Just a Few New Plants

So I decided to go ahead and postpone my self-imposed plant buying hiatus. Last Saturday, we found ourselves with a couple of hours to kill near Libertyville, so I persuaded my husband to take me to Jamaican Gardens, a nearby nursery. Though this nursery and its Morton Grove branch came recommended by two different Garden Web posters, after my first visits, I found them nice enough, but not necessarily worth making 30 and 40 mile road trips. So I last visited them in 2006, and 2008, respectively. However, this time, I ended up with three really special plants, which I definitely haven't seen elsewhere in the area.

Monstera 'Cheesecake.' I had pronounced this plant "to die for" in the comments at PATSP

Tillandsia 'Eric Knoblock.' A really nice large specimen, about 8 inches long.

Hoya multiflora, with buds!

Closer view of the buds

Of course, once I get started, it's hard for me to stop. But I'll leave the latest acquisitions from a more local nursery, and Home Depot, for another post. For those who were wondering, my main reason for taking a six month plant-buying break (which will start on July 16) is to slow down, and really concentrate on appreciating and taking the best possible care of the plants I already have. I know myself (or at least I'm trying to learn--that's what I mean by "growing along with my houseplants.") I know that I often get caught up in little mini-obsessions, and there are times that I need to step back and focus. And I think that is one of those times.

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."

Bitten by the Bromeliad Bug, Again

Apparently, February is Bromeliad month in these parts. After not seeing any in the stores for a long time, suddenly they are everywhere I look. As I posted recently, I found a Vriesea splendens at the supermarket. Then, just this past Monday I acquired a Neoregelia 'Zoe' at a nursery houseplant sale. Now today at Home Depot, they had Aechmea fasciata, as well as Vriesea, Tillandsia, and Guzmania varieties. I left the Aechmeas alone (I don't have a spot for a plant that size right now--besides, they scare me a bit.) But I did buy myself a Guzmania, which I have failed with before, and my first ever Tillandsia cyanea.

Guzmania 'Tempo'

Tillandsia cyanea

So now I'm wondering what they have at the other nurseries and box stores around here. I think I need help.