It's been a few years since I decided to respect the aridity of the front windowsill and hand it over to cacti. The fact that this coincided exactly with geometric concrete planters becoming available for the first time was a coincidence, pure and simple. Geometric planters are now such a design cliche that you can buy them (and I occasionally do) at your local supermarket; but how have the plants done?
Perpetually sickly coral-type cactus continues to supply the local spiders with a ready supply of mealy bugs. I went insecticide free on all my plants during the last few years (it all went to safe disposal at my local tip) but to be honest, I find its sickliness strangely fascinating, and treat it as part of the plant's appeal. Fantastic ascending frill has outgrown its tiny pot, leading to the usual dilemma; torture it in a tiny space, or give it a chance to expand and grow? The air plant on the beach pebble is very happy; freaky flowered cactus at the back there probably had its flowers added by a florist. I can't get them off. I've tried.
The succulent in the spiky planter is one of my IKEA plants so I have no idea what it is. It outgrew the pot a long time ago, and is now subsisting as a plant in a rock crevice in a desert. Medusa - the big bolshy looking airplant in the black/silver planter - is pupping. You can just see the nose of her pup coming up the side of the pot. She was supposed to die after flowering and pupping, but she hasn't, she's fine.
Moustache is dead though - the brown air plant. It was green, once. It may have had too much light; it get bright on the windowsill. The green thing at the back is a RicRac cactus which I've had for almost a year without it doing anything. It just started sprouting, though, so to anyone who says give up after three month, I say - if it's still green, keep on trying.
The big cactus is unhappy. Originally barely six inches tall, every time I've watered it, it's pumped it straight up the column to put on a few more millimetres. Every time I've not watered it, it's sulked and browned. We've stabilized on mean watering, but I've seen a five foot tall one of these in a restaurant - it may still refuse to dwarf. At the back you can see another cutting - queen of the night. It's just started putting on a single very long stem (it's now almost as tall as tall cactus).
That one at the front came from a trendy Shoreditch gallery we went to because we turned up too early for our slot at the Cat Cafe. It doesn't like living in a teaspoon full of soil, so it's gone practically maroon with stress. The Mistletoe Cactus (in the green cube) I had for years before finding out its species (from an Alys Fowler column no less). It's a reliable plant that's survived cats mistaking it for a toy on multiple occasions.
The concrete desk tidy has defeated everything I've put in it so far. Will the Jellybean plant survive it? The jury's still out. Similarly for the kind-of-rooted heart-shaped cactus leaf (cheapest valentine day flower ever - just 50p) in the supermarket geometric pot - it was a struggle to evict the plastic Aloe it originally contained. Where's the air plant that lives in the shell? Probably under the TV bench. It gets mistaken for a cat toy (but so far hasn't been chewed to death).
The end point for the tiniest concrete pot has been reached; a money plant pup. It's the only thing small enough and tough enough to cope. Everything else died, especially all of the lithops. Speaking of pups, the basic bitch Tilly's pup is looking good - and she's not died, either. Maybe it's a lie about them dying after pupping; the internet's full of poor quality air-plant keeping tips and trufax. That Aloe isn't happy with the size of its pot. It's going to have to manage.
Finally, to Stinky-feet. The flower bud you can just see if you squint has since pungently flowered, as has another, so it's had an alright summer, but the sun-facing stem is going to go, again. I wouldn't mind, but it will literally root in any tiny kiss of soil, so once again I will have more stinky feet plants as I can never resist rooting another cutting. Anyone want one?
Perpetually sickly coral-type cactus continues to supply the local spiders with a ready supply of mealy bugs. I went insecticide free on all my plants during the last few years (it all went to safe disposal at my local tip) but to be honest, I find its sickliness strangely fascinating, and treat it as part of the plant's appeal. Fantastic ascending frill has outgrown its tiny pot, leading to the usual dilemma; torture it in a tiny space, or give it a chance to expand and grow? The air plant on the beach pebble is very happy; freaky flowered cactus at the back there probably had its flowers added by a florist. I can't get them off. I've tried.
The succulent in the spiky planter is one of my IKEA plants so I have no idea what it is. It outgrew the pot a long time ago, and is now subsisting as a plant in a rock crevice in a desert. Medusa - the big bolshy looking airplant in the black/silver planter - is pupping. You can just see the nose of her pup coming up the side of the pot. She was supposed to die after flowering and pupping, but she hasn't, she's fine.
Moustache is dead though - the brown air plant. It was green, once. It may have had too much light; it get bright on the windowsill. The green thing at the back is a RicRac cactus which I've had for almost a year without it doing anything. It just started sprouting, though, so to anyone who says give up after three month, I say - if it's still green, keep on trying.
The big cactus is unhappy. Originally barely six inches tall, every time I've watered it, it's pumped it straight up the column to put on a few more millimetres. Every time I've not watered it, it's sulked and browned. We've stabilized on mean watering, but I've seen a five foot tall one of these in a restaurant - it may still refuse to dwarf. At the back you can see another cutting - queen of the night. It's just started putting on a single very long stem (it's now almost as tall as tall cactus).
That one at the front came from a trendy Shoreditch gallery we went to because we turned up too early for our slot at the Cat Cafe. It doesn't like living in a teaspoon full of soil, so it's gone practically maroon with stress. The Mistletoe Cactus (in the green cube) I had for years before finding out its species (from an Alys Fowler column no less). It's a reliable plant that's survived cats mistaking it for a toy on multiple occasions.
The concrete desk tidy has defeated everything I've put in it so far. Will the Jellybean plant survive it? The jury's still out. Similarly for the kind-of-rooted heart-shaped cactus leaf (cheapest valentine day flower ever - just 50p) in the supermarket geometric pot - it was a struggle to evict the plastic Aloe it originally contained. Where's the air plant that lives in the shell? Probably under the TV bench. It gets mistaken for a cat toy (but so far hasn't been chewed to death).
The end point for the tiniest concrete pot has been reached; a money plant pup. It's the only thing small enough and tough enough to cope. Everything else died, especially all of the lithops. Speaking of pups, the basic bitch Tilly's pup is looking good - and she's not died, either. Maybe it's a lie about them dying after pupping; the internet's full of poor quality air-plant keeping tips and trufax. That Aloe isn't happy with the size of its pot. It's going to have to manage.
Finally, to Stinky-feet. The flower bud you can just see if you squint has since pungently flowered, as has another, so it's had an alright summer, but the sun-facing stem is going to go, again. I wouldn't mind, but it will literally root in any tiny kiss of soil, so once again I will have more stinky feet plants as I can never resist rooting another cutting. Anyone want one?
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