Tag: plants

All Tree, All Shade

Clearly I do not know how to prune roses properly because ours, especially the climbing ones, are looking leggy. I’ve been reading up about how to correct them, and it sounds like late winter is the time to do any major reshaping. They are blooming at least, but not in the pretty, profuse way they were when we first moved in.

The trellis that they’re growing on fell over a little while back. We tried to right it as much as possible, but it’s not easy with all of the thorns! It’s up, mostly, and tied to the porch for more support.

In other garden news, the boxwoods got a big trimming. Please, please, please fill in, hedges! I’ve read up a lot about them being able to bounce back, even after drastic pruning, but I could never find any information on how long it takes and I do know that in general, they’re slow-growing. Also, the right side is much taller than the left but I’m afraid to trim off the top. I figure I’ll wait to see how they fare after this first attempt at cutting them back.

(You can see the leggy climbing roses in the background, along the left side of our porch. And our stroller really complements the color scheme, does it not?)

We’re giving a little attention to the lawn too. There’s a beautiful mature ash tree out front, but it throws more shade than the ladies on Drag Race. (That was contrived and cheesy and for that, I’m sorry. Not sorry enough to delete though.)

We got a quote for new sod, which was something like $600, and there’s no guarantee it would take. We could do the labor part ourselves to bring the cost down, but again there’s no guarantee it would actually grow, so we passed on that and overseeded the lawn with shade-tolerant fescue.

It has been about two weeks and we’ve watered every day that the rain didn’t do it for us. I don’t think it’s doing much, but those little spindly blades may turn into something if we’re patient, right? That’s the hope, anyway.

June 3, 2015
Death of a Houseplant

When do you give up on a houseplant?

I brought home my fiddle leaf fig in October, 2012. It dropped some leaves, but I quickly figured out how to keep it happy and it thrived. It grew about a foot taller over the next year, but then we moved. My brother-in-law cared for the plant while we were in Wisconsin, spending some time with family while we waited to close on our new house.

He kept the plant outside, so it went from being indoors in one location for a year, to being outside, and then inside again in a new location, all in the span of about a month and a half. I gave it the same Southern exposure it was used to, but maybe the thing was stressed? Then I brought home a much smaller fiddle leaf fig from IKEA (which soon died), and I think it gave the other a fungus. It smelled and looked awful, but I tried to save it! I removed as much soil as I could and repotted it, adding a bunch of cinnamon for good measure. (Supposedly it ha anti-fungal properties? I’m sure I read that somewhere.) I successfully rid the soil of mushrooms, but the fig tree was losing leaves fast.

I was watering it the same way I always had, but we have radiators here and I think the air was drier in the other house because of its forced air heating system. I cut back on the amount and frequency of water and that helped, but it never properly recovered. Tenderly, I would wipe down each leaf with a damp rag while whispering encouraging words. Grow, my darling, grow! OK, maybe not the last part, but I did remove the dust from the leaves regularly. They continued to drop occasionally though, and for the last few months now it has been looking like a Seuss tree.

Don’t call it a comeback. I think it’s time to say goodbye to my fancy blogger tree, right?

December 17, 2014
A Big Ol’ Clock and Hanging Planters
More plans for the kitchen. I don’t think my old “Eat” sign above the fridge is coming back, and the fern in a punch bowl (yep) that’s on top looks funny. A couple of these may be their replacements:
1. Pif Paf Puf Hanging Storage
  Turn ’em into planters?
2. Newgate Brixton Wall Clock
  I ordered this last month and the delivery date has been pushed back repeatedly. I’m hoping it will get here (and look good) eventually.
3. White Hanging Ceramic Bullet Planter
  I like having plants in the kitchen, but my cats will eat them if I don’t get them up and out of their reach. Jerks.
4. Classic 24-Hour Clock
  I’ve posted this one before. If the other is canceled, this one would work, but it’s smaller.
5. Wall Ball Planters
  Skip the hanging planters and go for the wall, maybe?
March 14, 2013
The Fiddle-Leaf Fig Tree

My friend Michelle was in town, so I met up with her yesterday we went to Sprout Home. I bought a couple of air plants (that don’t look as cute as I thought they would in their intended home), some beautiful flowers (out of season peonies!) that you’ll see in tomorrow’s post, and this guy. A fiddle-leaf fig tree (ficus lyrata).

I had to take pictures right away, while it still looks lush and full. I don’t consider myself to have a black thumb anymore because I’ve been successful with plants as of late, but I’ve heard that these are fickle. Right now, it’s beautiful, healthy, and green.

It’s a nice balance to all of the hard and straight lines in the room too. Books cozy up the space, but a plant gives it life.

All the cool kids seem to have a fiddle-leaf fig these days, and I had bemoaned my inability to find one to Jules before. I would have probably walked right this one had it not been for Michelle (she spotted it, and noted that it was only $50).

I have high hopes for it — literally. I want to see it grow to the ceiling.

October 24, 2012
It’s Alive!

Huzzah, I’ve managed to check off another of my Lovely Life List items.

The dinosaur planter in the windowsill is new, but the rest of the succulents had been hanging out for a while. I thought, ‘hmmm, these have maybe been alive for a year now, right?’ I scrolled back through the archives to check. A year and a half! Boom.

So I’ve replanted them, and they’ll probably die now because I don’t know what I’m doing and didn’t look up instructions. Armed with the vague knowledge that succulents will reroot, I snipped them all down and plunked them in some citrus/cactus soil. If they don’t make it, I’m not too worried. They were getting overgrown and gangly, and they’ll cost all of $3 to replace if need be. For now, they look cute and I had a project to work on with the kids.

And hey, I no longer think of myself as someone with a black thumb! Maybe it’s not fully green, but I can at least remember to water some plants and put them in the right lighting conditions.

September 18, 2012
Bird’s Nest Fern

I’d always wanted one of these ceramic planters, so when they popped up for sale on Fab.com awhile back, I bought a small black one. Of course, that meant I then had to find a plant to go inside.

I bought a bird’s nest fern from Sprout Home, but I’m worried about my ability to keep a large houseplant alive. I’m worried that my cats will eat it (it’s safe, but they’ll destroy the leaves). I’m worried that Eleanor will spin around and knock into it. I’m worried that August will pull the whole thing over. But it’s so good, I’m willing to give it a shot. Basically, I’m so excited, I’m so excited, I’m so scared.

April 11, 2012