Friday, January 11, 2019

Houseplants (for the winter)...

Friends, yesterday marked the beginning of the January houseplant and container sale at Portland Nursery: 30% off all houseplants including indoor bonsai, orchids, citrus and cactus, and 30% off all decorative pots—at both locations from January 10th through the 23rd. I plan to have been there at opening (9 am) I'll let you know in a wrap-up post next week if I made good on that intention. In the meantime let's do a quick check-in on the basement prisoners...

A lot of these plants are exactly the type of things you'd find at the sale. Mine are only houseplants during the cold and wet part of the year, the rest of the time they're vacationing in the great outdoors.

The Nepenthes alata pitchers were extremely happy outside last summer, and they were doing fine indoors until we had a house guest for 5 days and the downstairs heater vent was opened and the heat cranked way up. I didn't make it down there to mist and keep the moisture levels up and the poor thing got really dry.

Thankfully the new pitchers are fine.

If you missed the post about this installation I go into more detail here. The shower curtain at the back is so I can mist things and not get everything behind all wet.

The green tubes hold the trash-can lid planters that go in the shady corner over the summer.

I'm really happy with how everything is doing this winter. Last year the basement was a construction zone (a half bathroom was added) and the plants were treated poorly; bad lighting, poor air circulation and a fine coat of dust coated them most of the time.

I'm even managing to keep the Aeoniums happy this year! (fingers crossed)

The fancy Begonia is happy too (Jurassic Silver Point).

This chartreuse hanging planter—created by the now defunct Gainey Ceramics—was a Portland Nursery container sale purchase years ago. One of the other rare times I was there at 9 am, I had to be sure nobody else scored my planter!

The beautiful Cryptanthsis on the left came from Evan, I've got it's name somewhere...

These all came from a nursery in Spokane, they were practically giving them away at $1.50 each...

So many plants...

Yikes, this guy needs a drink, STAT!

I end with this adorable little Agave, it's an A. albopilosa and "at agave puberty (around 3 years old) the tips of the narrow, green, upturned leaves develop little white tufts of hair" (source, with a photo of the mature plant). This was a gift from Gerhard. I wonder what treasures I 'll be adding to my collection from the sale? (to be continued...)

Weather Diary, Jan 10: Hi 50, Low 40/ Precip 0

All material © 2009-2019 by Loree Bohl for danger garden. Unauthorized reproduction prohibited and just plain rude.

12 comments:

  1. First picture impression, before I started reading, was: that's the nursery's display... and looking extremely happy I might add. Maybe the basement stay is the real vacation?
    Evan's Cryptanthsis is very pretty and unusual.

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    1. Nah, nothing beats the light, air circulation and humidity outdoors.

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  2. Your basement display is, like everything else you do, extremely well done. I'm always in awe of how you make your plant hoard sing with your great design sense. Everything looks very happy and ready for another summer outside. (It's spring now, right?)

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    1. It is spring! Well, no. It's sunny and cool here, a low of 34 this morning.

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  3. Everything looks so happy and healthy in your plant jungle. Can't wait to see what you bring home from the sale.

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  4. Your bromeliads look a lot better than mine! (You probably don't have any raccoons in your basement, do you?) Your fabulous winter display underscores just big your collection of bromeliads and other cold-sensitive plants is. That Gainey pot is gorgeous.

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    1. Well actually... there are raccoon prints on the wall. At least that's what we've figured they must be, they're from before the house was ours. It looks like the basement window was open (it's at ground level) and one came in and then had a heck of a time getting out (how did it eventually?). But I do know how much trouble those varmints can cause, they (thankfully) stayed away last summer, but the summer before they tore up quite a few Bromeliads, and my water plants.

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  5. Most beautiful basement ever! A way to garden year-round in your climate. It must cheer you up mightily when days are grey and cold outside. Cheers us up looking at it, too.

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    1. Well it is nice to be downstairs and have there be life, but we've got a lot of work to do to make it the most beautiful basement ever.

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  6. Not "prisoners" -- guests! (Ones that don't require you to turn up the heat.) It's a joy to see, and to anticipate the new guests from the sale who'll be joining them.

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  7. Gives new meaning to the term 'Winter wonderland' :) Looking like a great place to hang out on a rainy day.

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