The time has come to direct my gardening efforts indoors for the winter, and it helps to take my mind off the upcoming election. I could pretty much recite the political advertising from memory. So, we’ll turn to my plants, a much happier topic.
As many of my readers know, the Princess’s bedroom, to which she still lays some diminished claim, has transitioned from My Study to The Plant Room. Yes, I have been gathering some houseplants now for some time, in addition to flower beds and containers outside. A hard frost, due any time now, will take out what’s left and I’m bringing in what I can. Her Ladyship blames my plants on the little bugs flying around her, but I strongly doubt that. I spray them all well before they come in, and most haven’t gone out beyond the screened porch. So, to her accusations, I say, Nay, Nay.
The problem I have is that our house faces East and West, so direct sunlight is scarce. Rotating it 90 degrees seems a bother, particularly as it’s connected to the condo next door. So, with that in mind, I tend toward more indirect and low light house plants. They do better, and we’re all happy. The stores are going in now for more low light plants because they’re trending and popular right now. That’s great for me, and I’m finding many more options than I have room. The living room is what I call the botanical garden. Her Ladyship calls it the Rain Forest, and the Princess is using, just a bit derogatory, The Jungle. Her friend Meghan texted her last night, “I thought your father was cutting down on the plants in your room.” I don’t know what planet she’s on. The only time I’ve cut down on plants is during a blight, and then I build the herd back to replace them. Joe Biden and I like to “build back better”.
I have been following my “Gardener’s World”, and doing what Monty Don tells me to do. I’m putting the fallen leaves over the outside beds to give them some protection from the harsh New England winter, although, with La Nina, we’re told that it will be milder than usual. That’s good not only for my garden but for the heating bills too.
I’ve brought in some small containers. One is a mandevilla, which is a deep red and very pretty. I haven’t had much luck overwintering them inside, so we’ll see how it works out. A rather large container, really beautiful, is too big for any place in the house. It’s basically a shade plant, so I’ve put it in the basement, which stays fairly warm – in the 50’s and 60’s, and it’s by a window, so we’ll see what happens there. Typically for me, what I try to “overwinter” ends up as compost by midwinter. But I keep trying
I added a new calathea to the Botanical Garden last week. It has beautiful two-tone green leaves with red edges and back. I’ve called it Calathea Jeffrey Dahmer, in honor of Elizabeth’s watching a gruesome documentary. She and her mother are quite into True Crime, so I’ll start naming my new plant acquisitions in honor of some of their more despicable characters. The grocery store had some beautiful monstera plants, also called Swiss cheese plants because of the deep wedges that appear in mature leaves. I call them Rizzoli and Isles. Another, with big, jagged patterns on the leaves, is Ted Bundy. It’s important that I keep up with her interests, bizarre though they may be. As I’ve always said, gardening and plants can really help you connect to loved ones.
The plant room now houses my spider plants from the porch, as well as some smaller ones. A couple of snake plants, which do well almost anywhere as long as I don’t overwater them and cause root rot. So far, they’re doing well. Some time ago, I bought a ZZ plant at the grocery store, and it’s done so well that I’ve added another. Both are thriving, and do well in low light settings. I think that’s a large part of indoor gardening. You put plants in various locations, and it they don’t wilt and die, then they like it there. That being the case, I leave them where they’re happy. Several that I had that didn’t do well, and it frankly surprised me, were two very colorful Rex begonias. They sat on the porch all summer, looking perky and bright, but when I brought them in, they both shriveled up and died. Perhaps it’s something I said? I did talk nicely to them, giving them encouragement and support, but alas, a no-go.
One modern day issue in the larger discussion of mental health, is the that of plants. Some greenery just doesn’t have the stamina to survive and flourish. Speaking nicely to them, playing classical music, and nothing. To no avail. Yet others do well with neglect and outright hostility. Weeds, for example. Crabgrass to, along with some climbers that wrap themselves around some of my babies and don’t let go. Invasive plants do. In fact, I have a couple of Burning Bushes outside that I’m reasonably sure would be the first to bounce back after a nuclear winter. One was trampled by a runaway car just after we moved in twenty-plus years ago. Now, it’s big and bushy and the picture of health. A beach rose that I put in about ten years ago now has offspring that Ancestory.com could be tracking. Some houseplants are like that too. You could pour detergent on the roots and they’d still persist. Then, with some others, if you just look at them the wrong way, the leaves curl up and turn brown. They’re incredibly sensitive to criticism and rebuke.
As I’ve mentioned before, I consider myself a “plant curator”. Someone to organize and manage the houseplants is something every serious plant enthusiast needs to be. Strategically placing plants, which ones go together for maximum effect, which sizes and shapes provide repetition and contrast, or need to be separated so they can pose and stand out. That’s important. Types of containers also factor into the display process. Some have a white theme, although in recent years I’ve been using unglazed terracotta to dramatic effect. Decisions, decisions. They don’t really keep me up nights, but to the serious collector/curator of plant collections, it could. At the very least, I could devote more time to becoming a “plant influencer”. I’m assuming that term would refer to people that spread their knowledge and expertise far and wide through blogs, podcasts, and social media postings. Although I’m a bit older, I see no reason why I couldn’t provide this essential service for plant and garden enthusiasts across the globe. I could translate this blog in dozens, nay hundreds of languages, adding pictures and using dramatic fonts. Oh, yes. The next chapter could be just beginning, particularly if I win the lottery. Then I can free up time for my creative juices to flow (and trips to some of my key local suppliers for containers), leaving the day-to-day management to my curator.
I'm Thinking...No! 