The Jungle Grows

Yesterday was full of typical Saturday activities. I did two loads of laundry, stripped the bed and took the sheets and towels to the laundromat, and vacuumed.

Then I watered all the plants, and somehow that turned into rearranging the plants near the back door and finally bringing the avocado inside for the winter. In some ways it wasn't the best time for this job, because the avocado has been sitting outside during Storm Babet, and the pot and soil were completely saturated. It's already a heavy plant and I think it weighed about 20 pounds more than usual!



I know I say this every year, but this may seriously be the last time I bring it indoors. Moving it almost killed me. Next winter I may let nature take its course.

But anyway, for now, it's inside. It looks a bit lopsided because one of the branches broke off when it fell over last week, and it has developed a slight curve in its trunk, I think because it was leaning toward the light in the yard. The yucca, as you can see, has been shifted to the right next to our gigantic fiddle-leaf fig.

I sent this pic to Dave and said, "Behold the jungle!" He said, "It looks like the jungle has killed Olga."

And even though I'm constantly complaining about having too many plants, I found another adoptee yesterday.

When I walked Olga in the morning I came across this rubber tree in a skip (or dumpster, as we say in America). I brought it home, removed the dead stalk and all those completely unnecessary bamboo stakes, and repotted it with fresh soil. We'll see how it does. Rubber trees are usually pretty durable so I'll be surprised if it doesn't survive. See that price tag on the pot? Someone paid £85 for this plant -- roughly $103. Insanity!

So, anyway, now we're closer to being ready for winter. I still have to deal with all the dahlias, lifting the tubers and moving them into the shed, but we have a few weeks before that task. The plants still have green (but faded and scraggly) leaves, so I'll wait until they die back a bit more.

We had more rain yesterday, but the weather faired later in the day and today is supposed to be sunny, as I understand it. And then we're in for this:

Ah, well. I guess there's a reason this "green and pleasant land" is so green. And look at those temperatures. That avocado could have stayed outside well into November!

(Top: A leaf found on Olga's walk yesterday morning.)