Today is the 12th day of January and as such marks the first day of the Ten Days of Plantness. Some observant readers may have noticed that in a recent post it may have said the holiday begins on the 10th day, but they were mistaken since upon re-reading the post it clearly says that the Ten Days of Plantness begin on the 12th and runs until the 21st, and I’m 100% sure I didn’t just go back and edit my mistake out.
So what are the Ten Days of Plantness you might ask? Well let me explain. It’s a very official holiday which celebrates ten of the gloomiest and coldest days of the Northern Hemisphere’s winter with plants! Just like happiness is the act of embracing happy, plantness is the act of embracing plants, and for the next ten days the world is invited to celebrate each sunrise (regardless of clouds or gloom or snow) with a new plant. Indoor plants count, outdoor plants count, seeds count, gifts count, cuttings count, pots and tools count, cut flowers, dried flowers… I think you get it, just keep in mind fake flowers and leaves don’t count. And to what end is this holiday geared towards? Encouraging and welcoming back a new gardening season. Fully celebrating means signs of spring and blooming witch hazels by the 22nd, not celebrating means eight more weeks of winter, so be careful.
The garage growlights still have plenty of room for a few more plants, so an excuse to add more is both timely and welcome.
It was only just last year that my friends and I found out about the >10 Days of Plantness<, but this year we were prepared. My Plant Posse was activated a week in advance. Kathy of Cold Climate Gardening plotted a trip down through the snows of upstate NY, Lisa worked some meal making magic, ‘Cosmos and Cleome’ Kimberley was in charge of the Plantness cake… yellow cake with a chocolate frosting and raspberry filling in case you’re curious 🙂 … Kevin arrived at the crack of dawn for last minute prep and logistics, and our Louise opted out. Sadly oral surgery, pain meds, and soft foods are in no way lessened by celebrating the ten days.
Hmmm… another bromeliad, actually it’s an offset from one of last year’s plantness purchases and proof that not all houseplants come here to die.
Once mobilized we headed out on a nursery by nursery tour through the local indoor plant scene and did the holiday proud. Creekside Gardens is always a treat and we make that trip on a regular basis, but two other stops were first time visits for me. Keller’s Garden Center surprised us with a nice range of offerings (and a funny run in with another desperate January shopper who we all agreed we just wanted to take with us for the day), and then there was Hidden Garden in Plymouth Pa. The name is appropriate. My Plant Posse is relatively trusting but when I pulled into the parking lot of some run-down beer distributor a few questions were raised. “Why are you getting out here” was one of them, but “trust the process” is what I said. I admit to being a little proud of the Posse as they grabbed purses and whatnot to accompany me in to buy a case of Michelob light, but instead passed through the double doors towards the back of the building, and entered the zen zone of Hidden Gardens.
My geraniums have forgiven me for ripping them out of their planters in October and stuffing them into undersized pots to sit out the winter under lights. It’s just the kind of color one needs in mid January.
If you’ve ever visited Plymouth Pa it’s probably not a second visit. Of course there are nice areas, but this former coal town/flood zone city, hasn’t seen much change in the last 40 years, other than changes for the worse. I remember my first drive through and it left me with the impression that just the local strip club and local diner, the Tilbury Inn and Flamingo Diner (both now closed after flood and fire and subsequent demolition) were handling a steady flow of customers, so it’s nice to see a business which has headed off into a new direction. I’ll be back I’m sure since the store is full of vision and optimism and I think we were all impressed.
The blue of Streptocarpella is always welcomed and seems to do well in my relatively cold indoor garden.
As usual I’ve gone off track. Let me get away from talk of strip clubs and get back to Plantness and the indoor garden.
I’m trying another orchid mostly because $4 on a clearance bench with buds showing was just irresistible. Two months later and it’s blooming and all I know is it gets watered and I think it’s a dendrobium and it must be pretty easy to grow since it still looks healthy.
The Winter Garden here sounds like more than it is. It started as fluorescent shop lights but recently I’ve begun upgrading to cheap LED shop lights as I find them on sale here and there. One light, three lights, ten… over the years it’s expanded from a table in the back of the barely heated garage, to a converted workshop in the garage, and last year oops, it grew to include the unheated basement of our new addition.
The garage is cooler, and has dipped below freezing in spots near a window or door, but generally stays frost free. It’s a great place to grow on a few hardy cyclamen coum while the outdoor ones are locked under an icy blanket.
I’ve gone on about the garage grow lights, and if winter keeps making an effort towards cold weather I’ll probably go on more and more about it, but I don’t think I’ve mentioned much about the new basement grow space. It’s expanded. It hasn’t replaced the garage growing area as I think some people in this house were hoping for, but I’m pleased. I had hoped to do more this winter as far as making it a lush, plant filled space, but I think it’s doing good enough.
The new basement growing area. Mostly stuff overwintering and a little on the unkempt, sparse, and messy side, but I like the potential!
The basement plants are doing better than expected, and if anything is holding them back it’s probably me. As you may know I struggle to motivate myself to water, and the garage garden has a hose which I use that makes it into a 15 minute job, but the basement garden involves filling buckets, carrying them from the basement, dipping a tub in to ladle out water to each plant… some people find serenity in watering, but I do not. I hate it. Once dying plants motivate me enough I’m drilling through to access the house water supply and I’m running pipes to a spigot inside the new area. Me + a hose inside the house will be messy of course, but I at least have plastic down already to keep spilled water and soil from staining the new concrete floor.
More bromeliads. The aggressive spines along the leaf edges are something you should consider, but in general I’m amazed at how easy they are to grow.
Once I get running water back there of course I’ll need a little goldfish pond as well, obviously with a fountain. I just mention that in case you think not being able to get things done would be putting a damper on what I’d like to get done 🙂
The succulents seem happy overwintering in the basement. Most of what I have gets no water or maybe a splash once a month, and they just sit there in the low light without rotting or stretching their stems too much.
Hopefully having all this space to put more and more plants doesn’t come off as gloating. In reality it’s kinda cramped with a low ceiling in the garage, mice and spiders, chilly… and in the basement the statement ‘why are we wasting so much space on plants’ has come up even while the walls are unfinished and the space lacks real outlets or heat… but whatever. Gloating is when I show a picture of the bougainvillea which didn’t do much all summer but is now putting out flower after flower as if it really doesn’t mind the ‘in progress’ surroundings and the hit or miss watering.
I guess you can grow bougainvillea under cheap LED shoplights in case somebody was wondering. The colors are less intense, but again this is a Pennsylvania basement not the French Riviera.
So that’s Plantness and the Winter garden, and although I definitely need to get out and add bunches of new plants because of how much empty space I have, you might not have that luxury. Here’s my advice from last year which I shall repeat: Get plants which you know you’ll probably kill or give away. The mini moth orchids I bought last Plantness are happily putting out new flower stalks on my mother’s windowsills this year rather than decaying on my compost pile like the florist cyclamen I also added last year. Both were worth it and I’ve moved on… just like the African violet I also bought 😉 Keep in mind that you’re forcing yourself to think of plants for ten days rather than focus on winter, so pick up a bouquet at the grocery and just do it. I know some people are a little timid about killing growing things, and it can be fun to hold on to a poinsettia for years, but you’re not picking up a kitten or adopting a baby here, you’re getting excited about lengthening days and the fact winter won’t last forever, so enjoy!
And in case you’re wondering, I did enjoy the start of Plantness. I’m all set for the first five days and will hopefully fill you in on them before the week is out 🙂
sorta like suburbia 
Love seeing all those wonderful plants blooming and flowering. Great Cyclamen foliage. I brought in a number of non-hardy plants in the autumn that are all doing pretty well. There are Tulips potted up in the garage. Multiple seed orders arrive this week and then my garden gal pals and I will meet to do winter sowing. Exciting to think about planting seeds. High temps next week range from 40° to 5° which is pretty much how it’s been. Very little snow. The year of radical swings no matter the topic.
Sounds like you’re taking it all in stride and are on the ball this year! I’ve been slacking on winter sowing for the last few years but I think this year I’ll have a bunch of stuff going in. No idea where it will be planted come summer, but that’s not an appropriate concern in January since anything could happen between now and then. I guess that works for a bunch of stuff. Keep moving forward but keep prepared just in case.
I potted up a bunch of tulips last fall but they’re sitting under a pile of leaves where they will hopefully be just as safe as in a garage. I couldn’t settle on a good spot for them so figured I’d wait until they’re up and just move them whenever.
Linda, how fortunate you are to have gal pals to do winter sowing with. That would make it more fun. I find sowing seeds can get rather tedious. I’d love to be talking to people while I did it.
The new basement area looks great, you’ll be very busy and ready for spring with all those plants coming outside!
Thanks! I just have to give a little thought to fixing the drip lines outside. Watering inside is just as bad as outside imo, but if I can set it and forget it once I drag everything out there, that will be awesome 😉
I have to say I’m the guilty one who misidentified the start of Plantness as January 10. To be truthful, I started celebrating on January 9th with a flower cake. It’s not my fault I can’t spell!
Well I think a lot of your “misidentification” came from the fact that I posted the 10th as the start date! So you are entirely innocent and now deserve another slice of cake! -and based on how many cuttings I’ve potted up and seeds I’ve sown in the last two weeks, there’s no reason to get more plants, but better safe than sorry, so keep it up 😉
Indoor plants aren’t my forte either, but I manage some cacti/succulents and geraniums for winter color. Thankfully, Trader Joe’s has amazing flowers at a great price for my winter need for color.
Oh, I’ve seen some real goodies at Trader Joe’s but sadly only visit when we’re traveling out of the area. Hmmmm. This Saturday we’re traveling out of the area 😉
Yeah, worth the stop every time! 😉
What a fabulous post Frank! All your plants look so healthy and happy in their winter quarters. And your shopping spree sounds interesting – look forward to seeing what you found! By the way, next time you go to a garden centre, you should look for a proper watering can or two for the basement. 😉 I am thinking of using a room in our cellar/basement for plants in the future, and must look into what kind of lamps are available here. I AM joining in with the ten days of plantness and even made a special trip to our garden centre yesterday… it was rather bare, but I will be sharing what I found very soon!
Hooray, a convert from across the pond! I’m eager to see what you find, Cathy!
Hope to see yours too Kimberley!
I’m excited you’ve joined in! Any excuse, right? Here too the nurseries are bare if not completely closed, but it’s a challenge worth accepting! If worse comes to worst there are always cut flowers though, and I forget how nice flowers for no reason can be.
You might have fun with a few plant lights. I was “forced” to give it a try due to the pathetic windowsills in this house, but it feels downright luxurious to have bigger indoor spaces to fill with plants. -and yes, I’ve been looking for another decent watering can. They’re all ridiculously expensive or way too cheap and the search continues!
[…] the 10 Days of Plantness with us? You can read a little more about it on Frank’s blog here and here, or on my own blog here. Come on along; you know you want to, and there might even be […]
Maybe your confusion about the date came from me mentioning that National Houseplant Appreciation Day came on January 10.
I am suspicious of all the knowledge you seem to have about Plymouth’s strip club . . . !!! I suppose we’re lucky it’s no longer there, or who knows what we’d have ended up doing Saturday!
Seriously, though, it was great to see both the old winter garden and the new! I can’t wait to see that goldfish pond!
Hmmm. Our trips do end up in some surprises. I remember our run in with the Mormons and how dangerously close we were to the baptism site, and of course everyone remembers dodging the tornado and standing in the blazing sun for hours in 90 degree heat looking at daylilies. It’s not always icecream and cake… although usually it is 😉
I’m a sloppy blogger. That’s usually where all the mistakes and confusion come from.
And Kittens! Don’t forget the kittens, lol!
[…] second meme I am participating in is Frank’s (Sorta Like Suburbia) ‘Ten Days of Plantness’, originally construed by Kimberley at Cosmos and Cleome I […]
Frank, your indoor plantness world is a dreamscape of possibility. Wow! Life is such I can barely plan the next 10 minutes but love your take action enthusiasm.
Thanks. Life loves throwing curveballs. I did have to deal with a plugged sewer line after our celebration (unconnected to the party of course), then the heat went out Sunday, and even better I flooded the garage with hot water Monday when a freak accident broke a valve on the water heater. I’m glad to be taking it easy tonight. All the best!
I love the idea of the 10 Days of Plantness! But it looks like you have an entire 365 days of plantness with everything that’s going on inside your house. My sprouts (all I’m growing right now) are feeling envious of your grow lights: I imagine the lights provide more warmth and light than my glass block bathroom window… But I would have to put them in the basement if I got a grow light and it’s much colder down there. I will just continue to whisper to them to be patient and I will try to be patient as well. Thanks for the beautiful colors that warm my soul!
Don’t be at all envious, plenty of the plants here don’t get nearly the conditions they’d like and there’s a twinge of guilt as I see survival of the fittest in action in the garage! It is fun though, I’m always happy for a green sprout and defiant flower. Keep warm! I see some awfully cold weather rolling your way this weekend so I’m sure you’ll be well bundled to go anywhere 🙂
It’s strange how many of us don’t do houseplants! I have killed everything except one remarkable prayer plant. Your bromeliads look great. I also hate to water..no rain in the basement, unfortunately.
I can’t believe you struggle with houseplants. Funny to think that a prayer plant would probably last no more than a month here though, so you are definitely doing something it likes. If you pressure me I might admit to only growing the easiest of things inside. I tried to be brave last winter with African violets, but no. They quickly decided it wasn’t even worth trying!
I really don’t have houseplants. The prayer plant was a gift. If I had bought it — it would probably be dead!
[…] this new holiday ‘Ten Days of Plantness‘, do go back and take a look. Or visit Frank at Sorta Like Suburbia, who is the brainchild of this idea. And what a great idea it was too – ten days of indulging […]
Wow, grow lights in the garage and the basement. And how lovely everything is! I am definitely going to have to try that. I rely on old fashioned daylight, which in my part of the world is hard to come by this time of year.
Natural light is free, which in my book is an excellent plus, but the windowsills here stink, so long ago pots on windowsills were ruled out. The one downside to the shoplights is they’re slightly addictive. I did not see all these lights sneaking up on me, and ‘oh just one more’ happened more than I planned 😉
I can’t claim grey and cold days here … so I will support you guys. I love bromeliads! I have just started collecting them.
Oh I envy that warmth and sunshine! More of either would be quite welcome here 😉 Yes, I’m also a little obsessed with bromeliads, but I’m doing nearly everything I can to hold back. There are only four different forms here and it’s been a constant struggle of willpower to keep it like that, but hmmmmm…. all work and no play? Maybe an outstanding new one could come home with me this week 😉
After seeing your various indoor gardens I’ve come to realize that flowering houseplants bloom a lot better with a little extra light to encourage them. I do have Led/fluorescent lights in the basement for seed starting, but then I don’t get to look at the plants unless I’m down in the basement. Oh . . . I guess that applies to you, too. Anyway, I’m considering buying a tabletop plant light to kick the streptocarpella, streptocarpus, and African violet into high gear.
I would probably have more lights here and there around the house, but these cheap shop lights don’t fit in well with our home decor! I think a little table setup wouldn’t be out of the question, but here I’d probably get in trouble when three plants turns into eight and I try and sneak in a bigger light without anyone noticing!
[…] fourth day of Frank‘s ingenious way of keeping the winter doldrums at bay (see his post at Sorta Like Suburbia here), I am sharing another Cyclamen. This time a pure white […]
[…] new holiday was devised by Frank (see his post here at Sorta Like Suburbia), and I am celebrating with a new plant or plant-related item for each of the ten […]
[…] this new holiday, devised by Frank at Sorta Like Suburbia, entails simply posting a photo of something new and garden-related you have bought in […]
[…] explains this plant-lover’s ‘holiday’ here on Sorta Like Suburbia, so do go and visit him. Basically it aims to bring some cheer to the month of January when, here […]
What an encouraging post. Especially: “in case you think not being able to get things done would be putting a damper on what I’d like to get done.” That describes my attitude and predicament exactly. So many projects, and then a reluctance to go out and tend anything.
And your urging us to be willing to kill plants – ha! It took me a few years to develop a more laissez faire attitude toward my plants, so I could say either, “Oh, look, it’s growing – God bless the dear thing!” or “Oh. It died. Every year some things thrive, and some don’t.”
Your Ten Days of Plantness have inspired me, even though I started late my looking in on your plants, to get a pot of bulbs-about-to-bloom for the kitchen. Or maybe they will be in bloom already. Going to the nursery in January seems like the perfect activity to ward off the blahs.
Lets stick with our attitudes and keep taking on projects regardless of what we can or do finish! Anything less would be painfully boring I think.
Thanks for posting. I suspect you’re not facing the same locked in cold kind of winter that we’ve been seeing here, but even a string of gloomy, chilly days can do the exact same thing. A pot of bulbs are the perfect spring tonic for that! I always eye them in the grocery store this time of year, and wonder why I don’t pot up a few extras in October for just this kind of winter emergency.
Just two weeks and it’s already February. It might be snowing here today but this morning I found a few blooming snowdrops and swelling witch hazel buds, so I’d say a few of the plants recognize cold and winter will not go on forever. Enjoy!
[…] Ten Days of Plantness, by Frank at Sorta Like Suburbia […]