Saucers for Houseplants

Have you spent time, looking high and low for something to put under a plant pot to catch the water?  The next time you are hunting for something to put under a plant pot, consider going to the thrift store and stocking up!  

 

 

  

I have discovered saucers, wide bowls and small plates at the local thrift store to put under plant pots. They work well and look great! I like the fancy ones, especially the clear glass. I have found many clear ones and also some with flowers and fancy prints on them, as well as striped and plain. They all work and I have a collection of them specifically for use under plant pots. The medium bread plates are the handiest, but I have bought a few large plates for the biggest pots, as well as little saucers. The thrift store is a great place to pick these up, especially if they are having a bag sale that includes housewares. 

 

You can see in the photo (left) a doily under the plate. I don't have carpet (nasty stuff!) so I put thick crocheted yarn doilies under all my pots on the floor and tables. Its a good way to use up any scrap yarn. I put all the little end pieces together since no one sees anything but the outer edge. I make med and large sizes in all the various colours. I keep it single crochet to make it as thick as I can. It needs to protect the floors from moisture. 

 

 

 

My New Monstera

 

 

A friend gave me a Monstera Deliciosa! Isn't she beautiful! I just put a four foot 2" x 2" ,dark brown post in the pot for it to start growing on. I may need to replace it with a heavier and taller one at some point. I hope so! That's ok as I have a several pieces of lumber I can use for that in my wood stash outside. I can spare a bigger board for the Monstera, when it gets there.

A message to the Lord and my friend: Thank you for the great gift! "All good and perfect gifts come from above." - James 1:17.

The leaves have gotten even bigger since she gave it to me less than two weeks ago. It must like that location, right in front of a south window with blinds ever so partly open. It's winter, so most of my houseplants sit in front of or to the side of that window. In the summer they will move to cooler areas. I have other big windows with wide sills for plants, but they are cool in the winter with curtains that get closed at night. 

I also have a Monstera Adansonii. It's still quite small. I have big hopes that both of them will get huge! 

Monstera plants like some direct sunlight and don't like to be soaking wet all the time. 

I have a mix of plants with varying water requirements. I know what all my plants are and their needs but it's still hard for me not to over water the ones that like it a bit dry. 

I plan to be very careful with both the monstera plants! They are special! All my plants are special...

 

 

Growing an Avacado Tree

 

 

 

I started two pits from overripe avacados using the toothpick method. I started them about six weeks ago. 

 I had almost given up until today. Roots!  One has rooted! 

I planted it in soil right away. The second one doesn't show any signs of rooting.   

I think I might scrape away the skin a bit more to see if I can get it to root.

 

 

 

 

I'm looking forward to actual leaf growth! 
 

 

 

Nut-Free Walnut Substitute - Homegrown

 

 Impatients Glandulifera    

A walnut substitute in baking

The seeds can be collected, dried and used in baking as a chopped walnut substitute. They taste just like walnuts! 

Also called, "Himalayan Balsam or Balsam Impatients" is grows wild just about everywhere and is classed as "invasive" because bees love it and will pollinate it in exclusion of the natural plants around them. Having grown it for years, I know this is true. The big yellow bumblebees love it! So, for those who keep bees, this might be a good thing to grow. I know a bee keeper who grows it. 

It's a relative of Jewelweed, the plant for treating poison ivy, having the same growth habit and seed pods. Jewelweed is smaller, smaller flowers, smaller seed pods and the seeds may not taste the same.  

I know the white impatients glandulifera grows wild here, as I've seen it growing in fields. They get very tall, 4-5' if they are happy. They like the shade and lots of water. The same growing needs as their cousin impatients, the little ones covered in flowers that are for sale in the garden centers every spring. I like the little ones too, but I don't eat those seeds. The little ones do great in a pond, however, bareroot, floating on the water. Don't stick them in there until the water warms up. The little ones are good in dark shade too, like under the stairs. All impatients are very tender annuals. The cold and frost will kill them.

It's the seeds of the impatients glandulifera that I want. They are sometimes tricky to collect as the seed pod is very sensitive to touch when it's ripe. You have to wrap your whole hand around it, enclosing it. Then with the slightest pressure it will explode in your hand. If the pod is not ripe enough yet, it won't open. Be Warned: It can be invasive. If you miss some ripe seeds, those will fly everywhere and come up in the spring. Once these are planted in your garden, you probably won't need to plant anymore seeds. It reseeds itself very well, unless you are good at collecting all the ripe seeds.  It is an "invasive" species so be careful with those seeds! 

When seeds are collected they need to be dried immediately. Spread them out on a paper towel in an area that gets some air and let them dry completely. Stir them around every day when you pass by. After a couple of weeks they can be placed in a paper envelope. I don't store seeds in plastic until they are months old. I prefer to use paper envelopes. I prefer the long letter envelopes. I have room to write all the info I have about the seed on the outside: name, common name, date planted, date collected and any other information I might want to keep. I usually tape the edges closed so they don't leak out the sides of the flap. I write the name on the top, so I can find it easily. I store the envelopes in alphabetical order in a cardboard box or basket, something that lets air circulate. Keep them in a cool, dry place and most will last for years. I'm a seed-a-holic. I save every seed I see when out walking. 

The entire Impatients Glandullifera plant is edible, but only in small amounts as it contains a lot of oxalates. Cooking thoroughly will break down a lot of these, but why eat the plant itself when there are so many other wild things that are actually very good for you that you could be collecting, instead. The seeds do not contain oxalates, so can be eaten in safety, especially baked in desserts, breads and so forth. They really do taste like chopped walnuts in baking! 

 

Sources: 

https://www.foragingcoursecompany.co.uk/post/foraging-guide-himalayan-balsam

https://practicalselfreliance.com/himalayan-balsam/

https://www.ediblewildfood.com/himalayan-balsam.aspx

https://pfaf.org/user/Plant.aspx?LatinName=Impatiens+glandulifera (Plants for a future)

https://www.eatweeds.co.uk/himalayan-balsam-impatiens-glandulifera 

Growing Houseplants

 

I have left the Farmer's Market, at least for the winter. I'm officially a retired "home-body" now. I will have more time for the things that I enjoy doing, like painting and gardening. In the middle of winter, I have to dig in the dirt. It's a mood uplifting thing, I think. The soil is good for you, so I grow a lot of houseplants. 

 

Christmas cactus

I like all of my plants, but my favourites are the philodendrons and the little bright pink Christmas cactus, of course. Who doesn't like a blooming Christmas cactus? It was blooming a month ago. I grew it from rooted cuttings from a friend.

p. black cherry

 

I collect philodendrons and have several different varieties. Most have come from cuttings from friends and a friend who gave me a "black cherry" philodendron.  

 

 

p. hederacium

 

 I have the common p. hederaceum with heart shaped dark green leaves, in the same pot with a p. hederaceum ‘Brasil’ (variegated) . 

I also have a small p. micans, and another small one with longer green leaves. I'm not sure of the exact variety of that one. 

 None of my philodendrons are pothos plants, the so-called "devil's ivy". I have one of those too. It's an entirely different plant, so please stop calling it a philodendron.  :)

 

m. adansonii

I have a Monstera adansonii that looks like a philodendron with holes in the leaves, but it's a small monstera type. I'd absolutely LOVE a big monstera! A rooted cutting from a friend would be marvelous! I like living in a jungle. :) 

 

 

 

Syngoniums: red, green, red centers

 

 

I have lots of other plants, many are special to me, I'm just partial to the philodendrons. I have a small coffee plant that's interesting. Maybe I'll get some beans from it in a few years. I have three different varieties of syngonium arrow leaf plants in matching pots, in a three pot hanger I made just for them (above). 

Lipstick plant

I have a small lipstick plant that I grew from one tiny cutting. I have always wanted a lipstick plant so I babied it and it's growing very well now! It's one of my favourites. I am excitedly looking forward to blooms! It's a gesneriad, like African violets. Once upon a time, bk (before kids), I had 40 African violets in various sizes. I was trying to collect as many different variations as I could fine. Some of them grew to tremendous widths and had to go in large 1 ft tall pots. Then sweet little Sarah came along. lol. She discovered backing up to sit on things just the right height for her. She sat on all of the ones on the floor. I kept them going until she started chewing on the leaves, then they had to go. I traded a friends 40 earrings for the 40 plants. I would like to have some African violets again and can root plants from leaves, which is how i got 40 in the first place. If only a friends would give me some leaves...

 

f. fiddle leaf

I have a little fiddle leaf fig tree. It's little but it's growing. It's a ficus, like the benjamina but with larger leaves. I take really good care of it too. I want it to get six feet tall! It's only about 6" tall right now, but it'll grow. I'm hoping it won't drop it's leaves everywhere, like the f. benjamina does.

 

I have an anthurium, and a variegated ti. Both in the photo at the top. I love the anthurium. It will grow well in a pond in the warm summer weather in the shade. I might make a small water garden outside this summer. I have saved a little water pump to make a small fountain. Something else that loves to grow bareroot in water are impatiens. They do well in a pond, in the shade. Another good and unexpected pond plant is a canna, in a pot of soil in the pond. I don't have cannas now, but I have had in the past, in the pond. 

 

Sugar vine

I have a sugar vine. It is doing well and I like the light, feathery foliage. I got cuttings for it from the same friend who gave me the lipstick plant cuttings and the p. black cherry plant. It was a lot longer, but I took some cuttings from it a couple of weeks ago. 

 

 

And, of course, I have a large spider plant. Who doesn't? I couldn't have one when I had cats previously. They ate the spider plants back all the way to the dirt. They liked those!

 

I have a large jar of cuttings taken from various things. I change the water and replace with warm water every 1-2 days. I hope they root. I know it's the wrong time of year for that and warmth is important, but I used rooting hormone. Here's hoping! 

 

Cuttings

These are the cuttings I am rooting. There are two avocado pits rooting in a small glass there, as well. I have the purple striped "wandering jew" and an angelwing begonia. You can see the  cuttings, taken from my own plants. The plants are both kind of sparse now, with the cuttings taken. I like the angelwing begonia. I had one previously that bloomed well when kept outside. It has large pendulous beautiful blooms! I will be moving some of these outside in the shade, when the very warm weather comes. 

I have a "china doll" that I have always liked because of the name and also the fineness of the foliage, but it's not doing very well. It's still alive, but some of it has died back. It continuously dies and regrows and dies and regrows. Disappointing.  

Another disappointment is the umbrella plant that keeps dropping it's leaves. I have moved it to non-drafty warm locations several times and it still just keeps dropping it's leaves. I have just about lost hope for it. Even the new growth it put out awhile ago is dropping. 

One more disappointment is my grape leaf plant. It's in a big bucket with no holes in the bottom and I think I over watered it. It's wilted and not doing well at all. I might be able to save it if I repotted it in dry new soil in a pot with holes in it, but it's winter here. It's too cold to do this outside, so it's probably a loss. I'm not that thrilled with it or the umbrella tree, so if I lose those, it won't bother me. I'll be more disappointed if I eventually lose the china doll, but that's life with plants. It happens. 

My lipstick plant and sugar plant are planted directly in pots with no drainage. I'm very careful watering, but I think I will repot them soon indoors, anyway.

I keep my tender herbs on a south windowsill all winter too. They seem to do very well there. I have successfully overwintered rosemary, lavender, oregano and several others in the past. I'm trying lemon balm this year and it seems to be doing well. 

I'm looking forward to spring. I have plans to add an herb garden this year and more flower space.