— Lotuswulf Satyrhorn
April showers could bring a cold winter mood when it poured. Then when it was gone, it wasn't warm or cold, but stayed in a residual flavor of both.
— R. Lupi
April is the cruelest month, breeding lilacs out of the dead land, mixing memory and desire, stirring dull roots with spring rain.
— T. S. Eliot
April showers may indeed bring May flowers, but I decided that until I got my indoor gardening done, I shouldn’t start my outdoor gardening. Plus, not only has Walmart been offering a tempting selection of plants, but it’s not even safe for me to go to Foodland these days.
This is my latest acquisition from Foodland. It’s a goldfish plant:
It’s just starting to bloom, but you can see a single goldfish on the upper left. And no, it did not come in the macrame hanger, but it fits it well. I’ve got it hanging in my office over my reading chair.
It’s not the only plant I’ve got in my office, of course, they’re also all along the top of my bookcase:
From left to right we have an orchid with a dead bloom stalk, a blooming orchid I just repotted, a little purple thing that was also repotted and I lost the name of, a kalanchoe that was given to me by a friend and that I’ve actually kept alive for over a year, another non-blooming orchid that just got repotted, and a fishbone cactus. Not shown is a spindly little hearts-on-a-string.
I was a little reluctant to repot the blooming orchid, I don’t like messing with them when they have blooms, but this one’s leaves were drying out and it was listing to the side. The larger, non-blooming orchid on the bookcase came from behind the vertical blind in the dining room. It was there for several years and the last time it bloomed it had two bloom stalks, but that was more than a year ago. I’m hoping some more direct sunlight might perk it up a bit.
I have two more orchids on the kitchen window sill. The one on the left just started blooming again, but it really needed to be repotted. And the one on the right hasn’t stopped blooming since I got it a year ago. Normally if the bloom stalk doesn’t dry out when the blooms drop off, it will re-bloom. But this one started at new bloom stalk instead.
And what’s that purple thing photo bombing the left of the picture? That’s my wandering jew, which is wandering all over the kitchen counter.
I’m really hesitant about doing anything but watering it, because most of my wandering jews tend to start drying out. They’re easy to propagate, just break off a piece and stick it in the dirt, or stick it in water to root first, but for me they’ll only do well for so long and then start dying and I have to start a fresh one. Might have something to do with not getting watered regularly. ;-)
I had one in my office that I should have taken a picture of before I repotted it. This time I stuck the pieces into a pot that already had a philodendron in it, just to see what happens. The philodendron also came from my office, but it wasn’t happy either – I think it was getting too much sun.
Moving along to the dining room, I found I had to repurpose my dropleaf table into a plant stand because four of my new plants, which I’d thought to put in the southern facing window of my office, turned out not to like such bright light.
In the green pot at the front we have a ribbon fern. Behind it, hard to see, is a trio of unknown tropicals, but because all three of them were only called tropical, I figured I could safely plant them together in my oblong pot. Even harder to see is the nanouk plant behind them, also fairly new. Above them is the Swedish ivy I’ve had for years. It used to be in the office where my goldfish plant is, but it was getting a little too big to be over my chair. And yes, that is a trellis in the pot to help keep it contained.
I also have a trellis in the pot with my 45 year old philodendron.
And just because they’re there, I might as well show you the rest of the plants in the dining room:
Starting at the bookcase, we have a spider plant and a philodendron started from clippings from the other one. On the much smaller plant stand there’s a sansevieria, an aloe plant, a spindly tropical thing that I think is related to the tall tree beside the dropleaf table, and in behind those three is an African violet that’s actually blooming and a pineapple plant that I’ve been growing hydroponically for over a year.
Is it any wonder it took me two days to catch up on my indoor gardening?
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