Updates: Bigger and Better Things

As I'm sure I've mentioned before, I love summer. Or maybe I've just complained repeatedly that I hate winter; I forget. Anyway, the long hours of daylight? The heat? The fresh fruit in season? Bring them on! Even the humidity doesn't bother me all that much. (I'd be willing to skip the mosquitoes and the violent thunderstorms/hailstorms/potential tornadoes though.) Of course, the best thing about being a plant lover in the summer is all the growing that is going on.

For example, the new leaf on my Sansevieria hallii, which was just barely emerging from the soil in this post, now looks like this:

Sansevieria hallii. The new leaf is second from the right. I also redid the top dressing for a neater look.

Another view, showing how nice and thick the leaf is. It is the shortest leaf now, but I expect it to continue to grow taller.

As for my Ledebouria socialis, which I posted about on July 8, I decided to get a nice big bowl to plant it in.

Ledebouria socialis in its new pot, with the old pot for comparison. I didn't have to break it, after all.

Finally, I did get back to the Chicago Botanic Gardens after all, just yesterday. And the flowers on the bottom part of the giant Agave stalk were open.

Agave americana bloom stalk from a distance

Closer: The flowers at the bottom of the stalk have opened; the buds at the top are still closed, and the ones in the middle are in intermediate stages.

Closer still: Pretty yellow fringe

Previous posts about this plant can be found by clicking the "Agave" label below.

As the summer progresses, I'm sure I'll have even bigger things to blog about. As it is, I have had to move at least 20 succulents to larger pots, and I'm sure there is more of that in my near future.

I May Need to Break the Pot

Below is my Ledebouria socialis, crowded and rootbound in its 9-inch bulb pot.

Ledebouria socialis, just chillin' on a bench in my front yard

Closer shot, along with your blogger's feet. This picture is best appreciated in its larger version (for the plant, not the feet) so do give it a click.

This plant is one of my "old-timers," a plant that lived with me in New York before I moved out here to Chicagoland. It is roughly 10 years old, and was originally in a 3-inch pot. (I don't remember exactly when I got it; it could have been anytime between May of 1999 and October of 2001.) I was taken with it from the beginning, as it started growing, blooming, and generally acting pleased with its surroundings as soon as I brought it home.

This plant had a bit of a rough time after its move west. It was probably in too small a pot at this point, and was seriously underwatered for a while, as it, the other plants, and I got settled into our new home. The leaves that weren't dried out looked pale and tattered. So I decided to cut them all off. I was left with a pot of little purple bulbs. I moved them up to a larger pot, and put them outside. In a couple of months, I had this:

My rejuvenated Ledebouria in a 5-inch pot, summer 2003. Sorry for the blurriness; my old camera wasn't the best.

Now, once again, it is time to do something with this plant. Because it is so rootbound, even with my best intentions, it dries out and gets ugly looking in the winter. Some of that may be due to its normal dormant period during that time of year, but I think my somewhat erratic care is a larger part of the equation.

Plant from the side, showing the not-so-pretty remnants of its hard winter. It had very few viable leaves when I put it outside last month. I didn't cut it back this time; a week or so outdoors in the shade, with plenty of rain, revived it pretty well.

Close shot showing its solid mass of bulbs

I'm not sure I want to move it up to a larger pot size. The next step is a bowl, like the ones I use for my dish gardens, and I'm not sure I have room for that. Dividing it would be the alternative, but I am a bit hesitant to do that, lest I damage it. And I really like it as one large plant. Decisions, decisions, decisions.

There is an excellent profile of this plant available at Plants are the Strangest People.