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hobby_gardeningI'm sorry to say I'm not a success as a blogger these days. Years ago I had a more general blog in LiveJournal and it was mostly daily and usually several paragraphs. Now, I think my time is divided between so many things and my need to write is fulfilled in other ways.
Today my subject isn't quite gardening but we don't have to be too strict about it. I hate the word "strict"!
A year ago a very dear friend presented us with a houseplant, a Calathea. We're not really houseplant people as this flat, with its narrow window-sills, doesn't lend itself to that. But this was Van's plant and so appreciated because of that. I worried about keeping it alive. Calathea's natural environment is the floor of the jungle, with half light at best and a pretty constant temperature. Also it would be almost constantly moist from the rainfall that filtered down from the canopy.
I couldn't replicate those conditions and I feared it wouldn't survive the cold of our winter. I can't afford to keep the heating on night and day! I placed it near a window but mostly screened from direct sunlight. I bought a good mister and gave the leaves a good dousing every morning. I watered sparingly. The plant thrived. It has sailed through its first winter and has doubled in size.
It's a splendid, colourful plant with its green and red leaves. In the course of a day it moves quite a lot, leaves rising and falling and rotating. The movement is usually very slow but every now and again we'll catch a movement of a leaf out of the corner of one's eye. That seemed rather creepy at first but we're used to it now and it's just the plant doing its thing.
It is also known as the Prayer Plant which is appropriate as dear Van is a religious lady. Her plant is constantly praying for us, unreconstructed heathens though we are. Van is always in our minds but she has moved away. We're in regular contact but we don't see her. We see her lovely plant though, and feel her presence.
Today my subject isn't quite gardening but we don't have to be too strict about it. I hate the word "strict"!
A year ago a very dear friend presented us with a houseplant, a Calathea. We're not really houseplant people as this flat, with its narrow window-sills, doesn't lend itself to that. But this was Van's plant and so appreciated because of that. I worried about keeping it alive. Calathea's natural environment is the floor of the jungle, with half light at best and a pretty constant temperature. Also it would be almost constantly moist from the rainfall that filtered down from the canopy.
I couldn't replicate those conditions and I feared it wouldn't survive the cold of our winter. I can't afford to keep the heating on night and day! I placed it near a window but mostly screened from direct sunlight. I bought a good mister and gave the leaves a good dousing every morning. I watered sparingly. The plant thrived. It has sailed through its first winter and has doubled in size.
It's a splendid, colourful plant with its green and red leaves. In the course of a day it moves quite a lot, leaves rising and falling and rotating. The movement is usually very slow but every now and again we'll catch a movement of a leaf out of the corner of one's eye. That seemed rather creepy at first but we're used to it now and it's just the plant doing its thing.
It is also known as the Prayer Plant which is appropriate as dear Van is a religious lady. Her plant is constantly praying for us, unreconstructed heathens though we are. Van is always in our minds but she has moved away. We're in regular contact but we don't see her. We see her lovely plant though, and feel her presence.
