I was happy to see that our honesty plants are blooming. I like honesty and find it so cheerful -- I have two that took root of their own accord in a pot of lilies, and I think they're all struggling a bit because there are three plants in a single pot. (Hey, I didn't tell them to grow there!) The honesty will eventually die back naturally, though, and I don't think the lilies are in danger.
(This is a different pot of lilies from the one colonized by toadflax. I am not very diligent about weeding.)
Here's my latest plant rescue project. This rubber tree has been sitting on a windowsill outside the Lower School library for several months, looking sadder and sadder. I'd water it every now and then -- it always felt dry as a bone -- but no one seemed to claim ownership, and although I asked around I couldn't find anyone who knew where it came from or who it belonged to. So, with the encouragement of my Lower School colleagues, I brought it home.
It needs fresh soil and it also has thrips, I think. I gave it a good rinse and left it outside in the garden, hoping that exposure to our chilly spring temperatures, and predators like ladybugs, will knock back the insects naturally. Check back in a few weeks or months!
Incidentally, this is our fifth rubber tree. I have a problem.
Here's what my teasel seedlings, plucked from the seed head, look like now. Two of them died but four are still with me. I'm going to let them get a little bigger and then I'll plant them out. I also have zinnia, cosmos and sunflower seeds that I got free during the past few months with our Gardener's World magazine subscription at work, and I need to plant those at some point.
Yesterday was a very domestic day. I vacuumed the house, cleaned the refrigerator and did my normal weekly houseplant maintenance. After such a busy week it felt good to have a day of restful routines! I even made progress on reading "Flashlight" -- I think I'm about a third of the way through and I'm liking it.
With all those rubber trees, you can become a tire factory mogul. "Teasal" is a wonderful word. We should celebrate a National Teasal Day when you have your tire factory wealth.
ReplyDeleteLove,
Janie
Isn't it a great word? Teasels grow in the USA too, but I never knew what they were until I moved here!
DeleteThe rubber plant sounds like the soil is too dry to absorb water. I'm sure you'll get it going nicely.
ReplyDeleteYeah, the soil is exhausted. I plan to give it some new dirt.
DeleteYour new rubber tree will find itself in paradise under your care!
ReplyDeleteI have one that needs repotting, too, but I am soooo lazy when it comes to things like that...
Fortunately rubber trees are very forgiving. They don't mind being a little pot-bound.
DeleteI gave up on rubber plants as mine tended to grow too spindly and looked ugly.
ReplyDeleteGood luck with yours ... you are more green fingered than I am!
They inevitably drop their lower leaves but they shouldn't get TOO spindly. If they do, you can always cut them off and they'll sprout fresh growth from the stem.
DeleteNot very diligent about weeding? Once you claimed that was your main task in the library.
ReplyDeleteYeah, THAT weeding I am very diligent about!
DeleteIt’s a strange world when every time I see the title “Flashlight,” I read “Fleshlight.” I have never owned a rubber tree and I have always loved them. Good luck with your latest.
ReplyDeleteWhen I started this post, my eyes must a jumped a line because I read it as Steve had vacuumed the refrigerator!
DeleteI have never had a rubber tree either. Off to google.
"Fleshlights" are indeed a thing, but I don't recommend Googling them, unless you're prepared for x-rated results! LOL
DeleteI am sometimes crazy but I would never vacuum the refrigerator.
I think there's a Rubber Tree Anonymous group that might help you with your "addiction."
ReplyDeleteIf not, I'll start one!
DeleteMaybe you can start a rubber plantation. My late-brother-in-laws father was a biologist at rubber plantation in Africa before he moved to Michigan to teach high school (he was our high school biology teacher.) He had wonderful stories to tell.
ReplyDeleteHa! Apparently natural rubber actually comes from a different tree nowadays, but in the old days, Ficus elastica (which is what my trees are) was the source in Southeast Asia.
DeleteI think the first step is always admitting you have a problem Steve. Then comes the denial, anger and all the other stages before you find acceptance!
ReplyDeleteHa! Well, I'm not sure why I'd be angry, but I might be in denial!
DeleteMaybe you should start a 'rubber tree rescue society', you can be the founder ... and possibly only ... member. ;-)
ReplyDeleteI can start both that and the "rubber trees anonymous" group that Bob mentioned above. We can have joint meetings!
DeleteYou've found so much interesting stuff of all kinds on your walks to school that you might just have to continue after retirement, forage walking! Dave will be so thrilled.
ReplyDeleteOh, it will continue, particularly when we get another dog!
DeleteThis blog title sounds like the title of a Dave Brubeck album. Ha!
ReplyDeleteHa! It IS very jazzy!
DeleteCleaned The Refrigerator , Rock Star Status !!!!!
ReplyDeleteWell Done ,
Cheers
I thought so!
DeleteThe only houseplant I remember my mother having when I was young was a large rubber tree in a pot. This was in Roseland. It did not do well because my little brother insisted on practicing his scissor skills on its leaves. I remember Granddaddy eventually replanting down by the river. I can't remember how it did there though.
ReplyDeleteWe had one in our front yard in Pasco County and it got HUGE. In fact my mom had it cut down because she thought it would undermine the house! I bet yours is still growing in Roseland!
DeleteThere's a song about an ant 🐜 and a rubber tree plant ... do you remember it? Something like High Hopes ... 🤷♀️
ReplyDeleteNext time you're found
DeleteWith your chin on the ground
There a lot to be learned
So look around
Just what makes that little old ant
Think he'll move that rubber tree plant
Anyone knows an ant can't
Move a rubber tree plant
But he's got high hopes
He's got high hopes
He's got high apple pie
In the sky hopes
So any time you're gettin' low
'Stead of lettin' go
Just remember that ant
Oops, there goes another rubber tree plant
Yep, Frank Sinatra! I think it's from a movie with the rather alarming title "A Hole in the Head," which is actually a very cute film.
DeleteThose little purple flowers do indeed look cheerful. I do love purple flowers.
ReplyDeleteThey're a really nice shade of deep purple, too.
DeletePlants can keep you busy. At school kids did the watering. They also spent a lot of time just watching them grow.
ReplyDeleteWell, no kids around my house, so the watering falls to me!
DeleteMaybe you should start your own little plant nursery or plant hospital after you retire.
ReplyDeleteWe already have one! LOL
DeleteI'm hoping to do a better job of weeding outside this year but we will see... depends on the weather. Your garden will be even more lush once you retire and are out there everyday. ;)
ReplyDeleteI actually like a lot of weeds and I think they're good for pollinators. Bees love both dandelions and alkanet, for example.
DeleteThat's a great new excuse for why I don't weed too much!! Thanks, Steve!
DeleteI expect the new rubber tree to rebound as all your plant rescues do.
ReplyDeleteThe honesty plant purple flowers are delightful. I love purple in the garden.
Are they easily propagated? Having a patch of purple in the garden would make a good display.
They're easily grown from seeds. If you can get a seed pod or two and plant the contents, you're almost guaranteed some honesty plants the following year. They take two years to bloom, though.
DeleteYou have five rubber tree plants? My god man, where do you sit in the house?
ReplyDeleteI have only one rubber tree plant and I have to keep trimming it back or it will touch the ceiling. I'm sure that plant will be much happier with you.
Loved the pics you took at the rally.
And we have six Dracaena marginata trees (aka dragon trees)! Don't get Dave talking about this.
DeleteRestful routines will define your retirement! Before I hosted Book Club last week, I did all sorts of household chores that I usually avoid. DUSTING, blech! However, I felt great after I'd finished the dreaded tasks and I wondered why I make such a big deal about them.
ReplyDeleteI'm not a fan of dusting either. I mostly just live with the dust. But you're right -- it feels great once it's all done!
DeleteI find your honesty quite cheerful!
ReplyDeleteSometimes honesty can be a bad thing, but in this case it's a good one.
DeleteI am afraid that I do not share your love of rubber tree plants - I have only met them accidentally, and they have only been in my world accidentally as they just grow wherever they land and get ignored until too big to do so. Perhaps in a pot I could appreciate (or ignore) them more, but one that gets out of control is a menace.
ReplyDeleteOn yesterday's post you said " I support Israel's right to exist. But I also support Palestinian statehood. I don't see why those have to be contradictory positions." and I could not agree more.
Ah yes, you are in Australia, so no doubt there they can get immense (like they did in my home state of Florida). All the anger in the Israel-Palestine question is so entrenched that I despair of ever having a solution.
DeleteI do like the purple flowers ... a wonderful colour.
ReplyDeleteAll the best Jan
They are easy to grow, and they have very cool seed pods!
DeleteThe way things are happening around the world right now, I think your rubber tree problem is nothing to worry about. Enjoy!
ReplyDeleteYes, in the grand scheme of things, it doesn't even qualify as a problem.
DeleteI love rubber trees and if grown in a garden they can get very large (here anyway, don't know about your climate) and if I had space, at least an acre, I would certainly plant one or two.
ReplyDeleteYeah, they can get very big, as I wrote above. Here in the UK they'd freeze so I doubt they'd survive outside. (Of course I'd have said that about our avocado too, and it's hanging in there!)
Delete