Cotyledon and friends

So I keep buying random plants as they catch my eye.

"ooh, I don't have that" "hey, that looks cool" "what is this?"

quotes oft heard by my shopping partner.

I liked the little flowers on this cotyledon and always find plants that have these alien tentacle stalks fro their flowers really intriguing.

cotyledon flowers

I only bought one, so when I decided it was going to be repotted I figured it would need friends, so I bought these hens and chicks (sempervivums) so it would have a bit of company.

cotyledon with semp friends

As I write this I realize I don't know if these things like the same growing conditions, so maybe I ought to look into that before I force them to become roommates!

What are you, like, Jesus or something?

Holy fuck this guy won't die!

As stated, so many things had to perish last fall because I wasn't prepared for anything. A few potted plants got dumped over (left upside down) in a forsaken corner of the backyard that's kinda hidden away.

I decided this year to try to use up some of that space for plants that aren't fussy about soil, such as milkweed. As I started clearing the area, I realized the root ball of this clematis was still in tact and trying to grow!

RESURRECTION!

forgotten clematis

So now I'm paying attention. This is the second winter of neglect it has survived, so I'm just growing it in the ground and letting it do it's thing, if and when I move again it will be my gift to the property.
It's a little stunted right now but with the right care I should get a few blooms in a month or so.

I had planted some moonflower seeds in around the area but the damn birds (squirrels?) are plucking them out of the ground and killing the seedlings. The clematis won't cover nearly as much space in the same growing season as the moonflowers would have, but at least it's something!!!

Suc This!

The weather warms and instantly cash starts flying out of my wallet so I can get my plant fix.

I bought this randomly because I had never seen anything like it around, but that also means I don't know what it is because it didn't come with a label.

Obviously some kind of succulent... but what? A crassula of some kind is my guess.
I love that it's variegated, and even has pink edges on some of the younger leaves. Kinda reminds me of something you'd see under the sea.

Dip a toe in...

So I kinda want to get into Bonsai.
I know, I know - it's hard as fuck. Seems like one of those types of things that most people fail miserably at - but I like the idea of the challenge. I also know that if I start from seed (which I plan to do for a few specimens) that I really won't be enjoying results of my labour until I'm the age of retirement, so yeah, I'm starting now.

I ordered some seeds online, but decided to go shopping for an existing specimen so I can practice some of the care; the misting, the pruning, etc. I have found a few random shops, but in a city like Toronto the selection doesn't seem to be as abundant as I had hoped, and without a car my options are limited to mostly downtown.

bamboo fern

So this is not a real bonsai. Bonsai's are miniaturized trees, where as this is a "bamboo fern" (that's what the lady at the shop called it). I just loved how it looked, the way the different heights mimic different layers of the canopy in a forest. I was told it didn't require a lot of light (win! I live in a basement), and seemed pretty easy to care for otherwise, so I figured this was a good way to ease myself into this wonderful mini world of plants.

Lily of the Valley

One of these days I'll get around to posting about the front garden. It's a great space that seems to do well without a lot of care - I hardly see anyone attend to it.

There's a patch of Lily of the Valley that no one else seemed to be appreciating, so I plucked some for my bedroom. I don't always sleep well, so when I was tossing and turning in bed I would get wafts of them through the night. Lovely.