Photo Dump: Green Thumb

While I don't claim to be a photographer, I certainly enjoy taking pictures of small and pretty things. A couple of Christmases ago, I got a great camera for taking macro pictures and I've been using it nonstop since then. 

I also really love things that grow. My apartment is slowly being taken over by my houseplants, and I'm also attempting to grow seeds. The stupid things always inexplicably wither and die no matter what I try to do. As cat-lady crazy as it sounds, my plants all have little stories to them. 

If you're not a green thumb like me, you may want to skip this post and go back to arguing superior OSes or something. 

This is part of my Syngonium podophyllum, or "Exotic Cream" Nephthytis. What you see here is only a small portion of what has become a big vine-y plant. I bought it a few years ago for its unusual coloration (purple leaves with metallic silver-green stripes), for its first couple years in my old apartment, it sat quietly in the corner, pretending to be dying. When I moved to my current apartment and put it in the kitchen windowsill, it freaked out like Tetsuo and grew billions of leaves and strands, and little purple flowers. 

I really like umbrella plants, but they seem to kick the bucket randomly even though I try to revive them. This is my second or third one, and it seems to be growing little babies on top and on its stem here.

My basil seedlings, which are miraculously not withered like my lettuce and flower seed attempts. 

Round 2 of seeds. I have no idea what these are: I planted Marigolds, Zinnia, parsley, and some little seeds in an unmarked white paper sack.

This plant also has a story, even though it's one of my newer additions. As you could see from the previous pictures, it's a very happy plant and has tripled in length in the past month. It's a pretty plant, too, with a cool purplish tinge to the underside of the leaf and a velvety texture. The container that I keep it in, which you can't really see in this picture, is a  handmade ceramic vase that I bought at a yard sale in my home town. It belonged to an old lady artist who had recently passed away. Her house was for sale and, even though it was built in the 1800s, was in total neglect and will probably be bulldozed. Inside, there was a lot of junk but there was also an entire room filled with gigantic bolts of spun wool of every color on bobbins of all sizes. I mean, an entire room filled with this. Anyway, I was struck wondering about this woman I'd never met and I found the vase and, not only did I find the design interesting, but I thought it'd be like taking a piece of her with me. The hole at the top is very small, so I cut up a mini red Solo cup into a tight cylinder and put the plant in some soil in a sandwich bag with holes poked in it. 

Tomato plants! I decided to skip the seed part for these.

This stupid bamboo has been hanging on for years - I got it with my friend at the fair my junior year of high school. There used to be 2 stalks, but that turned yellow and died within the past year. This stalk is currently 2 feet tall and is growing these little babies. 

Very pretty polka-dot plant that's part of my new container garden.

Red Caladium - the leaf looks membraneous with sunlight passing through. Like a pterodactyl wing. In the background you can see the upside-down tomato planter my mom got me. I've never used one before, and I'm hoping rabid sparrows won't steal my tomatoes once they've grown.

I have 2 types of Ivy in my container garden. Here's hoping they don't immediately wither and die.

The Caladium is the centerpiece of the container garden. I'm hoping the other plants will get bigger and bushier to balance things out.

Tradescantia spathacea - or "oyster plant." One of my favorite houseplants because of its shape, coloring, and the way it grows. It lost most of its leaves last winter and I was afraid it was going to die completely, but now that we a) don't live in a room that is 46 degrees in the winter, and b) it's in a new container/location/season, it's grown back all of its leaves and more, and is very happy to hang out. Get it?

Toad hangs out with my plants. He's pumped.