a few things

Pulling weeds, I found what looks like a tiny red japanese maple. I planted it in a small pot. Lots of my neighbors have japanese maples in their yards, I'm not surprised a seed found its way onto my ground.

Hard to see, but the ginger is sending up new shoots! I've freshened its pot with a top-dressing of fertilized potting soil, blanketed it in mulch, and set back outside in the shady stump spot near the garden.

Sadly, I think I finally killed my boston fern. It was going out during the day, in at night- can't take below forty degrees- and one night when it happened to be particularly cold, I also happened to forget to bring it back in with the others. Dang. I cut back all the dead foliage, but am keeping the pot around and watering it now and then, just in case it revives.

I also tossed a few plants that just aren't doing well for me (needed their containers). One was the very pathetic "butt plant." I can't seem to do right by this one- out it goes, sorry.

semi- and succulents, old and new

A few small cuttings and plantlets I got from a friend of the family. I don't know their names, unfortunately. This one has round, flat leaves shaped like my 'ice plant' but a grassy green. It looks like another crassula of some kind.

and these tiny baby plants had grown from leaves that fell on the lady's table. The leaves had actually withered away, and the baby plants were holding themselves up with fine root hairs spread on the tabletop in her sunroom, between trailing stems. Lovely pale blue-green.

Not new- but replacing old. My kalanchoes had grown large enough to sport lots of babies on the leaf margins- and then started looking sickly, just like before. This time I simply cut them down (you can see the trimmed-off stems in here) and planted some of their largest babies.

I threw out the ponytail palm. After a summer languishing outside, it just didn't look like it would recover. Also tossed the string-of-pearls, it looked dead. Bummer. The first set of cuttings off my zebrina plant went into its pot:

I don't know what to do with my lithops anymore. It does not look good. It keeps sprouting new leaf pairs without any of them getting healthy. It's in the brightest window spot I have, yet still looks leggy and needy.

My oldest geranium, the one that's kind-of a bonsai, got its serious trim of the year:

Here's the best of its tops, which I stuck in a small pot to root

Older scion of it is still outside, obviously it loves the sun

Scented geranium is unhappy. I don't know if it was the switch to indoors, or I brought an insect pest in on it? Leaves keep yellowing and dropping. I'm trying to change its watering routine. Think it's too damp. Might move it into a smaller pot. Discouraged as I liked this plant.

Cuban oregano is looking pretty good.

Creeping charlie is glorious.

I am trying to save my elephant bush plant. It got hit really hard with some insect, outside on the porch this summer. It looks terrible. I'm taking cuttings of the few stems with decent-looking leaves, to see if I can restart it, but don't dare bring it inside yet to spread more ill...

in the house and out

My purple-edged pink african violet is almost done with this round of bloom. The purple edges seem less distinct than before...

The other two violets are forming buds, so I might have all three briefly flowering simultaneously

I gave up on keeping the sensitive plant mimosa indoors. I don't know why they always yellow and die on me. Last time I looked up info, found suggestions that it has to do with the water temperature. I pay attention to that now- but it still drops yellowing leaves. I put it outside on the deck to see if there's any improvement with another site change.

Also my lithops appears to be in bad shape. I was all ready to start watering again when the last of the old leaves withered away- but it started growing another set of new leaves. And they are all small, leggy, unhealthy-looking. The pot isn't in a good spot- it has the most sun, but also as you can see gathers dust too easily. I am not sure what I can do for it at this point. Might be another plant I'm just no good at keeping.

lithops thing

I am not sure how it is doing. Still witholding water. The new leaf pair emerging from the gap appears rather lopsided.

New one at base is more green... I am really curious to see what this looks like when they are done emerging. It still looks way too leggy.

the butt plant lives!

I have done things wrong by lithops, but have another chance now. This one is doing more that surviving, it's growing. Producing a new set of leaves in the crease there between the old. I went back and read up on a bunch of instructions. Now is time to withold water completely until it is done replacing its leaves.

Photos taken several days apart.

When I took this most recent photo, I saw something astonishing.

It's growing a second plant out at the base! Splitting open like a sleeve.

Very cool. I guess it's not doing so poorly then, if has the energy to propagate itself like this. I went back to the care articles. Realize now the plant needs careful watering and complete drought at certain times of year. It's possible when I first got them, the plant was going through an adjustment period to time its growth cycle with my seasonal photoperiod/light intensity whatever. Might be part of the reason I lost one.

thru the window

My plants in the one good winter sun spot- viewed from outside

Elephant ear, jade, ice plant, tarragon, geranium, lithops, Zebrina in the background.

decline

My last 'butt plant' isn't doing so good. It is still too leggy, leaning slightly no matter what spot I shift it too, seeking the brightest winter sun. It is starting to look puckered, shrively- which means, finally, water! I gave it a little, anxious not to overdo it, but it seems to be going downhill .

some are happy, some are not

A small survey of a few of my houseplants. My kalanchoe have done poorly. Top leaves started to droop and wither brown. I thought I was over- or under-watering and tried adjusting the schedule. I thought they were getting an overdose on nutrients and gave them tapwater instead of tank water. Over the past several months they had more leaf drop until finally I gave up and threw them out. This was the last pot of them:

I'm pretty disappointed. I really liked this plant and not sure where I went wrong. Funny thing, I had given pots of young kalanchoe to two friends of mine- and theirs also withered and died around the same time. Perhaps the plants were sickly, something in the soil I used?

I have a few babies left, that sprouted up in nearby pots of jade and elephant ear. Have to read up a bit on kalanchoe so I can try to get these to grow larger size without failing again.

The jade nearby has fully recovered from its bout with pests last winter. I should probably repot it into a larger container soon. I have a few of its offspring in two smaller pots nearby, as well. Thinking to make gifts of those soon (running out of space with good light again).

Quick snapshot of my boston fern:

It never really got lush and full this year, but still lovely when I see sunlight through the fronds.

And a complete surprise in its pot, near the edge: I swear this is a baby cactus. Sure looks like one, above the seedling leaves. I don't know how it got there- my teenager has a cactus in her room upstairs, but it has never flowered. The fern sat outside most of the summer, perhaps seed drifted in from somewhere? it's a puzzle.

My foxtail fern looks really happy on its pedestal near the worm bin. Quite a few of its arms are near touching the ground!

Charlie plant is also doing well in its new location on the "rock table" in our front room. The spot was unoccupied because a few months ago I gave away my bird's nest fern. I was so glum about that I didn't mention it here... the plant had been in a slow, steady decline in spite of my attempts to give it special treatment- humidity in the bathroom, washing dust off the leaves periodically, watering lean on a schedule- it drooped more and more severely, looked very sick so finally I decided its best chance for survival was in someone else's hands.

Creeping charlie wins: it looks much better here than its previous spot. I placed it up on a short pedestal (upturned plastic container I usually keep as a deep plant saucer) and I even got a compliment on its appearance from my husband. He likes having plants all over the house but doesn't often remark on them. He seemed unimpressed when I first brought this one home- couldn't understand why I was so happy to finally have one. So I'm glad he noticed its improvement enough to say something!

I am still not sure what this plant is. It's getting taller, and still looks healthy. I'm hoping it will sprout a flower someday, that will help me identify it.

Another loss is one of the lithops- my kids call it "the butt plant". They were growing leggy so I moved to a spot with more light. Following instructions, I kept holding back when I wanted to water it on twice-weekly schedule with the semi-succulents. I gave it just a small bit once a month, and only tapwater. Maybe I should have used rainwater, or given even less? One of them has withered and died. I hope I can keep the other alive but not too confident about that, honestly.

new succulents!

A large box came to the house last week, and it wasn't full of rocks like usual. It had plants- a surprise from my husband. So very very dry when I lifted them, but they can take it- these are all desert-area succulents. And completely new to me, so I have to do some reading up on their care.

This one, is very particular: lithops. The plant that imiatates a rock. My youngest calls it "the butt plant".

String-of-pearls: a trailing plant in a hanger. Heard of it before, never seen one in person until now.

This is pink ice plant- some call it miniature jade- and it can grow into a great shrub outside with beautiful pink flowers (but frost would kill it so I need a pot sized to come indoors for the winter).

And my favorite of them is the variegated elephant bush-

the leaves are fat triangles!

I want to repot them all from their travelling containers, but first need to go get some specialized soil- cactus mix- because the stuff I usually use would poison them with richness.