a few more inside things

I managed to save my tarragon from whatever ailed it earlier in the year. It's not going to summer outside again. And I've been eating it, ha!

Sensitive plant is still here. Tired of seeing its naked stem I pinched its top, to see if it will sprout new growth sideways.

Dismal- this little houseplant fern just isn't happy. I often forget to move it into the shower and it was starting to look dried up. So I made a point of splashing it with a bit of tapwater every time I was at the sink. It didn't like that- the next day a ton was drooping. Maybe the hardness of tapwater? or the chlorine? whatever the cause, I've gone wrong. It only has one frond left and I don't think I can save it.

Well at least I still have pretty violets!

more plants brought inside

Nasturtium. I never brought a nasturtium indoors, before- but I'd like to get a few more weeks out of it before it's too cold

Citrus scented geranium off the front porch. This one had mealy bugs. I wiped them all off by hand, sprayed with soap mixture, and trimmed off the worst leaves. Then cut and replanted most of the stems, because it was too sprawling to fit in the corner of the room.

Mini geranium has been growing outside all summer without any trims

but now I think it really needs one!

Its scion is on the opposite side of the house, in a more crowded window spot. Next to the pathetic sensitive plant

Also in this spot the two pots of sweet potato vine, cut back and sprayed. Also pot of chives, between the vines and the cuban oregano.

on the shelf behind them, salad burnet

It's a full house again.

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.

some houseplants

mimosa keeps growing lovely new fronds. But lower leaves slowly yellow and drop, as well.

Kalanchoe are starting to populate neighboring pots with their babies, dropped off the leaf margins. I need to give these larger pots themselves, soon.

Philodendron Micans in my upstairs window is starting to look a bit healthier- at least, this one stem of it.

I thought zebrina was supposed to be a vine that drapes down, suitable for hanging pots. Mine is growing up and up!

in the house

Gave my little mimosa a new, larger pot. I don't like handling it because all the leaves close with stress and then it's trickier to fill the soil. It dropped some foliage, but is growing anew- on the left, fresh fronds.

I guess my young kalanchoe are doing better- this one is starting to sprout babies on its leaf margins. I never have seen flowers on them

Zebrina growing and growing

Plant attack! that's what my seven-year-old thought this was. I'm trying to revive my poor ponytail palm. It needs less water and more light. So I moved it to the sunniest spot- but as its falling over I kind of leaned it on the jade. They're both spending more time outside now.

Cut down my 'kiwi fern' coleus in the kitchen windowsill severely. I couldn't see out the window anymore! Small leaves growing back look rather pretty. Might keep it trimmed regularly with stouter stems.

All my other coleus cuttings that were still in jars (from the newer acquisitions) just got potted up, too. I may keep some of them as houseplants this year, in addition to what's outside. More pics later.

more spring plants

I have been out in the mud, planting in the rain. I get soaked and dirty, the plants are unfazed and suffer no transplant shock. Over the past two days I went to my favorite local nursery, and then back to the local greenhouse, and then returned yet again the next day to pick up a plant I'd forgotten the first time. I got a lot. They are lovely, and look great in their spaces. More on all that later, I'm very tired now.

But here's a little peek- two small plants I got just to keep in the house. A very small mimosa (aka "sensitive plant"). I will probably not put it outside, since I lost the last one to disease and they are prone to it around here.

A small pretty fern. My photo doesn't pick it up, but the leaf margins and veins are very faintly red. I don't know the variety name, but the label said "indoors" so there I will keep it until I know more.

clean up

Which means: how many plants will move from my balcony to the dumpster, today?

I should have tossed the chocolate Mint weeks ago- it is now a mottled mess. Still it was disappointing, the beautiful scent surrounding me while I upended it into the trash bag. I think my plants are afflicted by spider mites, but not sure so I am not taking chances but throwing away the soil they were all in, too. Won't use the pots or shards again until they've been bleached and rinsed well.

I cut out all the oregano, too- that's also failing. Not my favorite variety of oregano anyways (but the mint was). I tried to salvage the lemon balm, which was just starting to show bad signs on the little seedling sprouts and some lower leaves. This one was still sitting in original garden soil (mostly clay) from the old house- I must have transplanted it in a hurry and forgot to give new soil. I dug out the main stems and put into new soil. Useless, pretty plant. Giving it one last chance.

Probably should throw out some more- my daughter's lovely little mimosa (sensitive plant) has symptoms.

So does the ginger, but it's also got new shoots coming up since I fed with vermicompost. I've been wiping down the ginger leaves (sharp, fresh lovely ginger scent arises when I do!) every day or so with damp paper towels, they seem dusty and debris-ridden (at a microscopic level). It seems to help a little bit, but I don't have the energy to do this for every plant. I guess I could spray with soapy water, but keep forgetting and by the time I noticed the plants were sickly, it seemed too far gone and likely to just spread more. They're goners.

I will really miss the fresh mint tea. Will have to get some new herbs from the nursery next spring. I never did replace my rosemary, stevia, thyme or sage this year...

tickle plant

Also called "sensitive plant" but I know it's in the mimosa family, wish I knew the exact name of this one. It likes the shade and apparently can be grown as a houseplant? but the seedling I brought inside died. So did all the others that remained outside, just this one survived.

It definitely responds to touch. Photo above you can see the upper left set of leaves starting to fold shut because I merely bumped the pot; then I touched each leaf group one by one and within a minute or two it was all closed:

tickle plant

My daughter brought home a pot sown with seed from summer camp. She says it's called "sensitive plant" and when you touch it, the leaves fold shut. Sounds like (and looks like) a species of Mimosa.

pretty success

I have accepted by now that the Echinacea, autumn Ferns, Mimosa and Hibiscus on my balcony are not going to grow again. Still dead dry stems, barren ground in those pots.

But, I now have flowers! The Nicotiana is so lovely. It reaches just outside the railings towards the sun, so I had to lean over awkwardly for some photos.

Lots more of these plants still growing up, the broad leaves are quite large.

mimosa blah

Well, it seems my little Mimosa tree has a chronic disease, I think fusarium wilt. The foliage is all fading gray and dropping faster than new growth appears, now. I took some drastic measures, but don't have much hope for this plant.

I emptied its pot and filled with new soil, but don't know if it's any cleaner than the soil I had in there before. Then I cut its head off. Probably killed the thing, but a bit encouraged by the fact that a few days ago I saw a mimosa sapling at the old property which I had tried to kill by cutting it down to the ground two years in a row (it grew too close to the house, right up against the foundation) and that one is bigger, fuller and healthier looking than the one I have in a pot.

So we shall see. I brought the pot indoors against colder weather. If it regrows, happy I am. If not, no loss it was dying anyways.

dismay

Guess what this post is announcing?

More death on the balcony garden. I threw out the Mums, the last Mint plant, and my kids' sick plants. Also dumped out the bag of Potatoes, that plant was looking awful. I got a tiny harvest of nice-looking but very miniscule potatoes, just enough to fill the palm of one hand. Not sure what I'll do with them. I recently cut down the swiss chard to eat it, cut down the Basil plants to dry their leaves, and today the Green Onions and Chives to put in enchilada recipe, so there is quite a bit of space opened up now.

Sprayed garlic/dishsoap concoction on the Petunias and other plants that have aphids. There was also what appears to be whiteflies. The next day I inspected the Petunias and most of the bugs had stopped crawling, but it looked all nasty covered with their still bodies. So I took the entire planter into the bathtub, tipped it on its side and rinsed water forcefully through the foliage, which knocked off most of the bugs and spent flowers as well. Looks better; not sure if it actually is better. I've trimmed more bad foliage out of the Nasturtiums (the remaining leaves look surprisingly healthy), cleaned all the Dogwood leaves by hand, and cut down most of the Echinacea (swarming with tiny caterpillars). Done more sleuthing online and finally figured out what has been ailing my beautiful little Mimosa tree. It appears to have fusarium wilt. Fits the symptoms perfectly, afflicts a wide variety of plants and does not affect Ferns.

Not treatable. The solution is to remove and destroy the diseased plants. It comes through a soilborn fungus and I'm afraid my poor-quality potting soil might be to blame, or the leaves I collected from a friend's yard to use for mulch. I've scoured more pots with bleach, swept all corners of collected dust and litter, thrown out bags of old potting soil and leaves. It is looking very clean now, and rather barren.

And all this just when I am able to enjoy sitting outside on the balcony again. In the summer it's too hot, too noisy from the A/C units running in all the buildings around me, too bothersome with bugs. But now that it's a bit cooler and quieter, my plants are succumbing to more ills. I almost feel like I'm being a hypochondriac on their behalf.

more death

Yeah, the toll goes on. Whatever this disease is that's killing off my balcony plants, it is still spreading. I thought it was aphids, but now am wondering if it's some kind of air-borne virus. Definitely the Petunias are smothered in aphids; but many of the other plants have pale, mottled scraped-looking leaves and no actual bugs on them when I look close.

Affected plants now include: Petunias (the worst), Echinacea, Nasturtium, Potato, Celery, Mint, Swiss Chard, Miniature Rose, Dogwood sapling in a pot, Mums and my daughter's plant (I forget its identity). Even the Sage, Rosemary and my Mimosa tree, which I thought impervious to harm, are starting to show signs of ill. Quite a few of those are my favorites. I am very unhappy and discouraged by this.

I should just throw them all out before everything dies, but can't quite bring myself to do so. There are still pretty pink flowers on the Petunias, and I even have one Nasturtium bloom...

The good news is a few plant groups seem untouched: the Hibiscus, Green Onion, Chives, Ginger, all the Ferns, and the Basil plants. Oh, and that odd Resurrection Plant, which is still closing and unfolding again according to water supply! It even has green color, so I do think it's alive, wacky thing. The Basil is showing signs of being affected by cooler nights; soon it will end its season. I had hung some to dry in my kitchen but the humidity is too high and the herb leaves simply aren't drying out. I might have to try drying them in the oven again...

My Ferns seem to be doing quite well, most of them are growing new bright green uncurling shoots.

The indoor plants are, for the most part, in good condition- including the young cuttings of Petunia and Stevia which I've brought inside to occupy a windowsill. So I will someday soon here write a happy post about all those.
~
Oh, and I've actually eaten potatoes! Out of my potato bag! Lovely little delicious red things. I am sitting on eager hands waiting for the plant to flower so I can upend the bag and get the rest out. They were tiny things, and I want to let them mature a bit more. Also cut the entirety of the Swiss Chard plant down the other day and put it into a lasagna. There wasn't enough chard so I bulked up the recipe with store-bought spinach, but it was quite good and I think the kids liked it better that way anyhow. So I am still eating a bit of my diminishing garden!

mimosa

Potted up again; it's growing fast!

mimosa and hibiscus

These two plants I dug up as volunteers out of the old yard and brought along with me have been outside for a while now, to enjoy the spring sunshine. But I think I moved the Mimosa too soon. Quite a few of the delicate leaves have gone pale, dried up and dropped off (see foliage lower left). I'm afraid it was probably too cold for it. I saw its parent tree in the old neighborhood a few days ago and noticed it was just barely beginning to leaf out. So must remember next year, don't put the mimosa outside until well into May.

The Hibiscus also suffered a bit from going out early; some of its leaves got yellow spots but overall it is doing fine now. I have just moved this one up into a larger pot, as I wanted its white one for the aloe vera.

There were two more of each of these plants; one has died and the other is  still just a bare stem. So I think at least until they are much larger, these two will continue to come in during winters.

sun!

It is so lovely and warm, and the air smells like spring. I'm shifting the overwintered plants outside onto the balcony nearly every day now, but still bringing them in at night until they're properly acclimatized again. Here's pics of a few of them enjoying the sunshine and mild breeze: Stevia

Mimosa (this one has grown a lot!)

Hibiscus

Tarragon (not grown a lot. Hoping it does better with summer).

Lettuces and my few Broccoli in propped-open coldframe.

I also set outside the Bell Pepper, Rose and Curry Plant but they didn't all photograph well with the striped shadows cast by balcony railings.

And here's an empty pot. It used to have a Garlic in it, but suspect a squirrel thought I had hid treasures under the leaf blanket and dug it up. I'm hoping he didn't like it, and won't come back for more.

The other Garlics are all doing great!

There's Mints and on the right Chives behind these Garlic pots.