Hello. My name is Isabeau and I'm a Plantaholic.

[Isabeau]

Mostly Succulents and Cacti.

I'm addicted. Most of the ones I have I grew from cuttings or leaves so a cheap addiction it is, but this year I couldn't help myself when I kept accidentally finding end-of-summer dirt cheap ones at the outdoor market and such. Like $2 terracotta pot included. Sometimes free. Many were in bad condition or tiny, but I don't care, nursing them back to health is part of the fun (and getting a good deal is cool too). I keep telling myself Stop! No more! There isn't any room left close to the windows, put that plant down right now Missy, don't you dare... Yet I ride back home on my bike using only one hand because there's a new baby to add to my collection in the other. I also have a couple of orchids, a fern, and 2 weeping figs, an avocado from pit who will not die, bunch of herbs, etc etc etc. They all have their stories - I'm obsessed but only have two windows.

Anyone else here into indoor plants, gardens, flowers, etc?

What are your tricks to keeping them healthy and pest-free during the winter, especially in regards to light. I'm thinking of adding a large mirror on the side wall next to the window.

What are your plant-obsessions?
What type of plants do you prefer? Flowers, leafy, or edible?
Or just share pictures of what you have or what you wish you could have....

 

[Free]

I have a black thumb, so in the interest of life in general, I don't tend to do things with plants.

 

[Beebo Brink]

I'm the anti-gardener. If plants had nightmares, they would dream of me.

One of my co-workers -- apparently in good faith and meaning well -- gifted me an orchid about two years ago. It was struggling, but not terminal, under my benign neglect at work (watered when I remembered, root bound in the same tiny cup that it came in). Then we moved to another office and I took it home during the transition.

My wife was appalled at the plant's poor condition, and she vowed to restore it to glory, but it actually got worse under her care. Despite a large pot to live in, leaves began to drop. I think she gave it too much sun, but she wouldn't listen to me. I have no credibility, it's true, but I still think it did a lot better when I kept it on my desk, far from a window.

Then one of the cats knocked over the pot from the window sill. I stuck what was left of the orchid (a ball of roots and two leaves) back in the pot and took it to work. At least if it dies under my watch, it will be a death of benign neglect rather than aggressive assault.

 

[Isabeau]

Ha ha You actually had the right idea to keep it in the small pot whether it was intentional or not. It's suppose to stay tightly enclosed in, example, moss and root bound (popular types grow on tree trunks in jungles - not earth - and only need humidity at least the first years. Just light, no direct sun.

(I'm guessing at the type you received)

 

[danielravennest]

Anyone else here into indoor plants, gardens, flowers, etc? What are your tricks to keeping them healthy and pest-free during the winter, especially in regards to light.

Trees.

I live on three acres, which is 80% wooded. The property was neglected for a number of years before I bought it, so the last five years I've been fixing up the house and the landscape. A lot of that has been removing poison ivy and other vines that were choking the trees, and pruning branches when needed. I have a couple of Magnolia trees, and as a result a bunch of seedlings and one medium sapling. I've dug up some the seedlings and given them to neighbors. The rest is a mix of various hardwoods (oak & maple) and pines. The most rewarding part is getting the trees that were in bad shape healthy again.

Trees are just like smaller plants in needing enough light and room to grow. So that means periodic thinning if they get too big and crowded. Rule of thumb is 2 feet spacing for every 1 inch in trunk diameter at chest height.

 

[Jolene Benoir]

I loved having vegetable gardens. I had an affinity for growing my favorite veggies.

Absolutely terrible with houseplants.

 

[OrinB]

I have houseplants. I love growing plants. I've a few cacti and succulents that grow on my sunny windowsill. I was really impressed with myself when 2 of them flowered this year for the first time ever! I have a few ferns and also want to get a few more!

I have window boxes too so tend to plant those up too.

 

[Isabeau]

I had a sempervivum flower this summer. It looked like a plant from an alien world.

I have so many sempervivum "babies" and a few of my crassulas and opuntias (my friends and family have already received their share) I'm thinking of selling them during a sidewalk sale next year.

 

[OrinB]

yes, i have sempervivums in a pot on my balcony and also in a pot by my front door. always good to see them spreading themselves around

 

[Sid]

Every spring I buy plants for my balcony. Petunias, begonias , geraniums, that kind of stuff.
They're doing great every year, so I must do something right.

 

[Argent Stonecutter]

I'm an accomplice to a plantaholic, mostly digging holes where requested and covering things when it gets cold. By myself I can't keep weeds alive.

I'll cop to cataholicism though.

 

[Brenda Archer]

I love plants but I’m too lazy to have many even when I could. I once had a potted ficus tree and it was cool. I usually just had ivy. If I ever have a space outside, I want to try tea roses.

 

[Clara D.]

I have a black thumb, so in the interest of life in general, I don't tend to do things with plants.

I even manage to kill cactus. The *only* plant to survive my neglect is aloe vera.

 

[Free]

I even manage to kill cactus.

That is a potent skill. Almost a superhero power.

 

[Argent Stonecutter]

Heh. I managed to kill *bamboo*.

 

[Isabeau]

On my phone this thread shows as Hello. My Name Is Isabeau and I'm a Plant.
That's me, a walking talking vegetable.

 

[Isabeau]

Pics if I can manage to post...

These are about a third and mostly the smaller younger ones.

 

[Plurabelle Laszlo]

When you have kids, there is this relatively short time-span where cacti are cool. And parents think cacti are the perfect choice for those first experiments being responsible for a living being. And years and years later, in a hidden forgotten corner of a window sill, you will find how they secretly developed into a nsfw life form of their own.

Spoiler: nsfw cactus 1 fluffy and erect

Spoiler: nsfw cactus 2 - willing

 

[danielravennest]

Heh. I managed to kill *bamboo*.

Try Southern Magnolia, if it fits your climate zone. When I bought this house, someone had cut down a large one, based on the stump size, probably because it had outgrown its spot (there are other trees around it). By the time I moved in, the edge of the stump had resprouted as a circle of 4-6 inch saplings. I cut those down for the same reason. A year later it had resprouted again, from a few spots. This time I attacked the stump with circular and reciprocating saws, to bring down the stump to ground level, so I could mow *over* it rather than around it. It resprouted a third time!

There are several other full-size Magnolias which I trimmed the lower branches off of so I could more easily mow around them. That hasn't seemed to hurt them any.

 

[Isabeau]

Try Southern Magnolia, if it fits your climate zone. When I bought this house, someone had cut down a large one, based on the stump size, probably because it had outgrown its spot (there are other trees around it). By the time I moved in, the edge of the stump had resprouted as a circle of 4-6 inch saplings. I cut those down for the same reason. A year later it had resprouted again, from a few spots. This time I attacked the stump with circular and reciprocating saws, to bring down the stump to ground level, so I could mow *over* it rather than around it. It resprouted a third time!

There are several other full-size Magnolias which I trimmed the lower branches off of so I could more easily mow around them. That hasn't seemed to hurt them any.

I like this tree you speak of. I think I will make it my "totem" tree.