Monday, January 27, 2014

Another idea I’ve stolen…

When I saw this photo posted on Facebook by Steve Asbell something immediately clicked.

Plants in the shower…yes please! There is a small shelf in our bathroom which always has a flower, branch, or tillandsia on it...

But there really should be more plants in the bathroom. In fact I realized the shower is the one place in our house where you can be and not see a plant. Must fix that!

Steve did a guest post on the blog My Green Earth where he detailed how to construct such a thing. It really is a very good how-to with lots of information (in other words you should check it out). For my shower garden installation I wanted to make use of the unused top tier of our bathroom corner caddy.

Our shower gets great light, thanks to the south facing window, half of which in the shower (who thought that was a good idea?). For my project I didn’t want to work only with epiphytes like Steve did, mainly because I was still pretty hung up on the alocasia I passed up at Portland Nursery. Maybe I could use it? (wheels turning and turning…).

Yep, I managed to grab the Alocasia amazonica while it was on sale at Portland Nursery.

The note to “keep humid” on the label told me I was on the right track.

Of course being a plant nut I couldn’t stop at just one, this philodendron came home with me too, also marked "keep humid"…

I decided this old metal basket would be a great container…

But what to line it with to hold the soil? It would need to be light, the soil and basket would be weight enough. Aha, an excuse to buy chips! I simply turned the bag inside out to use the solid silver side.

After potting them up (the philodendron went in a super light metal container from IKEA, a little moss was added to the top of the soil to keep it in place) I sat them in the sink and went to look around the house for a couple of tillandsias to use in the arrangement. When I came back into the room the sunlight was lighting them so perfectly, for a moment I wanted to have a sink garden too! But no way the husband would go for that (he's so practical).

As I started to work the plants into position I could tell right away I didn’t love the basket, it was too busy. The bag would have to stand on its own (I did cut a couple of small slits to help with drainage).

I should mention I was being closely watched during this whole process...(can't you just tell she's wondering what the heck I'm up to now?)

And the finished product! Things are tilted because I liked them better that way. Flat was too boring.

I hadn’t told Andrew what I was up to; so it was fun to hear him react when he went to get in the shower.

After a couple of days of living with the arrangement I’m not 100% sure I like it as-is I think I've crammed too much in there. Adjustments will be made I'm sure. Still, I love having plants in the shower, thanks for the inspiration Steve!

All material © 2009-2014 by Loree Bohl for danger garden. Unauthorized reproduction prohibited and just plain rude.

38 comments:

  1. I LOVE this idea of putting plants in the shower! I have some plants overwintering in our guest bathroom, which has a skylight, but our master bath has no windows, so plants wouldn't do well in there. I have two shelves in there, though, which are currently empty and have been awaiting inspiration for what to put on them since we moved in 5 years ago. Maybe I could clamp a gro-light onto the shelves....hmmm....but it would need to be plugged in somewhere.....thinking, thinking....

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    1. No doubt your thinking will lead to inspiration. Hope to see the result!

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  2. I like your arrangement Loree, you have a natural flair for it! I'm sure you're bound to tweak it every so often, but that's just part of the fun :)

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    1. Indeed, and I was telling someone the other day it seems whenever I dunk the tillandsias they never end up back in exactly the same spot. So a little rearranging is bound to occur almost weekly.

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  3. This is very cool, Loree. The color of the alocasia is perfect. You are so dang talented!

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  4. I often think that a plant in the shower would be great, but have never made it a reality. Like your initiative! I am concerned that the Alocasia won't be getting enough light there though.

    I was really thinking that you had discovered a new use for those veggie chips: as planter liners! I couldn't see how that would work. :)

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    1. Of course winter is the perfect time to act on a project like this. If it were spring I doubt it would have happened (priorities elsewhere). It gets very bright in there on a sunny day, but since I see it daily I'll be able to keep an eye on it. Perhaps it will vacation outdoors for the summer?

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  5. That is absolutely hilarious! I love it! Our bathroom gets great light and I can't wait to make something like this when we get around to fixing it up a bit. Great post!

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    1. You know all the times I've been at your house and I've never seen your bathroom!

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  6. Great idea, I am going to steal it from you. Btw, I love the tile on your bath wall! gail

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    1. Steal away! I still love that tile too, 6 or so years later! When we bought the house there was one of those charming plastic shower walls around the tub. To add to the look it was cracked in several places...

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  7. OMG ...I'm so glad ours isn't the only bathroom where the window is IN THE SHOWER...WTF!!!

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    1. Our next door neighbors is too (our houses are identical). When they got new windows they put a frosted one in. I've often thought about putting a film on the window panes but since the frame is wood we still have to protect that from the moisture...

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  8. The bathroom we use is the only room in our house with no windows in it since someone "spruced it up" in the 80's. When we finally get around to un remodeling the room, I'll make sure that there's plenty of light there so that I can copy this cool idea! Love it! I'm thinking that Lila was already pretty sure that you're crazy; this just made it clearer to her!

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    1. "The bathroom we use..." oh to have more than one bathroom in the house! And you're right about Lila of course. If I were sane I would spend all day everyday cuddled up with her on the sofa. Clearly I do not have my priorities in order.

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  9. As Picasso said, "good artists borrow, great artists steal". So glad to see that you went back for the Alocacia.

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    1. I thought it was going to be as easy as just popping in the (closer) Stark St store, but no...I had to venture back to Division. Just shows you how determined I was to get it!

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  10. I'm always in trouble for filling the house with plants but I must admit I had never thought of putting them in the shower. How delightfully eccentric.
    Chloris

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    1. "delightfully eccentric"...that's my new favorite phrase!

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  11. I love this idea and you'll probably keep working with it until it works for you. I have plenty of light in the shower too so I can give this a try. Our window is smaller, higher, and tiled so it makes sense.

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    1. Oh I think I know exactly the set-up you describe. I have a friend whose bathroom window is like that and I love it! Hope you'll share what you come up with.

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  12. I'm SO impressed by your resourcefulness! And now you've got me thinking about that bench in our shower. No one ever sits on it (as far as I know anyway). At a minimum, I bet the orchid sitting on top of the toilet tank would love the upgrade.

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  13. Love it! I want plants in my shower!!!!

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    1. I hope you can figure out a way to make it work Louis!

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  14. Must be something about January. Normally I keep vases of stuff in the bathroom, but a couple days ago I brought in a fairly large tillandsia to hang at the window. Bright eastern light, lots of humidity...who ever said the bathroom is off limits for live plants? Hey, with little clippy suction cups we could anchor a bunch of tillandsias to the shower wall, and rearrange the pattern while we shower! (January is a dangerous month...)

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    1. I think my tile is too small and too porous the suction cups to stick otherwise I'd be trying it!

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  15. Although my walk-in shower is on the dark side, the tub-only section has a large window, Never thought about orchids there, which would be perfect. Would this be considered a semi-steal?

    The alocasia looks wonderful where you put it!

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  16. I love it! I wish my shower had more light. My dream house will have a master bath with a tacky glass brick wall, and maybe a skylight (blurred or fogged, of course, don't want any helicopter peep shows!) so there is lots of natural light for plants.

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  17. Clever you are, especially the chip bag inversion. My dogs do not enter the bathroom while I'm in there, afraid a bath might ensue.

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    1. Thanks Les! And just the picture of me trying to give Lila a bath in the tub cracked me up. I think I'd be as wet as she would be. Thankfully we've got an deep old concrete-ish sink in the basement that the laundry drains into. Perfect for a little dog!

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  18. Did your plants suffer at all from hot water over spray/splashing from the shower?

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    1. No, not at all. The way our shower is set up there's no way that any water could actually hit them.

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