Let’s Talk some Friggin Plants!

I have been really into plants lately.

Honestly, in the last 3 weeks, the number of plants that I have has quadrupled.
Wait, is quadrupled the original number x4? Or the original times 4 then that sum times 4, and then that sum times 4… AKA original number to the 4th power?
Math is confusing…

Let’s just say, I have a lot of house plants.

I have joined this bandwagon late. Apparently, at the beginning of the pandemic indoor plants really had a renaissance. But I was too busy trying to finish up the school year for the girls and then decide how we would do the next school year. Oh, and I took refuge in my own cross-stitching renaissance.

Now, in true Maria fashion, I have named them all. I mean, I have named our Roomba-her name is Roberta, her cousin a Braava named Scrubbie, etc…I haven’t named the car, but I already have a name for my pretend orange Mini Cooper: Cinni-mini! If only I could get my husband onboard.

The plants got their names by:
1) Being a favorite character;
2) Character in the book I was reading when I got the plant;
3) One of the girls gave the plant its name;
4) Sometimes it was just what I thought of when I saw it.

So this is a look at all my plants, a little about its arrival story and its name/namesake 🙂
Are you ready?
We will count as we go.

Upstairs bathroom

This is Bernedette, my calathea has been very tempermental. But she has FINALLY found a home she likes…my bathroom.

1. Calathea Vittata = Bernadette, Where’d You Go Bernadette one of my favorite books, the audiobook is read by Kathlene Wilhoite and she is AWESOME
Common name: a prayer plant

These three succulent sisters: Vonetta, Delphine, and Fern have really enjoyed to humidity in my bathroom. But I wish they just got a little bit more direct sunlight.

2. Echeveria ‘Crinoline Ruffles – Fern, One Crazy Summer 

3. Aloe ‘Doran Black – Vonetta, P.S. Be Eleven

4. Crassula Arborescens Blue Bird Variegata – Delphine, Gone Crazy in Alabama
Common name: Blue Bird

Entryway

Kaa, Sansevieria Trifasciata ‘Futura Superba’, is one of my ‘oldest’ plants. Lke most of his kind, he is chill.

5. Sansevieria Trifasciata ‘Futura Superba’ = Kaa, The Jungle Book
Common names:
Mother’s in law tongue, snake plant

Xavier, Philodendron Lickety Split, and Tsumani, Dracaena marginata enjoy the sun that comes in the front door.

6. Dracaena marginata = Tsunami, the little tiger named him after a character in the Wings of Fire series
Common name: 
Dragon tree

7. Philodendron Lickety Split = Xavier, when I got him, I had just finished The Poet X and this is Twin’s real name

Xiomara, Hemigraphis alternata, enjoys being near her twin brother Xavier. Can’t you see the similarities?

8. Hemigraphis alternata = Xiomara, the protagonist in The Poet X
Common names: Snow White Waffle, Red Ivy, Purple Waffle Plant

Front room

My neighbor gave me this Oxalis Triangularis before she went on vacation, she was afraid it would die because it needs constant watering—something she does NOT get at my house, but she is still alive! Her leaves also open and close every night. She is kinda cool.

9. Oxalis Triangularis = Holly, PS I love you
Common name: False Shamrock

Coffea arabica, originally her name was Beani, but I just couldn’t pass up the chance to name her after a constantly caffeinated girl.

10. Coffea arabica = Lorelai as in Gilmore Girls
Common name: Coffee plant

Sansevieria Fernwood, Ivy she is just the opposite of an ivy plant and the juxtaposition makes me smile.

11. Sansevieria Fernwood = Ivy, because one of the two girls wanted to name some plant ivy, so I thought this would be a good one. It is the exact opposite of an ivy plant I couldn’t resist.
Common name: Fernwood Snake Plant

Silver Pothos, Sylvia. She was just too beautiful to pass up. Heed my warning, Etsy is a dangerous place.

12. Scindapsus pictus = Sylvia also an Etsy purchase and I couldn’t have had a more excellent expense purchasing a live plant online.
Common name:
Silver Satin pothos

From left: Geppetto a Peperomia Polybotrya I got from IKEA, Seymour (under the glass) came from a local nursery, Finn was my first grafted plant (which I didn’t learn was a thing until I started doing research), and Oxen Yottle another Peperomia-Peppermill—which I got from the same local nursery as Seymour.

13. Peperomia Polybotrya = Geppetto, Pinocchio need I say more?
Common name: Coin-leaf peperomia, Peperomia raindrop, Raindrop peperomia, Coin plant, Chinese Money Plant

14. Drosera spatulata = Seymour, As in…Feed me Seymour…I should have named him Audry 2 but…A carnivorous plant, who doesn’t think of Little Shop of Horrors?
Common name: Spoon-leaved sundew

15. Euphorbia lactea ‘Cristata’ = Finn, one of the girls named her
Actually, two plants grafted together
Common name: Coral cactus

16. Peperomia Peppermill = Oxen Yottle, the dragon named him/her

My first fail, sorta, Amanda, Codiaeum Petra, had a twin in the same pot, but I killed her. 🙁

17. Codiaeum Petra – Amanda, one of the girls named her
Common name: Joseph’s coat

Getting high light (as high of light as you get in my house): Truffula (another Peperomia) who must have been a plant to inspire Dr. Suess, Aminal from the Bromeliad family (I have killed many of his lineage in the last), Starla another succulent and another of my past casualties. Lastly, the Theos, Theodore, and Theo who could be on the verge of death if I don’t figure out how/when to water them.

18. Peperomia Dolabriformis  var. glaucescens = Truffula, The Lorax because when I first saw her she reminded me of a Dr. Suess ‘character’
Common name:
Prayer Pepper

19. Cryptanthus osiris Bromeliads (Earth Stars) = Animal, The Muppets not literary at all!
Common name: Earth Star

20. Aeonium Arboreum = Starla, she just looks/looked very star-like when I got her.

21&22. Aloe Vera = Theodore and Theo, The House in the Cerulean Sea
Common name: Aloe

Dieffenbachia maculata, who was previously named Big Papi but then I decided to change it to Hassan.

23. Dieffenbachia maculata – Hassan, An Abundance of Katherines
Common name: Dumb Cane

24. Jade plant = Archimedes, a nod to John Green (An Abundance of Katherines)

Kitchen

Look who we have here: Cinder, Talia, and Lilly. Three beautiful ladies who make my kitchen a better place. If only they did more than just clean the air.

25. E. aureum ‘Golden Pothos’  = Lily, Lily & Dash Book of Dares, book 1
Common name: Devils Ivy

26. Gymnocalycium mihanovichii = Talia, The House in the Cerulean Sea
Another grafted cactus
Common name: Ruby Ball Cactus

27. Epipremnum aureum = Cinder, The Lunar Chronicles series This is an unrooted cutting I purchased from Etsy, I was worried. But she is doing well.
Common name: Marble Queen Pathos

My Chirita, Minerva McGonagal of Maggie Smith fame. She is very regal and I can’t wait to see her flower!

28. Chirita – Minerva Mcgonagall, Harry Potter series
She is in the African Violet family and a bit of a mystery to me, but I love her nevertheless 🙂

Conclusion

I have twenty-eight plants. That does not include the couple I am trying to propagate OR the three I have purchased since I wrote this a week ago.

Do I want more plants…yes.

Maybe I should join some kind of 12-step program. But there are people out there far more plant-obsessed than I.

I would say, my ‘immediate want’ is something to go in these:

I just think that it is going to take something bushy/string may be a String of Pearls or String of Buttons (variegated would be better, but I don’t think we get about indoor light to keep the variation going) a miniature Joshua Tree something along those lines.

Empty vintage milk glass planters just waiting for the right plant to fill them.

Can’t you see it!

So, have I bored you enough with my plant collection?
I have really been enjoying them. They have given me something new to look forward to every day, and after more than 12 months in this house…I need something new. 🙂

Have you gotten into anything recently? I’d love to hear about your ‘new’ obsession hobby.

 

hugs and kisses from Maria

P.S. Come back, my next project is…maybe something cooking-related. I am not sure.

One thought on “Let’s Talk some Friggin Plants!

Tell me about it!

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.