Plant Crazy

Spring Indoor Flower - Update #1: Schlumbergera and Kalanchoe

2009-05-29T15:15:00.004-05:00

(Schlumbergera flower in the spring?)
This is the first of several updates regarding our spring plants. We apologize for the two month time period that has elapsed since the last post and we hope to update more frequently!

I think my Schlumbergera (Thanksgiving Cactus) plants at work are confused. For the past month or so my work plant has been sending out flowers a few at a time. While schlumbergera plants are not generally considered to be "spring" flowering plants , mine seem to disregard this.

(Schlumbergera photo taken in April.)
It all started when I moved the plant from my office to an area out toward a west-facing window. This area gets cooler than my office does and receives a bit more natural sunlight, rather than the fluorescent lighting my office receives. It is quite nice to take a quick stroll out of my office and admire the beautiful flowers!
(Schlumbergera photo taken today, May 29th.)
The brother of my boss recently decided that he no longer wanted to take care of his Schlumbergera plant so I decided I would. I recently placed it in the same location as the other plant and it is also getting ready to bloom. It will be delightful when I can get this other plant to flower too.

(The Schlumbergera given to me by my boss' brother.)
I guess I don't care when these plants bloom as long as I don't kill them by making them bloom in the springtime.

Another plant that was given to me by a coworker, a Kalanchoe, is flowering again. I had cut off the original flowers after they had died about a month ago . I enjoy this Kalanchoe a lot because it is yellow instead of red like the one I have at home.
(Yellow Kalanchoe Flowers.)
More to come SOON!

News About Us

2009-03-26T10:01:00.007-05:00

We realize the posts to this blog have been very sparse the past few months. We have been busy with each of our jobs, we have spent a lot of our time commuting, and we have been busy taking care of our houseplants and our pets.

A few weeks ago Annah found out that she will need to be finding a new place to teach next year and so that means that both of us will have to move and we will be looking for new jobs. Therefore, since we will be moving and since that is hard on plants, it hasn't really made any sense for us to purchase any new plants.

Additionally, we have both been working on being frugal and spending our money wisely, and buying a bunch of plants right now is not something we will be actively doing. With regards to being frugal and such, I have also spent a little bit of my time working on a new blog related to being frugal and saving money which you can see at Frugal Goodies.

I had also hoped for us to grow a garden of our own this year so that we would not have to rely on my parent's garden for our fruits and vegetables this fall, but we will have to wait until next year for that. We might still try to grow some cool season crops before we move, but that is yet to be determined.

As a result of needing to move in a few months the updates will probably not be as frequent, but we will still be updating this blog when we can.

Library Plant

2009-03-01T13:44:00.002-06:00

This is a quick post from our most recent trip to the local library where we sat by some sort of palm which is growing out of the pot. I wonder if they realize that they need to get a bigger pot before it ends up on the floor or on somebody reading their library book!

Look for a more thorough update about our plants soon.

Even More Flowering Houseplants...

2009-02-13T15:45:00.003-06:00

We proudly present you with more pictures of our flowering houseplants!

It has nearly been a month since we last updated, which has unfortunately become a pattern in the last few months, but Annah and I hope to resolve this problem as soon as possible.

There are several reasons why we have not been updating on a regular basis such as both of us still being busy with work, the fact that we do not have internet at home, we have been commuting about 40 miles or more during the past few weekends to visit with family and friends, the weather has not been the most suitable for buying and transporting plants (so we cannot write about new plants), and the last reason is a large majority of our plants are not really that exciting at the moment.

Regardless, the pictures above are from a Thanksgiving Cactus (Schlumbergera truncata) that was purchased from Walmart in November of 2007. It is producing the most blossoms out of all of our Schlumbergera plants and it is very beautiful.

I took more pictures of the flowers on our Lipstick Plant (Aeschynanthus radicans) which developed into full and complete flowers. I really like the little red flowers that this plant produces.

The variation of colors on these flowers is simply amazing.

Perhaps this weekend we will be buying some more plants, so look forward to another post being published within the next few days!

A Few Flowering Houseplants

2009-01-19T09:30:00.002-06:00

While Annah and I were watering our plants this weekend, we noticed that a few of them were flowering. This was surprising because it had seemed like most of the plants had slowed down during the cooler and darker winter months here in Minnesota, but apparently a few of the plants found enough energy to start blooming.

(Annah's flowering Crown of Thorns or Euphorbia milii 'Creme Supreme'.)
Annah's Crown of Thorns or Euphorbia milii 'Creme Supreme', which we have had since January of 2008 (see Annah's post here), has decided to start blooming. This plant has small yet beautiful little flowers. It receives probably around 6-8 hours of sunlight per day and we allow it to dry out a bit before watering.

(Red Kalanchoe flower.)
Our Kalanchoe, which has not been growing in the most ideal location, is still receiving a 3-6 hours of sunlight per day and seems to be doing well. When I first got this plant it had a difficult time adjusting the the growing conditions at the house and subsequently lost about 60% of it's leaves, but it has held on and is now seems to be healthy. While at the moment it only has one flower and one more on the way, at least this plant is alive and growing.

(Aeschynanthus radicans or Lipstick Plant flowers.)
Our Lipstick plant or Aeschynanthus radicans receives about 6-8 hours of sunlight per day and gets a good watering every 7-10 days. The plant itself is in a pot with a hook on the top which allows me to hang it from the indoor greenhouse/shelving unit that we have. When we first moved into the house I did not have the plant hanging, but since I moved it higher up it has been receiving a little more sunlight and this has greatly helped the plant. This is the first time the plant has flowered since I purchased it, but I think the little flowers are beautiful and stunning, even though I almost did not notice them since they are such a dark red/purple in color. I would suggest this plant for anyone who is looking for a nice hanging plant.

(More Aeschynanthus radicans or Lipstick Plant flowers.)

Work Fittonia: From Beautiful...To Pitiful

2009-01-16T16:05:00.011-06:00

(My work fittonia in Novemeber 2008 when it still looked beautiful.)
You may remember my Fittonia Propagation Project (see picture of healthy fittonia above, read the post here) regarding my desire to thin out my Fittonia argyroneura that was growing magnificently in my office. Well, unfortunately this plant threw a fit while I was gone during my long New Year's weekend. I had watered it on December 31st before leaving work and thought everything would be just fine. However, when I returned to work on January 5th the plant was "passed out" and was very unhappy. I promptly watered it and thought it would return to normal.

(My pitiful work fittonia in January 2009.)
The plant did bring itself back up into an upright position, but many of it's leaves shriveled up and needed to be removed. While this Fittonia now looks rather pitiful, as seen above, it is still alive. I am very happy that I decided to take cuttings from the mother plant when I did because I still have two healthy new plants from the two cuttings I took.

Hopefully this will not happen to any of my fittonia plants again.

Three Beautiful Cuttings From Our Friend

2009-01-13T10:25:00.003-06:00

Annah and I received three beautiful cuttings last Wednesday from one of our good friends. This friend, Valerie, left on Saturday to spend six months in Ecuador to study and explore South America. She decided to give us these cuttings as a gift for our engagement. Each individual cutting was presented to us in small jelly jars with glass pebbles and look very nice.

The first cutting is a Spider Plant (Chlorophytum comosum) and should easily root in the water in which it has been placed. All of my previous spider plant cuttings that I have rooted have been successful, so I anticipate this cutting to survive without a problem. I hope I can keep the variegated white lines on this plant since I have been unable to do that with my own Chlorophytum comosum 'Hawaiian' which has not received sufficient light to maintain it's variegation.

The second cutting is a Jade (Crassula ovata) which should easily root in the water. I have had success with propagating my own Jade plants so this cutting should not be a problem.

The third cutting is from her Aloe vera plant. From my research I have now found that rooting Aloe vera in water will likely lead to rotting. I will likely be moving this cutting into a small pot of soil to see if it will root. Have any of you had success with Aloe vera propagation? Please leave a comment if you have.

Annah and I are optimistic that we can keep these cuttings alive so that we can enjoy our beautiful and healthy additions to our houseplant collection!

Edit: The Aloe vera cutting was moved from the jar to a small pot filled with soil on the evening of 01/13/2009. There did not appear to be any signs of rot following it's removal from the water-filled jar.

New Book: The Complete Houseplant Survival Manual

2009-01-09T09:21:00.001-06:00

Annah gave me "The Complete Houseplant Survival Manual: Essential Gardening Know-How for Keeping (Not Killing) More Than 160 Indoor Plants" by Barbara Pleasant as a gift for Christmas this year. The book contains delightful photos and rather useful information for how to care for more than 160 indoor plants, and from what I have read so far contains information for about 80% of the houseplants I own.

I have not yet had the time to read through the entire book to see if all of the information is useful or 100% correct, not that I would necessarily know anyway. But when I have the chance to read the entire book I might just post a review of the book on here.

In other news, it seems like time has been flying by since I last posted on December 21st, with Christmas celebrations left and right, New Year's parties, being busy with work, and if that wasn't enough, I am finally getting healthy after having a very bad cold which started on New Year's Day! As a result of being healthy once again and being less busy with everything, Annah and I hope to start posting more regularly once again!

Winter Wonderland

2008-12-21T15:33:00.005-06:00

(I wonder if there are any birds in there? Probably not.)In the past few weeks it has been snowing a lot here in Minnesota, with each storm producing 6-12 inches per storm. This has been causing travel problems or delays for us since we like to travel around to visit with relatives or go back home and such, and this heavy snow along with wind and ice create rather treacherous traveling conditions. To make things more wonderful for any living creature outside is the fact that the temperature is below zero and the windchill has been somewhere between 20 and 40 below. Fun fun.

The weather has also been affecting the watering schedule for the plants since we have had to spend more time driving, shoveling, shopping for the holidays, and keeping the house clean and everything, so hopefully we won't lose too many plants as a result. The only plant that has gotten to dry so far is our newest Poinsettia (Euphorbia pulcherrima) which I had thought I had watered enough and which I thought was getting enough light, but I was apparently wrong with that assumption.

In other news the annual plants that were never thrown out at the end of the season continue to get more and more snow on them.

I cannot wait until winter is over.

Fittonia Propagation Project Update

2008-12-16T08:26:00.004-06:00

I have not been able to post that much recently due to being busy at work, with Christmas shopping, and also due to the fact that Annah and I do not have internet at home, so I thought I would at least try to write up a quick post to keep this site going!

As of today, December 16th, my fittonia propagation project has been working well. I have continued to water the cuttings and mist them every four to five days. Both of the cuttings seem to be doing well and I will have to figure out one of these days how long I will keep them growing inside their humid ziploc bag. Perhaps a few more weeks will suffice, but I will probably have to do more research to determine whether or not it should be longer.

One of the cuttings has produced some aerial roots which are growing down toward the soil. I'm not sure if this is going to be problematic or not, but we shall see. I probably did not cut the cutting short enough or perhaps I did not place it far enough in the soil.

Anyway, that's the update on the fittonia cuttings for now. Look forward to a new post within the next couple of days!

Pothos Cuttings For Our Terrarium

2008-12-06T12:57:00.006-06:00

Last week Annah and I decided that we were going to purchase two anole lizards to have as pets. Our Hermit Crabs are still alive and doing well, but they are usually more active at night or burried beneath the sand while molting, so they are not the most exciting animals to own, even though they can last a long time in captivity.

When I was growing up I had some anole lizards and still had some of the supplies to use for them such as a terrarium, heat rock, and a lid with lights. However, once everything was set up in the terrarium, it seemed like it was missing something and the anoles did not seem as happy as they could be. So, after doing some reading in an anole book we had purchased, we decided to set up a little mason jar with pothos cuttings and water and see if that would work. After drilling some holes in the lid for the jar, I filled up the mason jar with water, placed the pothos cuttings in, and placed it into the terrarium. I then put some of the substrate for the terrarium on the lid of the jar to make it look a little more natural.

So far the cuttings seem to be doing well and the anoles seem to be happier since they now have a place to hide and the pothos also allows them to drink droplets of water off the pothos leaves.

If this idea does not work I think we will try planting a pothos directly into soil in the terrarium, but for now we will keep our fingers crossed that this idea will succeed!

China Doll Plant: Mealybug Alert!

2008-12-05T10:25:00.005-06:00

(The first sign of mealybugs on November 14th. The small mealybug pests are bright write, small, and hard to get in focus with my digital camera.)
The China Doll Plant or Radermachia sinica that I had purchased for $1.25 in the middle of September to grow at my office (read about it here as well as in a later post) has unfortunately become the breeding ground for what appears to be mealybugs. This is the first work plant to be killed off by a pest.

I had noticed that the plant had a few mealybugs on it a few weeks ago and decided that the plant was a lost cause so I placed it in a different room to be quarantined so that I could eventually throw it into the trash. However, I got busy with work, then Thanksgiving came along, so yesterday I remembered that I needed to throw the plant away.

(December 5th: The mealybugs are now larger and covered with a hard outer shell. Click on the photo for a larger, more detailed view.)
In the meantime, at our work we have a cleaning lady that comes once a week who also seems to like plants but she does not speak that much English so I cannot really talk about plants with her. Anyway, the other day I noticed her leaving the room where the China Doll plant was left to die, as well another small empty office near that which also has a few of my plants, and what she had an empty bottle in her hand. What could she have been doing with that, I thought to myself. Sure enough, I went and checked on the plants when she left and noticed that she had watered all of them, even though I had just watered most of them the Wednesday before Thanksgiving and then the others on Monday. If I had not noticed that she had watered them again that day, I would have over-watered them since it was not in my normal watering schedule and they were still wet about a quarter-of-an-inch down.

All of my other plants which are not infested with mealybugs or other pests are doing great and do not need to be over-watered. From now on I will try to make sure all of the watering of my plants is done by me!

Regardless, I did not want to take the time to try to nurse the China Doll plant back to full health so it has been discarded. Additionally, the plant which was growing next to it for several weeks, the Chrysalidocarpus lutescens (Areca Palm) was not doing the best either and was thrown away.

Project: Fittonia Propagation

2008-11-26T10:52:00.004-06:00

While I was at work on November 12th, I decided that it was time to try propagating my pink Fittonia (Fittonia argyroneura) because it was starting to get a little out of control, so I gathered up all of the tools I needed and started with the project.

The tools I used were:

Bonsai trimming shears
Plastic cups
Houseplant soil
1 Plastic Ziploc bag

After doing some research, I found that one of the easiest methods for fittonia propagation is by using stem cuttings. I used the bonsai trimming shears to cut the fittonia stems, selecting stems with 4 to 5 leaves. I put some houseplant soil into the two plastic cups I had, placed the cut stems about an inch down into the soil, and then packed the soil around the base of the stem. I then watered the cuttings, placed them into a plastic ziploc bag, and then sprayed them with water. The last step in the process was to blow air into the bag to expand it so that the plants had room to grow. Once the air was blown into the bags they were closed and the bags were placed on the top of a storage cabinet, which is about a foot below the fluorescent lighting fixture.

Every couple of days I spray more water, blow air into the bag, and reseal it. So far this has been working well and the cuttings appear to be growing.

There will be a status update in the future to check on the progress of the cuttings.

Update: Schlumbergera Rooting Project...Now Flowering

2008-11-25T11:29:00.006-06:00

If you have been reading this blog since last winter you will be happy to know that the Schlumbergera truncata (or Thanksgiving Cactus/Holiday Cactus) that I rooted and planted in a plastic cup -- (Read about it here and then in a subsequent post) -- is doing well and is currently flowering.

The Beginning of the Project: January 2008

In order to demonstrate how far this plant has progressed since I started this project in January, here are the photos from when I first started this project:

The cuttings were planted in their own plastic cup "pot" in the end of February. They survived the move to the house Annah and I are renting and have been growing in their new location since the middle of August.

The First Flower:

The cooler temperatures in last month or two have done wonders for all of the Schlumbergera truncata's (Thanksgiving Cacti) at our house and this is only the first of many blooms at our house. (The pictures below are close-ups of the flower shown at the top of this post)

This is the second Schlumbergera truncata post in recent weeks and will surely not be the last. Look forward for more to come in the upcoming weeks! Don't worry though, I will be posting about other houseplants/flowers besides Schlumbergera truncata's!

Rambutan ("Nephelium lappaceum")

2008-11-19T09:42:00.021-06:00

This is a non plant-related post regarding a tropical fruit that I recently found at the grocery store. Annah and I had purchased a freeze-dried variety at a nearby Trader Joe's Store but this was the first time I was able to find the whole fresh fruit for sale at a grocery store.

What is a rambutan? You may be thinking that it looks like something from a Dr. Seuss book, eh? I think it does. Well, according to Wikipedia:

The rambutan (IPA: [ramˈbu.t̪ɑn], Nephelium lappaceum) is a medium-sized tropical tree in the family Sapindaceae, and the fruit of this tree. It is probably native to Southeast Asia, although its precise natural distribution is unknown. It is closely related to several other edible tropical fruits including the Lychee, Longan and Mamoncillo. It is believed to be native to the Malay Archipelago. Rambutan in Indonesian or Malay literally means hairy or hairy fruit caused by the 'hair' that covers this fruit. In Panama, Costa Rica, and Nicaragua, it is known as mamón chino. There is a second species regularly for sale at Malay markets which is known as "wild" rambutan. It is a little smaller than the usual red variety and is colored yellow.

and from Rambutan.com:

The rambutan, Nephelium lappaceum, is a fruit considered exotic to people outside of its native range. To people of Malaysia, Thailand, the Phillippines, Vietnam, Borneo, and other countries of this region, the rambutan is a relatively common fruit the same way an apple is common to many people in cooler climates. This may change for the rambutan over time as availability and distribution improve.

The package, which contained four rambutan, sold for $2.50, so each individual fruit cost 62 cents. This is expensive but I thought it would be worth it since they are only in season for a few weeks or months. This specific variety was grown in Guatemala.

I wonder how fresh these rambutan actually were since they were not nearly as red as freshly picked rambutan, but that is to be expected for fruit that had to be shipped all the way here to Minnesota.

According to Rambutan.com:

The best fruit have little or no black forming on the tips of the soft spines...[but also explains how...] The soft spines, or spinterns, are safe to handle and lose a lot of water after the fruit has been picked. For this reason, to hold them for any length of time in refrigeration requires some sort of plastic film to slow down the moisture loss. The spinterns may turn black within days after harvest but the fruit inside remains quite fresh and tasty for several days or a week longer. If the humidity is high, then the fruit can be held at room temperature in a plastic bag that is not sealed but rather loosely closed.

Perhaps the quality of these rambutan were indeed sufficient to adequately experience the flavor of a raw rambutan.

Regardless, peeling a rambutan is quite simple. Take a knife and lightly cut the outer skin all the way around the entire fruit.

Once you have cut around the entire fruit you can peel the skin open.

Pull the two pieces completely apart and you will see the white fruit inside.

Just by looking closely at this fruit you can tell that it will be juicy. It also happens to be rather sweet and delicious.

Once all of the flesh from the fruit has been removed it will look like this.

Annah and I would try to grow a plant from this seed if were living in a warmer climate as well as an area where the plant would grow. This is what it would look like if we were able to grow our own!

If you are able to find rambutan in your area and you have not tried it before then you should!

Photo Credits: Top picture of rambutan fruit is from Wikipedia, which was denoted as being in the public domain. The Photos of the rambutan being picked from the tree(s) are from the United States Department of Agriculture: Agricultural Research Center.

Schlumbergera truncata 'Dark Marie'

2008-11-14T10:00:00.000-06:00

(Schlumbergera truncata 'Dark Marie' flower.)
On Monday of this week the blossom on my Schlumbergera truncata 'Dark Marie' at work finally opened up completely. I was very happy and astonished by the beauty of this flower since I had forgotten how beautiful it was due to this plant only producing one flower last year (which you can read more about that in this post).

I took several pictures while it was in the process of blooming so that I could document the flowering process after the flower buds had come out.

Unfortunately this flower did not last for that long since by today it had already wilted and is starting to wither away (see picture below). Fortunately there are other flower buds on the plant that are also getting ready to bloom and they will soon add another splash of beauty and color to my work office!

(Dead Schlumbergera truncata 'Dark Marie' flower.)

Dehydrated Apple Chips

2008-11-11T11:27:00.004-06:00

During each weekend for the past month or so I have been making dehydrated apple ring chips so that we can enjoy the wonderful fall apples throughout the winter. It is fairly simple to make your own and in this post I will document the method which I have developed.

Firstly, you will need the following items (as shown above):

Paring knife
Cutting Board
Mandoline Slicer
1 Plate
Apples
Dehydrator

The first step, after washing the apples, is to cut the core out of the apple with a paring knife. I usually try to cut square on both the top and bottom of the apple so that I can just use my thumb to push the core out of the apple and into the garbage. This usually works pretty well as long as I get a clean cut on both the top and bottom of the apple. For this batch of apple chips I used one Honeycrisp apple, which I had purchased at a local Orchard, and then some cheaper and less tasty apples from the grocery store, the specific type I am not sure of. The Honeycrisp apples seem to make the best apple chips since they are full of sweetness and incredible apple flavor.

The next step in the process is to slice the apples into rings. I use an Oxo Good Grips Mandoline Slicer and it works very well. I would recommend buying one if you don't already have one because not only can you use the slicer to make apple chips, but also potato chips and fancy sliced fruits and vegetables for all of your meals! Anyway, as you can see in the picture above, the apples will slice best if they are perfectly round, but the apple I used before taking the picture was not perfect and therefore resulted in some apple rings which were not perfect.

The dehydrator, which I am borrowing from my parents, is an Nesco American Harvest FD-61 Snackmaster Encore Dehydrator and Jerky Maker which has also worked very well. As the name suggests, it's not only for making your own fruit snacks but your own jerky as well. If you buy one of these you'll find yourself making wonderfully tasty and nutritious snacks of your own!

Once you have sliced all of the apples you can place them on the racks of the dehydrator, making sure that none of them are overlapping since this will result in them not drying correctly. Some instructions suggest that you apply lemon juice, ascorbic acid, or other things to prevent discoloration by oxidation, but I haven't used any of those yet and I have not had any problems with the apple chips. Additionally, I enjoy the natural apple flavor and I am unsure I would want any other flavors added to the apple chips.

The dehydrator has seven different settings ranging from 95 degrees Fahrenheit to 155 degrees Fahrenheit. The instruction book that is included with the dehydrator specifies which temperature to use depending on what you are drying. For apples you need to dry them at 145 degrees for about six to eight hours. You can check intermittently to see how the drying process is progressing, but try to leave the lid on so that too much heat is not lost from the unit.

You can tell that the apple chips are ready when you take the chips out and they are crisp and brittle. Sometimes you will need to take the chips out and let them cool before you are able to determine if they are ready or not. See the images below to see how ours looked when they were done.

For storage, I usually just use a quart size ziplock bag and set them on the counter. This allows for easy access when your apple chip craving strikes!

A Few Remaining Outdoor Plants

2008-11-03T16:50:00.005-06:00

(NOID Plant...any ideas?)
During the past few days here in Minnesota we have been having an unseasonably warm stretch of days in the 60's and 70's, which is not what the weather should be around here. Normally at this time of the year its in the 30's and 40's and there is a usually a lingering threat of snow. I'm not going to complain though. The warm weather gave me the chance to go outside during a lunchtime visit to my parent's house. I was surprised to find the white flowers in bloom (see picture above and below) although I was unable to identify them.

(NOID Plant)
I also found my Easter Lilies (Lilium longiflorum), which I had placed out in the yard when I was still living there. I never got around to actually growing them in the garden and I am wondering if I'll be able to bring them inside during the winter. I will have to do some research on that, but luckily they are still alive and green.

(Easter Lily #1.)
(Easter Lily #2.)
I also found some Sage (Salvia officinalis) and Rosemary (Rosmarinus officinalis) still clinging to life and ready for use in our future cooking adventures.
(Sage and Rosemary.)
Unfortunately this warm weather will not last so we better enjoy it while it does!

A Scary Sight: Dead Tomato Plants!

2008-10-30T16:22:00.004-05:00

(Dead tomato plants, isn't that scary? Haha. In the lower right hand corner of the picture you can see my parents' dog, Lucy.)
Just thought I would post something scary for Halloween, or at least the day before Halloween. The only thing I could think of is this picture of dead tomato plants in my parents' backyard that were killed off by the frost a few weeks ago. Since I love tomatoes so much, and since I thoroughly enjoyed eating all of the wonderfully delicious heirloom tomatoes this year, this is truly a sad and scary sight for me to see out in the garden!

Potted Banana Pepper Plant Experiment & A Recipe

2008-10-29T10:05:00.005-05:00

You may remember my post on September 9th regarding my garden vegetables and an experiment I was doing which involved growing two banana pepper plants in pots out on the patio. Well, I was finally able to pick all of them the night before the first frost about two weeks ago. The results of this experiment were pretty good with the plants producing about 30 or so banana peppers for us to eat. Unfortunately I was not able to take a picture of the full harvest and as of now only a handful of peppers are left. We have been using them in several meals such as a stir fry one night, burritos, and basically anything that seems like it needs banana peppers.

I decided to include a recipe in this post which used some of these banana peppers. I like to be adventurous and try different combinations with my recipes and the other night I developed an interesting concoction for dinner.

The recipe included:

1 Flour Tortilla
1 Handful of Mixed Baby Greens
2-3 Banana Peppers, sliced or chopped
1-2 Tomatoes, chopped
4-5 Pieces of Tender Cactus (Strange? Yes, but I like to try new things.)
Cheese, as much as you want

Heat this up in the microwave until warm then add the following:

1 Teaspoon of Sour Cream
1 Teaspoon of Green Tomatillo Sauce
A sprinkle of Cayenne Pepper powder

Anyway, I just thought I'd post this interesting recipe, you should try it if you want!

Sansevieria Sprout

2008-10-28T14:59:00.000-05:00

In late spring of this year, while I was transferring my work sansevieria into a new pot, I broke off relatively new leaf and was unsure what to do with it. I had done some research into how to propagate sansevieria's and came to the conclusion that only the larger and more mature leaves would be able to send out rhizomes and eventually a new leaf. Ignoring this bit of research, I decided just to try propagating this young leaf and see what happened.

I watered approximately every 7-10 days for the past five to six months and it had been in my office at work getting fluorescent lighting and temperatures around 70. About a month ago I decided to bring it home and place it on a sunny windowsill. Basically I just let it get some real sunshine for a couple of weeks and I pretty much forgot about it and didn't really closely examine the plant. Well, today at lunch I decided to go water it and low and behold there was some new leaf sprouting out of the ground. Hopefully this will develop into a mature and tall leaf to help make this plant look better.

There will be an update on this plant in the future.

Orchid Updates...and Snow in October?!

2008-10-27T13:50:00.005-05:00

You may remember our post about our first Phalaenopsis Orchid. Well, Annah and I purchased another orchid about a month ago when we traveled up to IKEA to purchase a piece of furniture for our house. The newest orchid is the pink one on the right. Upon closer inspection you can see the amazing perfection and beauty of all of our orchid flowers. Click on any of the photos to see the larger picture of them. The white and pink orchid is the first one we had purchased and is still doing well. (All of these pictures were taken a month ago on September 27th except for the last three pictures at the bottom of the post.)

Scroll down to view the pictures of our orchids and then read more about the newest pictures of these orchids (and our October snow!) which I took yesterday.

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October 26th, 2008

Yesterday I decided to take more pictures to put in this post. The lighting in the room was not the best for taking these pictures, since it was late in the afternoon, but you can still get a general idea of what the orchids currently look like. All of the flowers are currently in bloom and they are both a delight to see in our bedroom. The temperature in the house is a little cooler than it was in the summertime, but the room still usually remains above 65 degrees and the orchids have so far not shown any signs of distress. They actually seem to be doing well and each of them even has new growth. It will be interesting to see if this new growth will bloom for us. In the future we definitely want to purchase more orchids to add to our plant collection!

It seems like it is a few weeks early for us to be getting snow here in Minnesota, but yesterday we had a cold, blustery, and overall awful day outside. The snow only amounted to a dusting of flurries during the day but it was the wind and the wind chill that made it awful outside. The 35-55 mph winds outside did not help the comfort level outside either. Hopefully we will have a few more nice fall days before winter is here for real.

Schlumbergera Flower Buds & More

2008-10-20T10:10:00.000-05:00

My Schlumbergera truncata 'Dark Marie' or "Thanksgiving Cactus" at work is sending out blossoms in preparation for the upcoming bloom, which will probably occur next month. This is the first schlumbergera, of the numerous plants Annah and I purchased last year, to begin flowering.

Last year this plant only fully produced one flower due to the fact that it was adapting to new surroundings here in my office at work. During the weekend my office is darker, although not completely dark, and the office is probably around 60-65 degrees. This has probably helped induce the plant to start these flower buds.

My Dieffenbachia 'Perfection' at work has new growth on it and the plant in general is looking good. I have a slight concern that I may have spider mites or other pests starting to colonize this plant. I will have to continue monitoring this and provide pictures eventually to see if the problem can be diagnosed.

My China Doll (Radermachia sinica) plant is doing well since my post on my office plants. It has grown a couple of inches and has so far survived longer than the China Doll plant Annah's mom had owned. The colder weather, less humid air, and reduced amount of sunlight, might be detrimental to this plant's health in the upcoming months, but we shall see.

It's Time to Share Six (More) Random Things About Us

2008-10-17T10:10:00.005-05:00

It's time for a short break from posting about gardening and plants and instead we will post some tidbits of information about Annah and myself.

Mr. Subjunctive at Plants Are The Strangest People tagged the two of us here at PlantCrazy to write about ourselves in a post. He tagged us way back on Wednesday, July 23, 2008 in this post, but with our vacation, the move to our new house, and work, the post we had started got lost in the mix, so now we are posting our own Six Random Things about us. We had previously been tagged a while back in February, when we wrote Seven Random Things About Us, but we could have written more about each of those things but we didn't at the time. Therefore, in honor of Mr. Subjunctive's most gracious invitation to participate in this most wonderful event, we are posting more random information about ourselves. Enjoy!

So the "rules" are:

* Link to the person who tagged you. (above)
* Post the rules on the blog. (Did that)
* Write six random things about yourself. (Yup)
* ~~Tag six people at the end of your post. (not going to happen)~~
* ~~Let each person know they have been tagged by leaving a comment on their blog.~~
* Let the tagger know when your entry is up. (Yup)

Six things:

Annah and I met in elementary school when we were in the same class where she was in fifth grade and I was in sixth. The school combined fifth, sixth, seventh, and eighth graders (supposedly) into an "uppers" class. Basically we only "knew" of each other since we were both shy and we had different friends, but we met in that class. After that year in school, Annah went off to one middle school and I went to another. We were reintroduced to each other through mutual friends late in high school and our friendship was strong from the beginning. After high school, we each went to different colleges but we both kept in contact with each other and remained good friends. After college we both returned to our hometown and eventually we started dating and fell in love. We eventually plan on getting married* (see #6), buying a house, and having kids.
I am a graduate from Luther College, where my major was Political Science. I have had an interest in politics and political theory for a long time and it seemed like the right choice for me to major in Political Science. However, with it also being a general degree as well, I have currently not really applied what I learned in college to my current job. I work as a Billing Specialist/Administrative Assistant which does not directly relate at all to my degree, but it has been a good job nevertheless.

Annah is a graduate from Minnesota State University Moorhead where she received a degree in Early Childhood Special Education and she currently works as a teacher in Southeastern Minnesota.

A "random" thing about us is that we like to shop at IKEA and some people might even consider us to be "IKEA Addicts". In the past year Annah and I have made numerous trips up to the IKEA store in the Twin Cities, usually when we are visiting her relatives in the area. We like the store because they have a good selection of plants which always seem to do well and they have decent furniture for reasonable prices. Most of the furniture in our house that we are renting came from IKEA and we probably have about 10-15 plants that were purchased there as well.

In our previous post about random things about us in February, we had stated that we had two hermit crabs. We now have eight hermit crabs in two separate aquariums. We have four large hermit crabs housed in a 55+ gallon aquarium and then we have four smaller and younger hermit crabs housed in a 20 gallon aquarium. Each aquarium includes sand from Florida, various types of caves, huts, and numerous things for them to climb on. This is going to be our first winter with them so we will have to see if they will survive since they need to have temperatures between 70-85 degrees and humidity somewhere between 70 and 90 percent. Hopefully the brutal Minnesota winter will not kill our hermit crabs or our plants! (You can check out our Hermit Crab Crazy blog for more information!)

Prior to collecting plants and hermit crabs, Annah and I had other items which we collected and which we still own. When I was younger I used to collect different types of rocks and cheap gemstones. I enjoyed collecting agates, different types of quarts, amethyst, or basically anything that caught my eye. I still have boxes of rocks that I need to polish and/or find a place for at the new house. There is still the possibility that I will someday start collecting rocks again.

Annah collected snow globes and currently owns about 40 of them although she does not actively collect them any more. In addition to this she also collected Beanie Babies, with her collection reaching 150, although she doesn't actively collect these any more either.

If you notice in the "About Us" section on the right-hand side of the page, Annah is now my fiancée, and if you were wondering how we became engaged we will tell you the story now. During our trip to Oregon in August, where we were visiting my grandma and one of our friends from high school. One of our many stops was to the beach down in Bandon, Oregon. While we were walking on the beach, Annah decided that she wanted to climb up a rock to get a better view of the ocean and also because she likes to climb rocks, so I decided that it was an excellent time to propose. After we reached the top, I pulled out the ring and asked her if she would marry me. She said yes. Our current plans are to get married either in the fall of 2009 or the fall of 2010.

Home-Canned Tomatoes

2008-10-10T15:30:00.005-05:00

(The most recent batch canned by my dad on 10/09/08)
Over the past month my parents, along with a little help from Annah and I, have been canning stewed tomatoes and tomato juice. It is a lot of work to can tomatoes, but it is very wonderful and refreshing to be able to open up some home-canned tomatoes in the middle of winter here in Minnesota, especially when the temperature is below zero and it is snowing outside. Below is a brief description of the canning process we use. This is by no means an extensive "How-To" guide and should not be followed as such.

(These are the tomatoes that still need to be canned. Last week my mom purchased one bushel and got two for free! This has resulted in a lot of work for my dad and for Annah and I when we're there to help.)
Our supply of tomatoes this year came primarily from local vegetable farms and my eldest sister's garden. ¹ In the future we are planning on planting more tomato plants at my sister's garden so that we do not have to purchase any tomatoes from other local farms if at all possible since it is somewhat expensive to buy a bushel of tomatoes.

The first step after purchasing them is to sort through the tomatoes to make sure that none of them are split, rotten, or otherwise unfit for canning. ² The next step is washing the tomatoes to remove any dirt that may be present on the tomatoes.

(These tomatoes, since they have a lot of imperfections, will be used to make tomato juice. The process for tomato juice is similar, but you have to smash the juice out of them, which is a great stress reliever!)
The next step is to place the tomatoes into boiling water for about 30-60 seconds and then immediately place them into chilled water. This process loosens the skin and allows it to be easily removed. This step also requires the core of the tomato to be removed.

Once you have removed the skin from all of the tomatoes that are being prepared, the next step is to cut up the tomatoes and place them into a pot. Stew the tomatoes over medium to high heat.

For canning, make sure all of the jars have been sterilized (this can be accomplished by place the jars in the dishwasher for a cycle) and make sure you have brand new lids so that the jars and lids form a seal during the canning process.

My parents use their pressure cooker to actually can the tomatoes, which has worked wonderfully since they got the pressure back in seventies when they started canning their own tomatoes. If you decide to use a pressure cooker to can you will need to follow the instructions that came with your specific pressure cooker for exact instructions. For information on the other method of canning, which is a Boiling Water Bath, you can check out this link at "Tomato Casual".

(This is the shelving unit at my parent's house. Annah and I have our own built-in shelf for our canned tomatoes, so hopefully between the two houses we will have enough space!)
We are still working on getting the rest of the tomatoes canned (as you can see how many we have remaining on the table in the second picture of the post, as seen above) and hopefully we will not run out of space in our canned food storage area!

Footnotes:

¹ - I had intended on documenting my sister's garden throughout the summer to be able to see how the garden progressed and in the end I was hoping to have a wonderful post regarding the harvest. Annah and I, however, became very busy in late July through the end of September since we moved into our own house in a different town, went on vacation for a week, we became very busy at work, and my attention on the blog was focused on other things. Hopefully next year (if the blog is still up and running) we will be able to more adequately document the entire growing season at my sister's garden.

² - Picking your own tomatoes will help to speed up this process since the tomatoes will have already been sorted while picking them.

Shore Acres State Park - Coos Bay, Oregon

2008-10-02T08:30:00.004-05:00

NOTE: Due to the high number of pictures in this post, the page might take a while to load for those of you with dial-up connections!

One afternoon while vacationing along the Oregon Coast this past August, Annah and I visited Shore Acres State Park, which is located in Coos Bay. The reason why we were in Coos Bay, Oregon in the first place was to visit my paternal grandmother who lives out there. My parents and I had been to Shore Acres State Park before during previous visits out there, but it is a nice and quaint destination which was exactly what we were looking for one afternoon.

Here is a little description of Shore Acres State Park from The Friends of Shore Acres website (http://www.shoreacres.net/)

Perched on a scenic bluff above the Pacific Ocean, Shore Acres began as a private estate with luxurious gardens featuring trees, shrubs, and flowering plants brought from around the world aboard the sailing ships of pioneer lumberman and shipbuilder Louis J. Simpson.

[The Gardens Include:]
Hundreds of spring bulbs and daffodils - late Feb. thru March
5,000 tulips - late March thru April
Hundreds of rhododendrons and azaleas - April thru mid-May
5,000 flowering annuals/perennials - May thru Sept.
600 rose bushes - June thru Sept.
250 dahlias - Aug. thru mid-Oct.
250,000 or more holiday lights (almost all L.E.D.)- Thanksgiving thru New Year's Eve.
Hundreds of spring bulbs and daffodils - late Feb. thru Mar.

The weather that day was in 60s, cloudy, and lightly misting. Although sunshine would have been nice, this light mist created an environment that was very calm and soothing. The peak time for the sensational rose blossoms had already passed by, but there were plenty of other flowers to look at and photograph. We were also able to see some rabbits and a friendly chipmunk. It was delightful!

If you are ever out along the Oregon Coast and want to do something other than visiting the beaches or going fishing, then you should check out this wonderful little state park in Coos Bay!

Enjoy the pictures!

Office Plants: Part 2

2008-09-26T14:40:00.005-05:00

(Office plants on the windowsill)
This is the second post regarding my office plants. This post will look at the plants which grow on the windowsill in my office.

(Ardisia japonica 'variegata')
Ardisia japonica 'variegata'

I had written about my Ardisia japonica 'variegata' plant in January of this year. Since that time it has grown quite a bit but it still remains in the same pot as it was in at that time and is probably due for a new pot. It receives both fluorescent light and light reflected off some of the metal siding of the office building where I work. It normally gets watered about once a week and has only once started to wilt due to lack of watering on time. In the previous post I had written about it I envisioned this plant being able to produce some berries or small fruit, which I had read about while researching the plant, but thus far it has not produced anything beyond new growth. It obviously does not have the appropriate conditions to produce such fruit. The most likely reason for the lack of fruit is inadequate sunlight. Regardless, it still adds a little variety to my office plants with the variegation on the leaves. I had previously recommended it as an office plant and this recommendation still holds true. Go out and buy one for yourself!

(Hedera helix "Ivy")
Hedera helix "Ivy"

This Ivy plant was purchased back in January and you may have seen a picture of it in another post I did recently regarding an anniversary present, but this plant is another plant that provides a nice variety of color with it's variegated leaves. This plant has been doing well since I purchased it. The one thing that the plant seems to dislike is the amount of light it receives since it wants to grow towards the light outside and this has resulted in all of the leaves facing toward the window. This is not really a problem or anything, since I still like the plant, but I might have changed the location of the plant if I had known that it would grow like that.

(Crassula ovata "Jade")
Crassula ovata "Jade"

This Jade plant was purchased at Wal-Mart, which is not really known for their plants, but it sometimes offers somewhat decent plants. The plant has been growing well for the past year, although the speed of growth has never been all that impressive. The plant does not receive any actual sunlight in my office, once again only receiving reflective light off the metal of the building, but it does receive about eight hours of sunlight per weekday. It gets watered about once every seven to ten days, and since it is a succulent this watering schedules seems to be adequate. The plant itself is about ready for a new pot, but like my other plants needing a larger pot, I just haven't had enough time to get around to moving them. Also, you may notice that the plant has googly eyes on it and for more information as to why this is the case, you can read about it in this post. This plant is great if your office receives enough light or will have an adequate amount of fluorescent lighting. For only a few dollars to buy one of these plants, go ahead and try to grow one of these in your office!

(Schlumbergera "Christmas Cactus")
Schlumbergera "Christmas Cactus"

My Schlumbergera or Christmas cactus (Thanksgiving Cactus, Holiday Cactus, whatever you want to call it...) has been doing fine in the office. I have had it in the office since last December. For a while this plant did not really do anything at all, but since May it has pushed out some new growth and looks relatively healthy. Hopefully I will be able to get this plant (or any of my other schlums) to bloom this year. This is also an easy plant that I would recommend for someone looking for a plant to have in their office.

(Ficus retusa "Ginseng Ficus")
Ficus retusa "Ginseng Ficus"

This is another plant that was written about previously. This Ficus retusa is still alive and has been doing rather well, although from looking at the picture of it in the previous post, which was taken back in January, I can tell that the leaves have thinned out a bit. This is likely due to slight changes in lighting or temperature which have occurred over the months. Additionally, there was one time for this plant where it may not have been correctly watered. Another change I made to this plant, on the great advice from readers, was to remove the rocks which had been glued on top of the soil. This has made it easier to tell when to water it and I think it has made the plant healthier. At the same time, however, I think it resulted in some temporary leaf loss, although the plant has since stabilized if it was indeed a result of moving the glued rock layer. This plant also, like the Jade plant, has two googly eyes on it. This is a nice plant, although it is sometimes fussy, so be aware of that if you want to buy one.

(Fittonia argyroneura 'Pink Vein')
Fittonia argyroneura 'Pink Vein'

My Fittonia argyroneura 'Pink Vein', which is just one of many of my fittonia's, is a plant that adds more color to my office. This plant is one of my favorite office plants and it has been very easy to take care of. It does very well with the fluorescent lighting in my office and it also enjoys getting the reflected light from outside. The most difficult aspect of taking care of this plant is being able to tell when it needs to be watered. If I do not water it exactly at the right time, the plant gets very fussy and will wilt, which basically makes the plant look like it has passed out. It is a beautiful plant and I recommend it if you are looking for a nice office plant.

(My Sansevieria trifasciata when it was blooming)
Sansevieria

One of the non-windowsill plants, which I forgot to include in the first part of the Office Plant posts, is my Sansevieria. The reason why I forgot to include it in the other post is because it is located at the other end of the building and I normally only see if when I go to water it. I had written a post in July about how the plant was blooming, and the plant has not done anything else since then. It is still alive and doing well. Sansevieria plants are great for the office because they do not require all that much light, so they are yet another recommended plant for your office.

Office Plants: Part 1

2008-09-23T09:20:00.006-05:00

This is the first of two posts regarding my office plants. Enjoy!

(Epipremnum aureum or Pothos)
It has almost been a year since I wrote the first post on this blog entitled "The Tale of a Troubled Pothos", and then a subsequent post about the status of the plant in "Work Pothos Update", where I chronicled having to save a pot-bound pothos. The plant has been growing wonderfully since it was repotted in December 2007. It seems to enjoy and flourish behind my computer monitor which I use extensively for my work. Hopefully it will not completely wrap around my monitor otherwise my boss might not be too happy!

(Dieffenbachia 'Perfection')
The next plant, which is pictured above, is a Dieffenbachia 'Perfection'. It was purchased from Lowe's last week since they were having a 75% off sale on their tropicals, so I was able to purchase this plant for around $1.25, which seems like a steal for such a nice looking plant. Annah and I have another one of these dieffenbachia's at our house.

(Zamioculcas Zamiifolia or "ZZ Plant")
The next work plant is my Zamioculcas zamiifolia ("ZZ Plant"), which you can read about in an older post here. Earlier this spring this plant was very busy sending up new growth all over the place and by the time it was all done it had pretty much doubled in size. Since then, however, not much has really happened with this plant and it is probably due to be moved to a new pot one of these days. It is one of my favorite plants at work since it does not require much work except for the occasional watering.

(From left to right: Pachira aquatica ["Money Tree"], Radermachia sinica ["China Doll"], and Chrysalidocarpus lutescens ["Areca Palm"])
The next group of plants are located at a west-facing doorway, so it receives the afternoon sun. It is also a door that is not frequently used so the temperature and humidity usually stay rather constant. The individual plants will be discussed below.

(Pachira aquatica or "Money Tree")
The first of these plants is a Pachira aquatica or Money Tree, which I guess is technically not my plant, but is instead belongs to my boss. It was given to him by me and my fellow coworkers for his birthday in September of 2007. I have been taking care of it and watering it since then. The plant has been doing rather well, although it has lost some leaves due to problems of either watering too much or too little. There was also a period of time when the plant was struggling because it was in too small of a pot. Sometime around May I repotted this plant into the green pot you see now. The plant still might need some work to get it to grow better, but at the current time this plant seems to be doing just fine.

(On the left is the Radermachia sinica or "China Doll"; On the right is the Chrysalidocarpus lutescens or "Areca Palm)
The two other plants growing in this part of the office are the "China Doll" (Radermachia sinica) on the left and the "Areca palm" (Chrysalidocarpus lutescens) on the right. These were two other plants that were purchased from Lowe's during their 75% off sale on tropical plants, and they seemed like a good deal for $1.25 each! I do have some concern with the China Doll plant since Annah's mom tried to grow one of these plants but did not succeed in doing so. It has so far survived one week in the office and has hopefully received an adequate amount of light and water. There will be a future update on this plant to see whether it has survived or not. The Areca palm has also survived the past week and also seems to be getting an adequate amount of sunlight, although it is my first Areca palm so I hope I will be able to grow it!

Check back in a few days for the second post regarding my office plants!

Anniversary Gifts: Ivy Topiary & Roses

2008-09-18T14:30:00.000-05:00

The second post of the day! Wow!

For our anniversary yesterday, Annah bought an Ivy Topiary (Hedera helix) for me along with a little garden/house plaque to brighten up our living room. For her, I bought a dozen red roses which you can see in the photo below (although only half are in that vase). I had thought about getting her another orchid to add to our collection, but decided against it since we are still determining whether or not we can keep our first and only orchid alive. The roses are beautiful and they will add a lovely splash of the color red to our house, even though they will not last forever.

This Ivy Topiary is my first experience with a topiary. I guess having a topiary means that I will have to sculpt and maintain the shape of the plant into something that looks nice and presentable. We will see how that goes. The other Ivy I have growing at work has been growing well in my office and has grown well since I got it in January (see photo below).

I'm confident that I will be able to grow the new Ivy and be able to keep it looking as nice as it is now.

Aglaonema spp. ("Chinese Evergreen")

2008-09-18T09:10:00.002-05:00

(Our Aglaonema 'Silver Bay')
Annah and I currently have two Aglaonema's (Aglaonemae?) at our house and they are two of our favorite plants. We have had them since early spring and they have been two of the easiest plants to take care of. The two different cultivars we have are an Aglaonema 'Emerald Beauty' and an Aglaonema 'Silver Bay'. The 'Emerald Beauty' was purchased at Lowe's, where we actually got this plant for free after the use of a coupon, and the 'Silver Bay' was purchased from Home Depot a few weeks later.

(Our Aglaonema 'Emerald Beauty')
Before the move to our own house, these Aglaonema's were growing in two different rooms of my parent's house, with the 'Emerald Beauty' growing in a warmer room, where the temperatures got up to as high as the upper 80's, and the 'Silver Bay' was in a room where the temperature only got up into the middle 70's. The humidity was usually around 50 to 60 percent for each plant and each received light from the afternoon sun. The new house has similar growing conditions for each plant so neither plant should be affected too much by the move. Each plant is watered every 7 to 10 days.

(Aglaonema 'Silver Bay' flower)
Both plants have bloomed since they were purchased. I have pictures from this summer when the 'Silver Bay' was blooming, and I thought I had pictures of the 'Emerald Beauty' flowering as well, but I cannot seem to find them.

(Aglaonema 'Silver Bay' flower and new leaf)
These plants have required very little grooming. The hardest job that I have had so far is removing the dead flower spaths from the plant. While these flowers add an interesting look to these plants, in the future I am considering whether or not I should remove the flowers right away so the plant does not have to waste energy on them.

Annah and I will be keeping our eyes open for any different or new cultivars that we can add to our plant collection since they are easy plants and they look good too!

For a more informative and wildly entertaining post on Aglaonema's, which also includes a lot of great pictures, you can check out this post at Plants Are The Strangest People!

Spider Mite Problem with Two of Our Plants

2008-09-12T09:20:00.002-05:00

(Strelitzia reginae on the left and Monstera deliciosa on the right)
Our Monstera deliciosa and Strelitzia reginae ("Bird of Paradise") that we purchased at a local grocery store, as you may have read about in the post about reaching our milestone of 100 plants, are both recovering from spider mite infestations. I noticed the first sign of spider mites on the Monstera deliciosa one afternoon while I was watering and pruning the plant, and I promptly sprayed the plant with my handy Safer's Insecticidal Soap. I quarantined the plant for several weeks, spraying the plant every 7 to 10 days with a new coating of the insecticidal soap, and the plant currently looks like it is free from spider mites. It is currently at our new house and seems to be growing just fine, but it remains quarantined from the rest of the house plants. The side angle of the Monstera above might not adequately show the true health of the plant since the picture makes it look somewhat flattened out. In reality, when the plant is viewed from the top the leaves and the rest of the plant look relatively healthy. If it does end up dying then I will likely purchase another one.

The Strelitzia reginae or "Bird of Paradise", which had been growing at Annah's apartment was apparently the perfect breeding ground for hundreds of spider mites. Neither of us had really noticed them until I lifted up the plant in preparation for the move. Instead of moving it right away, I once again used my Safer's Insecticidal Soap and quarantined it for a few weeks since we had a month to move everything out of her apartment. The last day of the month finally came in August and it has been at the new house ever since. It appears to be free of the spider mites, but it is still quarantined next to the Monstera deliciosa just as a precaution.

I am guessing that each of these plants were infected with a few spider mites at the time of purchase and then the growing conditions we were providing the plant were perfect for the spider mites to thrive. I had inspected the plant upon purchasing, but apparently I did not inspect it as thoroughly as I had thought. I will have to be more thorough next time so this will not happen again.

Garden & Houseplant Updates

2008-09-09T15:00:00.003-05:00

It has been a month since the last update about the garden at my parent's house, in which I described toward the end of that post a little experiment I was going to do with a few select plants that I had started from seed. I had started them with the intention of growing them in the garden only to later realize that there was not enough room in the garden. Well, you can take a look at the images below to see their progress. So far the plants have been growing well and are starting to produce fruit, although I'm not sure if any of the fruit will ripen to maturity by the time we have our first frost, but hopefully they will ripen. The region of the state where we live had a little scare last night with the temperatures dipping into the upper thirties for lows, but so far it does not appear that any of the plants succumbed as a result.

(The seedlings still growing...one of the banana pepper seedlings has a pepper!)
The actual tomato plants in the garden have been producing a fair amount of fruit. All of heirloom tomatoes this year have been extremely delicious and have varying colors and textures to brighten up the garden. Our selection for the dinner table include: Golden Sunray, Cherokee Purple, Brandywine, Red Zebra, Black Prince, Golden Peach, Green Zebra, Lemon Drop, and a Black Cherry variety. I will plan on growing all of these varieties in the future. You can purchase heirloom seeds online at Seed Savers Exchange.

(Golden Sunray)
(Red Zebra)
(Black Prince)
(Golden Peach)
(Green Zebra)
(Green Zebra)
(Black Cherry Tomato)
All of our cucumbers and squash got some sort of disease or virus and have died over the past few weeks (see picture below). As a result of this, my parents will only be planting tomatoes in this section of the garden in the future.

(Dead Cucumber plants and squash plant.)

Nearly all of our houseplants are at the new house and so far the transition has gone smoothly. There is a small glitch we are working out with our heating system in our house, but luckily it is not winter yet and all of the houseplants should survive. Our plants are neatly arranged in the top room of our house, where theoretically in the winter the heat from the rest of the house will rise up to that room to keep it warm enough, and the room should get sufficient sunlight throughout the winter months.

In the next few weeks I hope to have a post a more thorough update about our new house and the houseplants growing there. Also, if I have the chance I hope to write a post about my Aglaonemas, which are currently some of my favorite plants. So keep checking the website for more updates!

Our First Phalaenopsis Orchid

2008-08-30T16:17:00.009-05:00

This beautiful Phalaenopsis Orchid is our newest plant and the first plant we have purchased since moving into our new home. We bought it last weekend at Ikea for about ten dollars, which seemed like an acceptable price for such a pretty plant.
It is our first orchid so we are unfamiliar with the type of care necessary to keep it alive, so hopefully we will be able to learn how. It is currently growing on a plant stand next to a south facing window in our bedroom which has thus far stayed rather warm and has maintained somewhere around 45 to 65 percent humidity. We have not yet watered it, since it is still moist since we purchased it. The instructions on the plant said to water it by placing the plant in a bowl of water and then allow the orchid and soil to take up the water. I'm not sure if this is correct or not, so if any of you readers have any suggestions as to house to properly water this plant we would greatly appreciate your help!

Annah's grandparents have been able to keep their orchids alive, so at least we knew it was possible to keep them alive before we purchased them! We will also be contacting them to see what advice they have! We will be posting again in the future with an update regarding this orchid!

Adromischus cristatus flowers...and more!

2008-08-22T15:34:00.004-05:00

Annah and I are now back from our vacation and we have both been busy continuing to move stuff to our new house as well as getting caught up at work. This post has been in the works for a while since the Adromischus cristatus has taken several months to fully flower. Enjoy!

The Adromischus cristatus that Annah and I purchased back in May (see "100 Houseplants" post) has been slowly preparing for a bloom in the past three months and has finally decided that it is time to bloom. The flowers Adromischus cristatus flowers are truly something to behold since they are unlike any other flower that we currently have.

(The two pictures above which I the tried to get a picture of the entire Adromischus cristatus plant are not the greatest, but I hope you are able to get the general idea of what the plant looks like as a whole.)
Ever since bringing this plant home it has been growing next to a window that receives maybe 8-10 hours of sunlight combined with 12-14 hours of fluorescent light per day. It has been watered probably once every 7-10 days since buying it and is so far still in the plastic pot that it was purchased in with the excess water draining into a coffee cup which it sits in. (I have yet to purchase an actual plastic plant tray for the plant, but letting the water drain into this coffee cup seems to work well.)

The Lithops leslie 'albinica', which grows right next to the Adromischus cristatus has so far not really done anything, for better or worse, so I will continue to give it the same care that I've been giving it and see what happens.

It is probably time to head to one of the big plant stores in the Twin Cities to purchase some more plants in the Crassulaceae family since they are fun plants which are also easy to take care of!

In other houseplant news, the African Violet plant (above) that was flowering in a previous post is still flowering beautifully and more flower buds are getting ready to bloom. The other African violets are growing right next to this flowering plant but none of them have flowered recently, so I'm not exactly sure why they are not blooming since they are receiving the exact same care. We'll just have to wait and see, I guess!

Vegetable Garden Pictures

2008-08-08T09:34:00.001-05:00

The vegetable garden featured in this post is at my parent's hosue. Annah and I have recently moved in together (finally!) and I will only be staying at my parent's house on and off for the next few weeks where I will hopefully be able to enjoy some of the harvest! In addition to that, Annah and I are going on vacation starting tomorrow and we will not return until August 17th, so there will likely not be any posts in our absence.

This particular vegetable garden is small compared to my sister's garden, which we hope to post more about upon our return from vacation, but this garden is a decent sized garden that produces some vegetables for us. It is basically divided up into two sections which will be described below.

Section One: Cucumbers, Zucchini, and Eggplant

In this small space we have a zucchini plant, burpless cucumber plant, regular cucumber plant, and two eggplants. This is just starting to produce vegetables with cucumbers ready for picking and eggplants on the way. The zucchini will probably not be ready for a few more weeks.

(Eggplants)

Section Two: Tomatoes and Peppers

There are somewhere around ten varieties of tomatoes growing along the back of the house. Most of these are heirloom tomatoes purchased from the farmer's market in town or started from seeds purchased at Seed Savers Heritage Farm. Also growing in there are Serrano peppers and Green peppers, which we enjoy in salsa or just freshly picked.

(Tomato plants)
(Red Zebra Tomato)
(Red Zebra Tomato)
(Yellow Pear Tomato)
(Serrano Peppers)
(Extra plants...)
There wasn't enough space to transplant all of the plants into the garden, so I have left some of them to live out their lives in the containers which they were originally planted and only a few lucky ones were transplanted into larger pots. I am experimenting with this to see if these heirloom tomatoes will produce anything at all in those pots. I will post an update once I find out.

A Trip to Seed Savers Heritage Farm

2008-07-29T10:30:00.003-05:00

This past Saturday, Annah and I drove down to the Seed Savers Heritage Farm near Decorah, Iowa. Seed Savers is an organization that is dedicated to collecting, growing, and preserving heirloom seeds so that the genetic diversity of all plants can be maintained. I have been visiting Seed Savers for probably somewhere around 15 years, and they have a nice store (the barn you see in the second picture above), beautiful gardens, and a fantastic collection of plants.

Information about the Seed Saver's Preservation Gardens:

"More than 24,000 rare vegetable varieties are being permanently maintained at Heritage Farm, including 4,000 traditional varieties from Eastern Europe and Russia. About 10% of each crop is grown every summer, on a 10-year rotation, to grow fresh seed for the collections. Each summer up to 2,000 varieties are multiplied in 35 certified organic gardens (500 varieties of tomatoes, 500 beans, 125 peppers, etc.) that cover about 24 acres. Colorful display gardens beside the barn feature old-time flowers, vegetables and herbs that are especially rich in cultural history."¹

We spent a while in the store carefully picking through the bags of seeds and discussing what delightful plants we could grow in our yard next year. It was fun trying to plan out next year's flower garden and vegetable garden! After purchasing ten bags of seeds, which included tomatoes, snow peas, cucumber, spinach, arugula, borage, morning glory seeds, chrysanthemums, hollyhocks, and silverbeets. we then went out and walked through one of their small gardens where we took some photos of flowers and had a fun time!

Seed Savers also has an Historic Orchard:

"In 1900 there were about 8,000 named varieties of apples in the U.S., but the vast majority are already extinct and the rest are steadily dying out. In an attempt to halt this constant genetic erosion, SSE has obtained all of the pre-1900 varieties that still exist in government collections and large private collections, but has only found about 700 that remain of the 8,000 known in 1900. SSE has developed the most diverse, public orchard in the U.S. where those 700 different varieties of 19th century apples are on display. SSE’s Historic Orchard also contains many old grapes, including more than 100 breeding lines from the collection of famed grape breeder Elmer Swenson."¹

There are also Ancient White Park Cattle:

"These cattle roamed the British Isles before the time of Christ, and are described exactly in ancient Celtic lore. Today only about 800 of these extremely rare, wild cattle survive worldwide, including slightly more than 200 in the U.S. (and about 80 of those reside at Heritage Farm). These distinctive cattle have white coats, lyre-shaped horns with black tips, and black ears, noses, eyes, teats and hooves (and sometimes black is splashed from the hooves up the front shins toward the knees). The cows are intelligent, alert, quite hardy, healthy, and are aggressive grazers that favor brush."¹

I have had the pleasure of seeing the preservation gardens and the historic orchard, whereas Annah has only seen a fraction of the preservation gardens and not the historic orchard. I have not yet seen the Ancient White Park Cattle on the farm, but I plan to one of these days.

If any of you are in Northeast Iowa and have some free time then you should check out the Seed Savers Heritage Farm!

Sources:

¹From http://www.seedsavers.org/heritagefarm.asp

White Hollyhock (Alcea Rosea)

2008-07-24T16:00:00.001-05:00

I found this Hollyhock out in the garden last night and I think I've identified it as an Alcea rosea 'Chater's Double Icicle', which is a pure white hollyhock with a somewhat ruffled appearance. The plant, however, did not have a label on it so I cannot be sure of the exact type of Hollyhock. It is currently the only blossom on the plant.

Morning Glory (Ipomoea tricolor 'Heavenly Blue')

2008-07-24T08:25:00.001-05:00

These Morning Glory (Ipomoea tricolor 'Heavenly Blue') flowers, with their deep and intoxicating blue color, are yet another one of my favorite flowers out in the garden. While this plant isn't blooming profusely at the moment, the blossoms that it does have are simply amazing.

Garden Tour Flowers

2008-07-23T15:00:00.006-05:00

Last week Annah and I, along with my mother, toured four gardens in the Annual Garden Tour around town. Each garden was beautiful and each one had ideas which both Annah and I and my parents can implement into our own gardens. We didn't really take that many pictures, mostly due to the fact that it was very crowded, but we were able to snap a few pictures during the tour.

The first picture (to the right) is a tomato plant that has been trained to climb up single pole, which is far different from the way we have been growing our tomatoes. Usually we just plant the tomatoes and then place a metallic cage around them. When the plant branches out and gets really heavy this metal cage holds them up and allows for easy access to the tomatoes. Using a single pole instead allows you to train the tomato plant to grow up the pole by pinching off the branches that aren't from the main branch. This allows for what seems like a more efficient growing method for growing tomatoes. Unfortunately, our tomato plants are already too far along to implement this method this year, but we will definitely be trying it next year.

In the next picture, if you click on it to see a larger version of it, you will see three different varieties of Lilies. The first Lily starting from the left is a dark pink variety with white mixed in, the second Lily next to that is a plain pink one, and the last one in the back is a stunning dark red color. We will definitely have to purchase some of these because they are simply magnificent!

I've always liked Foxgloves (Digitalis purpurea) for some reason, and at the last garden we saw a beautiful plant with a few blossoms on it. In our own gardens we have yet to plant any Foxgloves, but it is on the list of things to be planted. Regardless, I took two pictures (see below) of the pink Foxgloves. Enjoy!
I'm not sure of the identity of the last plant that I photographed (below), but it is a beautiful flower and as soon as we find out the identity we will need to add it to our list of flowers to grow! Update: While researching hollyhocks tonight I found out that this flower is a Malva sylvestris 'Zebrina' or "French Hollyhock" so now we can officially add it to the list!

Stevia Rebaudiana - A Natural Sweetener

2008-07-16T12:30:00.004-05:00

I purchased two of these wonderful plants last month from one of the local garden stores. The Stevia Rebaudiana plant is an herb that is used as an alternative for sugar as a sweetener. Annah and I have so far only eaten some of the leaves raw, taken right off the plant, and they are very sweet with a little bit of an herbal flavor. Next, we will be experimenting with brewing some of the leaves as a tea. Refined Stevia extracts and dried Stevia powder are extremely sweet and can be used in cooking. It is also beneficial to eat because it contains practically no calories when consumed.

Our Stevia Rebaudiana have grown quite a bit in the recent weeks with the sunny, 80-90 degree, and humid weather that we have been having. We expect to have them outside until the cold weather returns at which time we will try to winter them indoors, which is supposed to be relatively easy with Stevia Rebaudiana.

Some other interesting facts that I found out about Stevia in this article at Stevia.com are:
Stevia Rebaudiana is an herb in the Chrysanthemum family which grows wild as a small shrub in parts of Paraguay and Brazil. The glycosides in its leaves, including up to 10% Stevioside, account for its incredible sweetness, making it unique among the nearly 300 species of Stevia plants.

There are indications that Stevia (or Ca-he-he) has been used to sweeten a native beverage called mate since Pre-Columbian times. However, a Natural Scientist names Antonio Bertoni first recorded its usage by native tribes in 1887.

...Two tests conducted by Purdue University's Dental Science Research Group have concluded that Stevioside is both fluo-ride compatible and "significantly" inhibits the development of plaque, thus Stevia may actually help to prevent cavities.

Stevia does not caramelize as sugar does. Meringues may also be difficult since Stevia does not brown or crystalize as sugar does.

[The future for Stevia is bright] as long as the gene stock of the Native Paraguay Stevia Rebaudiana species is preserved in the wild. Overharvesting and foreign transplantation has depleted this stock which contains the greatest possible gene diversity, essential to the strength and continuance of the species.
The last point is interesting because the fact that I purchased this from a garden store that had to at some point remove it from its native habitat, I am in some way contributing to the decline of the genetic diversity of Stevia Rebaudiana. I did not intend this since I wish to help protect and promote the biodiversity of every living plant and animal on Earth.

As long as the natural genetic diversity can be maintained in Paraguay, I recommend that all of you grow this wonderful plant on your own!

Pretty Flowers in July

2008-07-15T15:00:00.001-05:00

I was going to post today about two of my peperomia plants that were flowering, but when I went to take a picture of my newest plant, a Peperomia 'Golden Gate', the flower fell off and I decided that I'll have to wait to take some more pictures of my houseplants. I still wanted to type up a quick post so I went outside and found several plants in bloom that were not blooming before. Below are the pictures that I took. Enjoy!

Monarda fistuloa L. var. mollis ("Bee Balm")
Monarda fistuloa L. var. mollis ("Bee Balm")
Asclepias tuberosa ("Butterfly Weed")

My Eldest Sister's Garden

2008-07-10T16:04:00.008-05:00

Alissa, who is my eldest sister, and her boyfriend have an enormous garden this year. This is the second year that she and her boyfriend have embarked upon having their own large garden on the land which her boyfriend owns. Last year they had a smaller garden with tomatoes, beans, lettuce, kohlrabi, squash, cucumbers, melons, and such. This year, with the larger garden, they have tomatoes, sweet corn, field corn, onions, potatoes, peppers, lettuce, swiss chard, beets, carrots, beans, cucumbers, squash, melons, radishes, and apples. Once all of the fruits and vegetables are ready, my niece and nephew will be selling a lot of it at their own Farmer's Market Stand at the business her boyfriend owns, and if Annah and I get the chance to go help pick and sell the produce we will be happy to help!

My parent's vegetable garden is very bland compared with Alissa's massive garden since we only have tomatoes, cucumbers, zucchini, eggplant, and some peppers.

I will continue to post more pictures as the gardens continue to grow!

Enjoy the pictures below!

Photo Credits: Alissa (my sister)

Sansevieria Blooming

2008-07-07T15:26:00.002-05:00

I was quite surprised last week when I noticed my Sansevieria at work was sending up new growth. I thought someone had placed some sort of fake plant in between some of the flowers, but upon further inspection I noticed that it was indeed part of my sansevieria. The flowers themselves are delicate and definitely add a bit of zest to a otherwise somewhat bland plant. If you look at the picture above you might think that the office setting is too dark for this plant, but it is just the flash of my camera that made the office appear quite a bit darker than it actually is. Take a look at the pictures further down in the post to get a better idea of the lighting in the office.

This specific plant was purchased back in January at Lowe's with on of their $10 off any houseplant coupon, which was distributed by Learn2Grow, which in the end I only owed the tax for the plant. Unfortunately, on the drive from the store to my work some of the tips were exposed to the harsh winter cold air, since some of the tips were closed in the door and I did not realize this until we arrived back at the office.

Out of the three Sansevierias that we own, this is the only plant that is flowering. All of the plants receive about 14-16 hours of fluorescent light per day and each are watered once per week. The humidity at work is most likely a little lower than the humidity at the house where the other two are growing, so it is unclear what condition specifically allowed for this Sansevieria to bloom and not the others. In any case, these flowers are pretty and we hope to see the other Sansevierias bloom someday!

A Few Random Flowers

2008-06-27T08:50:00.001-05:00

Here are a few random flower pictures from out in the garden. The first flowers are from a new Sempervivum tectorum (Hens and Chicks) Plant that I bought a few weeks ago. I just love the intricacy and color of these flowers since they are unlike any other flower I have seen thus far in my life. Unfortunately, the flowers don't seem to last for that long on this plant so I'm lucky I got the pictures when I did. The "pot" that this plant comes in is not the most attractive one I have ever seen, but once I find a better spot for it outside then it will hopefully blend in and then hopefully the ugly pot won't be as noticeable.

The second plant featured in this post is an Allium schoenoprasum or Chives. I have always had chives growing ever since I was a child and not only do I like the taste of chives, but I like the flowers as well. If you look at the larger version of the picture you can see how colorful and delicate the flower is when it is looked at up close.

There will be more posts about flowers as well as posts about the vegetables growing out there.

A Birthday Surprise with Googly Eyes

2008-06-26T14:02:00.009-05:00

For my birthday on Tuesday, my wonderful girlfriend Annah decorated my office at work. Part of the decorating included taping googly eyes to my plants at work. I took pictures of a few of them for you to see. She and I both think that the first picture, which is the Ficus retusa, turned out the best.

She got the idea from a skit from Saturday Night Live from a few months back called "Indoor Gardening Tips from a Man Who's Very Scared of Plants" that I have found and you can watch it here:

The googly eyes were just one of the many surprises in my office on my Birthday, but they were a great idea for me since I'm so into plants!

Mushrooms in the yard...

2008-06-14T14:35:00.002-05:00

While looking in the garden yesterday, I noticed that some mushrooms were growing in one section that receives partial sun, and was surprised because we don't normally see mushrooms growing out there. We're no expert in mushrooms (or fungi) so we have not been able to identify the exact type of mushrooms, but they look interesting. The past few weeks have been pretty wet around here and the sunshine just returned yesterday so these mushrooms probably won't be around for much longer. In parts of Southeastern Minnesota the flooding isn't as bad as Cedar Rapids and Des Moines, Iowa but there are certain towns that have received their own share of flooding around here. If the wet weather continues I'm sure we'll be in store for some more mushrooms, but we'll keep our fingers crossed that we won't have any flooding around here.

African Violet Flower Update

2008-06-14T10:25:00.002-05:00

There was a period of time after I purchased my African Violets that the flowers died back and I had four plants with no flowers. However, after transferring them to African Violet pots and after adding fertilizer to each plant's water, two of the four have now produced some beautiful flowers. Hopefully the two other African Violets will be blooming shortly. The two I have blooming are a pinkish and white African Violet and a dark purple one. The other two are a darker pink and white colored one.

The growing conditions for these plants is currently a little indoor greenhouse (similar to this one) and growing them in there seems to keep the humidity up and provide the conditions which they like.

Enjoy the photos below!

Yellow Lady's Slipper (Cypripedium parviflorum)

2008-06-05T16:00:00.007-05:00

Every spring, usually in the late part of May through the first few weeks in June, this lovely flower graces my parent's garden with beautiful yellow flowers. This plant is a type of orchid called the Yellow Lady's Slipper (Cypripedium parviflorum). According the Minnesota DNR Website there are:

"Two varieties of Yellow Lady-slippers in Minnesota. Perennial to 23" tall. One to several stems in a clump. Leaves 2 to 6 per stem, ovate, 3"-8" long. One to two flowers per stem; flowers with conspicuous yellow inflated pouch (or lady’s slipper); bloom in May-June. Found most often in mesic (moderate moisture) hardwoods and conifer swamps, occasionally in roadside ditches."

I can tell that my parents have the smaller variety of Cypripedium parviflorum Regardless, I think the MN DNR website I think incorrectly identifies these Yellow Lady Slipper's as being Cypripedium calceolus, but from doing a little more research I think this is incorrect because at Wikipedia (even though it is not the best source in the world) it says:

"Cypripedium calceolus sensu stricto ("in the strict sense") does not occur in North America. The closely related Cypripedium parviflorum and C. pubescens are often still referred to as subspecies or variety of C. calceolus."

and to further suggest that the MN DNR is incorrect is this link from the USDA which labels it as being Cypripedium parviflorum Salisb. or the Lesser Yellow Lady's Slipper.

I was concerned that this plant might be illegal to possess outside of it's natural habitat, but through some research it was determined that "...yellow lady’s-slippers are not listed as rare species in Minnesota" and are therefore supposedly not protected from collection or harvest by the state Endangered Species Act in the State of Minnesota, which is good.

I don't recall ever seeing Yellow Lady's Slippers out in the woods, but then again I probably haven't looked that closely. Nevertheless, I think they are a beautiful flower, even though they might not be as pretty as their cousin the Showy Lady's Slipper or Cypripedium reginae (photo on the right). The Showy Lady's Slipper is the State Flower of Minnesota. I haven't personally seen the Showy Lady's Slipper in person, but it would be a delight to be able to. Perhaps Annah and I will try to go find one this weekend!

Photo Credits: Yellow Lady's Slipper were taken by Jordan, the Showy Lady's Slipper photo is from the Minnesota Secretary of State's website.

The Fruits and Vegetables We Will Have in a Few Months

2008-05-29T10:49:00.009-05:00

Some of our fruits and vegetables from a few years ago...
In just a few short months, beginning in late July through the end of September, we will begin to harvest the fruits and vegetables from our garden. I found this picture in my collection and thought I'd post a little bit about what you see in the photo. Starting from top to bottom in the picture you will see green peppers, banana peppers, jalapeño peppers, okra, purple podded pole beans, eggplant, roma tomatoes, some heirloom tomatoes, tomatillos, a zucchini, and some cucumbers. This is just a small selection of the fruits and vegetables that we grow every year. There is nothing like fresh pickings from your garden. We can't wait until our plants are ready for this year's harvest! In addition to our own garden, my oldest sister is growing a massive garden of her own, so we should have plenty of fruits and vegetables to last us for a long time!

Minnesota Wildflowers

2008-05-28T16:30:00.002-05:00

Annah and I went for a hike through one of Minnesota's State Parks on Monday and we had a great time enjoying the warm weather and the beautiful wildflowers that the park had to offer. Below are the pictures we took and I identified the plants that I could. If any of you know what any of the other plants are please feel free to leave a comment. Enjoy!

Wild Geranium (Geranium maculatum?)
Nodding Trillium (Trillium cernuum)
Wild Columbine (Aquilegia canadensis)
Wild Columbine (Aquilegia canadensis)
(Wild Columbine (Aquilegia canadensis)
Wild Geranium (Geranium maculatum?)
Photo Credits: Jordan

Virginia Bluebells (Mertensia virginica)

2008-05-23T08:51:00.004-05:00

Last Sunday we went for a walk at small nature center in one of the surrounding communities and we saw some beautiful Virginia Bluebells (Mertensia virginica) flowering all around the path. It would be wonderful if we could have some of these plants in our garden someday, even though they only bloom for a short time.

(Mertensia virginica "Virginia Bluebells.)
Photo Credits: Annah

100 Houseplants...

2008-05-22T13:30:00.010-05:00

(Left to Right: Adromischus cristatus and Lithops leslie 'albinica'.)
If any of you follow the number of houseplants that Annah and I own, which is to the right under the "About Us" section, you might have noticed that we recently surpassed the 100 plant mark. We finally reached this "milestone" this past weekend on Saturday when we were up at Linder's Nursery where I purchased a Lithops leslie 'albinica' and a Adromischus cristatus ("Crinkle-Leaf Plant") and both of these were small and easy to transport. I had seen and read about the Lithops in this post at PATSP and this post at Water When Dry (and then her second post) and it seemed like an interesting plant. The Adromischus cristatus or "Crinkle-Leaf Plant" is in the Crassulaceae family and it produces some intriguing flowers.

On Sunday we then purchased two more plants (#101 and #102) that we saw at the HyVee Grocery Store in the Floral Department where they were having a sale on Tropical Plants for $11.98, which seemed like a decent price for some decent looking plants, so we bought a Monstera deliciosa (PATSP post about this wonderful plant here) which is the plant in the photo on the top and a Strelitzia alba ("White Bird of Paradise") which is the photo on the bottom.

Space is starting to become an issue so I'm not sure how much longer this plant-buying obsession can continue. We should be fine as long as we stick to smaller plants.

This is the first post regarding our houseplants for quite some time and it won't be the last. We are currently working on other houseplant posts that will be posted in the future.

Update (05/28/08): We are back to 100 houseplants now since my Spathiphyllum ("Peace Lily") and Annah's Pachira aquatica (Braided "Money Tree") have died.

Photo Credits: Annah and Jordan

More Spring Snow Crabapple Flowers and a Chickadee

2008-05-16T15:03:00.006-05:00

I decided to go take some more pictures of the Malus x. 'Spring Snow' Crabapple tree today and I got some nice photos of the flowers and an angry pair of Black-capped Chickadees (Poecile atricapillus) that did not want me near their birdhouse. The tree itself has more blossoms today and is looking much more "snowy" and makes it look prettier.

When examining the flowers more closely, I noticed that some of the flower petals have pinkish-purplish streaks and I'm not sure what is causing it but its a nice surprise to see a bit of color mixed in with all of the white.

Do you see the Black-capped Chickadee (Poecile atricapillus)?

I also noticed a lot of busy bees out collecting pollen and I snapped a few pictures of them as you can see below.

Photo Credits: Jordan

Is It Really Spring Now For Good Here In Minnesota?

2008-05-15T10:00:00.011-05:00

It has been a colder and wetter spring than normal, or at least it seems that way. The plants in our garden continue to wake up and get ready for the warmer months ahead. All of the pictures in this post are from my parent's garden. Their garden was beautifully landscaped in 1992 after they purchased the house from my grandma. A local landscaping business gave them ideas and created blueprints for the layout of the garden. Over the years several of the plants have been moved, or accidentally killed, or have died from the cold and frigid Minnesota winters. One of the focal points if the landscaping near the deck is a Spring Snow Crabapple Tree (Malus x 'Spring Snow') which flowers beautifully and profusely every year. The tree has grown quite tall and is in store for some trimming in the future. The tree is not yet in full bloom, but there are some flower blossoms on it now, and perhaps more will come as the warm weather continues. Below are some pictures of the flowers.

(Malus x. 'Spring Snow' Crabapple)

I also took a picture of the entire tree so that you could see that the tree is not yet in full-bloom. It is a spectacular sight to see the entire tree in bloom because the entire tree appears to be covered in snow. Hopefully I'll be able to get a picture of the tree when it is like that but the bloom is different every year. Another thing to notice in this picture is the lack of railing on the deck that is next to the tree. The reason why there is no railing at the moment is because last fall there was a minor flood that resulted in some minor damage to the basement wall that is underneath the deck. In order to repair the damage my parents had to remove the deck and replace part of the wall. The trucks that were used to bring in supplies and remove dirt damaged a few of their plants and buried some of the wood chips that were around the plants. The railing of the deck still needs to be reattached and the landscaping needs to be redone, but there are still plenty of plants that survived.

The Sedum plant (pictured below) that was featured in the "Signs of Spring" post has grown quite a bit in the past few weeks and looks much different in the sunlight and when it is not covered with raindrops. Another plant that was in that post was the Fern-leaf Peony (Paeonia tenuifolia) and that will be blooming in a matter of weeks.

(NOID Sedum)
(NOID Sedum)
(Fern-leaf Peony [Paeonia tenuifolia])
(Possibly a Sedum repestre 'angelina'?)
(Fern)
(NOID)
(Hosta)
(Hosta)
For Mother's Day I bought my mom a pot full of Hens and Chicks (Sempervivum tectorum) since she absolutely loves those plants and has since she has several collections of them around the house. I personally think they are nice plants that will thrive on neglect, which would be perfect for me and Annah. I will have to buy a plant for the two of us soon. Once my parents get their deck finished it will be the perfect home for this new plant! The Latin name of Sempervivum tectorum for this plant is fun to say and sounds great!

(Sempervivum tectorum "Hens and Chicks")
The last thing I will mention in this post is that I purchased some new plants last week at a local Community College Horticulture Center plant sale. I purchased a Brazilian Fireworks Plant (Porphyrocoma pohliana Maracas), which will look beautiful once it blooms and I also got a Wandering Jew Plant.

(Brazilian Fireworks Plant [Porphyrocoma pohliana Maracas])
(Wandering Jew Plant [Tradescantia])

Photo Credits: Jordan

Orchids at the Minnesota Zoo

2008-05-06T13:14:00.009-05:00

The Tropics Trail at the Minnesota Zoo features some beautiful tropical plants to make the animals feel more at home. While certain areas of the zoo seem to need some work and while it seems unnecessary to have so many animals enclosed in small areas in captivity, there were some lovely orchids and passion flowers to make the zoo experience more enjoyable. The Minnesota Zoo has a website that discusses their orchids here if you want to read more about their orchid collection.

Unfortunately, the pictures I took weren't the greatest since I was trying to keep up with Annah and the rest of our group, but here are the few pictures I took during our stroll through Tropics Trail.

We have not yet tried to grow any of our own orchids yet, but they are such beautiful plants that we might have to try growing some one of these days.

Photo Credits: Jordan

Pretty Flower Pictures From Years Past

2008-05-02T08:21:00.005-05:00

The weather here has been somewhat bothersome with the weather warming up for a few days and then reverting back to winter with cold, windy, and snowy weather. This aspect of the weather here has been making Annah and I somewhat depressed. Additionally, we have had a busy last week and have been unable to work on our blog posts. There are some more indoor plant posts coming up. This post, however, is going to include some pictures from the yard from years past.

Signs of Spring...

2008-04-26T14:28:00.011-05:00

We had a few nice days of spring before the winter weather returned today. The weather today has been in the lower 40s with wind and some flurries earlier. Yesterday, however, I was able to take a few pictures from out in the garden showing a few of the plants that are coming up. As you may notice, we need to get more wood chips and modify some things in the garden, but that will be a project for a warmer day! Enjoy!

The Last of the Conservatory Pictures from 2007

2008-04-21T14:09:00.018-05:00

(NOID Orchid)
This is the last post regarding our 2007 visit to the conservatory. We have been too busy lately to thoroughly examine the plants outside that have finally started growing, but the next post will include pictures from out in the garden. It finally feels like spring here in Minnesota with the temperature the last few days reaching the 60s and 70s! Additionally, we will resume our posts on indoor plants once we get some time to take some pictures and do some more research. Enjoy the pictures below!

Photo Credits: Jordan

Bonsai Trees at the Como Zoo Conservatory

2008-04-15T09:20:00.003-05:00

On the same day last August that Annah and I had traveled to the Minnesota Landscape Arboretum, we also visited the Marjorie McNeely Conservatory at the Como Zoo.

"The Bonsai Gallery honors a Japanese art. Bonsai, pronounced bone-sigh, means “tree in a pot.” It is an art form with origins that go back more than 2000 years to the ancient Orient.

The Marjorie McNeely Conservatory houses the largest Bonsai collection in the upper Midwest. The collection represents donations and loans from companies, individuals and organizations." ¹

It was delightful to see so many wonderful bonsai specimens on display and they even allowed us to photograph them. Below are photographs of each tree with their name and age listed.

Bonsai Exhibit at the Como Zoo Conservatory in August of 2007
Acer Palmatum "Japanese Maple" (26 years old)
Punica granatum "Pomegranate" (25 years old)
Thuja occidentalis "White Cedar" (47 years old)
Juniperus chinensis "Chinese Juniper" (25 years old)
(Ulmus parvifolia "Chinese Elm" [80 years])
Carpinus coreana "Korean Beech" (35 years old)
Ficus benjamina "Weeping Fig" (50+ years old)
Juniperus chinensis "San Jose Juniper" (50 years old)
Chamaecyparis obtusa "Hinoki Cypress" (55 years old)
Taxodium distichum "Baldcypress" (20 years old)
Ulmus parvifolia "Chinese Elm" (30 years old)
Ficus nitida "Fig" (30 years old)
Juniperus Chinensis "Juniper" (26 years old)
Juniperus virginiana "Eastern Red Cedar" (35 years old)
Ginkgo biloba "Ginkgo" (40 years old)
After seeing all of the wonderful bonsai on display, we visited the gift shop and found two beautiful Serissa foetida 'Pink Princess' for sale. I purchased a 5-year-old tree and Annah purchased a 4-year-old tree (see pictures below). They grew beautifully for about three to four months, but then Annah's Serissa got sick from some sort of pest or disease and perished rather quickly. In an effort to nurse it back to health, I brought it to the same room as my Serrisa (for what reason I'm not entirely sure) and my blooming beauty soon perished as well.

(My Serissa foetida)
(Annah's Serissa foetida)
In addition to this purchase, I had also purchased two Pachira aquatica ("Braided Money Tree") bonsai, and a Murraya paniculata ("Orange Jessamine") from the online store Bonsai Boy with all of them looking wonderful upon arrival. My Money Tree is a healthy and vibrant plant, but it seems as though spider mites have attacked Annah's Money Tree, so it has been quarantined and is going through the process of being nursed back to health. We will see if it survives. Added after the original post: The Murraya paniculata did not adjust well to the conditions I was giving it and died within about eight weeks and so we unfortunately never got to see the flowers bloom on it.

The only other "bonsais" that we own are two Ficus retusa ("Ginseng Ficus") from Walgreen's and another from Wal-Mart. (See our post on them to see pictures and some information.)

Growing true bonsai is rather difficult and requires a great deal of skill and knowledge about how to take care of them properly. Apparently Annah and I do not yet have that kind of skill or knowledge, but we can still admire the beauty and magnificence of the bonsais at the Conservatory and elsewhere.

Sources:

¹ http://www.comozooconservatory.org/cons/index.shtml

Photo Credits: Jordan and Annah

More Photographs from our trip to the Minnesota Landscape Arboretum 2007: Part II

2008-04-11T09:15:00.021-05:00

Here is the second part of the post on the Minnesota Landscape Arboretum. I identified the plants I had not seen before. Enjoy!

(Sedum 'Neon')

(Impatiens auricoma 'Jungle Gold')

(Magnolia acuminata or Cucumber Tree)

(Rhus aromatica or Fragrant Sumac)

The next post will be about our visit to the Como Zoo Conservatory from last August with pictures of some more wonderful plants and some fantastic bonsai trees.

Photo Credits: All me

Photographs from our trip to the Minnesota Landscape Arboretum 2007: Part I

2008-04-10T14:55:00.000-05:00

(This is one of my favorites...)
Last August, Annah and I ventured up to the Minnesota Landscape Arboretum to see what kind of flowers and plants were growing up there. This was before our bonsai and houseplant obsession really began, and we had a wonderful time. I'm not sure why we did not post about this in the early days of this blog. My recent addiction to the Gardening website Blotanical, and all the wonderful blogs I found there, has made me realize how our blog was lacking beautiful photos from outside, since all we had were pictures of our somewhat boring indoor plants. So, below are some photos from our visit to the Arboretum last August. Unfortunately, we did not take not of the names of each of these plants so you will just have to admire the beauty of the plants and let us know if you can identify any of them. There will be two to three posts due to the amount of photos we have. Enjoy!

The next post should be up in the next couple of days!

Photo Credits: All me

New Ficus Elastica, Philodendron, and Sansevieria

2008-04-04T16:30:00.001-05:00

(Our new and lovely Ficus elastica in a very bright red pot)
This past weekend Annah and I traveled up to the Twin Cities once again and stopped by Linder's Garden Center where we purchased a few more plants. We purchased a new and very vibrant Ficus elastica ("Rubber plant").

(Philodendron 'Moonlight' )
We bought this Philodendron 'Moonlight', although I'm not positive of this ID since the tag only said "Philodendron Hybrid", so if any of your readers can help us verify or correctly identify this plant, we would be very thankful. Edit: Numerous people have confirmed that it is indeed a 'Moonlight'. Thanks!

(Our Sansevieria zeylanica.)
We also purchased a new Sansevieria, which according to the helpful folks at the Sansevieria forum at Gardenweb, and this link, this plant appears to be a Sansevieria zeylanica and it is a very delightful plant.

We were also able to purchase some sprouting seeds, including alfalfa, chickpeas, adzuki, and mung beans. We enjoy these sprouting seeds because they only take a few days to grow and they provide a tasty and nutritious addition to any type of food we are eating! The first batch of seeds that we sprouted were left to grow maybe a day or two longer than they should have, as you can see in the picture below, but the new seeds should turn out better and taste even greater!

(Our new sprouting seeds that we purchased at Linder's Garden Center.)
(On the top are Mung Beans and on the bottom is a "Zesty Mix" of Alfalfa, Broccoli, and other seeds.)
(About a month ago we grew our first batch of Broccoli Sprouts and Mung Beans which both grew a day or two too long.)

Photo Credits: Annah and Jordan

Syngonium podophyllum

2008-04-01T20:36:00.005-05:00

(My parent's Syngonium podophyllum)
I was first exposed to a Syngonium podophyllum in December of 2001 when my parents received one as a gift from a mourning family member after my grandmother died. The plant had been doing just fine with weekly watering and it had enjoyed the spot where it was growing above our entertainment center. My parents nor I never knew what type of plant it was until I started getting interested, and addicted to, houseplants last fall. After doing some research, I found out the identity of the plant and proper growing conditions. We noticed that it had been getting a little leggy and that it wasn't looking as healthy as it could be, so I placed a wooden stick in the dirt and tied the stems to the stick. The plant has been doing a lot better since we did that and it now is a fuller, healthier looking plant that resides next to the thirty-year-old pothos.
(My Syngonium podophyllum)
I purchased my own from Walmart (not the best store in the world for plants...) in December and the plant has been doing well and will hopefully continue doing so.

Annah and I have seen several other neat looking Syngoniums with pink, white, and burgundy colored varieties, but we have yet to add any more to our collection. If our plant addiction continues, we will likely add a few more Syngoniums to our collection.

Care: We have been watering the plant once per week, it gets indirect, curtain-filtered and reflected sunlight, and the temperature of the rooms are usually around 70 degrees for my parent's Syngonium or in the upper 70s or lower 80s for my Syngonium.

If you haven't noticed, in previous posts I have linked to other blogs for more in-depth care instructions, including Plantsarethestrangestpeople (PATSP), and DamnPlants because their posts on these plants are far better than anything Annah and I could write. Therefore, if you want to read an extensive post on Syngonium podophyllums you should read Mr. Subjunctive's post at his website Plantsarethestrangestpeople.

Photo Credits: All me

My Pothos and Philodendrons

2008-03-28T12:44:00.006-05:00

(The thirty-year-old Epipremnum aureum that my parents have in the living room.)
As I was growing up, we always had a pothos (Epipremnum aureum)growing in our living room and I always wanted to get pothos as well as any similar plants. Since my plant obsession began, I have purchased 2 Philodendron scandens spp. oxycardium "Heartleaf Philodendron", 1 Philodendron scandens spp. micans "Velvet Leaf Philodendron", 2 Epipremnum aureum "Golden Pothos", 1 "Marble Queen", and one Scindapsus pictus "Satin Pothos". Most of my philodendrons and pothos are currently growing in my room and are pictured below:
(My largest Philodendron scandens ssp. oxycardium that I have growing on the top of a bookshelf)
(From front to back: Philodendron scandens ssp. micans and Philodendron scandens ssp. oxycardium)
(Scindapsus pictus "Satin Pothos")
(Epipremnum aureum "Golden Pothos")
(An Epipremnum aureum that I started from cuttings and still needs some work...)
(My small Epipremnum aureum 'Marble Queen' that we purchased a few months ago...)
My other pothos is currently growing in my office at work and it is still growing very nicely at work (see this post and subsequent update post). As you can see from the picture below, my work pothos seems like it has grown the most since I notice when there is new growth on it since it is directly behind my computer monitor and three of the vines are growing on top of the monitor. This plant has come a long way from being the pot-bound plant that I bought at Lowe's last fall.
(My Epipremnum aureum at work that seems to be happy.)Care: Caring for pothos and the philodendrons are easy and each can tolerate neglect as well as no direct sunlight. All of my plants are kept at around 70-76 degrees and I water each plant once per week. These plants provide any room with a very nice shade of green and they are one of my favorite plants to grow. The plants will tend to get yellowing leaves if they are watered too much, and some of mine get brown spots on them, but I'm not exactly sure what is causing this at the moment.

A few weeks ago, when Annah and I were on a mini vacation, we decided to stop at the Home Depot up in Duluth, Minnesota to see what kind of selection they had. Whoever runs the gardening "section" should learn how to organize the plants into one place. The store in Rochester is neatly organized and has a decent selection of plants. The one in Duluth had several different areas throughout the store for their plants, and if we hadn't had to walk to the cashier we wouldn't have seen half of their plant selection. The reason why I'm mentioning the Duluth Home Depot is because that is where we found a Phildendron scandens 'Brasil' which is pictured below.
(Philodendron scandens 'Brasil')This Philodendron gets the name "Brasil" for resembling the Brazilian flag with the yellow surrounded by the green, and even though the plant we purchased has a few imperfections, there is new growth and soon these imperfections will not even be noticeable.

I am still looking around for a Neon Pothos, but have been unable to find one as of yet. Once I do I will post a picture on the blog.

If you are looking for some nice green plants that do not require a lot of attention and can survive in low light and less watering than some other plants might allow, then you should purchase some pothos and some philodendrons to brighten up your house or to fulfill your needs if you're addicted to plants. Additionally, if you're looking for more information about pothos and philodendrons you can look at this post from Damn Plants or PATSP's post on these wonderful plants.

Photo Credits: All me

Maranta Leuconeura Flowers and an Adenium Obesum Update

2008-03-19T12:41:00.011-05:00

(Maranta Leuconeura flower)
My Maranta leuconeura, which was purchased at Linder's Garden Center in January, has been growing vigorously and has been an enjoyable plant to watch. I knew that I wanted this plant after reading this post at Plantsarethestrangestpeople where it was stated that this plant was a somewhat difficult plant to grow. It is currently blooming and has very delicate and intricate pink and purple flowers. Each blossom does not really seem to stay around for long, but the plant itself keeps sending up flowers, so I must be doing something right and hopefully the plant is not putting too much stress on itself to produce the flowers. Through some research, I found that these plants "may 'die' back for a period after blooming. Keep up regular care of plant and it will start to grow again" ¹, so I will have to continue taking care of the plant. (Maranta Leuconeura plant with a view of the leaf and flower)
The plant gets a few hours of window-filtered sunlight, as well as about eight to ten hours of incandescent light from the ceiling light fixtures. I try to maintain the humidity somewhere around 40-50 percent for the plants that I have clustered on top of an old entertainment center. Keeping them together like this seems to help keep the humidity up a little higher than it would have been if the plants were separate. I do enjoy how the leaves of the plant curl up to conserve humidity, and often when I look at the plant the leaves are in a different position from the last time I looked.

Remember my post about the impending Adenium Obesum blossoms? Well, unfortunately the plant was attacked by some vicious spider mites that went right to the easiest part of the plant for them to eat, the flower blossoms.
(Dead Adenium Obesum blossom)
Since I had to hold the plant at a certain angle to see the web, I noticed it too late to be able to salvage the flower buds. It has been sprayed with Safer's Insecticidal Soap and there is currently no trace of the spider mites, but I will have to continue monitoring it closely to make sure they do not return. The plant itself appears to have survived the spraying too, although it lost one leaf in the process. I guess I will have to wait for a while to see if the plant will bloom again. I'll keep my fingers crossed.

Work, a short vacation, and getting ready for spring have reduced the amount of time we have had to write posts in this blog, but hopefully we will be able to post more frequently now that we will have more time to take pictures of the flowers as well as to research.

Sources:

¹From http://www.webgardenguide.com/Maranta_leuconeura_3068_569_2.html

Photo Credits: All me

Zamioculcas Zamiifolia ("ZZ Plant") by Annah

2008-03-04T19:00:00.002-06:00

This is one of my favorite plants. I purchased this lovely plant at Bachman's Floral, Home & Garden Store in Minneapolis. With recommendations from Jordan, I purchased this plant with 5 new stems that will grow up! When we got home, we re-potted the ZZ plant and it seems happy in it's new pot!

Lately, my apartment temperature has been up and down (from 55 degrees to 75 degrees) during the day. My ZZ plant hasn't seemed to mind but my other plants are not too happy. I think I may have to check my plants into Jordan's plant hotel. At least until the weather warms up or until my apartment's temperature is steady.

I get excited each time I see a ZZ plant in stores. I exclaim to Jordan, "There's another ZZ plant!" Secretly, I always think, my ZZ plants looks better !! Go out and buy a ZZ plant, you'll be happy you did!

A Collection of Tropical Plants, My Cutting Project, and Plant Shopping

2008-02-25T10:00:00.020-06:00

(Delightful tropical flower arrangement...)
Annah and I got this beautiful flower arrangement on Friday night at a fundraiser for the local Boys & Girls Club for donating ten dollars. The only plants that I think I can identify are the Anthurium and a Heliconia velloziana, and a Leucospermum cuneiforme or praecox (Yellow Pincushion Protea)[?]. If I have identified these incorrectly, please leave a comment in the comments section. Sadly, these flowers will not last forever and will have to be thrown out once they turn black and disgusting, but we will enjoy them while they are beautiful. (Scroll down to see the close-ups of the flowers.)

(Unopened Heliconia velloziana flower)
(Heliconia velloziana flower)
If I have indeed identified this flower correctly, here is some information on it: Heliconia velloziana have "Splendid splashes of color, dramatic form, long lasting, and a variety of sizes, make this a favorite for exotic tropical flower arrangements. The name Heliconia (pronounced "hell-ee-cone-ee-uh") honors Mt. Heliconia, home of the ancient Greek gods. There are between 250-400 species or more, with 98 percent native to tropical America." ¹

(Leucospermum cuneiforme or praecox. ["Yellow Pincushion Protea"]?)
Here is some information about the Yellow Pincushion Protea: "Resembling the spiny sea urchins, pincushions are a good accent to any arrangement. Although not as long lasting or to use as a dry flower, pincushions come in beautiful shades of red, orange, and yellow."²

(Anthurium 'tropical' or Anthurium 'osaki' ?)

In other news, my rooting project for my schlumbergera segments (and for the past few weeks a Zebrina Pendula 'Burgundy') has been steadily progressing. Each of the schlumbergera segments have sprouted roots and I have even placed a few of them in their own cup with some soil. Once these newly potted cuttings develop a more complete root system in these cups, I will post new pictures and new information.

(Schlumbergera cuttings and Zebrina Pendula 'Burgundy' cutting)
(Close-up of the Schlumbergera roots)
We also were able to do some plant browsing at Sargent's Gardens, which is one of the plant stores in town, and we saw some nice plants, including some astounding Aeschynanthus radicans in bloom, but it was too expensive since they were asking around thirty dollars for it. We also saw a nice Aglaonema x 'Stars' (there wasn't an actual tag with an ID, but I believe it was a Aglaonema x 'Star's) but this one was also too expensive for us being about twenty dollars.

Sources:

¹From http://www.hawaiitropicals.com/tropflowguid.html
²Ibid

Photo Credits: All me

New African Violet ("Saintpaulia Ionantha")

2008-02-21T13:10:00.013-06:00

(Our newest addition to our plant collection...)
We picked up this beautiful little African Violet on Wednesday night when we stopped by Home Depot. The temperature outside was about -10 degrees so we didn't really want to buy any plants, but we found this plant and couldn't resist it! I kept it inside my coat as we hurried to the car and luckily the car was still nice and warm from when we had used it before. There does not appear to be any damage to the plant and we are glad to have it as a new addition to our African Violet collection! The picture above shows the flower as being more pinkish in color, but during the day it looks mostly white.

Photo Credit: Me

Adenium Obesum ("Desert Rose") Getting Ready to Bloom

2008-02-20T09:10:00.003-06:00

(Adenium Obesum almost blooming...)
This Adenium Obesum was purchased a few months ago from the Lowe's here in town for about six dollars. It has been slowly growing along the windowsill where it gets medium light as well as an average temperature somewhere in the lower 70 degree range. It is often watered about once every week and has thus far not complained about this watering schedule.

(A closer view...)
It has been getting ready to bloom for about three to four weeks now and it is now starting to show a hint of pink (which you might or might not be able to tell from the picture above) and should be beautiful once it fully blooms.

It has been suggested by other blogs that you should let your Adenium Obesum go dormant for the winter, such as this link from Mr. Brown Thumb's blog, but I purchased it very late in the fall and wanted a plant that would bloom during the winter months. Perhaps next winter I will let it go dormant.

I will post a picture once the plant fully blooms.

Photo Credits: Me

Seven Random Things About Us

2008-02-19T11:56:00.030-06:00

Wicked Gardener stated: "I've tagged you! Seven Random Things about you. Just cause I love your blog!"

Here is our list of seven random things:

Annah and I are the proud owners of two hermit crabs.
We both enjoy cooking.
We both love the TV shows House, M.D., Six Feet Under, and 24 (at least Jordan likes 24)
Annah is Korean and Jordan is Norwegian & Native American.
Annah enjoys rock climbing, but Jordan has yet to get hooked on this.
Jordan enjoys fishing and Annah enjoys it now that she actually catches fish.
We were able to meet and listen to the author Michael Pollan when he was in Iowa City, Iowa on January 13th, 2008.

Photo Credits: (1) Flags are public domain images from Wikipedia which were combined into one image, (2) Michael Pollan picture was taken by me following his speech.

Peperomia Orba Flower

2008-02-07T13:12:00.001-06:00

(Peperomia orba flower -- click on it to see a larger version)
The picture above is my flowering Peperomia orba plant that has been growing along the windowsill since I got it a few months ago. It gets somewhere between four to eight hours of sunlight each day and is labeled as being a Medium Light plant. It seems to be getting the appropriate amount of light and water, and even though the humidity is rather low where it is growing (only 30%) it still seems to be happy.

Until today, I had somehow not noticed that there was an unusual growth on this peperomia orba. I was surprised and immediately researched what the flowers look like for this plant and found out that they "produce greenish-white, panicle-like flower spikes." They aren't the most brilliant flowers to look at, but it's nice to find out that the plant appreciates the growing conditions I have been providing it and hopefully it will continue to grow and flower long into the future.

Reference: http://www.greenzonelife.com/dictionary/peperomia.htm
Photo Credit: Me

New Purchase: Variegated African Violet (Saintpaulia ionantha)

2008-02-05T13:15:00.000-06:00

(Variegated Pink African Violet)
Annah and I purchased this beautiful variegated pink Saintpaulia ionantha ("African Violet") at a store up in the Twin Cities called Linder's Garden Center for a couple of dollars. Calling it a Saintpaulia ionantha in this post is most likely incorrect, but the label on the pot said "Saintpaulia hybrida" and I have been unable to find anything specifically on that. Anyway, I had been looking for this plant ever since I saw this post post on the blog Plantsarethestrangestpeople, which is one of our favorite blogs. I also saw this post on another favorite blog which is called Damn Plants, which also made me want to be able to get my hands on one of these plants. The pictures in each blog have leaves with more variegation on them than the one we purchased, since the variegation is mainly just on the center leaves, but it is still quite beautiful and surely won't be the last variegated African Violet we purchase.

(A little bit closer view...)
This is my first African Violet but Annah owns one that she nursed back to health a plant that never bloomed and was rather boring into a plant that is very healthy and vigorously blooming plant.

(Even closer...)
Caring for an African Violet is pretty easy. Usually a North or East facing window is best for getting a healthy plant that blooms, but placing them under fluorescent growing lights will also result in healthy plants. I currently have mine placed under growing lights and will hopefully be able to maintain the current beauty of the plant. Temperature should be in the 70s during the day but should not fall below 60 degrees at night. These plants like a little bit of humidity to stay healthy. Also, these plants should never dry out completely and an adequate soil moistness should always be maintained for this plant.

Hopefully our African Violet collection can begin to grow now that we know of a good place to purchase them.

Reference: http://www.hort.purdue.edu/ext/HO-10.pdf
Photo Credits: Me

Schlumbergera Rooting Project

2008-01-31T14:09:00.000-06:00

(Schlumbergera segments in water)
When moving three of my Schlumbergera plants last week two different plants lost a couple of leaves. This has happened before but I'm trying a method which is a little different than before. A few days ago I placed them into a plastic pot tray with some water. Now we'll see what happens.

Speaking of my Schlumbergera's, I purchased all of them in the past few months...since prior to that the only personal experience I had with them was the "real" 30-year-old Christmas Cactus (not Thanksgiving Cactus) that my parents own...and also hasn't bloomed for many years. I got a couple of beautiful flowers from my plants, but before I knew it there were no longer any flowers. I know that they had to adjust to a new environment and I probably wasn't giving them the right conditions to continue blossoming, but hopefully by next year I will have figured out how to make them bloom to their greatest potential.

Photo Credit: Me

Euphorbia milii 'Creme Supreme'

2008-01-29T13:49:00.001-06:00

(Euphorbia milii 'Creme Supreme')
This Crown of Thorns was purchased along with Jordan's recently purchased:

Ficus elastica 'Burgundy' ("Rubber Tree Plant")
Aglaonema 'Emerald Beauty"
Alocasia amazonica 'Polly' ("Elephant Ear Plant")

At the Lowe's in Owatonna, MN. Jordan was ecstatic to visit a new Lowe's location and check out a new plant section with new and different plants! Our goal is to hit up every Lowe's in Minnesota.

As Jordan was cleaning up a few of the dead leaves from this plant he noticed some white ooze coming out of a few places on the plant. After researching the plant he found out that that substance is an irritant and could have really bothered his skin.

Did you know?

Euphorbia - Euphorbus was the Greek physician of King Juba II (about 50 BC to 19 AD) of Numidia (present day Algeria). King Juba II was the first person to find a succulent-type Euphorbia, and he named it after his physician.

Milii - named for Baron Milius, once governor of the island of Bourbon, who introduced the species into cultivation in France in 1821. (From: http://www.wanapluk.com/crown-of-thorns-plant/)

Photo Credits: Annah