Happy Kalanchoes

Sometimes you can find great deals if you know enough about plants to spot a good thing when you see it. A few days ago I spotted some kalanchoes in 3 different colors (pink, yellow and orange) at one of those dollar for everything stores.  They looked pretty sad. But they are succulents and tough little plants.  So I brought three of them home and let them overnight inside by house for 48 hours so they could adjust to cooler temperatures than inside a heated store. I didn't want them to freeze.  Then today I took them outside to plant them in a shallow bowl and they looked so much better. The leaves were nice and plump and the flowers were bright and happy. So for under $5 I got a lovely dish garden in fall colors.

Pansies and Johnny-Jump-Ups

Months ago the automatic watering system in the front yard stopped watering one of the flowerbeds in front of the apartment.  The landlord never fixed it and 2 of the camellias he planted when he bought the place died.  The gardeners eventually dug out the dead ones but left the holes. So I thought maybe they were going to plop in 2 new shrubs any day.  Well, it's been about six months and we recently found out the landlord is putting the place up for sale. No wonder he stopped taking care of the place. So when we went to Lowe's today I picked up some pansies and johnny-jump-ups and planted those in the gaps, and filled the two holes with the soil I had dug up to plant the bedding plants. Problem solved.  And pansies cheer me up.  Now I just hope our lead footed neighbors don't squash them when they throw a ball out of bounds.

Brown Eyed Susan Vine

My brown eyed susan vine is finally doing great. I had to hang up new twine to give the tendrils a new patch to grow on. The leaves have some insect or snail damage.  Could be grasshoppers though I haven't seen any on there. So far it's a mystery to me.

Aloe Magic

I do believe we can manifest what we think about to a degree. So when my friend Lynn told me she needed an aloe plant last time I saw her, I shouldn't have been that surprised when today a new person I met at a workshop shop says out of the blue that if anyone wanted an aloe plant or two, he had a whole bunch on his front porch that were free for the taking. So I got one for my friend and one for me.

And in case you didn't know, aloe juice is good for burns. So it's a good thing to have around.

Snails

On Sunday I bought and planted 4 out of 6 of the plants that were in little peat pots. Then on Monday morning, I saw that snails had totally eaten the top off of one of the two remaining plants. The next morning, I saw they'd destroyed the other one too. Little varmits. Grrrr. I put what was left of them in a covered terrarium. I have little hope that they'll recover without any leaves but at least I can try. One was the Anaheim pepper my boyfriend was so happy to find. It was the only plant he picked out. So I'll have to see if I can get another one next week. I'll be gone all weekend so I won't be able to fix it till next week anyway.

As for the snails, the beer in a dish didn't work at all so I'm back to using Deadline. Don't yell at me...it's no garden if the snails eat it all.

Gardening in a Tiny Yard

I just spent an hour in my garden enjoying it and making it look better. First off, I take one of those trash grabber tools. I picked up about 20 things that had fallen into my yard from my upstairs neighbors balcony, including a dirty diaper, chip bags, a charcoal bag, random bits of plastic and wrappers, a t-shirt, some broken toy parts, and a tiny tennis ball which I assume belongs to their chihuahua. I used to try to give them their stuff back but they never seem to learn so now I just toss it. Except for the dog ball. I threw that back up on their balcony and made it in one shot.

Then I used the weed whacker to get the sprawling lantana and jasmine off of the sidewalk. Then I had to hand prune a bunch of the jasmine vines which are determined to be king of the garden. I watered my potted plants, and finally transplanted the spider plant that was completely root bound in his little container. Someone just gave me a hyacinth plant as well, so I watered that again. The pot is so small it needs water daily, so I really need to figure out where I want it and get it planted.

Then I swept everything I cut down into a pile. I'll let it dry a few days so it takes up less room in the dumpster and then I'll toss it out.

My roses are in glorious bloom.

Epipyllum

I'm happy to report that the epiphyllum I got from my partner's grandmother's estate has not only adapted to it's new spot under the ficus tree in my back yard, it has four new flower buds on it. Epiphyllums are not the world's prettiest plant. But they are famous for their flowers. These flowers look like they are going to be a deep burgundy red. I'll be sure to get some photos when they bloom.

When I was a teen I used to take my mother to the Desert Nursery in Sunnymead CA all the time and they had a vast collection of epiphyllums for sale. Sadly the nursery is long gone. I believe it got plowed over to make a Moreno Valley, CA mall. My mother is gone as well. So my memories are even more important to me. We always came home with a flat or two of new succulents to try.

Terrariums

My houseplants & housecats didn't mix.
Alas I have stumbled upon a solution.
Terrariums!
Plant stays in, cat stays out.
Genius


I used to make terrariums as a teenager. And early on I used to sell them. So why did I forget they even existed when I've had to keep every plant out of my apartment for the last 10 years because I have a cat that wants to chew on every last one? I wish I knew. I could have had terrariums to enjoy all this time. And I want to make a bit of a fairy garden theme. Yes!

So far so good

My garden finally looks like a garden. It's at the happy place after the seeds are growing but before it looks wild and weedy. I took more photos yesterday while it was sprinkling.