I was content. Yeah, so maybe I was in denial about my indoor jungle... but I was quite happy there until Heather asked people to share what kind of indoor gardening they were doing this winter. I thought it would be fun to catalog my efforts, so I dutifully created my lists:
Houseplants: 2 pots of sanseveria, a huge spider plant, my clearance-find crown-of-thorns, 2 pots of cacti, 5 pots of sedum and various other succulents, a dark-leaf rubber tree, an aloe that's barely limping along (that's a genetic deficit, not being able to grow aloe,) a philodendron, a draceana, a lucky bamboo, a purple passion plant, one orchid, a variegated ivy, a small Christmas cactus grown from cuttings, and two jade plants--"The Monster" jade plant (that I just had to replant into a 14 inch pot!) and its much smaller counterpart.
Herbs, tender perennials and overwintering annuals: 1 licorice plant, 2 different silver plectranthus in the same pot, 2 'Cerveza 'N Lime' plectranthus, 2 different begonias, 2 bay laurels (in their third year) with silver ponyfoot planted around them, phyllostachys nigra (black bamboo,) a 'Golden Delicious' pineapple sage cutting, 'Sweet Caroline Bronze' sweet potato vine, 4 kinds of coleus, one 'Red Sensation' cordyline, 'Gage's Shadow' perilla, and 4 pots of rosemary.
YIKES! When all of the above were added up, I realized that I had 45 different plants to keep alive in my house over the winter. As Heather mentioned, that makes for quite the jungle... but apparently even that was not quite enough to satisfy my insanity.
Over the past week I have acquired even more indoor plants on clearance: 3 fancy sempervivums that I planted inside the birdbath bowl that I just brought inside and a gorgeous abutilon megapotanicum (flowering/parlor maple) that had been placed on clearance simply because it was almost out of blooms.
But my biggest, most problematic new acquisition... is this. I am not the greatest with houseplants, but I'm pretty sure that this is (was?) a parlor palm of some sort. I found it this evening a mere 4 doors down from my house, nestled in its 16 inch blue plastic pot under a canopy of wooden pallets and broken lawn chairs. Right next to it was a 20 inch burgundy pot with a broken, brown draceana stem sticking out of it.
As a frugal gardener, I can always use more sturdy pots, especially if they are both large and free. So after letting the dog in the house, I went back to retrieve both. The big burgundy pot is sitting on the porch right now (and it has a big seashell in it--bonus!) but there was just enough green on these palm leaves to convince me to bring it inside.
Some quick internet research says that most indoor palms start to show cold damage on their leaves at 45 degrees, and that the damage will show in a few days. But if I admit to no other labels, I will definitely admit to being an optimist. The way I see it, if I leave this palm outside for the rest of the night, it will definitely die... but if it's inside and gets a little TLC, who knows. Maybe its current leaves will die off, but maybe it will give me a few new leaves in the spring. (And when you're already taking care of 49 different plants in your house... seriously, what's one more?)
I'll post updates on the palm throughout the next few weeks, but I'd love to read some comments if anyone feels like hazarding a guess as to what its ultimate fate will be. (Advice on how to treat it in "sick bay" is more than welcome, too!) I'm not a fan of Vegas, but I'd like to believe that my odds with this palm are 50-50 unless someone tells me otherwise. And as an optimist, I'm going to round that up and say that I have a good shot and getting something out of the whole experience.
Houseplants: 2 pots of sanseveria, a huge spider plant, my clearance-find crown-of-thorns, 2 pots of cacti, 5 pots of sedum and various other succulents, a dark-leaf rubber tree, an aloe that's barely limping along (that's a genetic deficit, not being able to grow aloe,) a philodendron, a draceana, a lucky bamboo, a purple passion plant, one orchid, a variegated ivy, a small Christmas cactus grown from cuttings, and two jade plants--"The Monster" jade plant (that I just had to replant into a 14 inch pot!) and its much smaller counterpart.Herbs, tender perennials and overwintering annuals: 1 licorice plant, 2 different silver plectranthus in the same pot, 2 'Cerveza 'N Lime' plectranthus, 2 different begonias, 2 bay laurels (in their third year) with silver ponyfoot planted around them, phyllostachys nigra (black bamboo,) a 'Golden Delicious' pineapple sage cutting, 'Sweet Caroline Bronze' sweet potato vine, 4 kinds of coleus, one 'Red Sensation' cordyline, 'Gage's Shadow' perilla, and 4 pots of rosemary.
YIKES! When all of the above were added up, I realized that I had 45 different plants to keep alive in my house over the winter. As Heather mentioned, that makes for quite the jungle... but apparently even that was not quite enough to satisfy my insanity.
Over the past week I have acquired even more indoor plants on clearance: 3 fancy sempervivums that I planted inside the birdbath bowl that I just brought inside and a gorgeous abutilon megapotanicum (flowering/parlor maple) that had been placed on clearance simply because it was almost out of blooms.
But my biggest, most problematic new acquisition... is this. I am not the greatest with houseplants, but I'm pretty sure that this is (was?) a parlor palm of some sort. I found it this evening a mere 4 doors down from my house, nestled in its 16 inch blue plastic pot under a canopy of wooden pallets and broken lawn chairs. Right next to it was a 20 inch burgundy pot with a broken, brown draceana stem sticking out of it.As a frugal gardener, I can always use more sturdy pots, especially if they are both large and free. So after letting the dog in the house, I went back to retrieve both. The big burgundy pot is sitting on the porch right now (and it has a big seashell in it--bonus!) but there was just enough green on these palm leaves to convince me to bring it inside.
Some quick internet research says that most indoor palms start to show cold damage on their leaves at 45 degrees, and that the damage will show in a few days. But if I admit to no other labels, I will definitely admit to being an optimist. The way I see it, if I leave this palm outside for the rest of the night, it will definitely die... but if it's inside and gets a little TLC, who knows. Maybe its current leaves will die off, but maybe it will give me a few new leaves in the spring. (And when you're already taking care of 49 different plants in your house... seriously, what's one more?)
I'll post updates on the palm throughout the next few weeks, but I'd love to read some comments if anyone feels like hazarding a guess as to what its ultimate fate will be. (Advice on how to treat it in "sick bay" is more than welcome, too!) I'm not a fan of Vegas, but I'd like to believe that my odds with this palm are 50-50 unless someone tells me otherwise. And as an optimist, I'm going to round that up and say that I have a good shot and getting something out of the whole experience.
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