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.
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.
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!
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 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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
