Secondhand Sleuth

I have been using the plant identification app PictureThis since 2020. It’s great when I can’t remember what I planted in that corner of the garden, or I’m on a garden walk and want to identify something I might want to purchase later. I know that Google lens is pretty accurate, but I appreciate some of the other app features, like saving my plant photos all in one place, allowing me to save photos of plants “In My Garden” or custom categories like “Kitchen Table.”

I’ve only recently started using the diagnostic features which have helped me identify brown spot on my Flamingo-lily. I asked about it at one of my favorite garden centers (Seguin Garden & Gifts) and they kindly lent me some copper anti-fungal spray since they didn’t have any in stock for sale. The app also told me I was over-watering my new Staghorn fern (from City Escape) and set up a reminder for me to water it according to a schedule that is adjusted for season. I’m not sure it takes into account how close to the radiator that plant is, but at least the leaves have stopped yellowing.

There are limited places I can fit plants in our home. The porch that faces south is not insulated so it’s too cold for several months of the year. I have one window in the dining room that faces southeast that houses about half the plants, a north window in the kitchen with several more, and one fern in my bedroom window which faces south. Ferns are special to me because my mom used to love them. Unfortunately she didn’t have a very green thumb and Freda the Fern did not make it, nor did a succession of Ficus trees. I myself have killed many a plant but it doesn’t stop me from buying more! My mom also loved succulents and I have planted her terra cotta rooster planter (above) with a paddle plant and others. My sister loves succulents too and has a great collection.

I recently received a wax plant (Hoya) from Aunt Pam that I am very excited about. It was cut from a plant she has had for decades. She wrote:

This plant planted itself. I left the green planter with two old plastic pots half-filled with dirt in our south-facing window upstairs and a tendril from the wax plant made it’s way into one of the pots… seriously, I did not place it there. But once I spotted it I watered it occasionally. Just a couple of days ago I cut the original umbilical cord from the mother plant. I am guessing this cutting is about 4 years old but could be 5 or 6.

[The mother plant has] Been there for so many years (still in the same small pot) that I have lost track… We had one over the kitchen sink when we lived in the trailer, then moved it over the kitchen sink in the dome. Don’t know if this is the same plant. I just remembered after this freezing spell I want to get a cutting mailed to Rachel. Kinda seems like this one is a start I got from Vickie Roth so that would have been in the late 1980s. If it is a cutting from the first one in the trailer it would date from 1973. Once I get the furniture rearranged and that involves about a ton of books, I will reward myself by fixing up the alcove with plants…long overdue.

I had a previous Hoya cutting, maybe from Aimee from another cutting from Aunt Pam, that I tried to train around the mirror in my bedroom, but it turned yellow and died suddenly, possibly too much water in a low light environment. So, the new plant is living in the kitchen.

Despite how many houseplants I buy, I have found it’s much easier for me to grow plants outside, especially flowers. Once established they only need watering the few times of year we have a dry spell. Tomatoes need a little more frequent attention to keep them hydrated and pruned. I tried to grow my own from seed for a few years but I don’t have the patience or consistency to care for the delicate seedlings like Aimee does, so I get my transplants from her and from the Friends of the Oak Park Conservatory plant sale.

I aspire to have a garden as beautiful as Aimee’s. I won’t share her more recent photos but you can see a earlier version of her garden at Cuketopia. She has recently added a beautiful greenhouse made of old doors with glass windows. We’re looking forward to meeting up in May to exchange plants and visit Northwind Perennial Farm in Wisconsin. I’m sure I will need to buy myself some outdoor plants in celebration of Mother’s Day and my birthday (Aunt Pam’s birthday, too).

In addition to my membership to the Oak Park Conservatory I am a member of Fernwood in Michigan where our friends Carol was executive director. These memberships allow me to visit botanical gardens all over the country. Last year I went to Tucson Botanical Garden with Janine and Peter, and the year before to the Gardens on Spring Creek in Fort Collins. Maybe this week be the year I make it to the Mitchell Domes in Milwaukee.