Got a favorite plant? Well I do...

She's an old lady cactus and was the first to start my obsession, her name's tootie cuz she's a cutiepatootie. We've been together since December 31st 2023

Yes, my favorite plants are succulents and I love cacti plants!

I have a fave at home, it's a cycad. Amazing because it's a living fossil, unchanged since the times of dinosaurs -they would've eaten it. Maybe I post photo later.

But this another fave [below ]- I'd like to look into getting one. Tacca chantrieri or black bat flower. Enigmatic in it's darkness and wanting to look like a bat

That's pretty, as well as interesting. You seem to have a knack for plants and knowledge of them. I love reading about poisonous plants, etc.

An add for this nursery popped up on my phone. Thought you succulent folks might be interested.

April Farm/Rare Succulent

Hi @Lonely butterfly, welcome!

I love my plants! I still have a Golden Pathos (Devil's Ivy) that I grew from a single cutting that I took in 1980-something.

I'm especially fond of Begonias. although I don't have any at the moment. The two that I nurtured in my bachelor pad didn't survive the move to the new home I bought with my wife. It only occurred to me just now that they were jealous (not really, but it's funny to think about it that way). The real reason is that I just didn't have the same light patterns in the home compared to the apartment. As well, one got knocked over by the movers (but I've had other plants survive that kind of mishap).

Another challenge they have is to survive from the cat(s) grazing on them. More later.

Thank you, yes. I like knowing about them too; seeing what ppl have discovered about them. many poisonous, yes, and many many edible too it'd be a shame to die of starvation in forest when half of it is food.

I love your little cactus too. I have a similar one and I looked at him/her as my only friend for many years actually...

Did you name your cactus? My one's name is Prickles.

Edit: Oh you named her Tootie. That's cute

This is my cycad of the pretty common Revoluta kind. You can see some young fronds just poking out of the center cone, which I'm happy to see. The plant is a slow grower, which is good. Thank you.

@SquarePegGuy
so THAT'S what they're called. I have a devil's ivy but whenever I see people mentioning the same plant, they call it a golden pothos.
you learn something new everyday.
mine isn't as old, got it maybe like 3 months ago from a store, I love her and call her medusa

I'm reading how some of you name your plants. I don't, but when I water a plant, I say, "Hi Planty-Plant!"

@SquarePegGuy I think begonias are so pretty, but I have the absolute kiss of death with them. I swear if I walk passed them in a store they fall over dead! 🙄

Am really enjoying this thread. I have a ton of plants, but never named any of them.

Had some amazing plants till last year. I did get them inside to keep them from freezing but gated that room off to keep my dogs from destroying them & that made watering difficult so basically lost them all i had an amazing poinsettia for years that kept blooming & it was part of my casualty list. I did keep my amaryllis bulbs alive. I bought a new Christmas cactus this year to replace the one I lost.

This year I brought my plants into the basement & have had much better luck keeping them alive. Mostly my herbs. Have one heating vent into the basement & sat them next to the walk-out sliding glass door for light. Much better success but still think I lost a few. So hard to take care of while trying hard to keep them away from my aussie doggie who is not quite 2 & still insists that destroying things is HIS JOB

I've started to plant "cat grass" again for the cat, hoping she'll leave the other plants alone.

I'm inspired to get the Begonia Maculata. I plan to pot it with Dragon Wing Red & White. I'll keep it outside in front of the north-facing part of the house in Spring, Summer & Fall and some how overwinter in Winter.

from Eskie

Quote:

still insists that destroying things is HIS JOB

And when an Aussie has a JOB there is no convincing them otherwise!

Quote:

Originally Posted by lizardlady from Eskie And when an Aussie has a JOB there is no convincing them otherwise!

Oh that is so true. The one job I love that he has taken on is giving me hugs around my neck. Lol....he has grown big. At almost 2 years he is 70 lbs....all muscle

70lbs! He is BIG for an Aussie!

Quote:

Originally Posted by lizardlady 70lbs! He is BIG for an Aussie!

He ended up being a big standard. Lol....he is the biggest dog I have had & it is taking me time to adjust. He is mostly good with commands & hand signals & I think he understands every complicated sentence I say....but sometimes goes brain dead when stubborn kicks in. He is probably the most fun doggie ever as we can just enjoy walks without any leash & he sticks right with me while still enjoying exploring. Still working on cat issues. He loves Gabe but doesn't realize how big he is when trying to hug him

Didn't mean to sidetrack with Cote talk....lol.....he's kind of a plant, fully rooted in my life now & he grew like a weed over the last 1 1/2 years with me

Our black lab topped out at 99lbs! He gained weight when he stopped fetching the tennis balls due to blindness.

We'd love to get another big dog, but my remote work switched to in office, and my wife doesn't think she can take it out two or three times during the day.

But no way do we want a puppy....

Anyway, getting back to plants...

I bought a Peperomia (I think) from the grocery store, today. It resembles the
Piccolo Banda Peperomia, number 18, at this link.

And I ordered the Begonia maculata; it should arrive at about the end of March.

The plan for the Begonia maculata is to have it in a pot with some Dragon Wing Red in the driveway right front of the north side of the house. Then I'll find some way to overwinter it indoors.

Bringing plants in / out for the season is challenging. I think it's because when they come indoors they lose the ultraviolet part of the light spectrum. So the leaves seem to blanch. There's a process for doing overwintering indoors (and the reverse) that involves gradual exposure to the new environment, but I'm not patient enough to do that.

Alternatively, I can take stem cuttings and propagate them. A plant expert I know says that leaf cuttings from Begonia also can propagate.

I used to get upset if a plant fails to overwinter. But the Buddhist philosophy is to be willing to accept loss (as well as not attached to gain). So I let last year's geraniums and begonias go. One planter they were in was broken, anyway. And I want to swap the other two planters.

It's nice to look forward to Spring gardening, isn't it? It's only about a month away for me (for the potted plants). Two months for the fully outdoors plants.

Here's a link to a blog post that has photos of the outdoor potted plants I had in 2019:
Thoughts of a Square Peg on a Round World: Houseplants -- Outdoor Begonia and Geranium

All those plants are gone. I used to overwinter them at work. But someone else started doing that, so there's very little space left that has access to natural light. As well, I'm not sure I'll be working there much longer -- I didn't want my resignation/firing to be even more complicated and upset by having to worry about my plants.