Why I Oughta...

 Along with the fern and wire vine, we had a dwarf umbrella plant (schefflera) that had been languishing upstairs in our guest bedroom for the better part of the past six months.  It was stuck and growing at an odd angle, was very top-heavy and had a very tall, thin and bare trunk.  We have another one of these plants that I've been tending to over the past year or so with top-cuts to encourage it to grow out more bush-y.  It has responded to each of those pruning exercises.   So, I thought that if I repotted the troubled plant to straighten it out and give it a little top-prune, we might have something.  And, so far - about a week in - it seems to be ok.   Here's how it looks now - on our mantle: It is now standing up straight (instead of off at an odd angle) and I cut the leader/apical meristem off about half-an-inch from where the die-back settles.  I'm hoping that we'll see even more growth coming out of this thing starting with the current crown and down the trunk.

Over the weekend, I took the Bar Pizza Class from Slowrise Pizza featuring Adam Kuban and learned a bunch of things.  I also cooked eight pizzas over the previous 72 hours.   And, I think I've gotten a little bit better with each of those eight.  Here's a look at the undercarriage of one of the slices that I housed shortly after it came out of the oven.  Really lovely pizza chassis that I can work to modify going forward to make my own. It was light, crisp, flakey and super thin. Of the eight pizzas (not pies), two of them can be classified as "stunt pizzas" - a term that I learned during the class.  One of them based on Adam Kuban's Margot's pizza menu and one of my own creations.  I think that they'll be offering more/other classes or making the class that I took 'on demand', so I don't think it is appropriate to disclose anything else from the class here online other than a few notes (below).  But, I will tell you that Bar Pizza is going to

Late Winter, heading towards Spring is the "what if" season for a gardener like me.  And...by a gardener "like me", I mean a total amateur who doesn't always think things through and has half-baked ideas.  My latest "what if" has to do with a pond.  Oh, I've posted a number of times about ponds on the blog.  Even talked about locations for them a couple of times .  But, due to a variety of factors (cost, upkeep, location, permanency, being busy with other things among them), I just haven't pulled the trigger.   But last week, I came across an Instagram post from Erin, the Impatient Gardener that stopped my scrolling.  I've posted about Erin the Impatient Gardener before here , here  and here .  As I've mentioned before, I think she's great and provides a lot of inspiration to me - not just because she knows her stuff, but because she's in (or very close) to my growing zone.  She's in Wisconsin, I'm in Northern Illinoi

On Friday, I posted a description and a photo of a columnar tree that was being introduced as "new" by the Growing Place Nursery near us.  It was a columnar cultivar of a Baldcypress called Lindsey's Skyward .   In that post, I mentioned that the tree was on a list of 'new for this season' plants.  There were a few other things that caught my eye on that list including a succulent.   It is striking because of the form - and the name:  Praying Hands.  Here's how they bill it on the Growing Place's site: Quite interesting isn't it?  I can see this being a really lovely container succulent.  Love that they call out how it looks like an artichoke, right?  Walter's Garden has more details including how it is relatively fast growing and is a cross of Agave .   This past Fall, I added a hosta with the same name - Praying Hands - to our yard .  And, yes... I made mistake in buying ONLY one of them .  Thanks for reminding me.  

Ahead of the virtual Bar Pizza class I am taking today, I added a new pan to my pizza making gear at home.  It is another pan from Lloyd's Pans out of Washington State .   I've been very happy with my Lloyd's pans over the years including the long, narrow ones that I bought last year during quarantine and the cutter pans that I've been using for years.   For the Bar Pizza Class , the instructions provided by the instructor (Online Pizza OG Adam Kuban) recommended a specific pan, but provided for a couple of alternatives including a cheap one from Target and using cutter pans that I have on hand.  I figured that I should go all-in and spring for the *right* pan.    That pan is the one you see below from Lloyd's Pans - a 12" Deep Dish Stacking Pan .   Here's how it came in the box: A close look at the label shows the specs and mentions the PSTK coating that Lloyd's puts on their pans. One thing to mention, I ended up buying this pan via Lloyd's stor

 The folks at The Growing Place in Naperville and Aurora have recently posted a list of some "new" or at least "new to them" plants and trees that they will be carrying this season .  There are a few things that I'm seeing on the list that are interesting to consider, but one item in particular made me go and do more research.  It is all.the.way.at.the.bottom of the list they published.  Go ahead, click here .  And scroll down.  There, you'll find the Lindsey’s Skyward Bald Cypress tree.  Here's how they describe it on their site: What's that?  Narrow form?  Oh, you know me, I'm a sucker for narrow, columnar-form trees.  A quick look around the Web reveals even more details including: "fern-like needles", "very upward facing branches", "Winter interest", "dramatic symmetrical columnar habit", "showy bronze carpet".   You hand me at fern-like + narrow.  And, here (below) is what it looks like in t

 It seems that I *may* have made a mistake with the fern that I tried to rescue by transplanting it into a different container and giving it a haircut.  Back a couple of weeks ago, I posted a photo of this small (miniature?) fern that I had brought inside before the frost and neglected all Fal l.  It was dry, brittle and showing a lot of stress.  I decided to try to bring it back by feeding it with some composted manure and trimming off all the dead fronds.  I then put it out on the screened porch where the humidity level is a bit higher than in the house.   Unfortunately, it seems like we've seen no positive growth since the transplant and haircut.   There are still come greyish-green fronds hanging around that aren't totally brittle, but no new growth.  This is what it looks like 15 days post haircut.  Not promising.   I brought all three of the containers that were on the screened porch INSIDE the house late last week since the forecast was calling for negative temperatures