Thursday, May 25, 2017

Trying to Find the Right Houseplant

I set out yesterday morning to change out some plants.



I had three houseplants that just were not doing what I wanted. Two of which go on the top of my built ins in the living room. The room is a well lit room, but I guess being on top of a book case opposite the windows is not conducive to growing plants. Now, I have tried out every kind of decor imaginable on the shelf and plants just look the best. In fact, just recently I shopped the house and tried out like what seemed everything I owned all with the hopes of finding something other than a plant to place up there.

I have used philodendrons there because I want a kind of full with some draped look to it. They always look fabulous at first and then the no light tends to start the process of looking like they have been stuck in a closet.

So off to shop I went. I picked Mama up and she proved most valuable with an idea for a problem I am getting to in just a minute.

I came home with two low light plants that are not some exotic plant which was the problem with the third plant. You know you see some plant that looks great, but you have no clue what it is ---well, chances are it won't grow very well and your back at it again. I have tried to get away from that in the past couple of years and go with what I know.

The third plant was just one I have in the kitchen and I swapped it out for something that looks like it might stand a chance.

So, here is the after on the bookcase. If these don't last, I am going to go for fake and I hate fake.


The one in the foreground is the new addition to the kitchen.

My other shopping was for church.
There are three outdoor planters at church that I tend. All three have different amounts of light ranging from full on light and heat to mostly shade. The full sun one will only work with a Yucca plant. I am not crazy about it, but it is the only thing that has worked. The mostly sun, but some shade has some Lantana and that has worked well for that location. I have tried everything with the shade pot. Lots of things will grow in shade, but it gets so darned hot that you can't keep enough water.

This is where Mama came in handy. She suggested I try some of the begonias that she and I grow at our homes on the patio. Today, I am taking some of that to try and see if I can make that work there.
I am using one of my pots of it, which meant I needed a new plant for that pot😂 You see how this works?! I didn't get a chance to pot the biggest plant from the first picture, but I am headed out to pot that one for my bedroom or my foyer. We shall see where it ends up.

If they survive, when I work on Tuesday, I will share a picture.

The rest of my day was taken up with errands, so no stitching at all😞

We ended the day by driving up to the farm to check on the garden and the fruit trees. My squash and cucumber haul.



We planted only 4 squash plants and 2 cucumbers this year. That should supply us with a reasonable amount. My yellow onions are finally turning out as well. I pulled one up to check.

The wannabe gardener and farmer,
Sandy

5 comments:

  1. I am typically a complete fail at houseplants. Two that do work for me though are spathiphyllum or peace lily and this one that I did a post on a couple of years ago. That plant ishttp://www.poofingthepillows.com/2016/01/a-houseplant-that-lives-i-promise.html still going strong!

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    1. I will check out that post. One side of my house has a ton of windows and gets morning sun. In the rooms that are on that side, I can get lots of faithful plants to grow well. It is all about the right conditions and the right plant.

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  2. We get plenty of sunshine and humidity here but I've not tried to grow houseplants. (except for a Christmas cactus a friend gave me) I hope these work well for you! I don't mind fake! heehee! Hugs!

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    1. I love plants of any kind. I am always playing in the dirt. I should probably stick with the tried and true though. This year has been a little nutty with the weather. The past couple of days were so humid, but then late in the evening it lifted and was very pleasant. This morning it was 65 and cool. I couldn't get over that. Usually it is very hot by the time I go to walk the dog.

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  3. Oh I hear you about indoor plants. Everyone says toss out the fakes. But I have a hard time keeping anything alive. Right now I have two plants that seem to be doing ok but they do not look spectacular. My outside plants are doing ok. I need to do some weeding this week. Lantana, impatiens and vinca never let me down.

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I am so glad you stopped by my little blog. Drop in again anytime.
Sincerely,
Sandy