It feels like ages I wrote anything. Gardening seemed to be a distant passion now. Somehow, I do manage to water and reset my plants but even that seemed to be with my mood swing.
I guess I would blame it on the rain. My wife often laughs when I prepare myself to garden - for one she would know that I would be chased back to the living again - being me grumpy all over again, half soaked wet.
I guess I would blame it on the rain. My wife often laughs when I prepare myself to garden - for one she would know that I would be chased back to the living again - being me grumpy all over again, half soaked wet.
Yeah.. Gardening is a passion that doesn't wears out easily, except when it rains.
Its just feel being washed out. Now I remember - why I'm having that sore throat now.
Didn't fully recover from the cold I had from last week - gardening time.
Rain - sure spoils my mood but this time I decided to wrestle against it.
And look what happen now - stuck with a cold & a headache that won't just go away.
OK. You must be wondering what I'm ranting all about now. Let's get back to gardening.
I had found two pots of spider plant being thrown out along the roadside. It was in a bad shape, one of the pots was broken. I guess the owner decided to discard it. After inspecting, I too was not too sure what & how to revive it.
The root ball was totally absorbed the whole pot - there was no soil to consider. The babies looked over matured but still hanging and surviving from the mother plant.
I had it for another 2 months and then decided that I'm going to reset it.
Wow - it was really a lot of work. I really felt I was opening up the husk from a coconut shell. The root mass was unbelievable. It didn't let go easily and took a lot of force just to reset all of them.
Replanting them was a risk too. Not all the babies survived but the ones that did - thrived well and now flowers often.
I had also manage to give away so many of these baby plants to friends (now, I wonder whether the plant had survived)
Anyway, some thoughts and experiences concerning this plant:
1) Watering
This plant is forgiving if you forget to water it in a day or two. You will find that this plant will slightly discolour and may lost its usual strong colour when lacking water. They will bounce back once watered.
2) Too much watering may cause the leaves to fall off from the base.
3) They do well as shaded plants. I had seen the abuse they go through when gardeners place them on open direct sunlight. They do seemed to look adjusted but its more of a survival thing rather than thriving. You will find tell-tale signs of burned & withered leaves.
Eventually they will mature faster and look over-spend.
4) This one doesn't do well with chlorinated tap water. If you can - use filtered watered or the best rain water.
5) If the plant starts to dry & mature - its going to be a messy in pruning and keeping the right ones. The best option is to replant it. It is never going to look like its former glory. I have not seen a spider plant dying out after it being matured. Chances are it would have died more likely of neglect rather than being fully matured or aged.
Pictures:
1) The first 2 - when I first found them - rescued
2) 3rd pic - slowly recovering within a month
3) Others - the plants been reset & replanted from the original pot.
Finally giving out new stolons and spikes bringing a second generation.
18 comments:
Hi James, you surely seem like tired of both blogging and gardening, but you don't seem to be getting tired of writing long narratives, haha. That photo looks real neglected, but you are good in choosing plants which are very difficult to kill. They will still be there when you feel like visiting them again. Another plant like that is Wandering Jew and Rheo spathacea, they live without attention.
In your nurturing hands, those spider plants grows splendidly. So many new babies that can be propagated. Hope you feel much better now.
I agree with you on the rain. It makes gardening really challenging. Some of my little new seedlings are not growing so quickly as I expected. I guess lack of warmth and sunshine ;-) Both your spider plants variegation cultivars look really wonderful. Good job!
Andrea - Thanks for your tip on the difficult to kill plants. Would really appreciate if you can suggest more of these plants as I can adopt them in my garden. hahahahaa...
will check on Rheo spathacea (never heard of this one)
Malay-Kadazan girl - still recovering from my sinus infection - sleeping and on antibiotics.
Feeling off from my usual self. Somehow - gardening keeps my sanity.
Stephanie - wow, you noticed the different varigated ones, I had forgotten to mention it and thought it was too much of a detail to write about them. Guess gardeners notice all the fine little things. Thanks.
Aaron - Hey,thanks for the encouragement. I guess we all go through ups & down in gardening these rainy season.
Well, everything still looks great to me! I think for me, the heat is like your rain - I just want to stay indoors! I'm loving our autumn though.
Hi James,
I enjoyed reading the story of the spider plant and its babies. I'm sorry you are having so much rain that you can't be out like you want.
James: Another nice job done to resure those spider plants! I understand how the rain impacts a gardener's mood, for me, it is more heat than rain. Now it is fall time in here Florida, I felt energetic again :) Happy Gardening!
Hello James. Your Spider plants are beautiful and I love the way their pots are hung on different levels.
I love Spider plants and find it enchanting the way the 'babies' hang from their parent plant!
James, I think you have work some magic into the rescued plants. Now, they look full of energy, lush and refreshed! As for the rain, I'm glad I don't have to water my plants and can go on holidays for a few days without worry of them dying but I hate the mealy bugs, mites and other diseases. Hope you find back your enthusiasm to garden and blog as well.
Wendy - Great to know that you are enjoying those golden moments of autumn. Here its forever summer and rain.
Sue - thanks! Yeah.. it really sucks when it rains all day especially when I just start gardening. Glad you enjoy my story.
Ami - I guess we are going to the opposite extremes now. Its good to know that you are energetic.
Sujata - thanks for the nice comment. I'm looking forward for my spiders to be very bushy to create that effect.
Belle - To some extend some consider ammount of spiders didn't survive but those which did counter-balance and thrived. Still finding my pieces here and there.
Thanks Belle for your thoughts.
Oh dear ! I hope you are soon feeling better . When I was a child my mother taught me about propagating plants and this is the plant ! A nice easy one for children yes ? Debbie : )
James, I came here to wish you Merry Christmas and Happy New Year 2012!
for me it's the same way, but it's the heat and mosquitoes instead of the rain.
Those are a lot of spider babies!
Hi James,
Hope you're fully recovered by now. You did a great job as usual reviving plants that were thrashed by others with your gifted healing hands. May your plants bless you in return with much joy and delight.
Just came by to wish you and your family the very best for the rest of the Festive Season and may God's blessings of peace, joy and love be overflowing throughout the New Year. Take care and be healthy. God bless.
Happy New Year 2012!
The two most significant health benefits of spider plant benefits are ability to purify the air and improve the health. Spider plants absorb carbon monoxide which is lethal for humans.
loving the spider plant. I found this as part of the indoor plants in Malaysia list as I'm looking for more greens to add to my home .. just swinging by to look for more info on how to take care of them... nice share!
Thanks ZachSaMe for dropping by. Hope you found what you are looking for.
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