsonii – salmon blooms

16.    Manettia Inflata

17.    Jasmine Sambac

18.    Euphorbia Milii – yellow bracts

19.    Echeveria ‘Decora’

20.   Nematanthus Wettsteinii

21.    Sedum Dasyphyllum

22.   Euphorbia Suzannae

23.   Haworthia Resendeana

24.   Sedum Rubrotinctum ‘Aurora’

25.   Aeonium ‘Sunburst’  

26.   Pilea Depressa

27.   Anthurium x2 – both pink flowers, long story

28.   Dracaena Surculosa

29.   Pothos

30.   Thanksgiving cactus (not even going to try to guess at cultivar) – starting to bud! Unknown bloom color

31.    Spider plant?

32.   Echeveria ‘Perle Von Nurnberg’

33.   Hoya ‘Krimson Queen’

34.   Alworthia ‘Black Gem’

35. Chlorophytum laxum

 I guess you call that an obsession.

Good news:

My Jasmine is blooming and shooting out new branches!

My TC looks like it wants to bloom in my mostly dark, north facing bathroom.

My rescued Anthurium is sending out its hot pink spathes.

My M. Inflatta is quickly outgrowing my ghetto trellis (three skewers).

My Fuchsia isn't putting out new buds but it's growing like who knows what?

My A. Thompsonii spent it's first round of blooms but is trying to grow out past the window.

I have several cuttings, as well:

S. Rowleyanus, some which have successfully rooted!

T. Zebrina cutting has also rooted LIGHTNING FAST. Two days and it had a root.

I'm pretty sure the C. Tetragona cutting has rooted.

Pothos cuttings are starting to root in water.

Yay! Grandmom should be proud. My apartment feels like a jungle but they're all alive and some are just showing off now. :)

Ruh oh...

I may have mealbugs on my Brazilian Firecracker.

I saw one on my nightly bug checks. The reason why I'm so anal about it is because I live in close quarters AND I hate bugs. Anyway, I was moving away a "piece of perlite" with one of my skewers and away it went! I got it with rubbing alcohol, but then I went crazy and double checked all my plants. The BF is in quarantine along with my Jasmine Sambac, which appears to have weird white bumps in a uniform pattern on the underside of the leaves. I also double check the plants that "lived" with the BF and will be for the near future.

Ugh. :( I know this happens and it's not the end of the world, but I paid WAY too much money on all of these plants to have a possible infestation. Time to get some neem.

P.S. - My Aeonium 'Sunburst' is officially dead. The leaves started dying on every layer. Such a pretty Aeonium, too. I may try another later on in the season.

Er, it's funny how things happen.

1. I'm planning on getting some photos up soon. I haven't really had much time to myself since Thursday.

2. I bought two more plants and will be getting one more sometime this week via my boyfriend's co-worker. I will be shutting down any new plant purchases until I
a) move
b) have something die
c) get to set up my greenhouse.

Oh boy.

Dealing with (possible) failure + being a perfectionist.

I'm pretty black and white when it comes to success. Either it happens or it doesn't.

Plants don't really work that way.

I have been tending to an ailing Aeonium 'Sunburst' and an ailing Fuchsia. My favorite plants tend to be of the non-blooming variety, but I'm trying my hand at flowering plants. A. 'Sunburst' apparently did not like its soil being rejuvenated and the Fuchsia doesn't like me moving it to a brighter place in the mornings. All of it's forming buds fell off.

This honestly kind of upset me. Most of my other plants are thriving/tolerating what I'm giving them. These two kind of make me question my ability to keep plants alive, and I know that with gardening you are going to have your setbacks.

I'm a Virgo, which means I strive for the best. I have living things hoping I don't kill them at home. I do worry about them (this is probably because of my personality, I worry about everything).

I have to tell myself that it's okay to keep most things alive but not some. It's going to happen.

The first step is admitting you have a problem.

My plant count 9/27/11: 2
My plant count as of today: 24, not counting attempted propagations.

Er, it was 20 yesterday. I'm still looking for plants to furnish my bathroom.

Plants mean something to me. They need my care, don't whine, and reward my anal retentiveness (I obsessively look for bugs/dying leaves). I can easily use an hour checking all of my plants. You see, I have a wonderful boyfriend but we don't live together. It gives me joy when I open the door and see them alive and well. It passes my time. It helps me de-stress from stressful daily work. They give me good air to breathe and they're happy things.

Let's back it up a little bit. I think I should share some things to put things in perspective.

I'm of mixed descent - Asian, African-American, and Native American. My grandmother always loved plants and would have happy, glorious plants out back year after year. The Native American part of me just yearns to be with the earth. That's crazy considering I live in a concrete jungle.
- I'm also Proudly Pagan. As a PP, I'm conscious of all living things. I work where I see the public all the time and work towards getting people back to where they were. I make sure not to harm any living thing if I can help it...hell, I've come to peaceful terms with both bees and spiders. Don't come near my body and do your thing? We're cool. I won't try to kill you.

So, I guess it was only a matter of time before I got my grandmother's green thumb. I got it, alright...BADLY.

I went to the Flower Show both Sunday and today (purely circumstantial...I lucked out on today) and each time I was drawn to certain plants. I bought them small and large, potted for the sill and hanging. I hope to keep these alive as long as possible. They give me a joy that I can't explain. I bet, however, that my wallet isn't liking it. Ha!

Half the fun is finding out more about the plant. I'm also in the process of naming them. I got that wonderful idea from a blog called Good to Grow and I thought it was fitting. Why not give them a name if they're gonna stick around?

That's all the textual vomit I have for you right now. :-)

First post (of hopefully many).

I'm not a master gardener. My grandmother could keep anything alive, but that passion never got me...until now. I have always loved plants - always tried not to step on them, would clear off dead leaves if it bothered me that much - but never had them in my house.

That is, until I just fell in love with a Kalanchoe and a Ficus. Almost six months later, they're growing vigorously and shooting out new growth like crazy. I said to myself, "Hm. If I can keep these alive, I should have a few more."

A few more became almost two dozen. Ha!

So this blog isn't going to have very many "tips from an expert". This blog is half for me, half for beginner indoor gardeners. I want to document the growth of my plants as well as write about the little differences between them. I live in an urban area with very little green so I guess it was no surprise that having a little green in a sea of concrete made me feel so serene.

There you have it. It's a beginning of a hopefully long, happy story. I swear to myself I'm turning into my grandmother...not such a bad thing.