My Indoor Flower Show

How often is it that I’ve seen something wonderful and not run for the camera to snap a shot? I’ll give myself a mental reminder to get back to that soon but then,distracted by all the stuff going on in my life, I forget. Don’t even want to estimate an answer. And I know that I can take all the mental snapshots I like but I am NOT going to remember that moment in a few years or even days, or let’s face it, even a few hours later.

Thank goodness every now and then, something just catches my eye and makes me get up and get that camera. This happened the other day as I sat reading on the couch one morning. I had the front door open and I glanced up and saw the sun streaming in on the Christmas Cactus in bloom. Now, I’d known that it was full of blooms for a few days and even had a plan to take a photo, but hadn’t gotten around to it yet. But at that moment, it was a plant suddenly aglow with each magenta flower outlined in light. It practically screamed at me to get off the couch and take a picture!

big-xmas-cactus

And also caught the other little starters also in bloom. Did I tell you I have a hard time throwing out cuttings and tend to pot things up till I have too many plants?

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Which of course led to me noticing that I had a few more flowers in bloom around the house. The African Violets on the kitchen windowsill were also strutting their stuff.

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I’d just recently changed the windowsill ornament collection from cats to dogs to set off the plants and since I already had the camera out, well, here they are. Pretty aren’t they? Such old fashioned flowers, hardly trendy, but I never care.

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Today, as I post this, the Christmas Cacti are already over their bloom time. They always seem to be a more of a Remembrance Day Cacti anyway. But they sure did put on a show for us and I’m glad I caught it on “film”.

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Our Own Private Jungle

We’re lucky to have this little greenhouse attached just off the back of our bedroom. Unheated, it is only really useful in the summer. But in the summer a lot of my houseplants go for a little vacation here. At first I thought that all that light would be good but soon discovered that it was actually too much of a good thing. It faces west and the hot afternoon sun was too strong for the jades and even the cacti.

Little Buddha shrine under the Christmas Cactus
Little Buddha shrine under the Christmas Cactus

Being garage “sailors”, we soon collected the perfect foil for the sun and made my plants very very happy. Bamboo blinds cover the windows and on the ceiling we have stapled a collection of rattan beach mats, most found at sales and some for only a couple of dollars in Chinatown.

When I move the plants out to the greenhouse, suddenly the rest of the house seems to somehow feel bigger and lighter. In the greenhouse they are all packed in together. Gazing out of the bedroom, it seems like we have our own private jungle.

The only problem is that plants left in here tend to get huge. The jade hardly fits through a doorway anymore.

The ever growing Jade plant in the shaded corner of the greenhouse
The ever growing Jade plant in the shaded corner of the greenhouse

Then there is the added problem of what to do with Jade plant prunings.

Jade plant cuttings waiting for new homes
Jade plant cuttings waiting for new homes

Well, you can’t just throw them out can you? Well, I don’t seem to be able to. I pot them up so there’s always a bunch of new little jade plants coming up in the summer. Luckily I’ve managed to give a few away. I tell people, to entice them, that in Feng Shui jades are “money plants” and they must have some to attract money into their homes. Seems to work. Hey, everything needs a little “marketing”.

Just a preview of December's big show
Just a preview of December’s big show

As for the Christmas Cactus, well, as you can see it loves the space, popping out a few blooms for my benefit. It’ll really go crazy just before Christmas. The spider plant, which usually resides in the studio, also vacationed in the greenhouse. It has grown abundantly and I wonder how it’ll fit back in the studio again.

Spider plant looking for more space
Spider plant looking for more space

But the nights are growing colder and soon my little jungle will have to move back into the house. Somehow I’ll have to squeeze them through the doorways and into corners all over the house. Then the house will feel like a jungle. But through the colder, grayer days of winter that’ll be kind of nice too.

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