Why I Oughta...

The basal frond (or shield frond) on my oldest - and only potted - Staghorn Fern continues to grow.  And, that has single-handedly gotten me BACK into the Staghorn Fern game.  I first shared a photo and an update on this new (to me) experience of seeing one of our Staghorns put out this basal, shield frond.  Today - three weeks later - the frond keeps growing and is starting to cover quite a bit of area.  You can see the current state of this, original Staghorn Fern in the photo below.   It has been grown in the basement under a two-color (purple and blue) grow light for the past few months: I have left this one in the pot as a sort of hedge against the mounting stress.  I'm not sure what to think about this one putting on a basal frond vs the mounted ones not doing anything but really declining while under my watch.  I'm thinking that - right now - I'll just leave this one as-is and move it back outside this Summer.  At the same time, I'm really trying to baby the two

We're about half-way between when we planted our annual Christmas Amaryllis bulbs and the big day - December 25th - when I would (ideally) want blooms.  This is a (partial) progress report showing the three newly acquired bulbs .  Why just these three new ones (and not the bulbs that I kept from last year)?  Because these are the ones that are showing action on the stalk growth and the three that are furthest along.   All three of these bulbs were bought from Wannemakers in early/mid November and were planted up right around Nov 17th.  That puts these three weeks from their first watering.  And just over two weeks until Christmas Day.  Will any of them bloom in time?   First up is the Flamenco Queen Amaryllis .  This is what I think is the most unique of the three - with green centers and white-speckled red petals.  The leaves and first flower stalk are up out of the neck of the bulb, but not too much height so far.  Photo of the mid-growth Flamenco Queen Christmas Amaryllis below

This past weekend, we went over to the local garden center to meet the Big Guy and his reindeer.  We've done this same deal a number of years and it is a nice way to start the holiday season.  In addition to having the kids visit with Santa for a few minutes, we also buy our annual allotment of Christmas flowers - Amaryllis bulbs.  These bulbs are big and nicely cared for and (this year) cost $21 each.  I'm pretty sure that when we started doing this, these bulbs were $15.  This year, we're growing three new bulbs as well as attempting to force four from last year.  I picked out one and two of the kids picked out their own, too.   Below are the tags of the three we came home with:  Flamenco Queen, Magic Touch and Sunshine Nymph.   These bulbs come nicely packed with a little padding for protection.  They're also MUCH larger than the bulbs you'd find in the typical packaged 'set' that includes a container, potting material and the bulb.  MUCH larger.  See bel

There's a pattern in our house with *some* houseplants:  We buy one from Trader Joe's.  Bring it home.  It looks great for a bit. Blooms right away. Then, heads into decline.  Which, usually leads to being put outside (during the Summer) or tossed into the compost pile when it dies.  One of the plants that has come home a couple of times from TJs is the African Violet.  It blooms, but is, frankly...disposable.  Or at least, that's what I thought. I came across this video on Garden Answer's YouTube page where she talks us through propagation of succulents, some fishbone cactus and African Violets .  Wait, what?  Taking apart and planting cuttings of African Violets to make MORE of them?  This is the part of the video (10:09) where she starts the African Violets .  Huh.  Had no idea.   Watching that sent me down a little Web digging hole where I found this post on the Spruce that has a headline that scratches me right where I itch:  African Violets Shouldn't Be Throw

It was a little bit over a year ago that I posted some photos showing the successful reinvigoration of a wire vine that I had brought in from outside but had suffered some indoor, Winter neglect.  I give it a haircut to get rid of all of the dead/dry vines and it bounced back.  We kept this container in the screened porch almost the entire year - until it was brought inside in early January.  It went upstairs to our extra bedroom - which is where good plants go to die.  This vine was in great shape when it went up and it was, as expected, promptly neglected.  And dried out.  The humidity we have inside the house isn't high enough to provide the ideal environment for most container house plants.  So, I decided to bring it down and try to give it some life.  That meant that I submerged the entire container in a large bowl of water for about 45 minutes to completely saturate the soil and roots.  A day or two later, the dried, brittle fronds had bounced back a bit.  It wasn't com

We're coming up on my one-year anniversary of living with a Maidenhair Fern in our house.  I picked up a tiny one at Wannemaker's in February of 2021 and re-potted it into a larger clay pot .  If you go back and look at that original post , you can see that the fern was quite happy.  Feather-light and green.  A month later (March of 2021), it was thriving .  I seemed to have figured out how to keep it happy in terms of light and moisture and feeding.  After that post, I don't seem to have shared any further updates on the fern.  But, it has *been* a journey.  When people talk about Maidenhair Ferns being finicky, they're not lying.   During the life of this potted fern, I've kept it inside.  Either in our family room or screened porch.  And, it has been a series of ups and downs.  After that March post, I think I saw some decline.  Followed by me tending to it, watering it and feeding it.  Which lead to a period of happiness.  Then, typically followed by another cyc

We keep the majority of our potted plants/containers/house plants in two places for *most* of the year. The first is outside.  And that usually is between about June and September.  The second is our screened porch.  And that's from September to January.  And again from about March to June. On the porch, we have a corner table that holds a few containers and the top of one of our firewood racks is the other spot for the pots.  The porch is useable for about 300ish days a year for us and about the same for our plants.  The porch gets a TON of natural light and the plants don't seem to dry out as much out there as they do once we bring them in the house. In year's past, we've brought them in the house in January and they've struggled.  These came in about three weeks ago and (knock, wood), they're doing ok (so far).  We've tried a few places - upstairs in a south-facing window. Downstairs in same facing.  Indirect light, direct light.  It seems that the best o

The Lemon Star Amaryllis bulb - that we planted in early November - sure missed the Christmas (and even New Year's) window, but it is now the real star of the show.  After the other blooms are (now) past their peak, this one is currently putting on a lovely green party in the center of our countertop.   The flowers are pretty big, but there isn't a ton of them - and they're not double-bloomed.   The other Amaryllis' that we've grown over the years have always tended towards the red/pink/maroon-type.  The Bird picked this one out because it was different.  Pretty sure it was the only green one at Wannemaker's this year.  Would recommend it to anyone - looking to do something a little more unique.    Looking back at this post from January 5th , it appears that 9 days of difference shows the growth from a closed, pointy bud on top of the stalk to having flowers on all four sides open and in bloom. There's another, lower secondary stalk with a bud emerging, so

Just about one month in and (knock wood), our Maidenhair Fern is still green.  And, showing some signs of growth in terms of width and height.  Here is the post showing off this delicate fern that we brought home in late February and have been careful to keep happy. I have a couple of brown tips, but also new growth.  Thus, a mixed bag so far after one month.   If you poke around the Web just a bit, you'll find people talking about how difficult these ferns are to take care of as indoor plants.  And, while I'm certainly no pro, it seems like the key for this fern (SO FAR) is to keep it mostly watered.  For me, that means a couple of times per week.  And a good soaking in terms of watering.  I place the pot in our sink and soak it pretty good - letting the water run out the bottom for a bit before putting it back into the little plastic tray.   Once the warm days of April begin to appear, I'm going to plan on putting some of our containers out for little parts of the day to

In our indoor container garden collection, we have a few succulents that we've picked up over the years including the Burro's Tail that I bought home from the office and (just last week) began the process of planting some cuttings.   Upstairs, in the sunniest spot, we also have a container of Firesticks Cactus that I planted in 2018 .  I managed to drag that Firesticks outside last Summer and then back in before Fall and it seems to have thrived the past year or two.  It is pretty big and likely in need of a new container.  But, more on that succulent in a separate post. This is about a new (to us) succulent that I picked up recently at Home Depot.  It was a $3.98 2.5" plastic nursery pot that has these plump, crinkle-ended leaves/lobes.  For now, I decided to just leave the Key Lime Pie succulent in the plastic nursery pot and stuck it inside a larger, terra cotta container that doesn't (currently) have a hole punched out of the bottom, but appears to be able to have

Like a lot of you guys, the year of working-from-home caused me to have a little work plant casualty.  On the ledge at the Aon Center, I was keeping a couple of pots/containers of a Burro's Tail succulents that when we SUDDENLY decided to just stop going into the office were mostly abandoned.  The last time that I posted about them was at the end of October 2018 here on the blog .  Well, thanks to our office services team, one of those containers somehow survived the Spring and Summer, so when I ventured into the office in Fall of 2020, I was able to bring one of them home and nurse it along this Winter.   I mostly neglected it the past four months, giving it occasional water.  And, here's what it looks like now: The container that I have on hand is the very one that I started with cuttings from the parent succulent that I was given by a co-worker who was leaving .  If you look at the bottom of the green bin that this container is sitting in, you can see a bunch of lobes of th

A week ago, I shared a photo of a dwarf umbrella potted plant that I straightened out by repotting it in a slightly larger pot and giving it a haircut to try to push some lower growth.  The plant was growing at an odd angle - leaning towards the light after being neglected for months and by repotting it, I was able to stand it up straight.  But, it was still top-heavy.  Hence, the haircut. Based on my experience with our OTHER umbrella plant, I've found that if I cut off the leaders, two things happen:  first, it usually flushes out some lower growth and second, the part that I cut has some die-back...about a half-an-inch. So, when I lop'd off the leader, I left a little bit to account for the die-back.   And today? There's some good news.  First, near the top.  Here's a look at the tiny new growth that has appeared next to the top cut.  The stress of the pruning has flushed this new growth.   But, there's more.  Down the trunk - which is where I was aiming to flus

 Over the weekend - without much thought - I picked up a tiny Maidenhair Fern and potted it up in a six-inch clay pot and added it our little collection of house plants.  My thought was that this would MOSTLY replace the dead fern that I tried to bring back this Winter  and would live next to the potted-up wire vine that I treated similarly .  I opted against using the traditional clay saucer for this one, opting instead for a small plastic container to keep the water from running out AND keeping the humidity level up higher.  One of the things I know about Maidenhair Ferns is that they're temperamental and like to have a higher degree of humidity around them.  Being in clay pot isn't ideal, but it is the cheapest of the pots, right?  It was just $2.99 and quite small, but looks nice potted up.  Here, below, is where its stands as of today.   Like, umm, everyone, I was naturally drawn to the light, airy leaflets of the Maidenhair that kind of dance when you blow on them.   Wha

Yesterday, I shared a photo of a newly cropped small fern that I tried to bring inside this Fall and promptly neglected .  I mentioned that I repotted it, fed it and the lopped off the dead stuff.  I've put it out on the screened porch in the hopes that between the moderate temperatures, the higher humidity (than inside) and the light, it will recover with some new growth.   In that post, I mentioned that this fern was the second transplant project from outside with the first one being successful.  Hence, me thinking I could revive the fern in the same way. *That* first successful transplant was a Wire Vine plant. (or Angel Vine). It is named Muehlenbeckia complexa and Nat had it out in one of our planters on our front porch this Summer.  We dug it up, transplanted it and...mostly forgot about it.  I noticed it was stressed, so I transplanted it, gave it some composted manure, watered it pretty good and gave it a haircut.  I lop'd off all of the shoots that were bare and cut

One of the girls bought a small/miniature fern for their fairy garden in the Summer of 2019 and I somehow was able to yank it out of the garden, pot it and keep it alive all last Winter into this past Spring.  When the warm weather arrived, I put the pot out on the back stoop and the fern seemed to be happy.  I brought it in this fall and promptly neglected it.  I came across it and noticed that it was dried out, brittle and rootbound.  I repotted it and moved it to something larger, fed it with some composted manure and put it out on the screened porch.  It looked like this after repotting: It isn't happy looking.  That's (I think) a combination of neglect and the stress of coming inside to deal with the dry, indoor air and what I'm guessing is some level of dormancy-induced decline due to Winter.  All of the leaves are dry and a lot of the fronds are brittle.  If you pinch them and slide up/down, you can peel off the leaves on about 1/3rd of the fronds.   I decided to do

These photos of our Christmas Amaryllis are a few days old, so let's call it mid-January in terms of the timing of the bloom.  Look at that beauty!  Double blooming variety that is still going strong for us.  But, this post isn't about the blooms.  It is about the height of the bulb stalk.  I placed a ruler in the pot and you can see in the photo below:  11.5" tall to the top of the bloom. And, just for record-keeping sake, here's a photo (below) of where I placed the bottom of the ruler:  at the top of the bulb - NOT at soil level. Amaryllis have a tendency to get long and leggy and with the size of those blooms, from time-to-time, they tip over because the stalk is too lean and long.  How does one solve that?  By poisoning the bulb.  Seriously.  I mentioned in my post in December that I'd been giving this bulb an 8% (approximately) blend of vodka and water .  In an attempt to keep the stalk from growing too tall. And, guess what?  It totally

Back in November, I posted photos of the Amaryllis bulb I planted (Double Flowering Nymph) and about a week in, I shared what was then the first sign of life emerging from the bulb.  Last year, I posted a photo of our bulbs on December 16th and remarked how I was hoping it would emerge in time for Christmas.  Turns out, it was *right.on.time*.  This year?  Different story.  The photo up top shows how one of the stems has begun to emerge, but it is just that:  barely emerging from the bulb.  The other one - a little bit further ahead is all bud and no stem.  Compare them to December 16th last year .  Maybe eight inches of height difference.  With nine days left before Christmas, I'm thinking this is more New Year's Amaryllis vs. Christmas flower.  That's the bad.  The good? It appears that we're going to get two stems with big buds on them as the second one continues to catch up with the first one.  You can see a better look at both of them in the photo below.

One week in with our 2018 edition of the amaryllis bulb and I'm happy to report that there's a little bit of action going on here.  Here's the post showing the bulb both before it went into the pot and right after .  If you look closely at this photo above, you'll notice two things:  First, the tiniest little green shoot emerging from the middle (top part of the bulb in this photo) and a good-sized 'gap' that has been created near the bottom of the bulb in this photo.  Thinking that the 'gap' that is being made is the result of some growth down below and just kind of *making room* for even more green shoots to emerge.  As a reminder, this is a double-flowering Nymph bulb that has white flowers with some red/pink accents.  I'll keep an eye on this, but I'm hoping that by mid-December, we'll have a nice-looking plant beginning to head skywards.  Here's the bulb from 2017 on December 16th to give you a sense for what should take pla

There's this house in Nat's parent's neighborhood that has a really well-manicured landscape out front.  And that's due to the owner (I think?) of the house that seems to be tending to the yard, plants and landscape almost constantly.  The reality of it is that we mostly go by Nat's parent's house on weekends so it might just *seem* like he's constantly in his yard because that's how he likes to spend his weekends.  Either way, he does an incredible job.  He has topiary'd evergreens (junipers, I think?) and he also has quite a bit of what appear to be tropicals outside.  But, upon closer inspection, I think A LOT of what I've thought to be tropicals are giant elephant ears.  And, so those have been on my mind and when I was at Menards earlier this Spring, I came across a couple of different varieties and - of course - snapped them up. I posted late in March the "Black Magic" bulb that I started in a pot inside .  That has moved o

Just a little over a week ago, I posted the first peek of little sprouts of Dahlias and Elephant Ears poking through the soil in a pot that I started in our dining room.  Welp, fast forward a week and we suddenly have a lot of growth from three shoots.  But, I'm pretty sure that I planted four bulbs/tubers.  Three Firebird semi-cactus Dahlias and one Elephant Ear Black Magic .   The three plants that have grown all look alike, so I'm presuming that these are the Dahlias.  But, the Elephant Ear is missing.  Perhaps a little bit of excavation is called for to figure out if the Elephant Ear is, indeed, down there (or if I forgot to plant it!) and/or if something is wrong.  Maybe I planted it too deep? My hunch is that the bulb is still simply dormant - and that's not an uncommon problem based on a quick tour around the Web - and that with time, it will come up.