Plant Life

[pshaw_raven]

 I rescued some plants from Home Depot today - hooray for discount racks, right? The poor things just need some water and TLC, and they were cheap. I got serrano and habanero peppers, some flowers, a couple of basils, and a catnip. Once I got home I put everything on a corner of the deck that will stay shady the rest of the day, watered them all thoroughly, and I'll look at transplanting them tomorrow. 

Notice I said I got a catnip plant. You probably wouldn't be surprised to learn that later in the afternoon I opened the front door and surprised my neighbor's cat, Jupiter, enjoying the catnip - even in its dilapidated state! She ran off, but just to go hide under the truck so I'm pretty sure she'll be back. I was planning to put the nip in a pot rather than in the garden, since it's a kind of mint and mints are very hardy and can spread when they get happy, and I'd like to keep it somewhat confined. I think it'll be okay, unless I start finding random cats hanging out on my deck, listening to New Riders of the Purple Sage and talking about how life is like, weird, man.

Speaking of plants, not to jinx it or anything but I have something sprouting. Back over Christmas we went to Orlando to hang out with Fox's parents, and on a walk around the neighborhood they showed me this palm that grows all over in garden beds outside offices and everything. It was dropping bright orange seed pods and they mentioned they'd never gotten one to grow, so I took some seeds to see if I could do anything with them. A little Google-foo revealed these to be Coontie Palm seeds (yes, that's the real name) and there's a specific procedure for making them sprout. So I dried them, scraped off the orange hull, planted them, and abso-fucking-lutely nothing happened.

Unnnnnntil NOW. One's put out a sort of fiddlehead sprout after weeks of neglect. I was watering and pampering them but I started to suspect a native Florida plant might thrive on adversity, so I just started ignoring them. If it actually starts growing into a palm, it will likely end up in the front circle. Coonties seem to be low-growing bush-like plants and I suspect when it's old enough to produce seeds it may very slowly self-sow.

It's 93 outside right now. I don't care what the calendar says - it's summer.

Comments

[yarrowkat]

i have had good luck using a tomato-cage with chicken wire around it as a cage for catnip, so that the cats can eat as much as they want up to the wires, and the plant still has enough middle left to live & thrive.

[pshaw_raven]

That's a really good idea - I'm going to do that when I transplant it.

[yarrowkat]

my grandmother did that in her garden and the cats (13 of them - she actually was an old cat lady) would prune the plant right to the wires, so the plant grew up in a cone, and one of the cats liked to sleep on the top, so it was smooshed in the middle. it was kind of hilarious.

I have a snake plant(mother in law's tongue)(viper's bowstring hemp) named snake

[beachglass]

and he doesn't like water. haha

what I mean is, he only likes to be watered about once a month.

so weird how plants do that..it's like they like to suffer.

silly little creatures :)

good luck!!

Re: I have a snake plant(mother in law's tongue)(viper's bowstring hemp) named snake

[pshaw_raven]

I have one of those in the kitchen and it seems to like about twice monthly watering. There's also an air plant which seems to prefer monthly water misting. Happily both of these have managed to survive living with cats!

Re: I have a snake plant(mother in law's tongue)(viper's bowstring hemp) named snake

[beachglass]

I had some air plants for awhile.

they're so cute! somehow I always manged to kill them?

they would dry up like tumbleweeds :(

I'm presuming not enough misting.