Over Grown Office

A friend posted that their coworkers were giving her crap for having "too many" office plants. Really she only had a few.

In a show of solidarity, I posted this photo of my office plants. Not all of them, but enough to prove a point. And yes...I very well may have too many.

Succulent Seeds Itself

This adorable little succulent is one of my favorites. Here is the whole back story and you can see how awesome it looks when it blooms. I've since repotted it into something a little larger and it's bursting at the seams again. This year when it bloomed I noticed it was going to seed. I kept meaning to gather the seeds, but because I'm lame, I forgot.

It went along with out me and seeded itself into the pots that live nearby. I found a little tiny sprout in two empty pots that used to house freesia bulbs and one growing in the moss around the heliotrope.

Once they grew a little more, I transplanted them into their own little containers and gave them away as gifts. Remember how I said they "used to" house freesia? Yeah, I guess I didn't pull out all the bulbs because my friends have reported back that something else is growing now that winter is here. Oops. I mean, bonus!!

All Tucked In...

...and ready for frost. With lows in the high 20's, we are reaching hard frost status. Our porch is on the second story and three sides have stucco walls so it doesn't get quite as cold as gardens and open spaces.

Still, I piled all my plants against the house, strung some Christmas lights and covered them up with old sheets. Let's hope it works.

Rope Hoya Blooms

I don't think I've blogged about this amazing little plant. I found it at Target a few years ago and it was a complete impulse buy. A Rope Hoya with has long pliable branches with these convoluted leaves that are sort of folded and twisted around the stem. It's sort of a slow grower, so it stayed in it's pot for a couple of year.

I transplanted it last year and it took off since it had been a little root bound. One day I walked into the kitchen and I thought some sort of insect colony had moved in. It looked like a tiny hornets nest hanging off of one branch. After a closer look I realized it was a bloom! A hanging cluster of fuzzy little buds.

I was totally excited! It took a few weeks to actually bloom but it changed so much. Each oblong bud flattened out in to a round dish so the cluster when from bell shaped to a round poof ball. The fuzzy hairs disappeared and thick waxy pink buds appeared that looked like milky stars.

When the flowers finally opened the waxy pink was still inside, but the petals were this crazy velour texture. And each little flower was only a half of an inch wide. So little!

It was one of the most exciting blooms I've had. It's a damn fun little plant.

Post Script: because I forgot something! It has a really fragrant aroma to it as well. Almost like lilies. Sweet and floral and sometimes a little spicy. Very intriguing.

You can just see the weird flower on the right side.

The bloom a little closer
And a super close shot of the fuzzy little buds
Half open
More open
So cute!
Amazing and tiny little flowers

Aloe Splitting

I've written about my aloe plant before. Read it here to find out the history if this 13 year old plant. And yes, back in September 2008 when I wrote it I may have said it needed to be repotted. Here it is Fall 2011 and I finally did it!

It feels like killing the plant because you basically take it out of the pot and break it into chunks. Some of the older parts had stalks that were almost 2 feet long and wrapped in a circle amongst the other stalks. Not healthy at all. And yes, I do feel bad now.

So, you can see a small pile of separated plants below. I ended up trimming a ton of dead leaves and chopping off the huge stalks to restart them as new plants. It took 3 medium-large pots to plant all the parts.

Needless to say, I'm set if I burn myself.

Just a few parts.
Two of three pots.

Last of the pots.

Free Plant Blooms

Thanks to my friend Carolyn, my porch has some lovely blooms right now. Her left over plants included this rudbeckia that shot up fast and has a lot of blooms. I love it when friends over buy at the nursery.

Wholesale Florist

I'm not above buying cut flowers, I just usually don't find anything interesting enough to buy. Enter the wholesale florist.

Flora Fresh is located on Fee Drive in Sacramento and if you are lucky enough to have a business license, you can buy there. I've made a few wedding bouquets from here. Always something new and interesting.

This trip I was just looking for something cool to have in my house and I found it. Dianthus, green trick variety. Little puff balls of feathery green that look like they are out of a Dr. Suess book, and they look great in my Icelandic vase.







And then some huge flowers for my huge glass vase. Eremurus in yellow and orange and some kangaroo paw that was on sale. Big, bright and feathery, the little flowers just keep opening day after day.








Plants are great but sometimes fun fresh flowers just hit the spot.