2025-4 My indoor houseplant jungle

 Most people who struggle past the coats and shoes (the hall is tiny) to enter my sitting room stop, and often gasp. And next they exclaim. The top 3 is: 3. "Oh my, you have a lot of plants", 2. "Plants always die on me" and 1. "You live in an indoor jungle." And yes, I aim to.

Cycas, Orchid and Caladium

   Before I moved to my current appartment I struggled to keep my houseplants alive as well. Central heating and not enough sunlight were the culprits. Because my garden thrived, I was (almost) certain it could not be due to my skills.

   But then I did move, and my floor to ceiling (4m high!) SW facing windows meant my room is flooded with light. In fact so much light that the three orchids I brought with me soon told me they'd had enough of that glare, and would I move them to the tiny darker bedroom, please?

   So I did. And they died anyway. This time I blamed myself, and now know I overwatered them. You live and learn, don't you?

But it is this plant I really want to show you. It is called Medinilla magnifica, or rose grape, and it is from the Melastomataceae family, and comes from the Philippines.

I have never had one, it is quite pricey and I tend to buy my plants when they are still babies or half dead, thus cheap. But this one was a gift. I found out it was bloody difficult to put down somewhere in my already over-full room, as it needs to be able to let those gorgeous bracts hang freely. So in the end I bought it its own plant stairs, which it shares with a coffee plant, a ficus and an amarylis.

It is an epiphyte...oh dear...so...will not like my direct sunlight, right? I think it will be fine by now though, as the sun does not reach my room in midwinter. But I fear I will have to move it to the bedroom by May at the latest.

This is one of my 'bought it as a baby' plants, which has grown and grown, and is by now partially blocking my TV screen. It is called Phlebodium pseudoaureum. Those names! It is a blue fern, just remember that, from tropical South-America. This is an epiphyte as well, but it tolerates my bright room in winter. I have to move it in the summer months as well though...

Mind you, I think plants rather enjoy to be moved from time to time, almost as if they get bored with the same view after a while.

I have already told you about the Chlorophytum comosum a while ago, so I'll skip it for now.

No the one I do want to tell you about, is my Senecio.

Some years ago I bought a small Senecio radicans, or String of Bananas. Except I had no idea what I'd bought, and had to look it up. A succulent, well, that much I knew from its thick stem and waxy thick leaves. So I treated it as my other succulents: right in front of that window, not too much water. It did well and grew and grew. But three repottings later it was not happy any longer. In order to try and please it, I changed its plastic pot for a terracotta one. And then put it outside on the balcony by the end of May.

And will you look at it now😁 Actually, it needs repotting again, but I will wait until May. My plantbook tells me it can produce off-white cinnamon-scented flowers in late spring, gosh, I do hope so! This is a plant my friend from Malaysia shouts about every time she sees it, she says it looks like an alien.

Philodendron and Primula

Alien-looking or not, I adore it.

The last photo is of my promise of spring, the primula.  It reminds me that winter will end, that I will be able to have my early morning walkies with Puck in daylight in a couple of months, that those endless grey skies will clear, that I will be working in my garden again and plant that primula there.

I hope you've enjoyed a peep into my indoor jungle and that you will have a lovely weekend.

Renée 

183E - Monsoon / publishing Boerenwormkruid

 Bloody hell, was it a turn around, or what? Almost unbelievable that last Saturday evening I was sitting out on the Middelharnis waterfront in my bare arms, having dinner! This morning I walked Puck in my winter coat, hat and gloves on.

Pelargoniums hate harsh rain showers!

   My balcony plants really had to adjust to the change in weather this week.

   Last weekend I was still enthusing about how marvellous my balcony garden was looking.

   And then it started to rain. And how! Rain that was so heavy, that even my rain loving banana was hanging sadly against the balcony doors, with a demeanour that spoke "if this continues, I want to move back to Jamaica!" The Pelargoniums, who optimistically shook off the water on the first day, simply gave up the second day. All of them. They went on strike and waved their brown banners: "we demand sun".

The little sunshine they got in between all that rain, was refused. Too little, too late.

Wet, wetter, wettest.

 Well, they are drama queens, the Pelargoniums.  I have decided to keep them on the balcony in Winter (haven't dared to tell them yet), but on the ground, not on the railings, so that they are protected from the storms we are bound to get. I'll cover them with fleece if need be.

The other plants were cold and wet too, but did not give in en masse. But I did take my succulents inside, just in case. My Crassula Ovata 'Horntree' for example, who has shared my home for the last six years.

Crassula Ovata.

   It is too precious to me to risk it. I bought it as a teensy-weensy plant, and had to give it a bigger pot each spring.

   My sedum as well, bought nameless, but I believe it is a Spathulifolium, has moved indoors. She looks on the cusp of flowering, which is lovely of course.

   Another plant I got in, is my Clivia. I don't see many Clivias these days, whilst it is a super easy plant to keep. This summer it bloomed on the balcony for weeks and weeks, and it had 6 flower stems. By now she has grown so tall (55cm excl. the roots) that it is hard for me to find her a suitable spot in my tiny flat. But she is not fussy.

I eat tomatoes every day.

The tomatoes are holding on. I hope that the many green ones will get the chance to turn orange! But if not, I'll turn them into chutney.

As you can see, the purple petunias are drooping like wet rags in their planter. According to my 2nd floor neighbour, the rain will cease next week. I sure hope so! September and October can be such lovely autumn months, I wish that for all my fellow pensioners that cannot afford peak season holiday prices.

And now for something completely different

Trichis Publishing B.V. and I have agreed to them publishing my book. The plan is that it will be in the shops in spring 2025. I'm so pleased that it is finally happening! Sorry folks, initially in Dutch. But I wanted to tell you anyway. Absolutely marvellous, absolutely exciting and a little scary as well. But, as Mark Twain said: "Keep away from people who try to belittle your ambitions. Small people always do that, but the really great make you feel that you, too, can become great." And also: "Don't part with your illusions. When they are gone you may still exist, but you have ceased to live."

Thanks, Mark, you were a very wise man.

Have a lovely weekend!

Renée