The plants on the balcony are really showing off as Spring gets underway! Anything that’s living is growing, and most have nearly doubled in wonderful, fluffy foliage. Even the indoor plants – like the philodendron near my office desk, which has grown into a curving leafy mass. The Ginkgo has truly woken up, shrugging on a thick coat of thickly curled new leaves. Even the bloodleaf has taken to its new home at a pace it’s never shown before.
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1
This proud little philodendron has decided to grow as wildly as possible. It was hurt when a book fell off the desk a few months back, and largely languished in an uncomfortable pot. That was the cue to give it a new home, still near the desk but a with a little safety distancing. It absolutely loved it, along with the new grow lights that I’ve installed back there. It popped out a medium leaf, then a giant leaf broader than my hand. Then, two more normal leaves. They drift down throughout the day when the LEDs are on them, but spring back up overnight. Truly a counter-culture plant.
2
My little pot of flowers is starting to take shape! The tallest pair of sprouts are the paper whites, which have already bloomed and are now just foliage. Stuffed up against one wall is the last surviving pair of daffodils from last year. I’d added a bit too much plant food to their new pot, and they were on the quick road to death. They needed a move, and I didn’t have any extra pot space. Since this was the deepest pot with some available dirt, it was any port in the storm for this pair. And, of course, the Billy Button experiment that won’t stop being odd. This individual billy button has decided to grow twice as fast as any of its siblings, and needed to go live on its own.
3
The Ginkgo Biloba is shaking off its winter blues with resounding effort! The lovely new leaves are thick and bright, broadest at the growth tips on the ends of the branches. The growth tips all seem active, so I’m hoping it’ll put on another four or five inches this year (next year it’ll be time for a new home). Further toward the trunk, new leaves are starting to sprout up a week behind. I’m looking forward to when all of them catch up in size!
4
The sunflower didn’t end up being as tall as I expected. I thought this would be one of the six-foot varieties with a single head… instead it’s a tiny sunflower less than a foot tall. It’s absolutely adorable, I just wish I’d planted a dozen seeds instead. I wonder if there’s still time to plant one of the taller ones, considering how late the season started this year. Guess I’ll just have to get some seeds and try it out!
5
The bloodleaf is absolutely thriving after the transplant. Here and there it’ll show some browning leaves, most likely from the lack of humidity. Still, it’s putting out twice as many leaves as it had before. I doubt it’ll be long before it packs this pot tight with roots too! I’ve read that the sap of this plant can be used as a natural red dye. I’m wondering if I should get some raw cotton and try it out. Not sure what else to do with this plant aside from look at how lovely it is!
6
I finally seem to have a happy tomato plant. I’m making sure to water properly, keeping the moisture as constant as I can. It’s got a fair amount of sunlight during the day (probably 6+ hours due to its height). The soil’s got hopefully the right amount of food, and won’t compact as heavily as what I had the tomatoes in last year. For whatever reason, this tomato has done splendidly while the other tomato has already passed on. I’m not sure what was so different about their growing conditions, but this one certainly isn’t disappointing!
Thanks for stopping by! I hope you had a pleasant time checking out the plants. If you’re in the mood for more nature, please stay in touch!
Mindful Foliage 