Oh my gosh, it’s already the seventh eighth day (I did try to gt this post up yesterday) of Plantness and I’ve only officially celebrated the first four! We had an excellent start to the holiday with last Saturday’s gathering and indoor plant crawl, but even with all the greenhouse visits this gardener only purchased four new goodies. Others have done much better! In our local group Kimberley is probably the star, with enough new plants and plant goodies that I suspect she could already round out the holiday, but overseas, Cathy of Words and Herbs is running at the Olympic level! She’s been able to find new additions for each day of Plantness and I’m absolutely loving her enthusiasm during these chilly days and frigid nights. Her embracing of the holiday is exactly the kind of attitude which will inspire us today for our second indoor plant crawl. “Do it for Cathy” shall be our mantra anytime we’re on the fence about something which might get too big, or might not like our care, or might be something uncomfortably new to us and outside the comfort zone. Heh heh, I shall of course update on how it goes 😉
Our table setting for our Plantness Eve celebrations last week. Two new plants which came home with us last year, two flowering goodies from under the plant lights, and four new treats purchased that day!
So in spite of zero success at every grocery store, box store, and DIY stop which I made during the week, here are the four new things which followed me home the weekend prior. I’d offer up photos but its been dark, or nearly so, every time I pull into the drive after work, and my camera skills don’t do flash very well, so I’ll offer a written summary and hope for a little more natural light this weekend.
I find myself finally getting sucked back into the houseplant world, and by that I mean the tropical foliage trend, so the first plant is a Syngonium podophyllum ‘Albo variegata’ (variegated arrowleaf vine). The leaf was just too cool to resist, but we will see how I handle something which wants to crawl and climb… Secondly is a miniscule foxtail fern (Asparagus densiflorus ‘Meyerii’) which although nearly an un-killable plant, I killed mine off, so maybe this one I shall remember to water (and also take inside for the winter). Third is a plant which is much bigger than I normally buy, a nearly gallon sized sanseviera ‘sayuri’… very cool imo… and the fourth and final is a pink variegated strawberry begonia (Saxifraga stolonifera ‘Tricolor’). I saw one about a year ago and ever since then…
Oh my gosh I’m so excited about the new goodies but maybe that’s partially due to the fact I’ve gone and returned from this season’s biggest Plantness trip which involved a 1.5 hour drive down towards Philly. I was relatively good but others maybe not so much, especially since “do it for Cathy’ came up much more frequently than I ought to admit, but based on the amount of fun we had I should have been driving a busload of people down instead of just the four of us!
So I hope everyone is enjoying the tail end of Plantness, and two things before I go look at my new plants again and then consider a pre-snowstorm trip to the last two local places… even though I do already have a plant item for each day 🙂 First: If you dabble in houseplants you have probably heard of the Philodendron ‘Thai Constellation’, and you’ve probably heard of snake plants (Sanseviera). The name Barry Yinger is a name you should know as well since he is probably the horticulturalist who first brought the poster child of houselants ‘Thai Constellation’ to the Americas and who is now leading Sanseviera conservation efforts in East Africa. Check out >this link< if you’re curious. Secondly: I don’t remember what my second thing was going to be but this weekend I decided that houseplants are dangerous since anything in the world of plants is an option, and now tissue culture and two day delivery can bring them all close to your doorstep.
Two more weeks and it’s already February! Hmmmm, I won’t even mention the little white flowers that could possibly bring 😉
sorta like suburbia 
Hi Frank! Thanks for cheering me on so nicely! 😊 I have indeed been embracing plantness and counting the extra minutes of daylight too. (I hope it will be light when you get home from work soon.) Spring seems so much nearer than it did last Saturday! Good to get an update on what you have found. Isn’t it hard to get your hands on plants in January? Even our online nurseries are still hibernating! I love that variegated leaf – very striking. And the Sansevieria is such a cool plant – I have had one for years that has hardly grown an inch but still looks healthy. (Perhaps another one I should repot this spring.) We call them Mother-in-law’s Tongue here. Good luck with the fern. I am hopeless with keeping them hydrated and have given up entirely. I do love them though. Hope the snowstorm provides some cosy insulation for the little white flowers due to appear any time now. 😉
I’m glad you’re enjoying Plantness, following along as you find new goodies has been just as much fun as finding ways to celebrate here! You are right though, it really is a bit of a struggle to find plants in January and not quite as easy as picking up a few marigolds in May. But we are up to it!!
It took me a while getting around to actually purchasing a Sanseviera (they’re called Mother-in-law’s Tongue here as well), not because I didn’t think they were amazing, but because growing up there were certain plants which friends would always offer up for free, and this and actually strawberry begonia, were two that someone always had extra of. Now there are so many new types and we find out about them so quickly, it’s way too easy to get a little obsessed. I do like the problem of too many wants vs too little, and my wallet always keeps me in check 😉
Enjoy the last few days! I wanted to go searching again today but the snow is coming down and I reminded myself it wasn’t really that important… even though it feels like it. Also it’s a three day weekend and I have Monday off, so very easy to just wait a few more hours and go out tomorrow!
Oh and I did manage to find two perfect cyclamen yesterday, photos to follow!
For my plantness, I made a nursery run to Carol Watson’s Greenhouse in Fayetteville, also about an hour and a half away from my house. She has 2 huge greenhouses loaded with tropicals – what an upper! I bought enough plants there to fill 8 days of plantness in one fell swoop. 3 tillandsias to replace some that died, 3 small plants for a terrarium though they went in a new ceramic planter, and one plectranthus that also went into a new pot. I bought what Watson’s called an “indoor” geranium that I gave as a birthday present to a friend (even though I wanted it) that counted as #8. All this plantness in one day! Too bad it hasn’t sustained me for the rest of the 10 days. Tomorrow (a day of mourning) I plant seeds that I got from the North Amerian Rock Garden Society. Maybe that will cheer me up (but hardly enough to sustain me for 4 years).
So my immediate response was to map the drive to Fayetteville and see if it could be a day trip. A bit over two hours… so not out of the question! But not as much fun of a drive in January I suspect, unless there are a few other greenhouses we could find along the way… hmmmm never been to Syracuse 🙂
I’m curious about the indoor geranium. I was on their website and of course they had a photo of a tulip flowered geranium and if that’s what you found, wow! I’ve never seen them for sale, only in a few photos online, and I’d probably pay too much if I saw it… although never admit to that.
Hope the seed sowing tempers the day and prepares you for the rollercoaster to come.
I didn’t see tulip geraniums but the greenhouse had lots of choices including scented geraniums. The one I bought was an antique rose – otherwise looked like pretty much the typical geranium. Reasonably priced too. Carol Watson’s is a good place to go in spring too when even more greenhouses are open as well as hardy perennials, trees, and shrubs. Her greenhouse really looks as lush as shown on her webpage. I should say the greenhouse is in Lafayette not Fayetteville. Both are in the Syracuse area and confuse me every time.
Oh I didn’t even notice you mixed up the ‘fayettes’, I found the place quite easy anyway and it sounds like we should plan a fieldtrip to Syracuse some day 🙂
I think you should go soon but also in the summer. There are some amazing gardens to visit (ACNARGS and ACS members) and for Japanese maples at really good selection and price, Topiary Gardens. I can put you in touch with people.
Oh? That sounds quite excellent and awfully dangerous and of course I’ll be in touch!
It’s especially exciting when you’ve been looking for a plant for that long, a year and a half! And then bam, hello Saxifraga stolonifera ‘Tricolor’. Love it.
Haha, yeah there’s always that balance between plant-lust and cheapness. Usually the plant-lust wins, but sometimes my wallet talks a little sense into me and I just deal with the sadness and regret 😉
I have been following along to see everyone’s progress and Cathy certainly has taken the ball down the court! Two bouquets have found their way into my cart, last weekend’s purple iris and yellow freesia and this weekend I picked a bunch of pink button mums and pink waxflower. Happy, happy!
Oh! Any chance you went to Trader Joe’s? That was one of our stops yesterday and their cut flowers and potted goodies really outshone any of our other grocery store stops. Much better than the TJs I’ve been in before and I was happy to see flowers and plants in quite a few carts!
Enjoy your flowers. I think you’re getting a little snow like we are, as well as some colder temps so perfect timing!
Yes, TJs has the best flowers (and prices). In winter, a bouquet or two always jumps into the cart on our weekly visit. 🙂
As it should!
Wait! You DID buy that sanseviera? How did I miss that? Well, good for you! And I thought you bought the maidenhair fern? What planet was I on?
And WHAT ABOUT THE CHARCUTERIE?
What little white flowers could you be referring to, I wonder? Do you grow snowdrops?
Oh my, what planet am I on today? I just realized you were writing about last weekend’s expedition, not yesterday’s! Must have been the gummies, lol! Carry on . . .
And just look at all the converts to Plantness there are! It’s going viral!
Oh. It does sound like you dipped into the gummies after all! But you’re right, I held off on another sanseviera yesterday and only added the begonia and fern on our Ott’s stop. And the charcuterie? Hopefully I get that far this weekend. People will want to know!
-Let’s hope there’s nothing viral going on, Lisa did suggest the masks and I hate when she’s right! Well actually I’m getting used to it. You know the more it happens…
[…] meme. It is, however, also the ninth day of Frank’s ‘Ten Days of Plantness’ (See Sorta Like Suburbia here), where we are celebrating (house)plants at the coldest time of year. So I am combining both memes […]
Based on a careful reading of the strict Plantness rules (i.e., as long as it’s not fake, it counts), I conclude that I have inadvertently participated by ordering an unwise number of bulbs and plants from several mail-order sources. Granted, they are not yet in my physical possession, it’s more of a Plantness lay-away sort of thing, but still, what blooms brighter than the garden you haven’t planted yet? I now can look forward to planting Narcisssus ‘Ring Ring’ next to Galanthus ‘Ding Dong’, which will be pretty much perfect until someone comes up with a plant named ‘Who Is It?’, and then I will need to have that too, in some future Plantness splurge.
Your Tricolor begonia caught my eye right away. Beautiful.
You’re way ahead of me buying plants this year (and all years), didn’t even order bulbs or preorder dahlias. I guess my recent orchids for In A Vase on Monday can count toward Plantness. Plant therapy is real.
[…] has been fun joining in with Frank at Sorta Like Suburbia for his cheery winter holiday ‘Ten Days of Plantness’. Just what I needed to brighten […]