some houseplant notes

Potted up one of my smaller african violets- from its small paper cup 

 into a regular pot

Took a cutting from the pothos in a sub-irrigated planter, added it to the pot with the one that came from the angelfish tank, and braided cord around the pot to hang it. Thicker on the line from the pole hook to where it divides to go around the pot, idea is maybe the vine will climb the braid and then I can train it to grow along the pole. Always wanted to have a pothos vine climbing around near the ceiling, never had it work before.

It's immediate neighbor is the tradescantia zebrina- I stuck all the rooted cuttings into the pot so it looks a lot fuller now-

and the new stems grew upright this much in just a week

Also removed two small bits of creeping charlie from a regular pot and added them to the hanging one

which got a new string as it was crooked before

It looks better now. Seems to prefer hanging. Stays a lot drier I've noticed.

Aglaonema has gotten leggy. I moved it to a different spot, guessing it needs more light.

Finally, my two parlor palms weren't doing so great again. I suspected spider mites and sprayed them twice for that over the past month. Older leaves have drying tips but the younger ones appear fresh green entirely, so I hope they're doing better. 

bugleweed pieces

I mostly wanted to start groundcover under these trees- it doesn't look much now, but I had solomon's seal planted under the furthest one (something ate it), hostas around the foreground left (deer ate them) and sensitive fern planted around the foreground right (withered from bugs and/or heat over summer but is coming back a little bit now). To spread it out enough, I gently pulled and teased each pot of bugleweed apart into many little individual crowns.

The bugleweeds are so little, barely noticeable now- but if it's anything like the ones I got last year, will fill in soon enough. Narrow-leaved 'chocolate chip' around the tree that has sensitive fern (there's four visible in this pic)

'Burgundy glow' around the tree with the eaten hostas-

'Bronze beauty' around the tree on the shady sideyard slope

and 'black scallop' half circled by where the solomon's seal were.

Then I planted more of the 'chocolate chip' on the sunny sideyard, alongside a new row of stepping stones I'm placing there-

Most are in a row under shade of the large lamb's ears-

and gladiolas foliage

and two tucked between step stones

Only had one specimen of dwarf 'metallica crispa' and I put this one under the hydrangea by the rhubarb (yeah, I moved my rhubarb again. I'm a week behind updates here!)

Last of all, the dwarf 'chocolate chip' variety went around the lilac shrub out front. 

I put a new stepping stone down there- this old one in the middle was slippery

so I laid a different larger one that has rough surface but it stands up further above the ground so now I wish I'd had more of the standard bugleweed size, not got the little dwarf ones because they're so cute!

Look what I found when I was working in that spot- my aglaonema and apparently it bloomed this year, but I totally missed it- hidden under the daylily foliage.

in the house

Recently I repotted my arrowhead

and the crazy 'rodeo drive' coleus. It's the first time I kept one all season as an indoor plant.

Compare to the foliage on the two outside (trimmed this bit off the porch plant):

This one in the shade of upended coldframe has gotten leggy- I moved it to a brighter spot.

For some reason I haven't become fond of the aglaonema. It keeps getting pale leaves that drop off- I thought bugs and sprayed, maybe overwatering? It also needs a larger pot but I haven't got around to it. 

However! It's flowering. 

Looks like the flower spathe my anubias used to make in the aquarium.

Nearby- the plants that live under my window tank- they don't usually get shown off here. The creeping charlie is doing well now

Heartleaf philodendron has a few new leaves

Peace lily hasn't filled in much yet, but does look better than has in the past

Of all the plants I got at the library swap, this begonia is now my favorite. It got tall enough I finally pinched off the uppermost shoot to make it branch out. Also needs repotting...

begonia speckles

My angelwing begonia grows just as quickly as advertised

Already a new leaf:

And the cuttings that were completely bare, sprouting as well:

Other plants still kinda new here- Aglaonema has some new young leaves, it already needs a bigger pot.

and it's grown a few flower spathes. They look just like anubias flowers!

Peace lily is doing alright; better since I removed some leaves that were wilting with puckered creases. I figured out this was the tiny plant-sucking insect I can barely see but was probably also afflicting my sweet potato vine cuttings on the window tank, and the avocado plant nearby. I cut off all the sickly leaves, wiped all the others down with mild bleach solution then again with water to remove the mites or aphids or whatever they were. All treated plants are perking up now.

On the same shelf- heartleaf philodendron doing nicer now, too.

plant pictures-

I potted up the bright 'pinched' coleus cuttings

and my zebrina cuttings- which had roots just emerging. Put them in two different locations with indirect light, to see where they do better- one is in my room.

Here's some of the citronella geranium cuttings- one under a cloche, the other not- behind them the osteospermum cuttings- a few got moldy and I pulled them out.

another pot of geranium cuttings outside under glass- with the vine pieces- but they're already dying

the one I stuck in the parent pot wilted at first, but has since perked up-

Little tabletop near front room window is full of other cuttings in jars-

and the dwarf sansevieria, which I just repotted-

Potted up the one baby kalanchoe in one of the smallest pots I have- in a succulent mix

Also repotted the peace lily

and moved some plants around in the house. Aglaonema, pothos, peace lily and heart leaf philodendron now all sit below the window tank

I patched together this photo of it to try and make appear more as my eye sees (the top of tank not so washed out). One of the parlor palms is now to the right of this tank- it switched places with the avocado.

The front room becoming an indoor garden.