Photo of the Week
A few repotted succulents.
General Discussion
Athena-dog recently had a tooth pulled. It was a stressful thing for us humans too, because she also has liver problems and doesn’t handle drugs of any sort well, including anesthesia. So while she was at the vet, I was hanging out at home with Apollo-dog, waiting for news and doing my best not to stress-eat my way through the morning.
While scrolling FB, an add popped up for this gorgeous philodendron cultivar (I follow a lot of greenhouses & specialty plant growers). I have pretty poor impulse control when I’m stressed out (obviously, or the eating thing wouldn’t be an issue), so I clicked through to see how much it would cost to make that beautiful plant mine.
Needless to say, it was $199, which is not a price I’d ever pay for any plant (no offense to the cultivator, it’s just way, way, way outside my personal plant price ceiling). However, I was then already on the site with a 10% new customer discount code in hand and decided to click around a bit. I did exercise a certain amount of restraint, but I ended up ordering two cacti and two begonias. The begonias are the sure sign of “stress buying”, because I’ve never actually been good at growing begonias. I love them, but they tend to not love me. I am, however, good at growing African violets, and used to have a very large collection of them (my mom still has several plants from leaves I gave her). So naturally after I ordered the begonias, it made me think of violets, and half an hour later, I had four AVs coming (two I used to grow, including Irish Flirt, which seemed seasonal), a new cultivar, and a species violet.
By then, the vet called with good news, and I would have been out of the woods, except an ad for a $20 bonsai starter kit with seeds for three different types of trees popped up, and I thought, “What the heck? Damage is already done, so a tiny bit more won’t hurt.”
That’s how I ended up with eight plants and seed for three more on the way to me this week. One morning of weakness, and boom! Greenery!
Obviously I knew I needed somewhere to *put* all the new plants, and my current collection has been neglected and looking pretty ragged for awhile now. So Sunday I found some cacti soil in the garage, scrounged up as many pots and cache pots as I could, and got to work. I trimmed leaves, trimmed roots, divided communal plantings, and made everything as neat, tidy and comfortable as possible. I didn’t repot my big spiny cacti because that’s a dangerous job and it needs to be planned a little better than just “drop everything and pot these”, but all the other succulents got the attention they needed. I still need to get some tropical soil so I can repot two of the three tropicals I currently have, but that will wait a few days.
More importantly, I figured out where I’m going to put the new plants. And I had the presence of mind to order some hanging planters while shopping, which will help.
I used to have a *lot* of plants, most of which were lost when we re-carpeted the house (they were basically incinerated while banished to the surface-of-the-sun, otherwise known as our back patio). I kind of gave up on anything but a few cacti and succulents after that, though of course I always have a pothos hanging around. Luckily for me, the hubby likes plants, and has been known to bring one home on occasion. Even so, I’m not really sure how I’m going to explain to him the sudden near doubling of plants this week. Maybe I just won’t say anything, and see how long it takes him to notice.
Currently Reading
What People Leave Behind by Kristine Kathryn Rusch
Beta reading a new draft by a friend.Don’t want to spoil anything, but it has aliens….
Video Highlight
I watched a lot of bonsai videos after ordering my starter kit, and got a lot of great information. I decided to share this one though, because he’s relatable and down to earth, and this is one of the trees I will be growing, assuming the seeds sprout when I get them.
Song of the Week
Seems like a good time for some Dropkick Murphys, methinks:
Pop Quiz!
What’s your favorite houseplant?
I love all of mine, but two favorites. One is a Dracaena angolensis/Sansevieria cylindrica that was difficult to find, and the other is an unidentified grocery store hairy cactus that my husband bought for his grandmother before we got married. After his grandparents died, he cared for the cactus until we married, and then he brought it with him and I take care of it now. I love the fact that it’s been alive and growing for over 20 years now, and I plan to keep it going for as long as possible.
Post Round-up
The Writer’s Desk (last updated: March 12, 2022)
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