Scenes From a Bedroom Window

I'm having kind of a love/fuck-off relationship with the house I live in these days.  And my broken foot.  I can't really garden right now, but I can make you look at pictures of my houseplants.  

This little Sansevieria (Santeria, or Santa
Pizzeria, according to my roommate) got a new
pot the other day, since the old one wouldn't
hold enough water for it anymore. My friend
Nan would like you to know that she gave me
the Jade plant cutting on the left.  :) 

This Hoya used to live on my nightstand, but it was
drying out in the ceiling fan breeze, so I moved it here.
It's been very happy since. 

 

A biiiiiig Asparagus Fern in the corner of the window (it's
three feet across), next to a plate of small succulents. 

 

This little fern was eaten by cats a couple
of months ago, so I moved it here so I could keep a
closer eye on it.  It's coming back nicely so far. 

The whole window, as it is right now.  L-R:  Red Chinese Evergreen, Japanese Painted Fern, String-of-Pearls
Senecio,  Hoya, Ponytail Palm, Pothos, Jade plants and "Spikes" Sansevieria, Asparagus Fern 

I love that this window is the first thing I see in the morning.  I love how it looks when it's raining outside. And I kind of love when I find sneaky cats up there: 

This is Owen, my roommate's cat.  Aka Owen the One-Eyed Wonder
Kitty, or simply, What the Hell, Owen? (Both his eyes work fine; he
has a malformed nictating membrane that keeps him from opening
his right eye all the way). 

A Bit-of-Everything Update

Firstly:  I FINALLY GOT A JOB!!!  Seven months! Egad.

I haven't gotten much done in the way of yardwork or gardening for the past couple of months, because my asthma and allergies have been kicking my ass so severely that I've basically been couch-bound for two months.  But I'm back to it, and have a few small things to share:

In May, I found this little (1") Golden Orb Weaver spider
in my yellow roses.  I call her Margaret. She's now got a
4" legspan, and has made her home in one of the archways
on my front porch.  

Exactly a year ago, I did a post on some weeds I found in my yard - after the
last bout of severe allergies kept me on my ass for two months and my yard
had gone to hell while I wasn't looking, in fact, which is where I'm at again. I
I found the Mystery Weed again, and this time took photos and looked it up
online:  it's Pigweed (Amaranthus retroflexus).  

Plants at work: Scilla violacea and a Jade Plant.  And a wee
brass Ganesh, the remover of obstacles. 

My 'Romantika' Clematis climbing the post on the back
porch.  Behind it you can see Raven's Garden, which is
just a freaking MESS.  The Morning Glories and Cypress
Vine have completely ignored the back fence and wire lines
 I gave them to climb on, and have made a little mound on
top of the strawberries I planted there.  The Cosmos are
doing alright - you can see a couple of them (orange) behind
the Clematis.  More on that soon. 

Meanwhile, I've got a LOT of work to do in the backyard.   Like I said, I've been sick for two months and everything has just gone to hell.   Yesterday I spent about three hours pulling weeds by hand in the backyard.  Today I'll mow, prune up the trees, and see about getting those flower vines off the ground, or at least also onto the fence where they're supposed to be.  I also have to clean up my tomato plants - they all fell off the stakes while I wasn't looking, and had patched out into the yard and made a great big, tangled, tomato-y mess.  I ripped them off the ground yesterday while I was weeding around them, and just threw them back into the vegetable garden, hehe.  

Updates soon. 

.

Winter Scenes

Brain:  *GASP*  SPIDER MITES!!!!  *preemptive hatred begins* 

Actual culprit.  Whew. 

.

Back From My Camping Vacation

And boy, am I tired, sunburnt, sore, and swollen.  But it was a great trip, barring a few hairy moments where some friends of mine were injured.  Since I've been back, I've been puttering around with pots and things, and hitting the post-early-spring sales:

The strawberries from the front porch, now potted in the wall urn on the back porch.  

Two tomatoes ("Juliet" cherry and "Beefmaster") and a
Serrano Pepper bought for a buck each at the grocery store. 

A Battle Gnome in the houseplants

 (the foil is a cat deterrent)

My rain-soaked Mexican Orchid Tree (Bauhinia mexicana) beginning
to bloom before it's even fully leafed out!  

Daffodils still blooming after all these years,
in the long-defunct vegetable garden. 

.

Housey Planties

Although I haven't been doing much around the yard since the clusterf* of 2010 and 2011, I never stopped being an avid houseplant keeper.   Let me introduce you to some of my little friends:

Living room window corner, behind a little divan/settee.  L-R Bird of Paradise (Strelitzia reginae), "ZZ" plant (Zamioculcas), Peace Lily (Spathyphyllum), "Janet Craig" Dracaena, and a sad-looking little Pothos Ivy hanging above.  

An Elephant Foot Palm (Beaucarnia revurvata) with a haircut, after one of my
cats nearly ate the entire thing. It's been recuperating for a long, long time.  

Dracaena Warneckii and a Philodendron in my
home office.  

And unknown little succulent, and a Fittonia

One of a pair of  Ficus trees I have in my living room. 

A wee Ming Fern (Plumosa)

Houseplants at work:  Peace Lily,  a pot of of baby Ponytail
Palms (also Bearcarnia recurvata), a "Lucky Bamboo" Dracaena,
and a little Dieffenbachia.  And a crab. 

I have eighteen houseplants in all, at the moment, not counting the cuttings rooting in jars all over the place, or half a potato in a bowl of water in the kitchen, hehe.  I also have four of my houseplants at my office, so, twenty-two in total


So basically, not nearly enough. :)

I would love to live here. 
More at  my Pinterest board on greenhousey living spaces