Houseplant Successes and Failures - and the Birthday of a Poinsettia

I'm not a green thumb. Messing around in dirt just has never been my thing. But that doesn't mean I'll never try my hand at growing something new. You've heard about our ginormous garden and read about various canning we've done, but that was all from outdoor gardening, and it only somewhat thrived this year. I've attempted keeping plants around my house, too.

After Adam was born he was pretty stuffy for awhile and we couldn't seem to figure out why. We tried a humidifier and various other recommended ways to help him, but I'm not sure how much all our efforts played into his actual healing. When our neighbor, who has been a gardening expert all her life, heard about him, she suggested getting some houseplants to help clean up the air. She kindly donated a sage plant and another viney plant that I'm not sure the name of. The sage died within days of entering my home (which was a bummer because I was hoping to harvest some!), but I managed to keep the other plant alive, and it's still growing today, although I need to keep a closer eye on it as it seems to be drying up.

I've always liked the look of live indoor plants and would love to keep some around when I can. Aaron tells me of his mom and how she had loads of plants around their house growing up and he absolutely loved it. But she had a knack for growing things and was able to get some rare-blooming ones to flower for her. If nothing else though, I will attempt keeping green inside since it makes my husband happy and reminds him of his mother and the farm where he grew up.

Since those first two plants and my 50% success rate with them, I've tried a few others. Early this spring I planted a few basil seeds. I had potting soil, I had the seeds, and I had been gifted a cute mug from my sister-in-law and thought it looked perfect for a little plant pot. After starting the seeds and seeing nothing happen for days, I heard that basil was difficult to start. Oh well. Just my luck with herbs. The ones I tried growing the year before outdoors never amounted to anything either. But ... this basil did come up! I was rather excited to watch it grow. It made my kitchen so happy. Aaron would come home every day and exclaim at it too, which made me extra satisfied. I still have it sitting in that very spot and it has grown a good two feet tall, though now that the weather is cold and it's sitting in front of a very drafty window it's not looking as good. It is still sending out fresh sprigs, but I'm pretty sure it's root bound. I think I'm going to replant new seeds in there, or at least cut the current plant back so I can have a nice little fresh basil plant instead of a tall spindly one.

This summer I bought an ivy plant from a little greenhouse. I had always heard ivy will grow and grow anywhere, so I thought maybe this was my chance for another good piece of greenery! I had an old six-pane window frame atop my piano and figured it would be neat if I could get something to grow up the sides a little bit. Not sure what I did wrong, but that ivy didn't make it two weeks.

Knowing aloe is good for skin and burns, that was another plant on my wish list. I tried finding some at our local indoor plant store, but they didn't have any so that idea got shoved to the back burner. Then this fall we were out of town for a wedding and stayed at a family's place for the weekend, and the lady of the house asked if I needed any aloe plants, as she desperately needed to split hers. I told her I had been looking for some, and she gave me two to take home. I was rather excited because now I had not one, but two of them, and they didn't cost me any extra effort to find. Even following her advice on how to get them established, a week later they had shriveled down to nothing. That was during the time the air was so wet I'm sure you could've squeezed our house like a wet rag. Not sure if that has anything to do with the failure of my poor aloe, but I said goodbye to those plants.

But my favorite story of all I saved for last. My 2015 poinsettia. I was rather lazy in taking my Christmas decorations down last year, but I didn't feel like I had enjoyed them long enough. The season just seemed way too short! The poinsettia I had was still nice and red, so I figured I may as well not dump it just because Christmas had come and gone. The above picture was taken in April! It had dropped most of its green leaves, but the flower still looked decent. After hanging around that long, I figured I'd just see how long it would last.

Over the summer it still had a nice, almost full flower, but also really took off producing more green leaves. It started looking like a bush! By this time it was starting to look hopeful to make it to my goal of a year, so my new goal was to see it produce red leaves again, even though I didn't know how to care for it to get there. Every month that went by and it was still growing was an exciting milestone! This picture (above) was in September, after it had lived in my home nine months. 

The image on the left was a picture I took today. That's the same poinsettia. We made it to a year! The last two red leaves from last Christmas have dried up and are ready to fall off, BUT GUESS WHAT!? Just a couple days ago I noticed the first new red leaf! I certainly wasn't expecting it to happen this fast. I thought it needed a good dormant/dark season in order to bloom again. It looks like I might have a full, fresh looking poinsettia again this winter, as there are three places where new leaves are opening. I'm so excited; you have no idea. A poinsettia, in my house. I, the lady who can't seem to get things to grow indoors, has officially had a seasonal plant last a year. Wow. Oh, and the picture on the right is a fresh plant from this year for comparison. Think that one will hang around here, too? Either way, you can be sure I'll keep you posted on the growth of the original one. I can't wait to see more red leaves!