New paintings and regular art updates.
I watered my Christmas cactii and they have all developed flowers. My indoor plants have been sadly neglected this winter. I’ve been distracted by everything that has been going on. I have not looked after the orchids and my amarylis plants have not developed flowers. Oh well. It might be time to replace them, they are 7 or 8 years old!
Plant in a teapot, on an old flaky paint windowledge in the restroom at Spode studios. The plant looks like it’s trying to escape, and is exploding like a firework from the pot. I like the crinkly window glass behind it, it looks so old, with rust building up on the metal window frames.
In the restroom at Spode. Lots of plants adorned the old windowsills. I gave them all a bit of water as they were looking very dry. I didn’t pour a lot of water in them as I didn’t want to disturb someone else’s regime of watering. It’s lovely to see them surviving as the space is boiling hot in summer and freezing cold in winter, but still the plants survive.
I am sad to say it’s been too cold for my orchid plants this winter. I have some on a windowsill that have just about survived, but hubby bought me some a month or do ago and the only room was in the kitchen. But it’s drafty in there and the leaves are starting to yellow. I tried not to water them too much in case they started to rot. I think I need to repot them all.
Orchids need orchid medium, not soil, they like their roots loosely potted I think and they grow ariel roots to draw moisture from their surroundings. They also prefer clear pots so light can get to their roots. You are supposed to spray mist on them but I never remember to do it. I must try and rescue them.
Pink and red flowers popping open like fireworks, following the curve of the leaves as they sprout. Some of them have flowered, some are open now and some are in bud… How do they know to flower? Day length. Apparently if you move a Christmas cactus about too much it may drop its flowers. I’m not sure if that’s true or a gardening myth. I do know you can break a few leaves off and put it in water and it will send out water roots, you can plant them up. Some of these (cactuses cactii?) were propogated from my grandmother’s plants forty years ago. X Nrxt- Easter Cactuses.
Wonderful to see new flowers on one of my orchid plants. They are behind this glass Robin. I didn’t want to try and move it out of the way incase I knocked one of the flowers off. They are a bit brown on the edges, I think the orchid had dried out a bit so I need to get a mist spray for them. My other orchid plants are green but not flowering. I think they need new growing medium and to let their ariel roots get some freedom.
For mist of our existence humans lived outside or in caves or huts. It is only within the last few thousand years that we started to live in villages, then towns and finally cities. With each increase in population we have moved away from greenery and plant life. The movement into flats and apartments has imprisoned us in concrete even more.
Humans need shelter from the elements, either the cold of the winter, the heat of the summer and the changes in wind and rain. So buildings are needed, but perhaps we should include more greenery in these places. Not just lawns or neat hedges, but more green walls or indoor planting.
It’s good for our mental health, a connection to our historical past. If it could also be used to clean the air, or add a layer of cool air to our streets surely it is worth pursuing?
Instead I see stories in the press of trees being cut down, ancient ones, to make way for railways, or being blamed for damaging buildings, instead of reversing the engineering and not building next to ancient trees. Let’s have an intelligent discussion about this. Green in important to out health and our planet.
My orchids occasionally flower, but they haven’t for ages. The new one I bought still has flowers on it, but the buds soon fell off. I’m trying to feed them but I think I need to get bigger pots for them and new orchid compost/ fibre. I probably don’t water them enough and I don’t spray mist them. But I have had them for years. They have lots of ariel roots, there leaves are mostly green. So I will try and pamper them more.
Houseplants and the cat sitting in a box. He looks so comfortable. He sits here in the afternoon when the sun comes in through the window. It’s a lovely sight. Now that the weather is improving he goes and lies in the neighbours garden in the grass which is about a foot high. He comes in when the sun starts to set behind the high privet hedge. I think I would like to be a cat, no responsibility, food at regular intervals. Care and attention. I love this little cat.
My friend has really got into houseplants since lockdown. She regularly posts photos of her wonderful plants. I realised I have a lot of them as well and wondered if there is a word for that sort of collection? I thought of the word ‘Plantarium’. So now I’m going to check Google in case it means something else!
Unfortunately, the word is already taken! Oh well, I like it and I’ve learnt something new today x
Mallaband-Brown