Succulent Window, RIP Tummy

By TheJenny, Guest Blogger

So, I've begun filling in the window box in the bathroom with cacti and succulents. I cannot put any "regular" house plants in the window because one of my cats is very mouthy cat and will chew on everything leafy. So poky spiny things and unchewable succulents it is!

Against all better judgment, I used pretty glass jars and containers for the plants. This is inadvisable because the containers do not have drain holes. So I will need to be extremely careful in the future to not let these small plants get waterlogged and rot. Perhaps I shall water them with an eyedropper. But all the glass is pretty and sparkly and it makes for a nice vignette.

Yet I still sort of hate it too, because it reminds me of what's no longer in the window box. Our cat, Tummy, used to lounge in that window every day, and she passed away earlier this year. The growing things are a remembrance of our sweet cat.

Neolauchea Pulchella Orchid

The only reason I know the name of this orchid is because it has a tag nailed to the back of it! This is yet another plant I picked up at the Sacramento Orchid Show back in the spring. I only have a small area in the window that is orchid friendly, but this one hangs! So, no need for extra space! Yes, I can rationalize with the best of them.

It is currently hanging off a little stump of a branch on the avocado tree that lives in the same windowsill. It loves it there. I run it under cool water ever couple of days, then hang it back up to drip into the avocado - it's a win, win.

I've never had this type of orchid, and it is supposed to grow like a weed. So far, that's true. It just keeps expanding those little weedy stems and shooting out tiny, papery roots. It's great fun to have since it's novel little thing. If I can get it to bloom, I'll post some pictures.

Air Plants!

By TheJenny, Guest Blogger

Meet Gilbert and Ursula, our air plants. We found them at our local Home Depot. I'm not sure why they get names and plants sitting in dirt do not. We'll blame Bob, he started it by naming Gilbert. They live in the fantastic kitchen window, always just outside of the direct sunlight. Once a week the air plants get a 12 hour bath (hence the pictures of them in their orange "hot tubs"). Bob has threatened to take Gilbert to work with him because he is so portable.

When we first got Gilbert, I would find him around the house, wherever Bob had left him, on the table, on the sofa, etc. This stopped fairly quickly as we have a kitty that is quite fond of chewing on all plant life. Air plants are bromeliad tillandsia, and as I have read, if we keep them happy, someday they will bloom for us. Wish us luck!

Gilbert

Ursala

Orchid window

There have been a lot of posts about orchids lately, so I thought I would just show you the orchid windowsill. The only place they are happy. It faces west and gets quite a bit of afternoon. I move them to the side that gets less light throughout the year so they don't fry.

Since they are right up against the window, it gets nice and cold at night in the winter which seems to be the secret to getting them to bloom. There's not a lot of room left there, but I wend to the orchid show with my Mom and ended up with three of the tiniest orchids ever! I am not addicted, I can stop any time.

I'll share the new orchids with you soon.

Thin plant

I have no idea what this plant is. I bought it at the Davis Ace Hardware over 10 years ago because it was so unique looking. (BTW, Davis Ace is one of the best places to buy plants. Pretty affordable and they have a fabulous selection of stuff you don't see at your regular big box nursery. Plus a bonsai section which rocks!).

Back to the plant. So, it must be a bulb plant cause it dies off for a little while in the late fall, early winter then starts growing greenery about a month or two later. It's so damn hearty and I've never repotted it. It just trucks along happy.

The flowers are pretty cute too, clusters of 3 pointed blue flowers that seem to last a good long while. Only down fall is that the cats think it's cat grass and can't resist sometimes.

If anyone knows what it is, please let me know!

Lemon Tree

Meyer lemons are pretty much the perfect fruit ever! They are so much more flavorful than regular Eurekas and seem to ripen nice an quick plus they are delicious in cocktails. I have been wanting a tree for a long time, but with a condo porch, what are you going to do?

Answer: Buy one anyway and try to "sneak" it in the from the garage, up the stairs, across the living room and onto the porch without Ben noticing. He caught me when I was halfway out the porch door. It's been about a year and a half and it has tripled in size!

Last year it had quite a few blooms but nothing was pollinated. I thought it might be because there were no bees around where we are, so I was resigned to not having any lemons this year either. But, the tree was covered in blooms... hundreds on this little porch tree and the bees came!

I have little tiny green balls the size of peas on a bunch of the branches. I am hoping they hang on and turn into lemons.

Bring on the lemon drops!

Grasses, perfect roommates

I love these little grasses. I got them a couple of years ago at the Zoo's plant fest (you thought I was kidding when I said I couldn't control myself at that stupid event). Anyhoo, I know you can get these at Home Depot and other more affordable places.

One is a Black Mondo Grass the other is a stripey Ogan. Since they are the only two grasses I have, I crammed them into a pot together. It's an azalea pot, so kind of short and broad. Pretty sure this isn't the perfect pot, but they are doing very well and the green one started blooming little light yellow spikes, which are adorable!

It takes very little care and adds some nice color to the porch all year round. Grasses = good. Get some!