Just Lounging Around

I'm still feeling a bit under the weather, and it is kind of a cloudy, lazy day here among the leaves. Luke seems to have the right idea:

Luke reclining behind my terrarium centerpiece

He does seem to be thinking, "Why is she waving that camera around while I'm trying to rest?" though.

Oh, Mr. Grant!

I have a confession to make. Occasionally, some of my plants get a bit neglected. One of those plants is my Epiphyllum 'David W. Grant.' During the fall/winter, it hangs in the spare room where we keep our cats' litter boxes, a room where I am disinclined to spend a lot of extra time. So I occasionally forget to water it. Not only that, the room has only a north window, which is not an ideal situation for an Epi. It is a bright room though, and it does get additional light reflected off of the off-white siding of the house next-door.

And how does Mr. Grant reward me for the neglect and less than ideal conditions? Like this:

Leaf with several flower buds

Epiphyllum 'David W. Grant' whole plant, showing the leaves a bit worse for wear. I moved it into the kitchen to photograph.

I've counted 12 flower/buds in various stages of maturity. And how will I reward Mr. Grant? With a summer outdoors, where it will get plenty of light, humidity and rain.

Possible Blog Hiatus

Tomorrow morning, I am having dental surgery to remove two wisdom teeth. Depending on what my recuperation period is like, I may not post for a few days. Of course, since I don't usually post daily, the break might not be any longer than my usual time between posts.

If I do post, and things don't seem quite right, blame it on the happy pills.

10/04/10 Edited to add: Comments on this post have been disabled, as it has become a magnet for spam.

In Praise of Succulents: Outdoor Sedum Edition

In a post from last December, In Praise of Succulents: Sedum Edition, I counted the ways I loved my Sedums, mostly focusing on the indoor varieties I grow. I did post one picture featuring some Sedums in my outdoor garden, but no individual pictures.

Why do I love Sedums for the outdoors? For one, they are one of the few succulent genera that includes species hardy here in USDA Zone 5. For another, despite being succulents, they don't seem to object to my rather dense clay soil. They've held on and come back strong, despite the fact that we have had some wet summers over the last five years, one or two of them extremely so. They provide flowers in the early summer, and colorful foliage interest throughout the growing season. They are easy to grow from seed. I can also pick them up reasonably cheaply, if I look among the groundcovers, rather than the perennials, at the nursery.

First, a look at some of the varieties I grow:

Sedum platycladus

Sedum reflexum 'Blue Spruce'

Sedum spurium 'Dragon's Blood,' I think.

Another Sedum spurium cultivar.

Sedum rupestre 'Angelina'

I think that these are both Sedum acre

I'm not sure about this one. It could be Sedum album 'Coral Carpet'. I love the color and form.

And to get an idea of where I grow them, here are some views of the bed along the sidewalk in front of my house, which they share with Salvia, Artemisia and Juniperus, among other plants.

Facing north

Facing east

Facing south

The Pi bed, facing west. The stones, which are somewhat obscured with foliage, are arranged in the form the Greek letter π (pi.) Mathematics was my husband's field of study, and he has a great affinity for π, enough that he has posted on various internet forums as "BobPi." The large green mounds are Sedum kamtschaticum.

Another nice thing about Sedums is that there are plenty of low-growing forms to choose from, all the better for a bed near the sidewalk. Low-growing plants don't obstruct the view of the rest of the garden from the street.

Outdoor Garden, May 19-24: Irises

The bearded Irises (Iris germanica crosses and cultivars) have been putting on quite a show, first the yellows, then the blue/dark blue bi-colors, then the dark purples, and finally the pale purples/lavenders. Here they are in my garden over the past week:

Circle around our street tree, May 19. The yellows had been opening up for about a week at that point.

Same circle, today. The dark and light purples are making their appearance.

Bi-colors by our Birch. (Betula species)

Bed near the front door May 19. Yellow Iris with Alliums and Clematis.

Same bed from a different angle, today. The dark purples are now dominant.

Dark purple, close up. The light hit the flower so that the richness of color can be seen.

Pale lavender Iris, close-up.

I think I also have a few whites near the birch tree that haven't opened yet. They were planted there when the tree was smaller, and there was no shrub bed nearby, so they are kind of hidden. I'm going to be a busy plant lady doing divisions this summer, I think.

As always, click the photographs for larger views.

I've Been At It Again

Buying new plants, that is. Seriously, I think I'm going to have to go on another plant-purchasing hiatus. My last one was from July 2008 to January 2009. At the time, I agreed with my husband that I wouldn't buy any new plants for six months. Bob loves my plants almost as much as I do, but he was concerned because I seemed a little burned out from taking care of them all. I'm not burned out now, but I think I've reached my limit for the time being, in terms of both space and budget. (By the way, I'm getting a huge sense of déja vu as I write this. Did I actually make such a resolution on this blog before now? If I did, it didn't take, as I've been a plant-buying fool the past few months.)

My cactus buying spree continues. I bought this one a few weeks ago, without ID.

Top and above: Unidentified cactus with huge orange flower. There were three nearly mature buds on this small plant when I bought it, and this was the third and final one to open.

As I've written before, I suffer from cactus blindness. I'm terrible at recognizing cactus by genus, with the exception of the most obvious ones (Mammillaria, Opuntia, and Astrophytum spring to mind.) I'm guessing that this new plant is an Echinopsis of some sort, because of the resemblance of the body of the plant to my Echinopsis chamaecereus (former name, Chamaecereus silvestrii), seen here:

Sulcorebutia arenacea on the left (yellow flowers) and Echinopsis chamaecereus on the right. I do think my new plant resembles the Echinopsis enough to be a relative. (This picture was taken several years ago. The Sulcorebutia blooms yearly, the Echinopsis has only bloomed once more, since.)

I also bought this one, at the same nursery, and it came with a label:

Thelocactus lloydii. It also came with two white flowers that have since dried up.

And then this one, from Home Depot, with of course, no label:

Unidentified cactus. I'm hoping that it'll be easier to ID once the flower buds mature and open. ETA 5/24/10: This is most likely Notocactus uebelmannianus, also known as Parodia werneri

This pretty little succulent was also an unnamed Home Depot purchase, but I'm pretty sure that it is xGraptoveria 'Silver Star'

x Graptoveria 'Silver Star'

And the Bromeliadmania continues, this time combined with succulent love. I just won my first Dyckia on eBay:

Dyckia 'Red Planet'

And because there is more to life among the leaves than succulents or bromeliads, (really!) here is my newest Thai Aglaonema, also won on eBay:

A nice large Aglaonema which the seller referred to as A. 'Pink Carmen,' but which looks like A. 'Dona Carmen' to me.

So here goes: I Karen715, do hereby affirm that I will not purchase another houseplant or succulent until November 22, 2010. (Trades or freebies do not count.)

Let's see if I can do it. If I lapse, I will of course, do the honorable thing and post about it here.

Edited to add 5/24/10: Based on a comment I received, the ID of the above new orange-flowered cactus is something along the lines of a Chamaelobivia/Lobivia/Echinopsis. See comment #8 for more edification/confusion.

Putting Them Back Out

Suddenly, it is that time of year again. I'm starting to put my succulent plants outdoors for the summer. Unlike bringing them back in, this is a fairly leisurely process. For one thing, there is less of a sense of urgency. Although this past fall I was good about starting gradually, and not waiting until frost was forecast, that hasn't always been the case. I've had to rush and bring in all 150 in a single session more than once in previous years, due to imminent freezing temps. For another thing, I don't have to check each plant for insects before bringing it out, a bit of necessary drudgery (and occasional source of the willies) in the fall. And lastly, I don't have to worry much about where I'm going to put them, because after they have been acclimated to outdoor sun, I have the whole backyard at my disposal.

That is not to say that moving them out is easy, exactly. Transporting 150 plants, however few at a time, is still quite a task. And it is not like I can just put them out all at once, even if I wanted to. That would take some time, but it would be a one-time task, and I'd be done with it. Why can't I put them all out at once, you ask? Because the one thing my property lacks is shade. Even sun-loving plants grown in south windows need to be introduced to full outdoor sun gradually. And the only suitable shade I have at my disposal is my very small front porch. The area under the maple tree isn't a good place for a lot of small pots. And the yard to north side of the house, which may be available in the future, has been a fenced-in dog run for several years, and will need a bit of attention before it is people-friendly.

Cacti are usually the first out. They have already started their "march" forward, as described below, with a few Echeveria bringing up the rear.

So what do I do? I start by putting a few plants toward the rear of the porch, which faces east, and gets a bit of morning sun. Every couple of days, I move the plants up a bit, where they will get more and more sun as they move forward. As space toward the rear opens up, I add a few more plants. Once the plants get to the very front of the porch, where there is some southern sun as well, they are fully acclimated and can be moved to tables in the full-sun backyard. So for a couple of weeks, I add and move plants every few days until they are all ready for the sun of summer.

Crassula and Aeonium species share the porch table with the Hedera helix varieties for the time being. By early June, the Hederas will have the porch mostly to themselves, with maybe another type of plant or two. Other than the succulents and the ivies, most of my houseplants stay indoors year round. That's why I call them houseplants.

I've always loved succulents, but I never attempted to grow more than a few until I had an outdoor space. Except for my Sanseviera trifasciatia and Haworthia varieties, which live indoors year-round, I guess I think of them more as plants that must spend the Illinois winters indoors, rather than as houseplants in the purest sense. While I appreciate them at all times, (hence the "In Praise of Succulents" series of posts) I truly revel in my succulents during the summer.

Field trip: Lincoln Park Conservatory

On Saturday May 1, as part of our day-before-our-anniversary celebration, Bob I and visited the Lincoln Park Conservatory and the Lincoln Park Zoo in Chicago, before taking in a play. Here is a selection of pictures from the Conservatory.

From the Palm House: Piper crocatum (or P. ornatum--not sure which) climbing a Pandanus veitchii

From the Palm House: Anthurium clarinervium

From the Fern Room

From the Orchid House: Orchids and Bromeliads just hanging around

From the Orchid House: Maxillaria tenuifolia

From the Show House: Hydrangea, part of a temperate garden display

Also from the Show House: You know I wouldn't pass up the opportunity to get a picture of an unusual Hedera helix variety. Love that yellow.

Your blogger and her husband, exhausted after a full day ;-)

Why yes, I am the Queen of the Jungle. You want to make something of it?

Fun with Air Plants

Before my recent attack of Bromeliadmania, the only members of the family that I had any luck with were the epiphytic Tillandsia species, commonly called air plants. I found that I could keep these alive and happy as long as I misted them daily, and periodically submerged them in a tub of water, say once a month or so.

Recently, I bought a new batch, and decided to attach them to some decorative wood pieces. All of them had identifying tags, which doesn't happen often enough.

Tillandsia ixioides

Tillandsia andreana

Tillandsia schiedeana. This one is kind of unruly looking, but it does have multiple crowns and a couple of flower buds.

Tillandsia stricta

Here is the first arrangement. I attached my plants by finding natural holes in the wood, sticking the root ends in the holes, and then filling the space as tightly as possible with wet sphagnum moss. When the moss dries and expands, it usually holds the Tillandsias fairly tightly in place. If not, I add more moss. I've tried glue, as well as tying them to the supports with fishing line, and haven't found either to be satisfactory.

This is driftwood from the reptile habitat aisle of the pet store. The new T. schiedeana and T. ixioides from above are the two plants on the left, joining another T. ixioides, a T. caput-medusae and a NoId that I've had for a while.

This wood piece is also from the pet store, and is attached to a piece of slate, which forms a nice stable base. The new T. andreana is at the bottom, in a soda bottle cap which I glued to the base, and then disguised with moss. The new T. stricta is at the top, and the center is a previously owned NoId. Again, the plants are held in place by packed sphagnum moss.

I purchased this last piece of wood about 13 years ago, when I was browsing through the pet store with my then-boyfriend. When I picked it up, he asked me what I was going to do with it, since he knew I didn't keep reptiles. When I told him I wasn't exactly sure, but that I could visualize using it in some sort of houseplant arrangement, he exclaimed "You're the Martha Stewart of houseplants."

I answered, " That's really sweet of you, but I'm pretty sure that Martha considers herself to be the Martha Stewart of houseplants."