pink cactus

Several weeks ago I noticed my little zygo cactus had a bud. I thought it would bloom in time for Thanskgiving.

It's only just now opening up fully. Timing's kind of off, but still pretty!

it was beautiful

The waxy, surreally-bright pink flowers on my Thanksgiving cactus are finally fading and dropping off. 

So pretty while it lasted! (pics from a week ago)

houseplants to note

My plain spider plant is making tons of babies right now. I've already given away half a dozen and there's more new.

Thanksgiving cactus is a little bigger this year, and getting ready to bloom for the holiday!

I have a new-to-me boston fern. I always did miss the last one. This is one somebody was getting rid of, because done with its summer on their porch. I know it will start to dry out and drop lots of leaves and maybe only last me one or two seasons more. 

But for now I'm enjoying tending it- snipping off dead ends, misting and turning daily. Already it's been thinned out twice, but looks the better for it.

zygo pink

Posting this after the fact- my thanksgiving cactus bloom of the year! (Yes it was in November). It's still quite small, but has doubled in size. Maybe next year it will be big enough to need a new, larger pot.

a few plant notes

My little thanksgiving cactus has grown a bit this summer! It was looking poorly but I shifted its location, better now.

Not sure what is going on with this african violet under glass. It's the one that rotted the crown and I stuck it here to see if would regrow. It has grown more small leaves, but also this weird twisty habit.

My potted lime-scented geranium outside got knocked around by thunderstorms the month before. Literally blown off the table two or three times in a row, found it upended and broken. I trimmed off a ton of busted branches and stems, and stuck some back into the soil. Now it looks like a few are finally taking root and recovering.

houseplant work

I did some potting up.

First the parlor palms. More because I wanted to try giving them potassium via wood ash rather than they strictly needed larger size pots yet. As they like to be rootbound. I sifted some wood ash from my fire pit and mixed it into the new potting soil. Looks like I've done better than I'd suspected at watering them more sparingly- the soil was so dry it just fell out of the roots when I exposed them!

Next was the chives. They were very rootbound. I had no idea. When I loosened the root mass, it was twice as long as the pot's height!

I trimmed the roots, 

added new soil and hope to see new growth soon.

My plain spider plant was ready to move up-

roots growing out of the drainage holes

Room to grow now-

Could have potted up its baby but I like seeing it here

My brighter crassula moved up one size too.

That's the older jade plant on its left, arrowhead syngonium on its right, and purple undersides of tradescantia zebrina in the background.

Thanksgiving cactus isn't looking happy. Some leaves turning pale. Light? Watering? I don't think this one needs a larger pot size yet but I put a layer of fresh soil on top, and moved it out of direct light

Well, that was fun! Some are still waiting- my second creeping charlie, several of the african violets, asparagus fern and the sansevieria need to move up too. Maybe even the large corn plant. Another day!

houseplant blooms

My little zygo has flowered-

the pink blossoms so perfect they look fake

'Frosted Brandy' will open any day now!

some progress-

My little madagascar palm definitely has more leaves, but they're also getting some leaf-tip burn. Less water still, I think.

Thanksgiving cactus buds are getting pinker!

Little bird-nest sansevieria is in a low level out-of-the-way spot so I wasn't sure for a while how it's doing- but definitely has grown more

and it's even got new foliage crown sprouting

zygo buds and more

My little thanksgiving cactus is getting ready to bloom again- right about on schedule!

Started bringing in some of the pots on colder nights-

Figs

Scented geranium- needs a trim!

Bay Laurel-

I took cuttings of this for the first time, hung some to dry for the kitchen

Also the mini geranium, cuban oregano and citrus geranium. Upstairs the pot of chives and ice plant. These down in the basement window area share space with avocado plant-

Which hasn't been doing too well. I'm starting to think it will never just be happy in this house. Gotten so spindly looking.

fall work

I've been busy doing things to prep the garden for winter- spreading loads of compost on the beds. Emptied my secondary outside compost pile, an old metal garbage can with holes drilled into it, into the newly-started compost pile (it wasn't 'finished' yet) and then refilled the can with finished compost to save for the last few beds that still have plants occupying them. (It's going to rain tomorrow, so I didn't want to leave some of the finished compost out to get washed away).

Bought a small load of concrete blocks (16) to redo one of the newer raised beds, and have been waterproofing and painting them in stages. Raked out the bottom of the vacated compost pile spot, sifted out the twigs and leaves, and scattered on the lawn. Watered the patch of newly seeded grass, waiting to see it grow . . . 

Meanwhile, here's some inside stuff. I took another set of 'rodeo drive' coleus cuttings. The ones on the left, paler yellow green and more prominent purple veins, is from the back deck. The slightly darker grass-green one with thinner purple markings, was on the front porch. 

Took cuttings of the sweet potato vine.

Moved the madagascar palm to join other plants on the bench by sliding glass door. I think it hasn't been getting enough sun.

Zygo cactus isn't too happy. Getting a bit yellowish. I moved it back from the window- too much light?

The solid-color spider plant next to it- has grown an offshoot with a baby plantlet!

And small joy- one more violet cutting is starting to grow a new tiny plant. It's called 'Lady in Red'.

two flowers

one underwater, one above. I didn't get a picture of the new buce when it was fully opened, now the petals are disintegrating quickly:

My little thanksgiving cactus is blooming anew

and one of my african violets is budding now too. But the other, largest violet is in bad shape, I need to trim and repot it as soon as I can.

semi succulents

Small kalanchoe, the only one I have left, filling its tiny pot now

Birds-nest sansevieria doing okay. Lower leaves don't look great, but newer ones seem fine so I hope it's just adjusting.

My youngest charlie is the healthiest one. The mid-sized pot I have in my room, the leaves on outer edges of vines are normal darker hue now that I moved it away from the window light. The oldest pot, in the front room, looks awful and I'm probably going to throw it out.

My thanksgiving cactus bloomed! just in time for the holiday.

Starting to bud:

Fully opened a week later: