My first hoya is vining!

almost exactly four years ago i got myself a hoya kerrii leaf. i have watered and fertilized it with my air plant tillandsia ionantha. now it is showing a sign of a new leaf growing! i never thought i'd see this day.

hoya kerrii in serious need of repotting

first new leaf

i still have my air plant tillandsia ionantha which bloomed last year and is now creating a pup.

tillandsia ionantha and its pup

äitisuomennos: posliinikukan lehti tekee ensimmäistä lehteä. lehti on ollut mun hoidossa jo neljä vuotta. ilmakasvikin on pieniin päin...

My first Hoya...

A Valentine's day horticultural rip-off

luckily i was interested in the shape of the leaf (aesthetics, i know so shallow of me) so i am not so disappointed that it doesn't actually grow into a plant... it turned out to be the most aesthetic choice - leaf that never changes (except when it dies)! luckily i also picked the best shaped one since it's not going to change!

i thought it was a succulent and the flower store clerk didn't know any better... though she said that during the time they had had those plants they hadn't grown and remained the same.

found an air plant (possibly tillandsia ionantha) from another local store and couldn't resist it either. unfortunately this clerk was clueless about air plants in general and said it doesn't need any care (water or sun). if you click the pic you'll see that the ends of the leaves are already browned. i hope it gets better in my care.

in finland air plants are rarely sold in stores. i have heard a good review of this store:

till herba caeli

you can order plants to finland too and they promise to send the plant in excellent condition. i would still order from them only during summer time to avoid freezing accidents.

seasonal repotting is finally over! phew!

happy spring!

äitisuomennos: ensimmäinen posliinikuk...an lehti. :D ensimmäinen ilmakasvi ja kauden ruukun vaihdot on vihdoin saatu päätökseen.

Mammillaria hahniana

i did it! i enrolled in a french tour of the greenhouses (the info point clerk didn't speak any english btw... and asked if i was anglaise. :D) at nantes, jardin des plantes and found out which genus 

and species my cactus at home belongs to.

may i present you the humble mammillaria hahniana (old lady cactus???).

(the lowest plants have the same coloring of the needles, white dipped into brown. a major point why i was never sure of the classification when looking at other people's photos.)

the tour was btw for free. as i didn't understand much of it i had more time inspecting the plants and could have taken more photos if i wasn't so intensely trying to find the right species. anyway we only visited the cacti and succulents house plus the rainforest house (no pictures there, intermittent "rain" ensured that). the rainforest greenhouse was awesome inside but it looked very sick from outside - all glasses were brown and muddy. apparently it was from some bacteria 

which was growing on some leaves as well or maybe algae that was good for the plants.

too bad we were there too early for la folie des plantes -

plant fever in nantes 

(and that the airplant shop was en vacances)

my happy cactus :)

(though still not that happy - not yet flowering after a year and two summers...)

äitisuomennos: kaktuksen lajike tiedossa!

kaktukset.blogspot.fi: mammillaria hahniana

What is this plant called?

purple stem, gingerbread leaves, we had it when i was a kid... now i found an old plant at work and cut some of it (it had small roots growing from the stems already) to plant at home.

what is this plant???


äitisuomennos: mikä kasvi?

After holidays...

the only three strawberries that survived couple of draughts.

in 2 boxes the plants were almost all dead. well, at least i learned the names of the tough ones. ;)


äitisuomennos: sadonkorjuuta loman jälkeen

Already dreaming big

strawberry: my most expensive plant

houseplants enjoying sun too! (with iceberg salad and others)

decorative plants

 

 

barley, flowers, flax, lavender, sugar peas and beans (härkäpapu) = surprise?

 vine (japaninhumala) and some already dead declared organic orange seedlings

 

mäkimeirami (oregano), salad x 2, basil, chives

cilantro (not the same as coriander), sitruunamelissa, lonely mint, salad, dill, parsley



äitisuomennos: unelmat on alkaneet kasvaa...

New life

and new dreams...


äitisuomennos: kukkaunelmia

Vermicompost

 

The European nightcrawler, Eisenia hortensis or Dendrobaena veneta

wikipedia:

Dendrobaena worms reproductive rate

- 0.8 eggs per adult per week

- 1 baby per egg

- male and female reproductive organs

- net reproduction of 0.8 young per adult per week

- from egg to sexual maturity = 20 weeks

matokomposti 

komposti kotona 

 optimal temperature for worms + 18 C, range +5 C - + 29? C

on finnish site it says +5 C - +25 C

it's weird that people are so serious about this that they find out methodically the optimal growth rates and such. the first thing when i saw my worms was kääk! they were so creepy all my "save the planet, fertilise your plants!" thoughts went down the drain. :P

happy worming!

first i grew plants

now worms

where will i end up?

 

äitisuomennos: matokompostointi on hauskaa. mikset sinäkin?

ps. the white thing on the compost bin is expired modified cornstarch... i wonder if i'm not poisoning my worms? and i probably did the bin also wrong. can worms die of over eating? everywhere it warns not to feed them too much. :/

Cocos nucifera

i can't help advertising ykkösrasti (an s-market) because they have two coconut palms in their store!!! the palms looked so gorgeous. in kuopio ykkösrasti is definitely the place i go if i want to buy a house plant.


äitisuomennos: kookospalmuja lähikaupassa!

Kivakurkku2

it looks like a pumpkin plant...
kiwano, is that you?

Hups oho2

contagious?



äitisuomennos: kompostiin meni.

None died! :)

3 weeks away... and this was the worst case.



äitisuomennos: kasvit hengissä, vaikka tasan 3 viikkoa ilman säännöllistä kastelua! ihme!

My little winter carden

http://www.postcarden.com/shop/



äitisuomennos: postikorttipuutarha

Kivakurkku??? :D

aka kiwano

tastes like a banana and a lime said the depiction in the supermarket -
tastes like raw banana and overripe cucumber in my opinion.
took some seeds to see what kind of plant might grow out of them...

http://fi.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kivakurkku
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Horned_melon

Crying plant

 

in the morning before opening the curtains

my plants are crying

the watering of the previous evening?

äitisuomennos: vissiinki kultaköynnös tuo kasvi...

Parasite

 

and its cousin...

Girl in green

currently camera-less. :)
otherwise you'd have seen my plantings!

i got excited about new growth (thought i felt a breeze of spring in the air?) but so far i just have some black soil on plates and green bed linen.

currently i have some two-year-old seeds and some exotic fruit stuff growing: jalapeño, paprika, grape fruit, grapevines, plum, pomegranate and cypress. i'll be trying out some hemp seeds (read: fiber hemp not the medical one :P) if these won't work out.

looking forward to have a lush balcony for the summer!!!

Juoru