A happy square

Walking home from a friend's house I passed through a residential neighborhood full of cute houses and a long established practice of leaving free things on the sidewalk.  Could a post-brunch winter walk have any more potential? 

In front of one house I came across this square ceramic cachepot with the words HAPPY BIRTHDAY on one side.  I suspect at one point it contained an arrangement built on florist's foam or perhaps something edible. Either way, I washed it well and it's mine now.

It was the perfect size for a Christmas cactus that had been living in a transparent glass planter surrounded by shells (looked fine, but made it difficult to lift the plant out to check for excess water).
Luckily the wording is only on one side of the planter.

Now this lovely little square pot lives on the shelf near the window next to the hippo planter (with the Haworthia) and near the pothos cuttings that I hope will survive their transplant from water to dirt.

Don't trash it, let someone else treasure it!
Happy freestyling.

A basket for texture

Many design blogs talk about 'layering' the elements of your room, and the importance of bringing in different textures to create this more visually interesting layered look.  Message received!  So when I found a small basket I knew just what it could be, an outer container for some sort of plant. Texture on texture for the win.

Sharp-eyed readers will notice that the interior pot is much smaller than the basket diameter. I didn't have a perfect plastic liner for this basket, but these 'Himalayan Mix' plants from the scandi-superstore seemed voluminous enough to balance the size of the basket although they were a bit short.  The solution is that the interior plastic plant pot is sitting on top of a ceramic pot to make the whole arrangement tall enough to stand above the edge of the basket.  It also helps add a little weight and stability.  So there it is, a little corner of my universe, filled with plants. And texture.

Happy frestyle gardening.

A fern reminder

Sometime in the middle of winter I found a lovely blue plant pot down by the dumpster.  Thank goodness for small favors that it wasn't IN the dumpster but rather NEXT TO it, which made it much easier to find.  Thank you mystery person for realizing that someone else would like your plant pot, that person is me....with my fern.

























Here is the Boston fern in its new home.  I would point out for all you hesitant growers that this plant has been split at least 3 times but just keeps growing back like a champ.



























Now the Boston fern has a small bromeliad neighbor in the white ceramic pot (also free). The bromeliad is a cutting that came off a plant I took care of over the winter holidays, and that plant had been an offshoot of one I originally bought. So I suppose this little guy is the grand-plant of my original. 

Full circle, yada yada yada.

Happy freestyle gardening and paying it forward with vegetation.

Everything about this plant was free

Full confession, I collect planters and planting supplies even if I don't have a specific need.
Yes.
I am a plant hoarder who likes to be prepared.

For example, I found some black plastic plant pots while biking home one night, and even though they were a bit awkward to balance on the handlebars they made it home. So far I've used two of the six.   More recently I found a pair of adobe-colored plastic planters with separate trays, score!  I've also found the occasion bag of potting soil, not glamorous but something that I can *always* use.

This preparation meant that when a large aloe cutting showed up on my desk one day I was ready to plant it.  I trimmed the black plastic inner pot so it wouldn't stick out over the top of the adobe-colored outer pot.

I could have planted the entire aloe directly in the adobe-color plastic pot, but the drainage holes are rather small, and I wanted to keep the pot small while the cutting is developing roots. This way there is a large gap below the bottom of the black pot for drainage.

I used some shells on top of the dirt to help hold things in place, and even the shells are free courtesy of my parents and their trip to the beach.

Happy freestyling and plant swapping.