A Sentiment

God knew what He was doing when He sent a gentle breeze and brought a lovely butterfly to set my heart at ease. The happiness of your friendship and the gentleness of your words have touched my life in special ways and now I feel assured. Thank you for your loyalty and for reading everyday. I only hope you find things to make a happy day.

Thursday, February 4, 2010

Great Houseplant Census of 2010

Welcome to the Great Houseplant Census of 2010.* The impetus behind the census is that one evening, my Very Indulgent Spouse (VIS) looked around the kitchen and family room and commented, "Wow, you have a lot of houseplants." This is the beginning of a post written by...http://mcgregorsdaughter.blogspot.com/ Go visit her blog and read about hers and others.
She started this whole thing. I wanted to be included in the count. I didn't know how many I had, but I knew that my collection was growing. When moving into this house...there was no place for plants. I moved in with a Christmas cactus. So, I bought a black wrought iron plant stand.
Soon that was full and I had to invest in another folding contraption that held 7 plants. I put it on the front porch. That's where my cacti sit all summer.


The following year...I bought a big table to go downstairs in front of the windows. It held lots of plants. My skimpy collection looked lost on that big table.

So a trip to the greenhouse and garage sales found me buying plants to fill up that table. It looked wonderful. Nice and full.


Now, I started blogging and my interest was in starting seeds in the house. Oh, dear...where do I put those seed trays, how much light do they need? So, I surfed the net and found a lighted plant stand. Four shelves with a light over each. I put it downstairs and now I could start with my seeds. I was pleased.
I started accumulating clay pots. I bought these at garage sales. I soon filled them up and had to look for more.

I bought two big planter pots and filled those too. Annuals of all sorts were used in those.

An old chair caught my attention. It was a soft green and had a hole in the seat to hold a pot of flowers. It was purchased and plopped in my front garden.


Last year I made a trough garden and filled it with hens and chicks. I hope it makes it through this cold winter.

A neighbor friend made me a flat planter out of concrete. It is formed by using a big leaf. My hens and chicks had another home.


My kids gave me a gift card for a greenhouse....I bought a strawberry jar and filled it with succulents.



I planted an avocado seed and it sits in front of the basement window. It's growing tall and making new leaves right now.


I brought in my rosemary plant. I am trying to overwinter it in the basement. I have had no luck with these coming back...so I will try this.



I received plants, when I had surgery. Friends and relatives bought them for me...a couple of dish gardens are now separated and thriving.



I went to Merlin's and visited with an elderly lady. She was replacing her wandering Jew. You guessed it...I brought one home too.




Now this winter I have had 3 amaryllis. One white and two red. January has been going by so fast while I watch these tall beauties.

This is my fourth amaryllis. She spent the summer in the garden and now will bloom again in the house.


I love any kind of vine. I have two ivies. When they get bigger I am going to train them as topiaries.



Here's the other one. So let's see how many plants I have for the count. Counting the two houseplants planted with the amaryllis...22. That's not so bad. Do you think I need more?
Balisha :)

















3 comments:

Margaret Cloud said...

Now that is a lot of plants, more than any one I know and my sister-in-law has a lot but you out do her. I am not good at growing plants in or outside. My sister gave me a fern, I think that is what it is. I am having a hard time keeping it from going brown.

Balisha said...

As you can tell Margaret...they are all easy to grow. If you go to her website you will read of many who have triple what I have. I couldn't deal with that many. I keep them downstairs and if the bloom...they get to come up.
Balisha

garden girl said...

LOL! I had a lot of house plants in the past. After I moved in with my husband I gave them to my girls (the ones they didn't kill after my move!) I figured I spent so much time gardening it would be nice having a break from caring for plants over the winter.

My husband decided I needed some house plants though, and bought several for me in our first years together. Then my oldest daughter gave me an orchid. Then I decided to overwinter tender plants indoors instead of letting them die and starting from scratch each year. Then I decided since I have the grow light in the basement, I might as well try my hand at starting seeds other than veggies. . . ! It's funny how quick and easy it is to accumulate house plants, even for me who thought a break over the winter from plant care would be nice.