I have not been known for my green fingers in the past and my house isn't ideal for plants. Most of our windows face north and get little light and our dog likes to stand in them and cause chaos. Our one good south facing window is upstairs on the landing and it is huge.
I used to have a shelf under it where I kept cacti and they did really well but when the window was replaced, the shelf went and the cactis moved downstairs where they died. We have had had various plants that have done ok until we repotted them. We have come to realise that we have to use free draining compost because being a Cornish granite house, it is really damp. Normal compost just holds the moisture and then the roots rot.
So two years ago, a friend who is over run by aloe vera's gave me a plant and insisted I would be able to keep it alive. She was right. It lived on the little shelf at the top of the stairs and did pretty well, spawning babies.
Then a guy who I worked with who is a cactus fanatic gave me a peyote (not illegal to grow in the UK).
What happened next was that I came to understand via my teacher LT that plants were really useful for me, particularly cactis and succulents because they will help me let go of some of the shadow I carry around that I pick up from other people. This shadow generally makes me feel pretty lousy. You tell someone that plants will help them feel better then they are probably going to go get a whole bunch of plants....
A palm in the bedroom window. A lucky bamboo (Draceana) in the second bedroom window. The bedroom window of my craft room now has a mother-in-laws Tongue and a bunch of cacti and succulents on the window (they will move when I get a new landing window shelf but they seem fine for now). A yucca in the downstairs living room and two Kalanochoe's in the Kitchen. On the landing there is an ivy on top of the book case, a golden pathos on the stairs, two window boxes hanging over the balustrade with aloe vera, a rampant Tradescantia, a spider plant in a hanging macrame thing and two cacti and a euphorbia on the little shelf.
The spider plant came from work where a team found they were being moved to a new office where they were not allowed plants. It was a young plant with it's first few babies. Not very full due to lack of light. On my landing it is getting fuller and the babies are growing well. I like to spray them. There was a second spider we kept at work which has massess of babies with clumps of gnarly roots - it is retty stunning. I think mine is going to do just fine where it is.
The Euphorbia is not doing fine at all. I took it to work but I am not sure if it was lack of light or the cold at night but it started to look sick. We thought it might be red spider mites so I got some spray and sprayed everything. It still does not look happy but it is clinging on. i am not sure I am going to be able to save it. It is a mystery because everything else is looking just fine.
The palm is slowly opening a new leaf. A spiky green succulent now has a new baby coming up at the side. The jade money plant has new buds. Even the yucca in the worst room downstairs has new leaves.
The cactus guy at work ended up leaving but he was a good friend so I want to stay in contact... We intend to go to a local cactus show in May together. Another colleague is going to come and my other half (probably to stop me from buying too many plants, although he has promised to have my new shelf up by then lol).
I really like the wierd and wonderful shapes of succulents....
Then for the landing jungle, I want to put up a line and dangle tillandsia's from it, airplants. I have some air drying clay that I would like to make shapes with to hold them. Tilly's are pretty cool.....
So...
11) Go to the cactus show
12) Rescue my Euphorbia
13) Make a tilly habitat on the landing
14) Get more succulents and cacti.
15) Get my cactus shelf set up.
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