Garfield Park Conservatory Part 1: The Fabulous Fern Room

On Saturday May 11, my husband and I visited the Garfield Park Conservatory in Chicago for the first time in about 6 years. I had forgotten how large and how stunning the place truly is. It was constructed between 1906 and 1908, and is on the National Register of Historic Places.

The Fern Room is especially beautiful, and, I think, worthy of a post all its own. Here are just a few of the pictures I took.

The entrance of the Fern Room, which also houses a variety of cycads, fern allies such as Selaginella, mosses, and a few tropical flowering plants, such as Monstera deliciosa, for variety. Edited to add: Since this post was published, I replaced this photo with a larger version, which looks particularly detailed when clicked.

Plaque visible upon exiting the room

A view of the room from another vantage point, showing the indoor lagoon that forms the center of the display.

Asplenium nidus, in a bed of Selaginella

A cycad, Dioon spinulosum

Another Dioon spinulosum, showing new growth spouting from the "trunk"

Ferns and Cycads around a bench, with duct work in the background. Part of the beauty of the conservatory in general is the age of the structure, and the fact that the workings, are for the most part out in the open and unobscured.

Closer view of the area above the bench

Platycerium (Staghorn ferns) with other Ferns and mosses in the foreground

Showing off the epiphytic nature of Platycerium on a Fern "tree." I've seen this done before with Bromeliads and Orchids, but never with Ferns.

Cycad, with cone. I believe this is another Dioon, but I forgot to note the label, so I'm not positive.

Young Pteris and Adiantum ferns, emerging from looks like moss, but which are actually gametophytes, the life stage that comes between spores and mature ferns.

Edited to Add: There is some actual moss in the picture, along with the gametophytes.

Your blogger, Karen715, standing near the entrance to the Fern Room

View of the Asplenium which was behind my head in the previous photo. I was amazed at the small size of the container in comparison to the plant.

Part 2 will cover the rest of our trip to the Conservatory.

New Plant: Midnight Among the Leaves

Every so often, my local Home Depot surprises me. Over the years, I've found it to be a decent place to find common houseplants, but not the place to go for anything exotic or out of the ordinary. But last week I found this plant, labeled, of course, as a generic "Tropical Houseplant"

Alpinia malaysianum, sometimes called Alpinia 'Midnight'

I've had one of these before, and it didn't fare all that well. Alpinia, and its relatives in the Zingiberaceae, (ginger family) like a lot of moisture, and wilt and shrivel and carry on if they don't get it. My first specimen was very small (only a few leaves) and wasn't vigorous enough to put up with my tendency to underwater. (My Alpinia zerumbet variegata, which was kind of large when I bought it, has flagged and bounced back a few times, after I cut off some pretty ugly old foliage. It's looking pretty good now.) I'll try to be more careful with this one.

New foliage, with its dark caramel color contrasting against the nearly black older leaves

And of course, it wouldn't be a weekend without a pet picture:

A spicy duo: Peppermint and the Alpinia. (Yes, the plant does have a gingery scent, if the stems are cut, or the roots are handled.)

If Luke had posed, I would have had a nice black and orange shot for Halloween. Also, a ginger cat with a ginger plant would be a nice visual pun. But the constant doorbell ringing from trick-or-treaters has scared my shy orange boy into hiding. The ever-intrepid Peppermint obliged by sitting next to the plant. but the effect is not quite the same.

What's a Blogger to Do...

...when she's stuck for a topic? It seems that in the last couple of weeks, nothing particularly interesting has been happening here among the leaves. The succulents outdoors are soaking up their last few days of sunshine before they are brought in for the season. The outdoor garden is winding down. The houseplants indoors are looking happy, but for the most part aren't blooming or putting out any noteworthy new growth. Fortunately, none of my plants are experiencing setbacks or infestations or anything bad either, so I can't really complain. My schedule hasn't allowed for much plant-shopping or conservatory visits recently. Most frustratingly, for some reason, my creative juices just aren't flowing when it comes to thinking up interesting topics to blog about.

So what am I going to do? Rather than waiting for either my plants or my brain to jump start themselves, while the interval between posts grows ever longer, I went looking through my photo collection. I found a few plant pictures that I like, but somehow didn't make it into previous posts.

Anemone at the Chicago Botanic Garden, from April. I entered a similar photo in the CBG's spring contest, then discovered that two other people had entered shots of the same flower. I guess we pretty much canceled each other out.

Variegated Hoya carnosa leaves, from the smaller of my two plants

Aechmea 'Blue Tango' from the CBG

Epipremnum 'Marble Queen' cuttings, rooting in water, the result of a pruning mishap. I meant to cut off one stem, and somehow ended up removing several. These have since rooted and been potted up.

Helenium variety, from my garden

Cissus discolor, climbing up some sort of utility pole at the Lincoln Park Conservatory. This plant is on my "never-again" list, but will always love it.

x Gastworthia 'Royal Highness' from the CBG. At least that is what the tag said. The pictures of Gasterworthia/Gasterhaworthia 'Royal Highness' I've seen on the web have thicker leaves, and aren't variegated.

Another from the CBG. Unidentified Sempervivum displayed as a companion plant to a large bonsai.

Seed grown Linum perenne, (Flax) from my garden this past June

My Crassula 'Campfire' in its bold summer coloration

And finally,

I've got my eye on you

(As always, click pictures for larger versions. I recommend it for the Hoya, Helenium and Crassula, and maybe for the Gaster-whatever and Anemone as well.)

Bird of Paradise, and Art Among the Leaves

I own two Bird-of-Paradise plants, one Strelitzia nicolai, aka White Bird of Paradise, named for its white flowers, and Strelitzia reginae, which has the more familiar orange flowers. Because they are indoor plants, I do not expect to see them flower anytime soon. The brightest light I can provide for them indoors is bright enough for them to grow nice foliage, but I'm sure that it is not bright enough for blooming.

Previously posted picture of my Strelitzia reginae. I grew this from seed in 2003 or 2004, so I suppose it is still a bit immature for blooming, even if I had better light for it. This is the first season I didn't put it outside for the summer. I plan to do so in the future, as I believe that is the best way to induce it to flower, if indeed it ever will.

Strelitzia nicolai, center. As I understand it, these almost never flower in the home, regardless of conditions, but are great foliage plants. Peppermint (bottom right) finds it, like all plants, unworthy of his interest.

But even if my plants refuse to cooperate, I do get to enjoy one Strelitzia flower in my home:

Bird in Paradise, 1996, by my husband Bob. The flower was drawn from life; the background landscape is drawn from his imagination.

When we first got together, Bob had this colored-pencil work in storage in the basement, as for some reason, he wasn't particularly fond of it. But I loved it from the first time I saw it, so he had it matted and framed, and now it hangs outside the door to our bedroom, in our upstairs hallway. Our home is filled with his artwork, and my plants, and I love it when they complement each other in this way.

And this past week, I finally got to see a blooming BOP plant in person. A specimen in the Chicago Botanic Gardens Tropical Greenhouse had a solitary bloom.

Strelitzia reginae flower. Though I have seen them in tropical bouquets, this is the first time I've seen one attached to a plant.

Full plant from the CBG. Much taller than my S. reginae, but much shorter than my S. nicolai.

More of Bob's artwork can be seen here, on our family website. A post featuring his stained glass work, juxtaposed with my houseplants, can be found by clicking the "Art" label at the end of this post.

I've Been a Naughty Plant Lady

Earlier this summer, I vowed that I would go on a six-month plant buying hiatus, starting the day after my birthday, July 16.

Well, I made it for about a month. A lot of little things in my personal life have been getting me down lately, and frankly, plant retail therapy, while not a cure, is definitely palliative. Besides, now is the time when nurseries put their annuals on sale. And as savvy shoppers know, several plants sold as annuals are actually tropical perennials in disguise. So in the past few days, I purchased these:

According to the tag this is Iresine herbstii 'Aureo Lime Green,' which I suppose is a variation of Iresine herbstii aureo-reticulata. Sold by a local nursery as an "annual" for containers, these make decent houseplants with lots of light and regular watering.

Closer view. I love the contrast between the variegated leaves and the shocking pink stems.

Another "annual," variegated Tradescantia pallida

A replacement for the Hedera helix 'Goldheart' I lost to spider mites last winter. This was actually the plant that broke the hiatus, about two weeks ago. I tried to convince myself that replacing a plant didn't really count as buying something new.

The following plants aren't naughty, since I purchased them before the original cut-off date. I just hadn't gotten around to showing them off until now.

According to its tag, this is Aloe 'Fire Ranch' If you click for the larger view, you can see the nice red teeth, though I think the name is actually for its red and orange flowers.

Aloe 'Wamsley's Bronze' variegated, according to the seller.

This aloe, an eBay auction win, arrived with its rootball almost completely severed from the stem, due to a less-than-stellar packing job by the seller. I told him I wasn't going to ask for a refund immediately, since I thought I could reroot it, and he said to let him know if that didn't work out. (I still think he should have offered a refund regardless of the outcome, but c'est la vie.) It did root, surprisingly quickly, and is even putting out a new pup. I also won the Huernia below from the same seller, and it arrived undamaged in the same package.

Huernia zebrina ssp zebrina, nicely colored in the sun

I had a better experience with my next eBay transaction. I won the auction for the Aloe dorothea, and the seller included the lightly variegated Aloe brevifolia as a free bonus. (She had been selling a more strongly variegated A. brevifolia in another auction.)

Aloe dorothea

Aloe brevifolia. There are faint lines of variegation in some of the leaves. One leaf had a bigger area of variegation, which seems to have gotten lightly sunburned.

I've decided to abandon the idea of a buying hiatus for now, because being naughty has, quite frankly, been quite nice.

Not Forgotten

It seems that lately, most of my posts have either been about my succulents, or my outdoor garden. This is probably because I'm a summertime girl, and I try to spend as much time outdoors as possible. This doesn't mean that I've forgotten about my leafy tropicals. As I've noted before, most of these stay indoors year round. I grow houseplants because I like having plants inside my house. Carting them all outside for a significant part of the year would defeat that purpose.

One thing that always pleases me is having my Monstera deliciosa produce new leaves, which it doesn't do too often. Considering how huge the plant is already, this is probably not a bad thing. (Click on the "Monstera" label to see previous posts that show just how huge.)

Two freshly opened Monstera deliciosa leaves

In looking over my previous posts about this plant, I realize that I never wrote about the attack of scale insects that it suffered last year. I am happy to report that it responded well to treatment, which consisted of removing a couple of the most seriously infested leaves, wiping away visible scale with alcohol-soaked cotton pads, the application of a systemic insecticide to the soil, and periodic misting with an alcohol and water mixture for a few weeks. I was devastated to find the insects, and relieved that I managed to rid the plant of them. I am not a fan of strong insecticides like the imidacloprid formula I used, but I have a sentimental attachment to this plant, as it is the most successful houseplant I ever grew from seed.

Outdoor Garden: Foliage Containers

This year, I decided to fill my part sun/part shade containers with plants chosen for foliage interest. My taste in outdoor plants seems to be the opposite of my taste in houseplants, since outdoors, I tend to choose plants mostly for their flowers, rather than their foliage. So I thought I'd try something different. I picked Iresine herbstii, (Bloodleaf) Strobilanthes dyerianus, (Persian Shield) Senecio cineraria, (Dusty Miller) and Begonia 'Dragon Wing' for these containers. The last does flower pretty much continuously, but I consider it a foliage plant in this case, since I purchased it because I love the way the leaves look. I like the red flowers, too, but consider them a bonus, rather than the main attraction.

One of the containers, filling out nicely

The trick will be convincing myself this fall, once frost is looming, to treat them as annuals and let them die out. Everything except the Senecio cineraria can be kept as houseplants, and I have done so in the past, with varying results. (And I admit, I'm itching to try the Dusty Miller as a houseplant, since nothing I grow indoors looks remotely like it.) Strobilanthes, although often listed in houseplant books, really does not enjoy the indoor life in my experience. I've kept a Dragon Wing Begonia going for a couple of years at a time, but they are messy, dropping flowers often and leaves occasionally. I had an Iresine for 3 or 4 years, and really loved it, but it got leggy, gangly, and unwieldy.

Center pot, which is larger than the other two. Here I used Helichrysum petiolare (Licorice Plant) instead of Dusty Miller, because I wanted a trailing effect in this container.

All three containers, which are under my kitchen windows, against the eastern wall of my house. These get filtered sun in the morning, because of the nearby maple tree; full sun for a brief period around noon; and then bright shade for the rest of the afternoon, as the sun is blocked by the house. All of the plants seem happy with this arrangement, though the Persian Shields wilt occasionally during the full sun period.

I guess I need to face facts: I hate letting perfectly healthy plants succumb to frost. So I'll probably salvage one Iresine (there are three, one per pot) and one Dragon Wing (there are five, one in each of the smaller pots, and three in the large pot.) And I'll probably plant the Dusty Miller in the ground, if I can. These are supposedly tender perennials, typically grown as annuals, and usually listed as hardy only to zone 8. However, here in zone 5, I've had them return from the roots for three and four years running. One finally died after it flowered in its third year; the others have never achieved flowering size.

New Plant for me, New Tree for the Cats

I was feeling a bit down on Saturday, and so I thought, what better pick-me-up than browsing at a nursery? I was looking for ideas for my outdoor containers, and of course, I'm always up for a new houseplant. This is what I brought home:

Fatsia japonica variegata

I've been wanting a Fatsia japonica for a while, and I like white variegation in plants. They aren't offered for sale much around here, so I knew I had to take a chance on one, even though they are, like Hedera, notorious spider-mite magnets. This plant will be spending a considerable amount of time outdoors, from early spring to late fall, since they are fairly hardy (to USDA Zone 7, I believe.)

And speaking of the outdoors:

Peppermint is looking wistful, because I won't open the front door for him. Since we no longer have dogs, we've closed the doggie door permanently, and he and Luke are now indoor cats. The local field mouse population is breathing a sigh of relief.

Which brings us to this:

Peppermint plays with a dangling feather toy, while Luke sniffs at the catnip embedded in the scratching pad

Since they can't go outdoors, we decided that they need something new to enjoy indoors, so we treated them to a new cat tree. I've also started a crop of cat grass for them, so they have greens to nibble on.