Urban Jungle Bloggers

Sep

2016

Plant stands

Plant stand in the kitchen. Photo. ©nini.tjader.2016

When your windowsills don’t have enough space for your plants, you need plant-stands to put your plants on. The one above is from Ikea and called Satsumas. I like it because it is airy and doesn’t take up too much space. It is placed in the corner between my two windows in the kitchen, where plants get good light from two directions without being in direct sun. Only negative with this plant-stand is that no platform can take more than 5 kgs. That resulted in some re-organizing of my plants. (Picture also reveals that I need to do something about my electric outlets on the floor and all the cables…).

Plant stand in the bedroom. Photo. ©nini.tjader.2016

The above is the plant-stand I previously had in the kitchen, with the large aloe vera on it. It presently stands in the bedroom with a pot with fake flowers on it.

Plant stand in the bedroom. Photo: ©nini.tjader.2016

In the bedroom in the background in the middle is a white plant-stand. I had it outside until just the other day and only took it inside recently and cleaned it. It will have a plant on it later on when a lot of plants move indoors in few weeks time. Autumn is approaching though it isn’t cold outside just yet. That one was a find just outside at the garbage-disposal at my previous flat. I’ve used it for various plants over the years ever since. Not really my type of item if we are talking style… I like simpler things. At least it is white.

Plant stand/sideboard in the livingroom. Photo. ©nini.tjader.2016

In the livingroom I’ve enlarged the area for putting plants by adding a sideboard. Presently it mainly houses decorative items, but that will change soon enough when plants move indoors. The pot of the plant in the corner to the left stands on another pot to get it higher up. That’s a temporary solution.

Plant stand. Photo. ©nini.tjader.2016

This (above) is more my kind of plant-stand when it comes to style. It is black, wired, plastic-coated stand. I bought that at a garden-shop yeas ago and have used it on and off. It was outside until today when I took it indoors and cleaned it. The funny thing is that now all kinds of plant-stands of this type start to appear. Lots of them.

My plant stand outside on the patio. Photo. ©nini.tjader.2016

This is how it looked outside. The plant now got a terracotta plate under it and another stand.

Lagerhaus plant stand, SEK 179. Image from Lagerhaus.se

The above one comes from Lagerhaus.se and costs SEK179. They also have it in a smaller version that costs SEK99. This is really useful. You can use it turned either way.

Plantstand from Lagerhaus.se. Photo. ©nini.tjader.2016

The problem with some of these plantstands is their size. They are only done for smaller pots which limits their usefulness.

Plantstand from Lagerhaus.se. Image from Lagerhaus.se.

Th prices for these ones varies wildly. The ones from Lagerhaus.se are the least expensive. There are others out there that are much more expensive.

The NORM plant stand. Image from NORM.

This one is from NORM architects. What it costs? No idea. Who sells it? No idea. But it is goodlooking. Love it.

Found on Pinterest. Image from Pinterest.

This one is nicelooking (found it on Pinterest), but it looks dangerous… Don’t come close or it will fall over?

Plant stands from Nordic Living. Image from Nordic Living.

These ones are from NORDIC LIVING and costs around SEK 450.

There are many more out there. Either google for plant stands or look them up at Pinterest.

Of course you can also hang your plants from above. There are various solutions for that too, but that is for another time.

Found on Pinterest. Image from Pinterest.

Aug

2016

Some of the plants in the kitchen

The plants in my kitchenwindows. Photo. ©nini.tjader.2016

This is some of the plants in the kitchen. I love having greenery around me. I have two windows in the kitchen. The one to the left is south-facing, the one to the right is west-facing. And then there is the plant-stand in the corner between them.

Plantstand in the kitchen. Photo. ©nini.tjader.2016

The plant-stand is fairly new. It comes from ikea and is called SATSUMAS. I like it because it is airy and gives a light impression. Its inclusion in the kitchen though is one of the reasons that the large aloe vera that used to live there had to move elsewhere. It is simply too heavy. Each platform on this plant-stand can only take 5 kilos.

Corokia Cotoneaster on the plant-stand. Photo. ©nini.tjader.2016

One of the plants on the plant-stand that got moved to the kitchen recently is my corokia cotoneaster, or zig-zag-plant as some call it. After a couple of weeks there it seems to like its new place. It is very hard to take pictures of as the leaves are so small, many and spread. The pot it lives in is very light despite its size.

I got the pot from former neighbors Lars & Camilla when they moved north last summer. They thought it might get destroyed in the move. I also got four stephanotis, pots included, from them. Two I’ve kept, one I gave on to neighbor Gullis and one to friend Ulla in town.

Ginkgo Biloba on the plant-stand. Photo. ©nini.tjader.2016

Also on the plant-stand is my ginkgo biloba, which has moved around a lot in the flat since I got it at a garden fair in the spring. It has grown since I bought it and it too seems to like its new place in the kitchen.

Newest plant in the kitchen. Photo: ©nini.tjader.2016

The newest plant in the kitchen is the above one, which has only been in my kitchen a short time yet. I hope it will like it here. It is a muehlenbeckia complexa (in Swedish called slideranka or plättar-i-luften) or maidenhair vine or a lot of other names. Very trendy in interiors presently…

Orchids in the kitchen window. Photo. ©nini.tjader.2016

Another change for the plants in the kitchen windows is that I’ve moved three of my orchids (I have six) into the hanging plant-containers (from IKEA) in the window. I took the opportunity to do that when the latest flowering had passed. Next time the flowers come the flowers will be allowed to hang out from the container. I will move down the one in the top container and up the one with green-white leaves. There is another one of those in the top one. I divided the original plant some time ago. Now both have flowers.

Stephanotis floribunda in the kitchen window. Photo: ©nini.tjader.2016

In one of the kitchenwindows lives one of my stephanotis floribunda, a very common house plant. I have two. The other one hangs in the window in the livingroom. This one also used to be in the livingroom, but moved here when I moved the aloe vera to the livingroom. Funny thing is, it totally changed its form when it got its place in the kitchen windows. It now gets light from two directions which causes its leaves to turn in new directions. I like it.

Plants in the kitchen. Photo: ©nini.tjader.2016

I keep moving plants around depending on the season. When the cold season comes (October?) some of my outside plants will move inside. That will totally change the situation and fill all available space with plants from out on the patio.

Plants in one of the kitchen windows. Photo. ©nini.tjader.2016

This is the south-facing window. This orchid is the last still blooming. It grows in a crazy way… Will have to do something about that when it stops blooming.

The large plant surrounding the window, a philodendron I’ve had for almost two decades, is now reaching the second window as well. It replaces curtains and is hanging on the curtain rods. The green-and-white-striped hanging plant is one of those tiny plants Ikea sells that has become large and got a larger hanging pot of its own. What it is called? I have no idea.

Plant in the kitchenwindow. Photo. ©nini.tjader.2016

I hang the hanging pots on the curtain rods as I do not use curtains in the kitchen. Blinds are needed though during summer for protection of the plants from the sun when it shines.

I’ve always had lots of plants in the kitchen. They change over time and with the seasons, but always lots of plants. Who needs curtains in the kitchen when you have plants?

Plants in the kitchen. Photo. ©nini.tjader.2016

Aug

2016

The story of my figtree

A leaf of my figtree, February 2016 Photo: ©nini.tjader.2016

The story of my figtree is the following: I bought it last year, late spring. It lived outside on the patio the entire summer of 2015 until it got too cold for it to be outside. It then moved indoors and lived in my livingroom window over winter, with the help of artificial light for plants, but normal temperatures for indoors (approximately +23°C). The window is turned to the west and has afternoon sun.

The figtree got four (4) figs while indoors. Three you could eat, one was no good, the others were… so,so. It didn’t loose a single leaf over winter though I was prepared that it might.

My figtree, indoors, March 19th, 2016 Photo: ©nini.tjader.2016

By the beginning of May it was time to move the figtree outside again as the outside temperatures became comfortable for both plants and humans. The figtree is supposed to manage even if temperature drops slightly below zero centigrades.

Figtree outside on May 6th, 2016 Photo: ©nini.tjader.2016

It again got figs. Two this time. Lost a few leaves, but not many.

Figtreeleaf on May 10th 2016. Photo. ©nini.tjader.2016

What it didn’t like though was the strong sun. Some leaves got sunburnt and later fell off. I should have known to protect it better from the sun…

Figtree on July 19th 2016. Photo. ©nini.tjader.2016

By the middle of July I thought it looked poorly and partly naked. Remaining leaves were a bit discolored and it didn’t want to grow at all. Some of its roots were crawling on top of the earth in the pot.

Figtree on July 26th, 2016. Photo. ©nini.tjader.2016

So the figtree got a larger pot and new soil and some nourishing watering. That made it come alive and finally start to grow again. It also probably helped that the weather was fine and extraordinarily sunny and warm.

New figtree leaves July 26th 2016. Photo. ©nini.tjader.2016

New leaves finally started to appear and grow fast.

Figtree on July 27th 2016. Photo: ©nini.tjader.2016

There were signs of life at other places on the tree as well.

On August 6th it looked like this. (Click on an image to see a larger version).

To my relief the positive development just continued. By August 14th it looked like this. (Click on an image to see a larger version).

The progress and growth is fast now. It also seems to like the recent rains. Below is how my figtree looked this morning. I am happy that it is now growing.

Question is: where do I put it when it has to move inside again? It is too big by now to be put in a window…

My figtree on August 19th 2016. Photo: ©nini.tjader.2016

Aug

2016

Green oxalis, new plant in the livingroom

New plant in the livingroom, a green oxalis Photo. ©nini.tjader.2016

I got myself a new plant in the livingroom, a green oxalis.

The other day it was my birthday. Not that I celebrate. Haven’t done that even when I was a child. Then because everyone was away in the summer at my birthday. Nowadays as it really isn’t much to celebrate… If not for the fact that I am alive and healthy.

Green oxalis, new plant in the livingroom. Photo. ©nini.tjader.2016

Anyway, I am a member customer at the Plantagen shop, which sells flowers, plants, pots, and everything in connection with it. For their members, they send out a voucher for 12 roses on your birthday. You only have to come collect them for free in any of their shops.

Green oxalis, new plant in the livingroom. Photo:©nini.tjader.2016

So, went there with my neighbor as she has a car and I don’t. When there, my eyes fell on a green oxalis with white flowers. I’ve always wanted a green oxalis in addition to my burgundy one with pink flowers. The latter has become really big by the way and I’ve moved it from the kitchen-table to the livingroom-window.

Green oxalis Photo. ©nini.tjader.2016

As the green oxalis had a nice price (SEK 49) I picked it up. Then asked at the cashiers if I could take that instead of 12 roses. And I could! The oxalis was SEK10 cheaper than the 12 roses by the way, if looking at the published prices. Thank you Plantagen. Not every day you get a plant for free.

So, now I have a new plant in the livingroom. A nice green oxalis with white flowers. Just hope it eventually will become as large as the other one… The new one got the same kind of pot as the old oxalis. All for consistency…

Green oxalis Photo: ©nini.tjader.2016

Jun

2016

One plant, three stylings

One plant, Oxalis Triangularis Photo:©nini.tjader.2016

The subject for this months Urbanjunglebloggers task is One plant, three stylings. I’ve chosen my huge Oxalis Triangularis.

One plant, Oxalis Triangularis Photo: ©nini.tjader.2016

Above is where it normally is, on my kitchentable, in the corner between the two windows in the kitchen. It has become really big there and I think it really likes this placement. This is one of the three stylings for the one plant.

One plant, Oxalis Triangularis, on the kitchen table. Photo. ©nini.tjader.2016

It is a light place, but no direct sun here.

One plant, Oxalis Triangularis, in the livingroom. Photo. ©nini.tjader.2016

The second place I tested is in the livingroom. Looks good here, right? You see more of it here. This is the second styling for the one plant.

One plant, third styling. Photo: ©nini.tjader.2016

The third styling for the one plant is in the bedroom. With its dark color it is nice contrast to the lighter pots and decorations. And the green plants. From left: a ginkgo biloba in the window, then a baby aloe, and my oldest cactus.

The oxalis triangularis has again gone back to the kitchen to its regular place after the one plant, three stylings completed.

By the way, does anybody know the best way how to dived a large oxalis into more plants?

May

2016

Planty Table Settings

Planty table setting for breakfast. Photo: ©nini.tjader.2016

This months Urban Jungle Bloggers task is to present “Planty Table Settings”. This is my contribution to the subject. I always have plants around me in the kitchen, so welcome to my jungle.

Second breakfast. Photo: ©nini.tjader.2016

The “second breakfast” is just that, the second breakfast on days when I go to the gym and come back home and need to eat something.

Mainly my plants are in the two angled kitchen windows, and sometimes on the end of the table where I keep all that is needed with the eating.

Planty table setting for breakfast. Photo. ©nini.tjader.2016

The very small pot on the table contains basil. The pot was handed out at Ikea recently on one of their events. The seed is actually growing… which is a first for me when it comes to seed from Ikea…

Planty table setting for lunch. Photo:©nini.tjader.2016

For lunch with a friend, another kind of planty table setting, where the rosemary tree and a large pot of fresh basil have moved onto the kitchen table. Forgot to put glasses on the table though…

Planty table setting for lunch with a friend. Photo. ©nini.tjader.2016

I often vary the place mats on the table and have several in various materials, sizes and patterns. Above I remembered to put glasses on the table…

Planty table setting for dinner. Photo: ©nini.tjader.2016

For a planty table setting for dinner I used one of my inherited old linen table cloth, hand-embroidered by my father when he was young at the first half of the previous century. One of my orchids was moved from the window to the table together with my new ginkgo biloba plants. A cutting (unintentional cutting) of a narciss from the garden was placed in a thin vase to add to the theme.

Planty table setting for dinner. Photo. ©nini.tjader.2016

Planty table setting for dinner. Photo: ©nini.tjader.2016

There is still plenty of space left on the table to place the food, salad, wine etc there. This is a table setting for two. The two small dogs on the table are old ones I’ve inherited from my parents. They are silver-plated (need polishing) and are used for putting away your knife on instead of putting it directly onto the table cloth. The small glasses with a green foot I’ve inherited from my grandmother.

Welcome to breakfast, lunch and dinner at my kitchen table, in the company of some of my plants. At my place all meals are eaten at the kitchen table, in the kitchen jungle.

Apr

2016

New house plant – Ginkgo Biloba

My new house plant – Ginkgo Biloba. Photo: ©nini.tjader.2016

At the Nordiska Trädgårdar 2016 Garden Fair in Stockholm recently I got myself a new house plant, a Ginkgo Biloba, or as it is also called, the Maidenhair Tree.

Ginkgo Biloba. Photo: ©nini.tjader.2016

It is an interesting plant. I have wanted one for a long time.

Ginkgo Biloba. Photo: ©nini.tjader.2016

So, at this years garden fair, I found one for the reasonable price of SEK 95.

With our temperatures it cannot be placed outside. At least not at the tender age my plant has. But 175 ginkgo biloba trees are beeing planted at Hornsgatan in Stockholm. At first 20 trees in 2010. I don’t know if more have been planted since. I really hope they will survive there. They were dug up from a planting in Germany and transported to Stockholm and planted here in the winter of 2010. I haven’t seen them yet, but will surely visit and see if they have survived. Will wait until the spring has come further and they hopefully will get leaves there.

Ginkgo Biloba. Photo: ©nini.tjader.2016

This small plant can become a tree that is 40 meters high… Not inside though (I hope). Mine is today 48 cms high from the bottom of the pot to its top.

Ginkgo Biloba, fully grown. Image borrowed from the internet.

The above is an example of how it can look fully grown…

Ginkgo Biloba. Photo: ©nini.tjader.2016

It has plenty of small growth for new branches on it. Looking forward to see it grow and become an even more decorative little indoor tree.

Ginkgo Biloba Photo: ©nini.tjader.2016

I wanted the Ginkgo Biloba for its decorative leaves and the form of the plant. The split leaves with their distinct form are really decorative.

Ginkgo Biloba Photo: ©nini.tjader.2016

Ginkgo Biloba, fully grown. Image borrowed from the internet.

The plant is used in health products. It is also a really old plant. From wikipedia I got the following information:

Maidenhair tree
Ginkgo biloba, known as ginkgo or as the maidenhair tree, is the only living species in the division Ginkgophyta, all others being extinct. It is found in fossils dating back 270 million years. Native to China,[2] the tree is widely cultivated and was introduced early to human history. It has various uses in traditional medicine and as a source of food. The genus name Ginkgo is regarded as a misspelling of the Japanese gin kyo, “silver apricot”.[4] Wikipedia
Scientific name: Ginkgo biloba
Higher classification: Ginkgo
Conservation status: Endangered
Rank: Species

Links:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ginkgo_biloba

http://www.kew.org/science-conservation/plants-fungi/ginkgo-biloba

Ginkgo Biloba. Photo:nini.tjader.2016

Apr

2016

Plants and Glass

Plants and glass. Photo. ©nini.tjader.2016

I’ve always loved the combination of plants and glass.

Plants and glass. Photo. ©nini.tjader.2016

Having the light go through the glass and seeing the plants through the glass … I like it. This particular glass decoration comes from IKEA. Don’t thing they sell it any more.

Plants and glass. Photo. ©nini.tjader.2016

Through the glass you see my new hanging pelargonia which has grown a lot lately and just had its very first flower. It is waiting inside still to come outside. Nights are still too cold for pelargonias outside. But soon…

Plants and glass. Photo. ©nini.tjader.2016

You can also use the glass decoration to put a plant on top of it (in a glass jar of course). A bit dangerous though. It might all fall… Was only testing the look of it.

Plants and glass. Photo: ©nini.tjader.2016

I often also use glass in combination with plants by creating groups of glass items near to the plants.

Plants and glass. Photo: ©nini.tjader.2016

I like the contrasts.

Plants and glass at the livingroom window. Photo: ©nini.tjader.2016

The glass emphasizes the greenery of the plants.

Plants and glass. Photo. ©nini.tjader.2016

You can also use flowerpots of glass. Common when it comes to orchids, but I’ve never noticed any difference in how the orchids grow and thrive if the flowerpot is of glass and transparent or if it is not. I don’t think the orchids mind one way or the other…

Plants and glass. Photo: ©nini.tjader.2016

The above is a temporary installation… Used a flowerpot of glass to temporarily place the pineapple when I wait for it to get ripe enough to eat… They say you can cut off the top (or was it the bottom?) and place it in earth and get a new pineapple plant. Have never tested it though. Might do that one day.

Plants and glass. Photo: ©nini.tjader.2016

The blue round vase here serves as a container for a scented candle in a glass. Placed on the kitchen table near to the plants I find the combination makes a nice contrast to the oxalis.

Plants and glass. Photo: ©nini.tjader.2016

In all the moving around of plants parts of the above one came off… So I put it in a laboratory glass in the hope of it getting roots so I can plants it together with its siblings. This kind usually sprouts new roots on cuttings easily.

That was the end of the photo session, this months task for the Urban Jungle Bloggers, as I also managed to have one of the window lamps fall from the windowsill and brake the LED lamp inside it. The lamp itself did not break, just the bulb… Fortunately I had an extra bulb to replace it with. Floor full of glass and vacuuming became the next task…

Apr

2016

My oxalis

My oxalis. Photo: ©nini.tjader.2016

My oxalis is getting big. It has grown a lot since I got it about a year or so ago.

My oxalis. Photo. ©nini.tjader.2016

Its leaves are fascinating. Daytime they open up in their full glory. Nighttime, when it is dark, they fold in the leaves and close.

Oxalis leaves. Photo: ©nini.tjader.2016

For a while the past autumn and winter I thought it was dying. It kept losing leaves. The leaves just collapsed. I also had it in a lighter spot for a while. It didn’t like that so had it moved a bit further from the window and onto the kitchen table.

Coming up, new oxalis. Photo: ©nini.tjader.2016

But then it started sprouting new leaves and even flowers.

Oxalis flowers. Photo: ©nini.tjader.2016

The flowers are beautiful. Small and pink in a cluster.

New oxalis babies. Photo: ©nini.tjader.2016

Both leaves and flowers first appear as small loops at earth level. They grow fast though so in a couple of days they are up.

My oxalis. Photo. ©nini.tjader.2016

The whole plant turns towards the light so you have to turn it around frequently.

My oxalis in the sun a couple of weeks ago. Photo. ©nini.tjader.2016

Oxalis flower. Photo. ©nini.tjader.2016

Oxalis flower and leaf. Photo: ©nini.tjader.2016

I also have wild oxalis in the garden. I dug them up from another space where they suddenly appeared and at first put them into pots.

They spread like weeds… and keep coming back each year. I’ve even removed a lot of them when they became too many. The wild ones in the garden look different though and are another specie.

Wild oxalis in pots. Photo. ©nini.tjader.2015

At first I had the wild oxalis in pots, but soon enough moved them into the flowerbeds instead. The leaves of the wild oxalis are rounded and their flowers are yellow and bloom a very short time. The wild ones behave the same way as the ones indoor. They close their leaves at night, and open them again when light comes in the morning.

Wild oxalis in the flowerbed. Photo. ©nini.tjader.2015

There is also a green variant of the oxalis which has white flowers. Have been considering to buy one of those too. Have to wait though until I can move the small pelargonia plants outside for the summer so I get some more space in the kitchen windows… Presently it is quite crowded there.

There are about 900 species of oxalis… Read more about it here.

Mar

2016

Botanical zoom

Baby-cactus. Photo. ©nini.tjader.2016

So, this months task for Urban Jungle Bloggers is Botanical Zoom. Made me wish I had a camera that could get even closer to my plants than the one I have… (I have a Canon G15).

Cactus. Photo. ©nini.tjader.2016

Looking close at plants for a botanical zoom is fun. You discover forms and patterns that you do not normally notice when you observe plants on a normal distance.

Botanical zoom on one of my cactus. Photo. ©nini.tjader.2016

I have three cactus. If I include my crazy November-cactus that gets flowers several times a year…

Cactusflower. Photo:©nini.tjader.2016

This one just got two small flowers. They open later in the day when the sun reaches its location.

November cactus. Photo. ©nini.tjader.2016

November cactus. Photo:nini.tjader.2016

The November cactus just finished its early spring bloom… It usually have another go on it in May, then August, then October… but never November.

Oxalis flower and leaf. Photo: ©nini.tjader.2016

These are my oxalis. For a while there I thought it was dying but now, with the spring light, it came to life again ans is sprouting both new leaves and flowers. Interesting plant. (Reload page to get pictures to show in another order, click a picture to see a larger version).

Aloe vera. Photo: ©nini-tjader.2016

Ever notice the little thorns on the sides of the leaves of an aloe vera?

Corokia cotoneaster. Photo: ©nini.tjader.2016

My corokia cotoneaster is extremely hard to take pictures of as its leaves are so small. Love it though and it is getting really big.

Rosemary in bloom. Photo: ©nini.tjader.2016

This year my rosemary, bought at the supermarket last spring, survived the winter after I took it inside in the autumn. To my surprise it started getting new leaves and to bloom recently. So, presently I cannot cut it to use it on my own baked potatoes which I use to…

Here are some other of my plants.

(Reload page to get pictures to show in another order, click a picture to see a larger version).

Let us finish with a leaf from my figtree.

Leaf on my figtree. Photo. ©nini.tjader.2016

Feb

2016

Jungle Animals

Aloe and Jungle Animals in the kitchen. Photo: ©nini.tjader.2016

This months assignment for Urban Jungle Bloggers was to combine plants with animals in ones home-jungle. Quite fun actually.

Parrot under the fig tree. Photo: ©nini.tjader.2016

Bird in the fig tree. Photo. ©nini.tjader.2016

Notice the fig under the bird? It is still there and I am waiting for it to get ripe – if it ever gets ripe. I’ve never had figs before.

Jungle Animals. In the kitchen window. Photo: ©nini.tjader.2016

The bird flew onwards to the kitchen and landed in one of the orchids. In the air is a flock of pink bird, originally from Israel.

Jungle Animals in the kitchen. Photo: ©nini.tjader.2016

The small bird (originally a xmas decoration that I kept in the plants, simple but decorative) also liked to be in the aloe vera and communicate with the big bird there.

Little bird in the white orchid. Photo: ©nini.tjader.2016

Had to spread out the taking pictures over two days as the light has been extremely bad due to bad weather outside and light came and went.

Bird in the aloe vera. Photo: ©nini.tjader.2016

This bird (whatever kind it is) suits the aloe vera.

In the hanging plant in the bedroom. Photo: ©nini.tjader.2016

The small bird moved on to the hanging plant in the bedroom.

Bird in the olive tree.Photo: ©nini.tjader.2016

There is another kind of bird (with a hat) in the small olive tree in the bedroom. That one is permanently there.

In the bedroom there is a dragon in the jungle.

The parrot has been there as well.

Bulldog and owl can also be seen there. The wooden owl to the left has a smaller wooden owl inside it. It comes from Sicily (or was it Greece?). The bulldog is ceramics by Lisa Larson, a famous Swedish potter.

Notice the November-cactus in the background. It is flowering time again. Last time was at the beginning of October. The thorny cactus had several of its small kids removed today. Will get proper soil for it and plant the cactus-babies and see if they will grow. The big one gets several babies every year. I usually just remove them and throw them away. This time I thought I would try to plant them.

Meanwhile the cats (from Sicily) and the bulldog (from Sweden) will protect the jungle.

Jan

2016

Kitchen Greens

Kitchen greens. My best windows for greens are my kitchen windows. There is two of them. One facing south, one facing west.

This is my green corner. The light and airiness of it is what I enjoy here.

The Ikea BITTERGURKA hanging planter has become a favorite of mine. I’ve got two of them. One hanging under the other. Both hanging on a curtain rod. Only problem is when the plants become too big and need more soil to be healthy. You then have to move them to some other planter. The hanging plant to the left (I have no idea what it is or its name) used to live in the top planter but couldn’t stay there for obvious reasons…

The green and white plant at the top planter probably would need to be moved to its own planter too, but so far it is OK there. One of the plants in the bottom one also would need moving to larger quarters.

My big aloe vera has baby-plants again. Two. This is the third time. One batch of baby plants have moved to my neighbor and is growing fast there. Another batch of baby plants have moved into town to my friend Ulla and seem to feel good there too.

The baby plants coming up now I will keep for myself and start a new, bigger one.

In the corner behind the aloe vera you see one of my six orchids. They all started blooming again just recently after an un-normally short period of rest. My orchids love my kitchen windows.

Here you can see two more of my orchids. One flowering, one with buds.

During winter the blinds in the kitchen windows are kept all the way up to provide as much light as possible for the plants. And so is the semi-transparent blind which in the summer is halfway down to protect the plants from too much sun. The above is a west facing window.

My oxalis plant is kept on the kitchen table, slightly in from the windows. I noticed at some point that it didn’t like to get too much light. I hope it will get more leaves come spring and summer. They are quite few presently, but rather large.

In the south facing window I have a rosemary plant which, too my surprise, is still alive and growing. Usually my rosemary plants die when winter comes (I keep it outside in the warmer season). This is strong and living though. I cut it regularly and use it finally chopped on oven baked potatoes. Delicious.

Above one of my orchids, Flowers stems on their way. This orchid is my oldest orchid. It will get white flowers with lilac edges. It grows a bit too much horizontally and always risk to fall off the window ledge.

This plant is fake though… The cage is too small to have any serious plants in it. I bought the cage with the mini planter at a garden fair last spring. It came with a tiny violet plant in it which fast became too big to keep there. The little bird of feathers originally is a Xmas decoration but I thought it suits sitting on the cage.

I don’t only have plants hanging on the curtain rod in the kitchen. I also keep the open baskets with onions and apples there.

Yes, I have curtain rods. But I stopped using them for curtains long ago and replaced the curtains with my large climbing plant instead (a philodendron of some sort). It frames the window very well and is now well on its way over to the second window as well. Here too all the blinds are all the way up for the dark season. Come spring and summer the semi-transparent blind goes half-way down to protect the plants. The above is the south facing window.

The planter for the climbing philodendron stands on the floor on a stand that have wheels. This plant isn’t particularly thirsty but the planter is an old Ikea self-watering planter. Black.

I love my green corner of the kitchen. The piedestal with the amaryllis in the middle of the image above goes when the last amaryllis have died (which won’t be long now).

In the below image you see all my kitchen greens at the same time. Ought to have removed the duster from the 5th chair before shooting the picture….At least there is less junk on the table than usual. Kitchen tables have a tendency to collect junk…

Dec

2015

Planty Wishes for 2016

Planty wishes for 2016! This is my livingroom window presently. The big fig-tree. I hope it will get bigger and that its three (3) figs will eventually get ripe. I also hope that my stephanotis floribunda (I’ve got two, one hanging on the curtain-rod) will grow and get flowers again. I might have to replant it in fresh soils though some time in February.

The lamp on the on the bench in front of the livingroom-window i won exactly one year ago in a competition on a blog I follow. It has finally found its perfect place here. The fig tree has a special flower-lamp to give it extra light. On the wall to the left I have hung a tall and thin mirror to get more light into the livingroom. In this case, it gives more light to the plants.

In the bedroom I made a small change. I moved the “gullranka” (Epipremnum aureum) from hanging in the window on the curtain rod to the top of the wardrobe in the background. One of my planty wishes for 2016 is that the two white pelargonias I keep here will survive until spring and get bigger. It is a very good sort. They made it over the previous winter and became really nice outside over the summer, despite it being a lousy summer.

In my planty wishes for 2016 are that it will survive there and get enough light there. Remains also to remember to climb up and give it water now and then…

I also wish that the small olive tree in the bedroom window will grow and bloom again. It bloomed this year, but the flowers fell off after a day or two. No olives… I keep the olive tree outside on the patio over the warm season. The rest of the year it lives indoors.

My smallest (not so small any more) cactus is growing. I wish it will get flowers again in the spring as it did this year. It still looks healthy, but I know it doesn’t get flowers every year. It all depends on light conditions and room temperature.

My bigger cactus keep getting babies on it. I use to pick them off now and then. It gets too crowded in the pot. I might save one of two tand start a new cactus-plantation. I see one there with roots hanging from it. There is also a dried out flowerbud on it that will never become a flower that needs to be removed.

Figtree in the livingroom. Photo:@nini.tjader.2015

In the kitchen I just wish that all my plants will survive the winter and live into spring and the lighter season that is coming. The big amaryllis will not, it has soon seen its end. These are the last flowers on the red one. The white one died the other day. Another plant has also disappeared in the kitchen, the hanging plant that used to be on the black piedestal where the amaryllis now stand, tje Australian Violet. Had to discard it.

Some of the hanging plants need to get larger pots eventually. Question is, where to hang them then? Wish I will find a place for them. Might be possible in the leftside kitchen window when the star comes down.

Essentially, my planty wishes for 2016 is that the plants I have now will all survive the winter. With the darkness we have over winter, that is always an open question, will they live or will they die…

Nov

2015

In the kitchen

The above is one of my kitchen windows. My hanging plants there are getting big.

On November 11th the other kitchenwindow looked like this. And the amaryllis on the table were all very small them. Since the light in the window had a sudden death and could no longer be lit so I removed it.

The two windows are cornered to each other which give real good light in the kitchen.

My oxalis has been moving around from one to the other and is now on the kitchentable. Seems that is the best place for it. For a while there I thought it was dying. Since it moved to the table, a bit into the kitchen from the windows, it came to life again.

Above some of the items kept on the kitchentable.

Some more items on the kitchen table… The radio is partly giving up. It has a rechargeable non-removable batteri, which enabled it to be move from here to elsewhere. It has stopped recharging the batteri and now only functions with the electricity cord put into the wall. No more radio in the bathroom.

On and off there is also a bowl of oranges, or grape-fruit, or clementines on the kitchen table. I have two of those thread bowls. They are excellent for keeping fruit in as they are airy.

I keep my different kinds of pasta – yes, I eat pasta. love pasta – in various glass jars. Pasta is decorative. The jars are kept in an old Billy bookcase I have in the kitchen for cookery books and other stuff that belongs in the kitchen.

My collection of teas are kept on these small shelves from Ikea (they no longer sell them). Well… not only tea. Bottom shelf to the left is a jar with cocoa, and the red one to the right on the same shelf contains regular coffee (which I almost never use nowadays s I use coffee capsules).

In one of the kitchen windows I have an experiment. When we cut the bushes outside the house, I kept some of the sticks we cut off. Wanted to try if I can produce new bushes from them. I know it sometimes works. at this time of the year (winter) the sticks are red. I put them in a vase with water that I change regularly. Now, a few weeks later, one of the sticks got leaves… I see no roots on the sticks yet, but…

My amaryllis on the kitchentable are growing. Too fast again… The tallest one has started to show its red flower.

As it is the season for stars in the window one of my kitchen windows got the big, white star that I had in the bedroom window last year. No space for it in the bedroom… The light from it when the daylight is gone is nice. I control that with a timer. We need those lights in this dark season.

Nov

2015

#plantshelfie

This is my window in the livingroom, and this is my #plantshelfie. I have a freestanding shelf to house all the plants that go inside over the dark and cold season called winter. It is actually a sideboard.

I haven’t filled the entire shelf with plants. Left some space for decorative items. Still, it is a plantshelf, or a plantshelfie (if we speak the language of instagram).

The two bubbly candleholders are from Ikea. The vase with a candle inside it is from H&M (but I found it in our wastebins outside). Behind it is a Stephanotis floribunda that I got from neighbours that moved north and didn’t want to bring the plants. I have two now. From the beginning they were four. I gave one to my neighbour, Gustavs owner, and one to my friend Ulla.I really didn’t need four of them.

Apart from the Stephanotis floribunda, the fig tree now lives on this shelf. Since it got inside into to the indoor warmth it has begun to sprout figs. Several actually. AsI don’t have a cool and dark place to keep the fig tree over the winter, I instead choose to give it light in the warm livingroom. I’ve placed a special plant-light in the pot. It seems to like that and has grown quite some since it got inside.

Behind the Stephanotis floribunda is a long pot with cuttings from the Mårbacka pelargonia. Impossible to see them in the picture, but they are there. Three of them. Comes from the two Mårbacka pelargonias I placed on the windowsill over the winter and had to cut down when I took them inside.

Hanging in the window is the second Stephanotis floribunda. Behind the curtain is my biggest and oldest olivetree which also spends the summer outside. since it got inside a couple of weeks ago it grew some 20 cms… So had to cut it to keep size back.

Behind the candleholders is my new quite big corokia cotoneaster (zigzagbush). That one lives inside the year around.

Some of the outside plants are placed in the bedroom. No place on the windowsill – where the smaller olivetree lives together with two cactus plants – but on the chest of drawers. There are two white pelargonias and the November cactus. All of them living outside in the warm season. They get extra light from the fluorescent lamp, placed on a higher chest of drawers. They need the extra light. This spot is otherwise too dark.

Remains to be seen how many of these plants survive the winter inside. The pelargonias will look tired and ugly for a while, but they usually come to life and come back some time by the end February.

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