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."

Field Trip: Chicago Botanic Gardens 4/28/10, Part 3

In late April, the CBG comes alive with beautiful spring flowers. I saw tulips, daffodils, and blooming crabapples aplenty. Hostas and ferns were unfurling in the shade. But for the final installment documenting this particular visit to the gardens, I thought I'd show some of the more unusual plants I saw there.

Primula veris 'Sunset Shades,' also known as Cowslip Primrose. I find the tubular flowers and subtle colors an interesting contrast to the vivid colors and open flower shape of the primroses sold everywhere in the early spring.

Fritillaria imperialis. I don't suppose these are all that unusual, as I've seen the bulbs for sale in local garden centers. I've yet to see them in anyone's garden, though. I love them, and I'd love to try them myself.

Until this visit to the gardens, I'd never seen anything from the genus Echium before, at least not that I'd noticed. And believe me, I think I would have noticed plants that look like these:

Echium candicans. These were only a couple of feet tall.

Echium pininana. These, on the other hand, were about seven feet tall.

Echium wildpretii. These were somewhere in between the previous two in height.

Another view of Echium wildpretii

To me, the three look something that would grow in a garden on an alien world. (Actually, they are native to the islands of Madeira, La Palma and Tenerife, respectively.)

And of course, no visit to the CBG is complete without a visit to the ducks. The plants in the water garden hadn't really gotten started yet, so the ducks weren't hanging out in their usual spot. But I managed to spy one in the pond while admiring a crabapple:

A male Mallard (Anas platyrhynchos). His mate was with him, but I didn't get a shot of her.

A closer view

Note the shadow of the bridge, and of your blogger.

Hoya Update

In my post of April 17, entitled "Six out of Seven," I shared photographs of a series of Hoya carnosa 'Krimson Queen' bloom spurs, each closer to flowering than the next. Several of those spurs are now in full bloom, so I thought I'd post another couple of pictures:

Two spurs in full bloom can be seen in this picture, with another in bud near the rim of the pot.

Closer shot of the flowers

None of my other Hoya plants are anywhere near blooming-size, but I'm looking forward to them flowering in the next few years.

Field Trip: Chicago Botanic Gardens 4/28/10, Part 2

If you like tulips, the Chicago Botanic Garden is a good place to be in late April/early May. Here are just a few of the many that I saw last Wednesday.

Field of brightly colored Tulipa varieties that greet you as you enter the Gardens from the Visitors' Center. Click this, and all of the following pictures, for a larger view.

From the Sensory Garden:

The sign says it all

Tulipa 'Rococo' up close

Tulipa 'Mon Amour' looking pretty with blue companions

From the Bulb Garden:

I missed getting an ID for these

Tulipa 'Sensual Touch'

The red doubles in this picture are Tulipa 'Miranda'

Tulipa 'Yellow Spider'

Part 3, which will include pictures of some more unusual spring flowering plants and bulbs, will conclude the series of posts from this visit.

Seven Years Ago, Today...

I started on the most rewarding journey of my life: My marriage.

The newly-married Karen and Bob share a kiss at their favorite Italian restaurant, May 2, 2003

Then, a couple of days later another journey began: A two-day road trip from New York to Illinois in a rickety U-Haul truck.

Our rented truck in the parking lot of a motel in Indiana. Don't let its looks fool you. That thing could go from zero to 60 in 30 minutes.

View of the packed truck. You can't see them, but there are about 80 plants packed in boxes in there.

Yes, I packed up eighty plants and brought them with me to my new life. Seven years later, I have 30-35 of them left. I was feeling kind of bad about that (45-50 is a lot of dead plants) until I realized how big and mature many of the survivors have become, and how much I've learned about plants and what they need (and what they will and will not put up with) since then. Here are some of the survivors:

Photograph of a plant grouping in my New York apartment, sometime before I moved. All of the Sansevierias, the Dracaeana fragrans and the Epipremnum on the pole are still with me. The Anthurium 'Arizona' lasted about a year before it went into a sudden decline. The Sansevieria trifasciata on the far right is very much bigger now.

Peperomia incana in a 10-inch pot. This was also a very small plant back then.

Crassula ovata

Zamioculcas zamiifolia. It was about a third of this size in 2003

The Dracaena reflexa 'Song of India,' that was featured in a recent post is also one of those that survived and thrived after the move.

I'm hoping that in the next seven years, I can greatly improve my track record in keeping my plants alive and thriving. I already think I am doing better, since the great majority of my plants are at least three years old at this point, with many of them in the 5 years or greater range.

And I'm hoping that in the next seven years, and beyond, I can make my husband half as happy as he has made me in the last seven years. Happy Anniversary, Sweetheart!