(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!

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.

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(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.

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(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.

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(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.)

(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.