It's your Monday Morning free thread feat: House Plants
February 26, 2024 5:48 AM Subscribe
I have two spider plants in my office, of the just plain green leaf variety. What are you keeping green in your place? Or talk about anything you like, it's a free thread!
I've been brainstorming hothouse/greenhouse construction ideas a ton recently. We are currently in a One-In-One-Out policy with plants at my house...a rule my wife and I both love to break. I'm also lucky to have an office window that gets good sun, so I'm able to save the plants that the cats would otherwise kill.
posted by schyler523 at 5:55 AM on February 26 [3 favorites]
posted by schyler523 at 5:55 AM on February 26 [3 favorites]
I have some weird viney plant with heart-shaped leaves. I water it every Monday. When the vines get too long I loop them back around the pot. There are currently LOTS of loops.
I’ve had that plant in my office for close to 10 years now. The woman who had that office previously cared for the plant for the 2 years she was in the job. Her predecessor had the plant for at least a decade, and odds are the woman before HER had it too. It’s entirely likely that the plant has earned a solid pension and has a 401k bigger than mine.
posted by caution live frogs at 5:56 AM on February 26 [18 favorites]
I’ve had that plant in my office for close to 10 years now. The woman who had that office previously cared for the plant for the 2 years she was in the job. Her predecessor had the plant for at least a decade, and odds are the woman before HER had it too. It’s entirely likely that the plant has earned a solid pension and has a 401k bigger than mine.
posted by caution live frogs at 5:56 AM on February 26 [18 favorites]
Our cats are would-be gardeners, so all of our house plants are cat safe: African violets, orchids, certain succulents, and a prayer plant.
posted by jedicus at 6:02 AM on February 26 [2 favorites]
posted by jedicus at 6:02 AM on February 26 [2 favorites]
I have 4 bonsai...3 spider plants...3 jade plants...7 philodendron...3 assorted palm plants, and a few unidentified ones.
posted by Czjewel at 6:05 AM on February 26 [3 favorites]
posted by Czjewel at 6:05 AM on February 26 [3 favorites]
There are five spider plants in our place, all propagated from a couple of tiny plants in yogurt cups a friend gave me after cat sitting. I am horrible to my spiders now that we have an adequate supply. I nip off the buds and flowers and keep them entirely vegetative. Which means they're extremely bushy and green and I love them. I know they're going to rise up at some point, though, and nip off my buds or something.
There's also an aloe I give too much water too so it's growing too fast. And a kolanchoe / mother of millions I don't water enough so it won't shotgun spawn all over my windowsill. And a little succulent that gets a couple drips every week and is just quietly doing fine in it's tiny little pot in the sun.
posted by seanmpuckett at 6:08 AM on February 26 [1 favorite]
There's also an aloe I give too much water too so it's growing too fast. And a kolanchoe / mother of millions I don't water enough so it won't shotgun spawn all over my windowsill. And a little succulent that gets a couple drips every week and is just quietly doing fine in it's tiny little pot in the sun.
posted by seanmpuckett at 6:08 AM on February 26 [1 favorite]
It’s entirely likely that the plant has earned a solid pension and has a 401k bigger than mine
One day you're going to walk into your office and see the plant put on an old-timey 1940s hat, pick up its old-timey 1940s briefcase, bid you adieu and go off to plant-retirement.
You'll have the office to yourself for like 10 minutes before the new, upstart plant moves in but hijinks ensue because it doesn't know how to do its plant-job very well yet.
posted by howbigisthistextfield at 6:08 AM on February 26 [21 favorites]
One day you're going to walk into your office and see the plant put on an old-timey 1940s hat, pick up its old-timey 1940s briefcase, bid you adieu and go off to plant-retirement.
You'll have the office to yourself for like 10 minutes before the new, upstart plant moves in but hijinks ensue because it doesn't know how to do its plant-job very well yet.
posted by howbigisthistextfield at 6:08 AM on February 26 [21 favorites]
Sigh. I got my wife a Camelia for christmas and it promptly, and with great dignity, expired. Though it took me a long time (this morning) to accept that as fact.
I have some English Ivy I'm trying to inspire to root, as well as two separate efforts to sprout some walnuts and some chestnuts. We have a walnut tree we are going to have to cut down, so I got big hopes to replace it, and I like chestnuts. The Ivy is doing ok, I think, at least it's not dead yet, but so far none of the walnuts or chestnuts have sprouted. Realistically, I am realistic - but hope springs eternal. It's a teensy bit embarrassing.
posted by From Bklyn at 6:21 AM on February 26 [3 favorites]
I have some English Ivy I'm trying to inspire to root, as well as two separate efforts to sprout some walnuts and some chestnuts. We have a walnut tree we are going to have to cut down, so I got big hopes to replace it, and I like chestnuts. The Ivy is doing ok, I think, at least it's not dead yet, but so far none of the walnuts or chestnuts have sprouted. Realistically, I am realistic - but hope springs eternal. It's a teensy bit embarrassing.
posted by From Bklyn at 6:21 AM on February 26 [3 favorites]
Funny thing, I was just thinking last night as I tried to sleep about this crystal potting soil they used to sell in the 90s in clear containers and decorative colors. I was a kid, so I wanted blue. At the time I had a hobby of growing seed corn that my dad kept to bait deer. The soil didn't not work, but it got gross, sludgy, and non-decorative pretty quickly, and the plant didn't do well.
I thought of that because I saw a video with a gel candle in it. We liked stuff clear and sparkly in the 90s, and honestly, I still do. But I know better than to get those gel candles. They're a fire hazard, and the molten "wax" is not nearly as safe as the real stuff.
I need a new windowsill plant, but my windowsill is pretty cold and will be for a few weeks. I've thought of getting Sea Monkeys to brighten the windowsill like they did when I had some many years ago. But it'll be even worse if they die of the cold.
posted by Countess Elena at 6:23 AM on February 26 [3 favorites]
I thought of that because I saw a video with a gel candle in it. We liked stuff clear and sparkly in the 90s, and honestly, I still do. But I know better than to get those gel candles. They're a fire hazard, and the molten "wax" is not nearly as safe as the real stuff.
I need a new windowsill plant, but my windowsill is pretty cold and will be for a few weeks. I've thought of getting Sea Monkeys to brighten the windowsill like they did when I had some many years ago. But it'll be even worse if they die of the cold.
posted by Countess Elena at 6:23 AM on February 26 [3 favorites]
There are no plants inside our home because like wenestvedt I am incapable of keeping even an air plant alive.
I had a moment of weakness this morning when I walked past a display of shamrocks in the grocery store. My mom nurtured a shamrock for decades. For a moment I missed her terribly and considered buying one. Then I remembered that they are not that safe for cats and I am not that safe for the plant.
posted by theBigRedKittyPurrs at 6:25 AM on February 26 [7 favorites]
I had a moment of weakness this morning when I walked past a display of shamrocks in the grocery store. My mom nurtured a shamrock for decades. For a moment I missed her terribly and considered buying one. Then I remembered that they are not that safe for cats and I am not that safe for the plant.
posted by theBigRedKittyPurrs at 6:25 AM on February 26 [7 favorites]
I am also a Houseplant Murderer. Have one slowly dying right now! When we got our side beds relandscaped, I made damn sure the plants were low maintenance. Those plants, at least, are mostly thriving.
posted by May Kasahara at 6:28 AM on February 26 [1 favorite]
posted by May Kasahara at 6:28 AM on February 26 [1 favorite]
I'm pretty good at keeping plants alive, but that's mostly because I have a lot of succulents and neglect them. They like that.
posted by pangolin party at 6:28 AM on February 26 [5 favorites]
posted by pangolin party at 6:28 AM on February 26 [5 favorites]
My cats are very interested in all our plants, but especially in the flowers I get on Saturdays.
posted by signal at 6:38 AM on February 26 [2 favorites]
posted by signal at 6:38 AM on February 26 [2 favorites]
I forgot to mention the geranium in my office, which I leave behind every year over the summer when I'm not teaching, and no one waters it. When I come back in August, it's usually blooming. Geraniums are the cockroach of the houseplant world.
posted by pangolin party at 6:39 AM on February 26 [3 favorites]
posted by pangolin party at 6:39 AM on February 26 [3 favorites]
We have lots of plants; we try to keep them alive but aren't always successful. We had a big ivy-vine-thing that I don't know what kind it was, but it was in a window by the front door and did well even though it was dry; it eventually was moved to the kitchen island so a large spider plant could have the big window, and I cut it back and kept it going despite less light. Then my wife moved it to a place that was prettier in the house, but not condusive for the plant, and it was in a corner I didn't often go and one day it just disappeared. My wife said it died. It was sad.
One day we passed a big pile of green something on the curb and stopped, because of course you do that, and it was this massive pothos. Some of its vines were about as thick as my index finger. We loaded it up and took it home; we named it 'Grandpa'. Unfortunately it did not live much longer in our house, maybe a couple months, but we have a zillion little cuttings around our house. My wife has been taking antique jars, filling them with a little water and one pothos cutting, and selling them at the antique mall so Grandpa continues to live on.
Sadly speaking of grandparents: if you'll remember, my paternal grandmother passed away the day after Christmas. Yesterday I got a urgent call from my dad that my 92-year-old maternal grandmother was in the hospital -- she had been in and out over the past month -- and things didn't look too good. I went down to the hospital, she was unresponsive so I sat with her about 45 minutes; about 20 minutes after I left my dad called and said she had passed away. Based on what I can glean from my aunt and uncles' upset is that grandma was awake and responsive at noon, aunts and uncles went to lunch, and while they were away Grandma asked the doctor to disconnect her oxygen and life-sustaining equipment on her own terms. This grandma went back to college at age 40 to be a nurse, became an RN, and worked at the VA hospital before ending up working in a retirement home where she continued to work as an RN until she was eighty years old. She usually worked the night shift, explicitly to be there so that people don't have to die alone.
I'm lucky that I had all four of my grandparents well into my 40s (my parents' grandparents were all gone by the time they were 30), but it's strange to not have anyone in that generation around anymore.
Tiny film student update: acted in a directing class short over the weekend; filmed my 16mm segment on Friday and helped one of my partners film his (third partner is still radio silent; will see him in class today). Tonight is a meeting for the film festival that I was a voter for; Saturday is the shoot for the student final project I'm acting in.
My animation assignment amuses me so much I keep watching it to giggle at what I came up with. The assignment was to synchronize mouths to audio, with the audio provided by the teacher right when it was assigned so we didn't get to pre-plan anything. My audio: the skittlespox commercial from the nineties.
posted by AzraelBrown at 6:59 AM on February 26 [20 favorites]
One day we passed a big pile of green something on the curb and stopped, because of course you do that, and it was this massive pothos. Some of its vines were about as thick as my index finger. We loaded it up and took it home; we named it 'Grandpa'. Unfortunately it did not live much longer in our house, maybe a couple months, but we have a zillion little cuttings around our house. My wife has been taking antique jars, filling them with a little water and one pothos cutting, and selling them at the antique mall so Grandpa continues to live on.
Sadly speaking of grandparents: if you'll remember, my paternal grandmother passed away the day after Christmas. Yesterday I got a urgent call from my dad that my 92-year-old maternal grandmother was in the hospital -- she had been in and out over the past month -- and things didn't look too good. I went down to the hospital, she was unresponsive so I sat with her about 45 minutes; about 20 minutes after I left my dad called and said she had passed away. Based on what I can glean from my aunt and uncles' upset is that grandma was awake and responsive at noon, aunts and uncles went to lunch, and while they were away Grandma asked the doctor to disconnect her oxygen and life-sustaining equipment on her own terms. This grandma went back to college at age 40 to be a nurse, became an RN, and worked at the VA hospital before ending up working in a retirement home where she continued to work as an RN until she was eighty years old. She usually worked the night shift, explicitly to be there so that people don't have to die alone.
I'm lucky that I had all four of my grandparents well into my 40s (my parents' grandparents were all gone by the time they were 30), but it's strange to not have anyone in that generation around anymore.
Tiny film student update: acted in a directing class short over the weekend; filmed my 16mm segment on Friday and helped one of my partners film his (third partner is still radio silent; will see him in class today). Tonight is a meeting for the film festival that I was a voter for; Saturday is the shoot for the student final project I'm acting in.
My animation assignment amuses me so much I keep watching it to giggle at what I came up with. The assignment was to synchronize mouths to audio, with the audio provided by the teacher right when it was assigned so we didn't get to pre-plan anything. My audio: the skittlespox commercial from the nineties.
posted by AzraelBrown at 6:59 AM on February 26 [20 favorites]
I'm doing my every-other-spring temporary interest in gardening. Have planted lavender, rosemary, a couple of wallflowers (one is erysimum I think), heather (which I think may not like the clayey soil); cyclamen. I need some sort of trailing plant to go down the edge of the wall of a bed, but not sure what.
posted by paduasoy at 7:04 AM on February 26 [2 favorites]
posted by paduasoy at 7:04 AM on February 26 [2 favorites]
We have not been very successful with houseplants. Currently keeping an orchid alive, but it hasn't shot up a new stem in over a year.
Otherwise... this winter I've been the biggest houseplant. Sooo lazy... I gotta reprogram myself for March and spring.
posted by Artful Codger at 7:06 AM on February 26 [1 favorite]
Otherwise... this winter I've been the biggest houseplant. Sooo lazy... I gotta reprogram myself for March and spring.
posted by Artful Codger at 7:06 AM on February 26 [1 favorite]
It has been a long time since we have kept any sort of live plants in our home due to the propensity of our various feline roommates to nibble on them. Not all of the cats have been plant nibblers, but the last two certainly were, and the current two even like to nibble on the plastic plants, so real ones are unlikely to make an appearance. Once upon a time, many moons ago, we did have a pothos and a Christmas cactus that both came from clippings of plants my mother-in-law had. I even had a bonsai tree for a time. But since the turn of the century, anyway, there have been no live plants.
posted by briank at 7:08 AM on February 26 [1 favorite]
posted by briank at 7:08 AM on February 26 [1 favorite]
I had an almost unkillable pothos for several years until my hungry rescue cat ate it. Pothos are mildly toxic to cats, but she survived without even a stomachache, as far as I could tell.
Two years ago in Iowa City I got a fern from a boutique that was not interested in giving it a more specific identification than "fern" and "not toxic to pets." (The plant identification apps also failed me.) Unfortunately, she perished in the last few weeks - I can't figure out a cause of death. She might've been too close to the window to survive a Wisconsin winter, but the windows are pretty well insulated.
Her successor is a hoya carnosa tricolor, which already has a little nibble-mark on it but otherwise seems to be doing well. I am almost sure that I don't have the executive function required to be a Plant Person, and I am limited by the fact that I only have one sunny spot in my current apartment (and by the requirement that it be non-toxic if Hildy decides to eat it), but it's nice to have one plant and it would be nicer to have two or three.
Doing a lot of fantasizing lately about house buying, in part because I'm currently recovering from a several-day migraine that seems to have been caused by the wacky Midwestern late-winter weather but is definitely not helped by the weed smoke that I can smell through my vents (It was spring on Wednesday, snowstorm on Friday, predicted to hit a record 68 degrees tomorrow.) Will finally see a doctor about it soon. When I fantasize about getting a house I fantasize about planting pollinator-friendly native plants or even a tiny pocket prairie, but - that's not for a while.
posted by Jeanne at 7:13 AM on February 26 [4 favorites]
Two years ago in Iowa City I got a fern from a boutique that was not interested in giving it a more specific identification than "fern" and "not toxic to pets." (The plant identification apps also failed me.) Unfortunately, she perished in the last few weeks - I can't figure out a cause of death. She might've been too close to the window to survive a Wisconsin winter, but the windows are pretty well insulated.
Her successor is a hoya carnosa tricolor, which already has a little nibble-mark on it but otherwise seems to be doing well. I am almost sure that I don't have the executive function required to be a Plant Person, and I am limited by the fact that I only have one sunny spot in my current apartment (and by the requirement that it be non-toxic if Hildy decides to eat it), but it's nice to have one plant and it would be nicer to have two or three.
Doing a lot of fantasizing lately about house buying, in part because I'm currently recovering from a several-day migraine that seems to have been caused by the wacky Midwestern late-winter weather but is definitely not helped by the weed smoke that I can smell through my vents (It was spring on Wednesday, snowstorm on Friday, predicted to hit a record 68 degrees tomorrow.) Will finally see a doctor about it soon. When I fantasize about getting a house I fantasize about planting pollinator-friendly native plants or even a tiny pocket prairie, but - that's not for a while.
posted by Jeanne at 7:13 AM on February 26 [4 favorites]
I'm kind of tired of my houseplants because they keep outgrowing their pots and usually get offended when I uproot them to repot. So I am bracing myself for that disapproval. I don't have the heart to not care for them.
I seem to do even better at growing dust bunnies; especially the ones lurking in unseen places; those have done massively well.
posted by mightshould at 7:18 AM on February 26 [4 favorites]
I seem to do even better at growing dust bunnies; especially the ones lurking in unseen places; those have done massively well.
posted by mightshould at 7:18 AM on February 26 [4 favorites]
I've never been good at raising plants, so when I started my current job and my new coworkers gave me a plant for my office, I was pretty sure it wouldn't last long. I received two more plants as birthday gifts, which made me even more nervous. But they're all doing great! I think? Maybe it's because they're all succulents, so it makes them happy when I ignore the phone notifications reminding me to water them. I got the pink flowering plant recently just because it's so cute, so I'd like to get a nicer pot for it soon.
My first office plant has started doing this thing recently, so I guess that means it's really happy? I can't wait for it to bloom!
posted by birthday cake at 7:20 AM on February 26 [1 favorite]
My first office plant has started doing this thing recently, so I guess that means it's really happy? I can't wait for it to bloom!
posted by birthday cake at 7:20 AM on February 26 [1 favorite]
AzraelBrown, I am so very sorry for your loss.
posted by Multicellular Exothermic at 7:23 AM on February 26 [4 favorites]
posted by Multicellular Exothermic at 7:23 AM on February 26 [4 favorites]
I bought some of those lego succulents because I can't be trusted to keep plans alive in my office.
posted by dismas at 7:41 AM on February 26 [3 favorites]
posted by dismas at 7:41 AM on February 26 [3 favorites]
I have a Jade plant that's around six years old, and an aloe that's fourish. The aloe got super drowned last spring, but I got her dried out, and now she's made a lot of pups. I keep them in the house over the winter because it does freeze here (7b-8a), but come spring and 50 degree temps at night, they go out on my front porch where they get eastern sun. I'm planning on repotting the aloe and her pups this spring into terracotta pots.
I had a polka dot plant (it was pink!!!) but she was delicate, and I am horrid with remembering to water consistently. Outside I have roses, bulbs, lilies, and peonies, and this year hopefully I shall have dahlias.
posted by tlwright at 7:42 AM on February 26 [2 favorites]
I had a polka dot plant (it was pink!!!) but she was delicate, and I am horrid with remembering to water consistently. Outside I have roses, bulbs, lilies, and peonies, and this year hopefully I shall have dahlias.
posted by tlwright at 7:42 AM on February 26 [2 favorites]
Off topic but my husband got a video into Dust To Digital! Of the Deaf kids he teaches doing table percussion.
It's the second video. So awesome!
posted by Zumbador at 7:46 AM on February 26 [5 favorites]
It's the second video. So awesome!
posted by Zumbador at 7:46 AM on February 26 [5 favorites]
this'll be a sharey post because I attended and helped with a celebration of life yesterday, it included a potluck meal, and I wasn't the person's closest friend but I connected early when they moved here for work and helped connect them to some groups, we were scheduled to audit some financials for a not-for-profit group on the Saturday after the Tuesday I found this person dead in their home
yesterday I learned that we both lost our fathers near the same time and we both went into a slump and tried to help our mothers out, I really did not connect that before yesterday. bringing me to my mom, and plants, and when she died it was not good, and I think about her life and how I'd like to ask her questions and speak with her and never made the time to do that in the years we had together. She was a middle daughter among 4 girls and in hindsight I think she felt very overlooked and invisible, I think this affected her all her life and with my father, it might have led to some insecurities (and with other relationships/friendships). My brother always called her 'mercurial.' Her father loved to garden and muck about, and she discovered all she had to do to get quality time with him was learn about growing things and get dirty, so she did that. The sisters never showed interest and the mother didn't care for "the mess" of it. Then a late addition came along, a baby brother, the only boy in a family of that period, you can imagine. Invisible again.
She really enjoyed gardening and keeping a journal, she loved to start plants and gift them to her kids and friends, and visit others' gardens and share information. I don't think her end was fair, I think about her dying in a pretty awful way, and I feel guilty about it. I can't talk to my siblings about this, I tried once but I am not sure how to say some of the things, I think it has contributed to rifts between us.
Anyhow, that is what I think about today, with plants etc. My partner has a talent for keeping things alive and healthy, it's one of the reasons I love them so much.
posted by elkevelvet at 7:46 AM on February 26 [11 favorites]
yesterday I learned that we both lost our fathers near the same time and we both went into a slump and tried to help our mothers out, I really did not connect that before yesterday. bringing me to my mom, and plants, and when she died it was not good, and I think about her life and how I'd like to ask her questions and speak with her and never made the time to do that in the years we had together. She was a middle daughter among 4 girls and in hindsight I think she felt very overlooked and invisible, I think this affected her all her life and with my father, it might have led to some insecurities (and with other relationships/friendships). My brother always called her 'mercurial.' Her father loved to garden and muck about, and she discovered all she had to do to get quality time with him was learn about growing things and get dirty, so she did that. The sisters never showed interest and the mother didn't care for "the mess" of it. Then a late addition came along, a baby brother, the only boy in a family of that period, you can imagine. Invisible again.
She really enjoyed gardening and keeping a journal, she loved to start plants and gift them to her kids and friends, and visit others' gardens and share information. I don't think her end was fair, I think about her dying in a pretty awful way, and I feel guilty about it. I can't talk to my siblings about this, I tried once but I am not sure how to say some of the things, I think it has contributed to rifts between us.
Anyhow, that is what I think about today, with plants etc. My partner has a talent for keeping things alive and healthy, it's one of the reasons I love them so much.
posted by elkevelvet at 7:46 AM on February 26 [11 favorites]
I'm worried about my philodendron. The plant is decades old--as old as I am. Well, I guess it's technically not the same plant, but I keep taking cuttings from it, rooting and seeding those cuttings, clipping and trimming them for new plants when it's getting a bit stringy, etc.
I've never had a problem keeping it healthy until now.
For the past six months or so, the leaves have been turning yellow. I cut them off, take sections from the vines to prevent gaps, root them and plant them, and the cycle happens again. I'm not sure what the problem is. I'm thinking maybe it's the soil. I did repot the works about a year ago, and added new soil. Maybe that was the problem. I don't know. I'd be happy for any suggestions or advice.
Also if anybody knows how to propagate licorice plants (Helichrysum petiolare) from cuttings please share your secrets. I can take cuttings, get them to root but the second they're placed in soil, they start to die. They also die if left in the rooting water, so I have no idea what to do with.
posted by sardonyx at 7:51 AM on February 26 [2 favorites]
I've never had a problem keeping it healthy until now.
For the past six months or so, the leaves have been turning yellow. I cut them off, take sections from the vines to prevent gaps, root them and plant them, and the cycle happens again. I'm not sure what the problem is. I'm thinking maybe it's the soil. I did repot the works about a year ago, and added new soil. Maybe that was the problem. I don't know. I'd be happy for any suggestions or advice.
Also if anybody knows how to propagate licorice plants (Helichrysum petiolare) from cuttings please share your secrets. I can take cuttings, get them to root but the second they're placed in soil, they start to die. They also die if left in the rooting water, so I have no idea what to do with.
posted by sardonyx at 7:51 AM on February 26 [2 favorites]
I badly want to repot the peace lily at my doctors office!
posted by manageyourexpectations at 8:00 AM on February 26 [3 favorites]
posted by manageyourexpectations at 8:00 AM on February 26 [3 favorites]
My mom has been excellent with plants her whole life, including now, 3 years into her nursing home stay she tells the aides when her little orchid needs water. No flowers, but the leaves are very healthy. She always kept roses. Her daughters inherited no facility with plants whatsoever.
I would like to keep herbs? Particularly mint, because I started making spring rolls with rice paper wraps and rice vermicelli, and fresh mint is key. (Also, Trader Joe's sweet chili sauce, if you can get it.) It would have to be mint in a pot - I have a patio but no yard. Maybe I'll make an Ask. Maybe I'll look up YouTube videos. Maybe another year will go by.
Yesterday my neighbor told me my feeding the wildlife on my patio was the cause of his getting a small animal in his eave or soffit or something (neighboring townhouses - mine is one-story - moved in last Sept, his two-story). He has lived there 22 years and never heard an animal. He was such a great neighbor but he has (self-proclaimed) OCD and was very upset about it, and I found him furiously clipping a tree behind his unit because he think he found the tiny hole the animal got in. The animal was gone at that point. He repeatedly said the phrase, "you know I love you, but...". Eh. He is going to have the HOA come out to seal the hole, if there is one, and hopefully the animal will not be back. I listened patiently for a bit and finally I said, just send me the bill if there is any cost and I will take down my feeders, and walked away.
Readers, I cried for about 15 minutes. Surely not because of the feeders! It was weird. I'm sure it was some combination of things but feeding the squirrels and birds was one of my favorite things about my new place. He said HOA rules say no feeding - though 25% of units have bird feeders. After the 15 minutes, I got over it. I took it all down. I took photos of the new cedar squirrel feeder I had just bought on Etsy, the 30 lbs of songbird food I had just purchased at Costco, another small feeder, and posted it on the local Buy Nothing group and someone came and took it away within half an hour. I swept up the seed husks.
Just a few years ago I would have been angry, passive aggressive forever to this neighbor, and generally depressed. Yesterday, I realized I would be saving a lot of money, plus those damn black sunflower husks get EVERYWHERE, plus watching the squirrels was part of the procrastination from painting. Plus, I could get a squirrel in MY crawlspace. And I may have this neighbor for years and years. Anyway, I think he is mad but we will get over it. I feel pretty good about being all adult about it. Life is so funny and weird and I am doing the best I can. Just like everyone.
Finally, I adopted a new pupper just a week ago! - no pictures posted yet but probably by the next thread. Here is her adoption listing, if it's still up. She came with a lovely, welcoming FB group. They assigned me a mentor and it's been great. More about Stella next time. I'm sure this helped with that squirrel thing. Whoa, this went longer than intended!
posted by Glinn at 8:11 AM on February 26 [22 favorites]
I would like to keep herbs? Particularly mint, because I started making spring rolls with rice paper wraps and rice vermicelli, and fresh mint is key. (Also, Trader Joe's sweet chili sauce, if you can get it.) It would have to be mint in a pot - I have a patio but no yard. Maybe I'll make an Ask. Maybe I'll look up YouTube videos. Maybe another year will go by.
Yesterday my neighbor told me my feeding the wildlife on my patio was the cause of his getting a small animal in his eave or soffit or something (neighboring townhouses - mine is one-story - moved in last Sept, his two-story). He has lived there 22 years and never heard an animal. He was such a great neighbor but he has (self-proclaimed) OCD and was very upset about it, and I found him furiously clipping a tree behind his unit because he think he found the tiny hole the animal got in. The animal was gone at that point. He repeatedly said the phrase, "you know I love you, but...". Eh. He is going to have the HOA come out to seal the hole, if there is one, and hopefully the animal will not be back. I listened patiently for a bit and finally I said, just send me the bill if there is any cost and I will take down my feeders, and walked away.
Readers, I cried for about 15 minutes. Surely not because of the feeders! It was weird. I'm sure it was some combination of things but feeding the squirrels and birds was one of my favorite things about my new place. He said HOA rules say no feeding - though 25% of units have bird feeders. After the 15 minutes, I got over it. I took it all down. I took photos of the new cedar squirrel feeder I had just bought on Etsy, the 30 lbs of songbird food I had just purchased at Costco, another small feeder, and posted it on the local Buy Nothing group and someone came and took it away within half an hour. I swept up the seed husks.
Just a few years ago I would have been angry, passive aggressive forever to this neighbor, and generally depressed. Yesterday, I realized I would be saving a lot of money, plus those damn black sunflower husks get EVERYWHERE, plus watching the squirrels was part of the procrastination from painting. Plus, I could get a squirrel in MY crawlspace. And I may have this neighbor for years and years. Anyway, I think he is mad but we will get over it. I feel pretty good about being all adult about it. Life is so funny and weird and I am doing the best I can. Just like everyone.
Finally, I adopted a new pupper just a week ago! - no pictures posted yet but probably by the next thread. Here is her adoption listing, if it's still up. She came with a lovely, welcoming FB group. They assigned me a mentor and it's been great. More about Stella next time. I'm sure this helped with that squirrel thing. Whoa, this went longer than intended!
posted by Glinn at 8:11 AM on February 26 [22 favorites]
Glinn, my god you handled that like a saint who is also a champ, it's the kind of thing a good person would do so you must be that also
posted by elkevelvet at 8:15 AM on February 26 [12 favorites]
posted by elkevelvet at 8:15 AM on February 26 [12 favorites]
My Saint Patrick’s gig was canceled because the bar owner is adjusting his insurance and can’t have music in the meantime. Boo.
I’m the white woman in a mixed race relationship and strangers keep suggesting loudly to us when we are out walking that I would also enjoy men of other nonwhite races fucking me. I’ve heard some variation of that comment so many times. I need therapy. People in cars even slow down so they can tell us some version of that gem. Maybe I should get the largest, scariest dog known to humankind to go with us. Cane Corso, or Great Pyr, or something. Does anyone think carrying a carton of raw eggs to be used as projectiles in such moments will possibly not backfire, in lieu of owning a very intimidating dog?
The things that aren’t making me angry and depressed:
I’m growing garlic and it’s very happy. My county now has my name for people interested in being election workers. I got to busk on Friday despite it being quite cold.
posted by wurl1tzer_c0 at 8:31 AM on February 26 [12 favorites]
I’m the white woman in a mixed race relationship and strangers keep suggesting loudly to us when we are out walking that I would also enjoy men of other nonwhite races fucking me. I’ve heard some variation of that comment so many times. I need therapy. People in cars even slow down so they can tell us some version of that gem. Maybe I should get the largest, scariest dog known to humankind to go with us. Cane Corso, or Great Pyr, or something. Does anyone think carrying a carton of raw eggs to be used as projectiles in such moments will possibly not backfire, in lieu of owning a very intimidating dog?
The things that aren’t making me angry and depressed:
I’m growing garlic and it’s very happy. My county now has my name for people interested in being election workers. I got to busk on Friday despite it being quite cold.
posted by wurl1tzer_c0 at 8:31 AM on February 26 [12 favorites]
elkevelvet, thank you for such a kind and lovely comment!
posted by Glinn at 8:32 AM on February 26 [1 favorite]
posted by Glinn at 8:32 AM on February 26 [1 favorite]
My late cat liked eating my houseplants, so I bought a small indoor greenhouse (small bookshelf sized) to house them in. Since my cat died, I've been neglecting the plants and am kind of bored with the thing, so it might get torn down. Luckily, most of the plants in it thrive on neglect.
Come spring I'll put the plants outdoors, and I'll either renovate or break down the greenhouse for future/alternate use.
I just had a week off work devoted to puttering around the house. Needed it, but also wish I had more. The usual Monday post-vacation blues are upon me.
posted by eekernohan at 8:49 AM on February 26 [3 favorites]
Come spring I'll put the plants outdoors, and I'll either renovate or break down the greenhouse for future/alternate use.
I just had a week off work devoted to puttering around the house. Needed it, but also wish I had more. The usual Monday post-vacation blues are upon me.
posted by eekernohan at 8:49 AM on February 26 [3 favorites]
I just this morning moved my plants back to the office! When I started this job originally I had a small snake plant in a small pot; over the next year or so it grew into two snake plants in a small pot. Last night I finally got up the nerve to pull it all out and cut the main root between them. Now the small one is in the original pot in my office, where the big one started, and the big one is in a big pot in my room at home. It feels like full circle, somehow.
I also have spider plants rooted and starting. I left the one that was in my office before on a windowsill with a note that said Free to Good Home. No loss because I have, or could have, about a million spider plants all because I fell for a $15 one at Safeway five years ago right after I bought my house. Now I have one in my room and two in the laundry room, which gets the best light and also has the christmas cactus and the jade plant and the weird crazy cacti in a jumble of pots and the plant in the snail planter and also a skull covered in mirror tiles that I got at a yard sale in Cannon Beach. Not to mention the Aerogarden and the unhappy aloe in a coffee cup.
In the kitchen there is a string of bananas, which is a nice trailing hanging plant and in my room, besides the spider plant, there's an offshoot of the jade plant that somehow also has a flourishing crop of clover in the pot. We had a terrible mealy bug infestation for several years and it killed off my pothos and made a lot of other plants miserable, but, crossed fingers, they seem to have finally moved on. It's not quite time to start the outdoor plants but it's getting there. The bay tree, outside in its huge pot, keeps on living, somehow, and I love my fresh bay leaves.
My mother was an avid gardener and keeper of houseplants. I inherited quite a few of hers and then gave most of them to a good friend when I moved across the country. I cried when I left my Christmas cactus - it was older than I was but I know it went to a good home. I also inherited a yellow cache pot with legs that my mother bought in a Manhattan florist on the day that she saw Jackie Kennedy, not yet Onassis, there. She loved that story: me in my stroller, Jackie Kennedy, in the shop, and my mother picking that yellow pot to never forget. And I have never forgotten (well, the pot at least, I was too small to remember the day) and I tell my daughter and her daughter over and over as well.
posted by mygothlaundry at 8:53 AM on February 26 [7 favorites]
I also have spider plants rooted and starting. I left the one that was in my office before on a windowsill with a note that said Free to Good Home. No loss because I have, or could have, about a million spider plants all because I fell for a $15 one at Safeway five years ago right after I bought my house. Now I have one in my room and two in the laundry room, which gets the best light and also has the christmas cactus and the jade plant and the weird crazy cacti in a jumble of pots and the plant in the snail planter and also a skull covered in mirror tiles that I got at a yard sale in Cannon Beach. Not to mention the Aerogarden and the unhappy aloe in a coffee cup.
In the kitchen there is a string of bananas, which is a nice trailing hanging plant and in my room, besides the spider plant, there's an offshoot of the jade plant that somehow also has a flourishing crop of clover in the pot. We had a terrible mealy bug infestation for several years and it killed off my pothos and made a lot of other plants miserable, but, crossed fingers, they seem to have finally moved on. It's not quite time to start the outdoor plants but it's getting there. The bay tree, outside in its huge pot, keeps on living, somehow, and I love my fresh bay leaves.
My mother was an avid gardener and keeper of houseplants. I inherited quite a few of hers and then gave most of them to a good friend when I moved across the country. I cried when I left my Christmas cactus - it was older than I was but I know it went to a good home. I also inherited a yellow cache pot with legs that my mother bought in a Manhattan florist on the day that she saw Jackie Kennedy, not yet Onassis, there. She loved that story: me in my stroller, Jackie Kennedy, in the shop, and my mother picking that yellow pot to never forget. And I have never forgotten (well, the pot at least, I was too small to remember the day) and I tell my daughter and her daughter over and over as well.
posted by mygothlaundry at 8:53 AM on February 26 [7 favorites]
I bought 4 plants for my office window ledge. It turns out 2 of them were born to die. Not all house plants can be kept alive. There was some complex bullshit to harvest their seeds or something, but that didn't happen. Anyway, we got into a routine where when my RA visited for our project update on a Monday I would water them. Sadly, her contract ended which has moved the 2 survivors closer to their demise. Now this post has kept them alive for another week.
posted by biffa at 8:59 AM on February 26 [2 favorites]
posted by biffa at 8:59 AM on February 26 [2 favorites]
My cat eats everything, including book covers, cardboard, and window blinds. And for some reason, he chews on the metal handles on my dresser. No plants, even plastic, would survive him.
If I didn't have him I would tell you guys to send me your "unkillable" plants you wanted disposed of, because I can kill any houseplant, including succulents, with almost no effort. I have a black thumb.
The cat and I are a good match.
posted by emjaybee at 9:27 AM on February 26 [3 favorites]
If I didn't have him I would tell you guys to send me your "unkillable" plants you wanted disposed of, because I can kill any houseplant, including succulents, with almost no effort. I have a black thumb.
The cat and I are a good match.
posted by emjaybee at 9:27 AM on February 26 [3 favorites]
Sorry for your loss, AzarealBrown.
....My "houseplants" have been herb plants for years in my last apartment, but the conditions in my current apartment are kinda not great. They're doing fine with grow lights, but I've also been seduced by the community garden plot and kind of neglect my herbs. I'm thinking of repotting them and then bringing them all to the plot for the spring and summer, or just plunking them in the plot as permanent residents.
I also have a huge peace lily that I got from someone in my Buy Nothing group about 3 years ago - it started as a cutting she'd rooted in an old ice cream pint container, but it's now about 2 feet tall and I'm thinking I need to repot it yet again. There are also some spider plants I got from a plant swap at my library a couple months ago, as well as a fern; I may need to repot the spider plants.
This weekend I also should start some seedlings for this year's garden plot. I'm focusing on more of a potager garden concept, where I keep reseeding and planting based on what I eat and what's in season. I also got seeds for compact sized veg and fruits, since I only have a 4'x4' plot, and I've already got some strawberries in there and there's the potted herbs who may be hanging out too and so I need to be conservative with space.
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 9:29 AM on February 26 [2 favorites]
....My "houseplants" have been herb plants for years in my last apartment, but the conditions in my current apartment are kinda not great. They're doing fine with grow lights, but I've also been seduced by the community garden plot and kind of neglect my herbs. I'm thinking of repotting them and then bringing them all to the plot for the spring and summer, or just plunking them in the plot as permanent residents.
I also have a huge peace lily that I got from someone in my Buy Nothing group about 3 years ago - it started as a cutting she'd rooted in an old ice cream pint container, but it's now about 2 feet tall and I'm thinking I need to repot it yet again. There are also some spider plants I got from a plant swap at my library a couple months ago, as well as a fern; I may need to repot the spider plants.
This weekend I also should start some seedlings for this year's garden plot. I'm focusing on more of a potager garden concept, where I keep reseeding and planting based on what I eat and what's in season. I also got seeds for compact sized veg and fruits, since I only have a 4'x4' plot, and I've already got some strawberries in there and there's the potted herbs who may be hanging out too and so I need to be conservative with space.
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 9:29 AM on February 26 [2 favorites]
Philodendrons everywhere for me! Also sansevierias. I just got a new one yesterday - "Gold Dust" - highly variegated. Fortunately the local libraries have houseplant swaps twice a year, otherwise I'd be overrun with potted plants. (sometimes I put a couple of pots out on the curb with a "adopt me!" sign, that's worked ok too.)
I am also experimenting with hydroculture this year - growing plants in basically water on leca.
The "one in - one out" sounds delightful, but it's not for me.
posted by Dotty at 9:33 AM on February 26 [2 favorites]
I am also experimenting with hydroculture this year - growing plants in basically water on leca.
The "one in - one out" sounds delightful, but it's not for me.
posted by Dotty at 9:33 AM on February 26 [2 favorites]
And now on review -
I’m growing garlic and it’s very happy.
I've got some garlic going in my community garden plot as well! In addition to the "what I eat" and the "compact" rules for my plot, I'm also going with "and I want things I don't seem to get enough of from my CSA". So peas, cucumbers, and cherry tomatoes, mainly. I also have some lettuces because "storing" salad greens in the garden is way better than storing them in the fridge because y'all, I don't eat that much salad. I also added some baby-sized cantaloupes - mainly because I have a recipe for a sorbet that calls for cantaloupe and lemon verbena, and it is delicious, and I let slip about it to my boss who loves cantaloupe and has asked me to bring it in if I make it again.
I would like to keep herbs? Particularly mint, because I started making spring rolls with rice paper wraps and rice vermicelli, and fresh mint is key. (Also, Trader Joe's sweet chili sauce, if you can get it.) It would have to be mint in a pot - I have a patio but no yard. Maybe I'll make an Ask. Maybe I'll look up YouTube videos. Maybe another year will go by.
Mint is easy. It's almost too easy - growing it in a pot is actually preferable because it otherwise spreads like a weed. Keep it moist and make sure it gets at least part of the day in the sun and you're good.
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 9:36 AM on February 26 [5 favorites]
I’m growing garlic and it’s very happy.
I've got some garlic going in my community garden plot as well! In addition to the "what I eat" and the "compact" rules for my plot, I'm also going with "and I want things I don't seem to get enough of from my CSA". So peas, cucumbers, and cherry tomatoes, mainly. I also have some lettuces because "storing" salad greens in the garden is way better than storing them in the fridge because y'all, I don't eat that much salad. I also added some baby-sized cantaloupes - mainly because I have a recipe for a sorbet that calls for cantaloupe and lemon verbena, and it is delicious, and I let slip about it to my boss who loves cantaloupe and has asked me to bring it in if I make it again.
I would like to keep herbs? Particularly mint, because I started making spring rolls with rice paper wraps and rice vermicelli, and fresh mint is key. (Also, Trader Joe's sweet chili sauce, if you can get it.) It would have to be mint in a pot - I have a patio but no yard. Maybe I'll make an Ask. Maybe I'll look up YouTube videos. Maybe another year will go by.
Mint is easy. It's almost too easy - growing it in a pot is actually preferable because it otherwise spreads like a weed. Keep it moist and make sure it gets at least part of the day in the sun and you're good.
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 9:36 AM on February 26 [5 favorites]
I live in a very small two bedroom apartment and probably have about 3000 plants. Most are only about an inch or two in diameter though. My non-collection plants in the living room are mostly normal houseplants. This spring I plan to unload my collection on ebay- mostly Haworthia and Gasteria with a few other succulents mixed in because I just don't have the will, energy or interest to look after them anymore.
It turns out 2 of them were born to die. Not all house plants can be kept alive.
Most nurseries and box stores as well as plant wholesalers routinely lie about the growing conditions that plants will tolerate. Every plant you see is labelled as "grows in low light" when the reality is that most plants don't. They also tend to pot them up using a potting mix that promotes fast but weak and unsustainable growth.
posted by srboisvert at 9:40 AM on February 26 [4 favorites]
It turns out 2 of them were born to die. Not all house plants can be kept alive.
Most nurseries and box stores as well as plant wholesalers routinely lie about the growing conditions that plants will tolerate. Every plant you see is labelled as "grows in low light" when the reality is that most plants don't. They also tend to pot them up using a potting mix that promotes fast but weak and unsustainable growth.
posted by srboisvert at 9:40 AM on February 26 [4 favorites]
We've tried to grow Thai basil during the warm months on the (sunny) balcony and it never does well. Tops out at a foot or so, blooms quickly. What's the secret to basil?
posted by seanmpuckett at 9:41 AM on February 26 [3 favorites]
posted by seanmpuckett at 9:41 AM on February 26 [3 favorites]
Shout out to my fellow brown-thumbs! I enjoy looking at plants, but that enjoyment ends at the point of owning and caring for them.
I once lived in a house where half of the back yard sloped down to a slightly damp area before sloping down further to a small creek at the property line. Mowing that lower half was always difficult, so one early spring I bought a big bucket of mixed wildflower seeds and liberally strewed them all over that part of the yard. I stomped around to try to get the seeds sort of in the ground instead of on top, but birds nevertheless partook of the bounty of course. However I'd strewn enough that I still ended up with a decently dense area of pretty flowers (that, crucially, required zero upkeep on my part) visible from my back deck the following spring.
In other news, I inaugurated my new Vitamix by turning dried chilies into powder in preparation for making a big pot of chili this week. Then (after cleaning it of course) came my first attempt at a healthy smoothie containing flax, chia, and hemp seeds, kefir milk, spinach, avocado, banana, and dried blueberries - I was thrilled to find that everything but the kefir was available at the local Winco (a no-frills low-prices warehouse style store with an amazing bulk foods section)! I made a lot more than I intended, and what I made needs watering down a bit because it's too thick, but it tasted pretty darn good!
posted by Greg_Ace at 9:46 AM on February 26 [9 favorites]
I once lived in a house where half of the back yard sloped down to a slightly damp area before sloping down further to a small creek at the property line. Mowing that lower half was always difficult, so one early spring I bought a big bucket of mixed wildflower seeds and liberally strewed them all over that part of the yard. I stomped around to try to get the seeds sort of in the ground instead of on top, but birds nevertheless partook of the bounty of course. However I'd strewn enough that I still ended up with a decently dense area of pretty flowers (that, crucially, required zero upkeep on my part) visible from my back deck the following spring.
In other news, I inaugurated my new Vitamix by turning dried chilies into powder in preparation for making a big pot of chili this week. Then (after cleaning it of course) came my first attempt at a healthy smoothie containing flax, chia, and hemp seeds, kefir milk, spinach, avocado, banana, and dried blueberries - I was thrilled to find that everything but the kefir was available at the local Winco (a no-frills low-prices warehouse style store with an amazing bulk foods section)! I made a lot more than I intended, and what I made needs watering down a bit because it's too thick, but it tasted pretty darn good!
posted by Greg_Ace at 9:46 AM on February 26 [9 favorites]
Greg_Ace, that reminds me of the grocery shopping trips to Sabon Gari market in Kano, we'd take the groundnuts (peanuts) to a vendor who would grind pretty much anything for a fee and we'd come back and he'd have peanut butter for us. He also processed a variety of peppers through his mill and the peanut butter was spicy as a result, damn good stuff.
posted by elkevelvet at 9:55 AM on February 26 [3 favorites]
posted by elkevelvet at 9:55 AM on February 26 [3 favorites]
I'm growing two species of plant found only on the island where I live. Both were discovered in 1906, but not recorded for about 80 years until the last couple years, so maybe these are the first ones of their kind ever being cultivated. Next up, there's an as yet undescribed endemic species that should have seeds soon, I need to stop by the one place where they grow and check.
posted by snofoam at 9:59 AM on February 26 [7 favorites]
posted by snofoam at 9:59 AM on February 26 [7 favorites]
I grew up with this book in my house, and had a sansevieria and some other plants. They did OK.
Now we have a planter box near our stairs, full of spider plants, and two, palm tree looking plants. Been there since we moved in 18 years ago. We put in a skylight, and these things have totally grown towards the light. To the point where they can't actually support their weight, and we have had to string them to the skylight latch to keep them from collapsing. Cool plant, whatever it is...
posted by Windopaene at 10:08 AM on February 26 [2 favorites]
Now we have a planter box near our stairs, full of spider plants, and two, palm tree looking plants. Been there since we moved in 18 years ago. We put in a skylight, and these things have totally grown towards the light. To the point where they can't actually support their weight, and we have had to string them to the skylight latch to keep them from collapsing. Cool plant, whatever it is...
posted by Windopaene at 10:08 AM on February 26 [2 favorites]
Monday is my watering day, since I'm not in my office over the weekend and for cat reasons all my plants are in there. So everybody just got a little drink!
Mostly I stick to hard-to-kill things - a pothos, some spider plants, a jade plant, a couple of aloes, a little money tree and a couple of others whose names I forget. They are clustered in the window except for the pothos, so when I look up from my desk it's green green green. Everyone is a bit spindly and sad right now, I am due to repot and/or fertilize soon.
There's also a tropical monstrosity in my office for the winter, it is happily sending out new leaves that practically tickle the side of my neck. Turning the printer on is an expedition through the understory.
Downstairs in the spare room all the other tropicals are hiding from the winter and the cats about equally. Maybe one day we will be cat-free and can have greenery in the high-traffic parts of the house - but that's realistically a decade away (and only if we observe a one-out no-in rule on cats, which has not been the way we live.)
posted by Lawn Beaver at 10:19 AM on February 26 [3 favorites]
Mostly I stick to hard-to-kill things - a pothos, some spider plants, a jade plant, a couple of aloes, a little money tree and a couple of others whose names I forget. They are clustered in the window except for the pothos, so when I look up from my desk it's green green green. Everyone is a bit spindly and sad right now, I am due to repot and/or fertilize soon.
There's also a tropical monstrosity in my office for the winter, it is happily sending out new leaves that practically tickle the side of my neck. Turning the printer on is an expedition through the understory.
Downstairs in the spare room all the other tropicals are hiding from the winter and the cats about equally. Maybe one day we will be cat-free and can have greenery in the high-traffic parts of the house - but that's realistically a decade away (and only if we observe a one-out no-in rule on cats, which has not been the way we live.)
posted by Lawn Beaver at 10:19 AM on February 26 [3 favorites]
Spicy peanut butter! Hmmm...
Hmmmmmmmmm....
HmmmMMMMMMmmmmm...
posted by Greg_Ace at 10:23 AM on February 26 [5 favorites]
Hmmmmmmmmm....
HmmmMMMMMMmmmmm...
posted by Greg_Ace at 10:23 AM on February 26 [5 favorites]
Tomorrow , 02/27, is Anosmia Awareness Day. After regaining myself sense of smell and taste after two years of therapy, I lost it again due to an ear-sinus infection in late 2019. It is not a picnic since I loved to cook, eat and drink wine. Covid has brought more light to this condition. Now if they would spend some of that ordnance money on research it might help souls who can not enjoy the smell of a flower or taste a decent meal.
posted by DJZouke at 10:30 AM on February 26 [3 favorites]
posted by DJZouke at 10:30 AM on February 26 [3 favorites]
I have a small wooded area next door and woods behind me and I don't bring plants indoors, where the climate would probably not make them happy. I did just notice some potatoes sprouting energetically, and I chose to take it as a sign of impending Spring. It is sunny and 48F in Maine, supposed to be warm and sunny most of the week. I am able to enjoy the weather while the reality of Climate Crisis is not lost on me. I'll take the dog for a walk and enjoy small signs of spring, like trees beginning to bud, and plants considering some shoots.
Spicy peanut butter, now I want pasta with peanut sauce, an easy enough thing to accomplish. Dinner sorted.
posted by theora55 at 10:35 AM on February 26 [4 favorites]
Spicy peanut butter, now I want pasta with peanut sauce, an easy enough thing to accomplish. Dinner sorted.
posted by theora55 at 10:35 AM on February 26 [4 favorites]
I did just notice some potatoes sprouting energetically
Aw, you've just reminded me of something adorable from the community garden last year!
So early in the summer, I was in the garden hanging out and chatting with another member, and this guy from the neighborhood walked in, carrying a sweet potato with a lot of sprouts on it. "Can I ask you guys a question?" he said, walking over to us. He wanted to know whether if it got put in a pot or in the ground or something, would it grow. The other member is an actual legit gardener with the city, so she took over - and as they chatted, it became clear that the guy didn't have the space or environment to take over sweet potato plant care. So then he asked her if she wanted to put it in her plot.
"Uh...sure," she said, and brought him over to her plot to show him where she was putting it, chatting with him more about the life cycle of the sweet potato plant and what the vines would look like and so on.
For the entire rest of the growing season last year, that guy came by the garden every week or so whenever it was open, to visit "his" sweet potato. He didn't ask if he could share in the harvest or anything like that, he just wanted to look at it. He'd usually just walk in, walk over to the plot, marvel about how big it was getting, and then walk out again with a big grin.
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 10:52 AM on February 26 [11 favorites]
Aw, you've just reminded me of something adorable from the community garden last year!
So early in the summer, I was in the garden hanging out and chatting with another member, and this guy from the neighborhood walked in, carrying a sweet potato with a lot of sprouts on it. "Can I ask you guys a question?" he said, walking over to us. He wanted to know whether if it got put in a pot or in the ground or something, would it grow. The other member is an actual legit gardener with the city, so she took over - and as they chatted, it became clear that the guy didn't have the space or environment to take over sweet potato plant care. So then he asked her if she wanted to put it in her plot.
"Uh...sure," she said, and brought him over to her plot to show him where she was putting it, chatting with him more about the life cycle of the sweet potato plant and what the vines would look like and so on.
For the entire rest of the growing season last year, that guy came by the garden every week or so whenever it was open, to visit "his" sweet potato. He didn't ask if he could share in the harvest or anything like that, he just wanted to look at it. He'd usually just walk in, walk over to the plot, marvel about how big it was getting, and then walk out again with a big grin.
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 10:52 AM on February 26 [11 favorites]
Sounds like my kinda guy! :D
posted by Greg_Ace at 10:53 AM on February 26 [1 favorite]
posted by Greg_Ace at 10:53 AM on February 26 [1 favorite]
seanmpuckett, I’d try pinching your basil a lot — certainly pinch off any tip that’s beginning to turn into flowers, but also just generally take tips off all the time.
posted by clew at 10:58 AM on February 26 [5 favorites]
posted by clew at 10:58 AM on February 26 [5 favorites]
the mule deer in my area have learned to stick close to town, we have generational mule deer who are born, live, and die, as town deer. The lengths to which people have tried to deter them from raiding their backyard gardens are pretty impressive:
- fencing (of course). How high can a mule deer jump? mostly at least 2-3 feet higher than your (first) fence build
- any number of streamers, whirlygigs, etc. These make the deer nervous until the next day/evening. Yay you saved your garden from a raid for ~24 hours
- motion detectors hooked up to sprinkler systems. Oh boy that showed them (see above)
edit to add: a ton of pretty wild strategies, one of which I have tried, and that is peeing around the perimeter of your yard at night when the neighbours won't notice because the scent *might* inhibit a raid if they're a bit younger. The seasoned veterans don't give a toss
- dog. I have witnessed deer who can gauge the length of a lead within inches, and after the initial anxiety from the dog's rush/barking their nonchalance is almost comical. Deer understand limits and restraints, is what I'm saying
go nature!
posted by elkevelvet at 11:00 AM on February 26 [6 favorites]
- fencing (of course). How high can a mule deer jump? mostly at least 2-3 feet higher than your (first) fence build
- any number of streamers, whirlygigs, etc. These make the deer nervous until the next day/evening. Yay you saved your garden from a raid for ~24 hours
- motion detectors hooked up to sprinkler systems. Oh boy that showed them (see above)
edit to add: a ton of pretty wild strategies, one of which I have tried, and that is peeing around the perimeter of your yard at night when the neighbours won't notice because the scent *might* inhibit a raid if they're a bit younger. The seasoned veterans don't give a toss
- dog. I have witnessed deer who can gauge the length of a lead within inches, and after the initial anxiety from the dog's rush/barking their nonchalance is almost comical. Deer understand limits and restraints, is what I'm saying
go nature!
posted by elkevelvet at 11:00 AM on February 26 [6 favorites]
Despite my body's vigorous, disapproval, I went to a 2nd dance event yesterday. I have inflammatory arthritis and wasn't recovered from energetic dancing Friday evening. On the way home, I stopped at a brew pub specifically because they serve sweet potato fries, which I love. It turns out they (Gritty McDuff's, yeah, cheesy name) also serve a lamb gyro and a really nice bitter. The fries weren't as hot and fresh as they should have been, but the gyro was excellent, with garlicky tzatziki, and the bitter was a proper British bitter, as far as my taste buds recall, so I was quite happy.
posted by theora55 at 11:02 AM on February 26 [9 favorites]
posted by theora55 at 11:02 AM on February 26 [9 favorites]
I don't know what is happening but a low-light plant I got during early COVID that thrived for quite some time just suddenly curled up and said goodbye, and this small potted palm I've had SINCE COLLEGE (!) that sits on the front porch just shed all of its leaves. I'm feeling heavy portent of doom vibes and trying not too.
I have to remember that the basil plant I received as a sickly twig from one of the kids during Christmastime ("Can you do anything?") is coming back to life. Seconding that you should pinch it a lot!
posted by queensissy at 11:04 AM on February 26 [3 favorites]
I have to remember that the basil plant I received as a sickly twig from one of the kids during Christmastime ("Can you do anything?") is coming back to life. Seconding that you should pinch it a lot!
posted by queensissy at 11:04 AM on February 26 [3 favorites]
I have a small cactus in the window of my office. It looks like a green thumb with bristles. We have a half dozen cacti in the living room, next to the patio doors. They like the light, without having to deal with direct sun.
My smallish backyard has a dozen or so types of cacti, including a cholla that we rescued from a sandy wash near our house (it was a bug-infested mess). We saved one small arm and took it home. Now it's four feet high with a few dozen branches and seems happy as a clam. We put it among three types of beaver tails, a yucca, and some prairie grass. A desert willow we rescued from being devoured by a landscaping project is nearby. The willow didn't like being moved, and I'm waiting for spring to discover if it forgives us.
posted by mule98J at 11:12 AM on February 26 [3 favorites]
My smallish backyard has a dozen or so types of cacti, including a cholla that we rescued from a sandy wash near our house (it was a bug-infested mess). We saved one small arm and took it home. Now it's four feet high with a few dozen branches and seems happy as a clam. We put it among three types of beaver tails, a yucca, and some prairie grass. A desert willow we rescued from being devoured by a landscaping project is nearby. The willow didn't like being moved, and I'm waiting for spring to discover if it forgives us.
posted by mule98J at 11:12 AM on February 26 [3 favorites]
I had a lot of drama around my backyard plants last year. The house painters needed me to move them away from the house for a few weeks, which meant digging them up, potting them temporarily, then replanting them. One of my rosemarys died in the move. Luckily, it remained alive long enough for me to collect some cuttings and now one of the original plant's "descendants" is thriving in the yard. The amazing resilience of plants always astounds and inspires me.
posted by SPrintF at 11:30 AM on February 26 [5 favorites]
posted by SPrintF at 11:30 AM on February 26 [5 favorites]
One minor victory this year is that I managed to keep a tropical hibiscus alive over winter. I'm in a region where they can't be left outside, so I brought it inside. It went through a period of bad shock and I thought it probably wouldn't make it, since I didn't have a spot with enough light for it, but it bounced back. I did buy a little grow light that you can stick inside the pot for it - not enough on its own, but I guess it was enough to supplement the sunlight it gets for part of the day.
The damn thing even bloomed a couple of days ago!
I have a bunch of other plants, but am somewhat limited by the fact that I have cats and everything needs to be out of their reach. They did poop on the poor hibuscus once until I resorted to tinfoil.
posted by Kutsuwamushi at 11:38 AM on February 26 [3 favorites]
The damn thing even bloomed a couple of days ago!
I have a bunch of other plants, but am somewhat limited by the fact that I have cats and everything needs to be out of their reach. They did poop on the poor hibuscus once until I resorted to tinfoil.
posted by Kutsuwamushi at 11:38 AM on February 26 [3 favorites]
IN OTHER ANCIENT PLANT NEWS... my wife inherited a croton from her grandmother. Her grandma had this plant when we started dating, so we estimate that it is at least 35-ish years old? We thought we had killed it during a move, when it was left in a hot car and lost all it's leaves. We put it outside (too sad to uproot the carcass!) and to our surprise it not only bounced back, but grew bushier than ever.
About 5 years or so ago we moved it in front of a different window, and it started making flowers. We had never seen it do that before. They are weird spindly things but flowers nonetheless.
Last year I got bored and poked two of it's flowers at each other. Apparently my croton self-pollination plan worked, as it grew little hard fruit that cracked open when ripe to drop seeds. Seven total. I collected them and planted them. I was about to give up, sure the seeds were dead, when I noticed a small shoot growing. I now have 7 baby crotons, in a small pot, on the windowsill in my home office (one of the few places the cats cannot attack them).
posted by caution live frogs at 11:44 AM on February 26 [14 favorites]
About 5 years or so ago we moved it in front of a different window, and it started making flowers. We had never seen it do that before. They are weird spindly things but flowers nonetheless.
Last year I got bored and poked two of it's flowers at each other. Apparently my croton self-pollination plan worked, as it grew little hard fruit that cracked open when ripe to drop seeds. Seven total. I collected them and planted them. I was about to give up, sure the seeds were dead, when I noticed a small shoot growing. I now have 7 baby crotons, in a small pot, on the windowsill in my home office (one of the few places the cats cannot attack them).
posted by caution live frogs at 11:44 AM on February 26 [14 favorites]
My grandmother was a houseplant murderer, and I carry the gene. But she was able to keep alive the Catholic Voodoo Potato. I don’t know what the origin of this was, but every old Irish Catholic lady in our enormous extended family kept one on the windowsill above the kitchen sink. It was basically a pared down potato, with toothpicks added for arms and legs, floating in a glass of water in the sun. Every once in a while it’d throw out a little shoot.
Was it used for spells? Did it represent grandpa? Did it keep the British away? No one knows.
posted by Abehammerb Lincoln at 12:04 PM on February 26 [9 favorites]
Was it used for spells? Did it represent grandpa? Did it keep the British away? No one knows.
posted by Abehammerb Lincoln at 12:04 PM on February 26 [9 favorites]
I have an echeveria on my bedroom windowsill that I water twice a week, and have for years. All of a sudden, it has decided to flower. I keep looking at it and asking where I went wrong, but it is keeping mum.
The rest of my plants are in pots outside, mostly evergreens. Except for a holly that persists in fruiting, none of them have threatened to flower yet.
posted by Peach at 12:15 PM on February 26 [3 favorites]
The rest of my plants are in pots outside, mostly evergreens. Except for a holly that persists in fruiting, none of them have threatened to flower yet.
posted by Peach at 12:15 PM on February 26 [3 favorites]
It was basically a pared down potato, with toothpicks added for arms and legs, floating in a glass of water in the sun. Every once in a while it’d throw out a little shoot.
Just a lil MF PSA that potato leaves will potentially seriously fuck up a curious cat.
posted by kensington314 at 12:22 PM on February 26
Just a lil MF PSA that potato leaves will potentially seriously fuck up a curious cat.
posted by kensington314 at 12:22 PM on February 26
WAIT WHAT, grandma was also a cat murderer???
posted by Abehammerb Lincoln at 1:19 PM on February 26 [2 favorites]
posted by Abehammerb Lincoln at 1:19 PM on February 26 [2 favorites]
I'm just saying that grandma has a lot to answer for, but then again, so do we all.
posted by kensington314 at 1:29 PM on February 26 [1 favorite]
posted by kensington314 at 1:29 PM on February 26 [1 favorite]
I cannot wait to read what man-eating plants chariot pulled by cassowaries is growing...
posted by Dotty at 1:35 PM on February 26 [5 favorites]
posted by Dotty at 1:35 PM on February 26 [5 favorites]
Thanks for reminding me to repot my ZZ plant. It's the Lone Survivor of my back room. RIP my Aero garden basil, the bamboo plant and the cherry tomato that produced one specimen the size of a marble.
posted by dragonplayer at 2:02 PM on February 26 [2 favorites]
posted by dragonplayer at 2:02 PM on February 26 [2 favorites]
My mother was the greenest of green thumbs, a master gardener, all that. I inherited none of it. But I do have a few houseplants, the vast majority of them jade trees, which are pretty much unkillable if you neglect them enough. The oldest one I bought for my first "real" apartment in 1993, and it's kind of spindly but is blooming as we speak. All of my others are its children, grown from fallen leaves. I'm not sure any of the rest, which range from 20 to 1 year old, have ever bloomed. I have trouble with time, so at best they get water every two weeks and I suspect it's closer to two months a lot of the time.
I also have a few plants I took from my mom's place when she moved into her first retirement home. A bamboo planted in gravel in a glass pot which needs much more water than it gets but is still kicking, and a cactus in too tiny a pot sitting in a cold east-facing window but it's still alive, and, indeed, has "pups" around its base. Have no idea what species it is.
I also have a spider plant (I think), which started out life in the 1990s as a small spiky thing in a pot but is now a twin-stemmed woody "tree" with 10' and 20' stems ending in pom-poms of foliage (the 20' stem is a big arc). It must thrive on neglect, though. There are two very vigorous and rapidly growing jade trees in its pot now, sprouted from leaves dropped from the nearby old jade. If I was capable of accomplishing anything, I would remove them and put them in their own pots, but...
My yard is a disaster. I like beautiful gardens, but have no interest in the effort it takes to have one. And I don't have money to pay someone to do it for me.
posted by maxwelton at 2:14 PM on February 26 [2 favorites]
I also have a few plants I took from my mom's place when she moved into her first retirement home. A bamboo planted in gravel in a glass pot which needs much more water than it gets but is still kicking, and a cactus in too tiny a pot sitting in a cold east-facing window but it's still alive, and, indeed, has "pups" around its base. Have no idea what species it is.
I also have a spider plant (I think), which started out life in the 1990s as a small spiky thing in a pot but is now a twin-stemmed woody "tree" with 10' and 20' stems ending in pom-poms of foliage (the 20' stem is a big arc). It must thrive on neglect, though. There are two very vigorous and rapidly growing jade trees in its pot now, sprouted from leaves dropped from the nearby old jade. If I was capable of accomplishing anything, I would remove them and put them in their own pots, but...
My yard is a disaster. I like beautiful gardens, but have no interest in the effort it takes to have one. And I don't have money to pay someone to do it for me.
posted by maxwelton at 2:14 PM on February 26 [2 favorites]
I've been trying to keep alive a pot clone over the winter, but being away for 3 weeks probably has done it in.
Also, we have had two indoor rosemary plants which have thrived (thriven?) for years seeming to dry up.
The cat killed all the succulents...
But at least we have a nice batch of lavender that is doing quite well.
I lost a tooth over the weekend.
Not the whole tooth, but I literally lost half a tooth. No idea where or when it went.
Have to assume I swallowed it.
posted by MtDewd at 2:48 PM on February 26
Also, we have had two indoor rosemary plants which have thrived (thriven?) for years seeming to dry up.
The cat killed all the succulents...
But at least we have a nice batch of lavender that is doing quite well.
I lost a tooth over the weekend.
Not the whole tooth, but I literally lost half a tooth. No idea where or when it went.
Have to assume I swallowed it.
posted by MtDewd at 2:48 PM on February 26
Does everybody know to put IRISes far, far, far, far away from your kitties? All parts are bad bad bad.
I spent a month pumping one of my sweet rescue kitties full of fluids (twice a day, a giant syringe under the skin between the shoulder blades) to keep his poor kidneys from shutting down. He would tuck his face into the crook of my arm when he saw the needle coming, but he didn't struggle. He made it to a ripe old age before crossing the Rainbow Bridge, but I lost a little piece of my heart every time I struck the needle in.
posted by mule98J at 2:50 PM on February 26 [4 favorites]
I spent a month pumping one of my sweet rescue kitties full of fluids (twice a day, a giant syringe under the skin between the shoulder blades) to keep his poor kidneys from shutting down. He would tuck his face into the crook of my arm when he saw the needle coming, but he didn't struggle. He made it to a ripe old age before crossing the Rainbow Bridge, but I lost a little piece of my heart every time I struck the needle in.
posted by mule98J at 2:50 PM on February 26 [4 favorites]
Anyone who has pets should be looking up any plant that they bring into their house. Lilies are the worst since they so incredibly toxic and are often sold in holiday arrangements, but there are a lot of other plants that are toxic.
My rule is that nothing potentially fatal makes it into the house. Things that might cause stomach upset are allowed, but go on high shelves or in the plant cabinets.
Never, ever rely on your pet "not being the type to eat plants." They can change their behavior. I had an old cat that never bothered anything but grass for her entire life, but then one day she decided she would chow down on a plant that she had never, ever shown interest in before. Why? Dunno. Cats are weird.
posted by Kutsuwamushi at 3:01 PM on February 26 [5 favorites]
My rule is that nothing potentially fatal makes it into the house. Things that might cause stomach upset are allowed, but go on high shelves or in the plant cabinets.
Never, ever rely on your pet "not being the type to eat plants." They can change their behavior. I had an old cat that never bothered anything but grass for her entire life, but then one day she decided she would chow down on a plant that she had never, ever shown interest in before. Why? Dunno. Cats are weird.
posted by Kutsuwamushi at 3:01 PM on February 26 [5 favorites]
We have a Rhododendron or two in our back yard. My dogs are not "eaters", but they will break off branches as sticks. I keep an eye on that.
MtDewd please, and take this in the right way, but shut the fuck up, (shudders...)
Ugh, dental/tooth things. Yikes. (Several crowns ago, as it was being applied, it slipped off and went straight down. Luckily, went stomach and not esophagus. Mentioned it at my last crowning, and my dentist said that was the only time that had ever happened to her, so, I felt a bit special...)
posted by Windopaene at 3:30 PM on February 26 [1 favorite]
MtDewd please, and take this in the right way, but shut the fuck up, (shudders...)
Ugh, dental/tooth things. Yikes. (Several crowns ago, as it was being applied, it slipped off and went straight down. Luckily, went stomach and not esophagus. Mentioned it at my last crowning, and my dentist said that was the only time that had ever happened to her, so, I felt a bit special...)
posted by Windopaene at 3:30 PM on February 26 [1 favorite]
My sister's got the green thumb, inherited from our paternal Grandpa. She's growing a couple fruit trees on her balcony.
My balcony has many succulents and a couple different cacti. One is a cutting from the nopales that have been growing at my parent's house for like a half century. We might even have one single stinging nettle plant, which is a leftover from my days doing build crew for the SoCal Ren Faire.
High functioning depression kinda sucks. But I have no plans to join The Late Mr. Nerd anytime soon.
posted by luckynerd at 4:12 PM on February 26 [3 favorites]
My balcony has many succulents and a couple different cacti. One is a cutting from the nopales that have been growing at my parent's house for like a half century. We might even have one single stinging nettle plant, which is a leftover from my days doing build crew for the SoCal Ren Faire.
High functioning depression kinda sucks. But I have no plans to join The Late Mr. Nerd anytime soon.
posted by luckynerd at 4:12 PM on February 26 [3 favorites]
I have 3 crassula ovata (jade plants) divided from an overcrowded pot I bought at the grocery store. One mint from outside moved inside for better wintertime mojitos and mint tea. Four rehab phals that were dying on the windowsills of other people. One's blooming. An xmas cactus from my grandmother who died in like 2011. A burro tail, an aloe era, a vanda, a tolumnia, two dendrobiums, a cattleya, a wilsonara, and a slew of cactus/succulent/mesemb seedlings, none of those more than about four months old. What will I do with twenty identical mammillaria seedlings? That is a problem for FutureMe. Do I really need 23 Astrophytum capricorne seedlings? Who knows. Maybe I do. Why are there fungus gnats in the seedling tray with the agave? No idea. Titanopsis are adorable. Seedling conopytums have some damping off but the strong are surviving. Baby copiapoas are so, so, slow and germination for those species is not great, not sure why. Mostly the cactus/succulent plants are tiny green dots but I am having a Very Affordable Good Time over here.
posted by which_chick at 4:30 PM on February 26 [1 favorite]
posted by which_chick at 4:30 PM on February 26 [1 favorite]
I have about 50 orchids. Lots of different species and hybrids, but the ones I have the most of (about 10) are Bulbophyllums, because they have such weird and wonderful flowers.
posted by larrybob at 5:58 PM on February 26 [3 favorites]
posted by larrybob at 5:58 PM on February 26 [3 favorites]
A lot of things have happened since my last post. The family that owns the house where I used to live decided to sell it, and gave me notice to move out. I procrastinated about finding something else until after the deadline (the deadline really isn't enforceable), and then panicked and grabbed the first apartment that I could afford. Now that I have moved in, I find that the place is really, really unworkable. To its credit, this apartment has good hot water and internet, but is otherwise cold, noisy, and small. I really don't know what I was thinking in choosing to live here. In addition, I lost my job. So I am not going to let things get me down... I view this as a setback, and will do everything I can to get a better job, and someplace better to live. I have gone out for walks around my new neighbourhood to see what it is like, and there are actually some pretty nice houses nearby... I take this as inspiration to find a better job, and someplace better than where I live now.
posted by Multicellular Exothermic at 5:59 PM on February 26 [11 favorites]
posted by Multicellular Exothermic at 5:59 PM on February 26 [11 favorites]
I have one plant that I have managed to keep alive as long as my dad has been dead, so a long time. Periodically someone asks me to repot it, but I have no clue how and I don't want to kill it because I tried to do something I have no clue how to do, thanks. Everything else around me dies, though I did have one pointsettia that lasted 4 inexplicable years (they usually don't).
I applied for five jobs today at 4 different organizations, and got one job interview that I already know isn't going to work out. SIGH. I feel totally fried after all of the job drama today. I also canceled my grievance at work since they are insisting I act on it now or forever hold my peace, and I have no case against them and this was to stall until I could get medical help for work, which I got.
posted by jenfullmoon at 6:07 PM on February 26 [7 favorites]
I applied for five jobs today at 4 different organizations, and got one job interview that I already know isn't going to work out. SIGH. I feel totally fried after all of the job drama today. I also canceled my grievance at work since they are insisting I act on it now or forever hold my peace, and I have no case against them and this was to stall until I could get medical help for work, which I got.
posted by jenfullmoon at 6:07 PM on February 26 [7 favorites]
I've got a little garden of various plants in our apartment, that I water regularly but am generally too lazy to re-pot or fertilize. It's fun to grow stuff! I've got a few snake plants and pothos I'm propagating. The most exiting one is a pothos vine that was ~20" long and stripped of leaves, I put it in water for a while and it eventually died back but grew roots and a few leaves near the base. I finally potted it and waited and waited and waited... and finally another leaf came up! What a joy.
Just have to avoid overwatering stuff, so they don't get fungus moths. Ugh.
posted by ropeladder at 6:40 PM on February 26 [2 favorites]
Just have to avoid overwatering stuff, so they don't get fungus moths. Ugh.
posted by ropeladder at 6:40 PM on February 26 [2 favorites]
Sadly, I had to have two self-seeded/volunteer trees removed from my garden today. :(
Tree #1 was a self-seeded/volunteer Eucalypt from the park across the road
a) it seemed to be suffering from the same sort of insect based leaf blight as the gigantic trees across the road that the local council is treating, so it would have just kept reinfecting the park trees;
b) even if it was healthy, it was growing right next to my roof, and would eventually have dropped roof breaking branches;
c) it's a giant species, so it would have ripped up all the underground water pipes around it looking for water.
Tree #2 was a volunteer/self seeded Brazilian Pepper (Schinus terebinthifolius), a highly invasive and hard to eradicate foreign/feral/invasive species - birds eat the berries at location A and poo them out at location B, making it a significant threat to bushland and wetland reserves.
posted by chariot pulled by cassowaries at 8:05 PM on February 26 [5 favorites]
Tree #1 was a self-seeded/volunteer Eucalypt from the park across the road
a) it seemed to be suffering from the same sort of insect based leaf blight as the gigantic trees across the road that the local council is treating, so it would have just kept reinfecting the park trees;
b) even if it was healthy, it was growing right next to my roof, and would eventually have dropped roof breaking branches;
c) it's a giant species, so it would have ripped up all the underground water pipes around it looking for water.
Tree #2 was a volunteer/self seeded Brazilian Pepper (Schinus terebinthifolius), a highly invasive and hard to eradicate foreign/feral/invasive species - birds eat the berries at location A and poo them out at location B, making it a significant threat to bushland and wetland reserves.
posted by chariot pulled by cassowaries at 8:05 PM on February 26 [5 favorites]
I am hoping to plant some Banksia prionotes (a flowering tree/shrub that birds like eating) in May/June
posted by chariot pulled by cassowaries at 8:07 PM on February 26
posted by chariot pulled by cassowaries at 8:07 PM on February 26
I cannot wait to read what man-eating plants chariot pulled by cassowaries is growing...
Sadly (fortunately?) none of my plants eat humans of any gender(s), but my partner is friends with The Texas Triffid Ranch who specialise in carnivorous plants in Texas...
posted by chariot pulled by cassowaries at 9:01 PM on February 26 [5 favorites]
Sadly (fortunately?) none of my plants eat humans of any gender(s), but my partner is friends with The Texas Triffid Ranch who specialise in carnivorous plants in Texas...
posted by chariot pulled by cassowaries at 9:01 PM on February 26 [5 favorites]
This place is bonkers and I love it.
posted by hippybear at 9:12 PM on February 26 [7 favorites]
posted by hippybear at 9:12 PM on February 26 [7 favorites]
chariot pulled by cassowaries has been doing god's work of late...
So many cute endangered animals fighting the good fight.
Metafilter is an awesome community to be a part of.
posted by Windopaene at 10:03 PM on February 26 [8 favorites]
So many cute endangered animals fighting the good fight.
Metafilter is an awesome community to be a part of.
posted by Windopaene at 10:03 PM on February 26 [8 favorites]
Volunteer trees!
I own a property that was neglected for some time. The subdivision is called "Fair Oak" because it's near a lake and at one time had hundreds of oak trees on it. That was platted over 100 years ago and the trees were old at that time, so there aren't a lot of the still around.
My property, after surveying, only has one original oak tree on it, the other two actually belong to the neighbor but they're really close to the line so I've sort of adopted them (they cut down three others on their land, I think these survived because they thought they were on my side of the line)
However, there was one scraggly bush that turned out to be a volunteer oak, which I've pruned and trained into a 20 foot tall tree over the past decade.
About 5 years ago, while mowing the lawn, I gave two baby oaks a stay of sentence and mowed around them. They're the right distance from the street and on the south side of the house which currently doesn't have shade, so my own little forest of volunteer trees numbers 3 now. The baby oaks are about three feet tall now - surrounded by chicken wire to protect them from rabbits and deer - and I'm so proud of my little oaks. They're growing slower than research says they should but I'm letting them grow at their own pace, slow growing may mean they're going to live a couple hundred years like their parent. One got some wasp galls last year, which I didn't notice until the leaves dropped, I hope they didn't do too much damage.
My wife gently ribs me about my pride in my baby oaks. She also rolls her eyes at the term "volunteer", she says that's just how plants work, there's nothing special about a tree that grows someplace.
posted by AzraelBrown at 5:11 AM on February 27 [12 favorites]
I own a property that was neglected for some time. The subdivision is called "Fair Oak" because it's near a lake and at one time had hundreds of oak trees on it. That was platted over 100 years ago and the trees were old at that time, so there aren't a lot of the still around.
My property, after surveying, only has one original oak tree on it, the other two actually belong to the neighbor but they're really close to the line so I've sort of adopted them (they cut down three others on their land, I think these survived because they thought they were on my side of the line)
However, there was one scraggly bush that turned out to be a volunteer oak, which I've pruned and trained into a 20 foot tall tree over the past decade.
About 5 years ago, while mowing the lawn, I gave two baby oaks a stay of sentence and mowed around them. They're the right distance from the street and on the south side of the house which currently doesn't have shade, so my own little forest of volunteer trees numbers 3 now. The baby oaks are about three feet tall now - surrounded by chicken wire to protect them from rabbits and deer - and I'm so proud of my little oaks. They're growing slower than research says they should but I'm letting them grow at their own pace, slow growing may mean they're going to live a couple hundred years like their parent. One got some wasp galls last year, which I didn't notice until the leaves dropped, I hope they didn't do too much damage.
My wife gently ribs me about my pride in my baby oaks. She also rolls her eyes at the term "volunteer", she says that's just how plants work, there's nothing special about a tree that grows someplace.
posted by AzraelBrown at 5:11 AM on February 27 [12 favorites]
AzraelBrown good on you for nurturing those oaks. We had an 80 year old one in our back yard that contractors with the power company came through and cut down in spite of our begging to just cut it back, as it was going to be "in the way" of the new pole.
We were even more heartbroken when we later learned that the crew had been instructed to cut the trees back when possible, ours definitely qualified to be saved and that the foreman of that crew was just an asshole. He lost his job, which was a small satisfaction.
posted by theBigRedKittyPurrs at 5:45 AM on February 27 [3 favorites]
We were even more heartbroken when we later learned that the crew had been instructed to cut the trees back when possible, ours definitely qualified to be saved and that the foreman of that crew was just an asshole. He lost his job, which was a small satisfaction.
posted by theBigRedKittyPurrs at 5:45 AM on February 27 [3 favorites]
My most anxious, least social, most awkward, longest single friend has a blooming relationship with a nice person. It's extra great because said friend is a fiftysomething pot-smoking socialist Jew in Texas who hates to leave the house, so his odds in that area were not great. But he got pulled in by a friend to drive someone to the airport and they hit it off. Texts, then calls, and now she's visiting him on the regular.
Anyway, it's nice to see my friend happy.
posted by DirtyOldTown at 6:01 AM on February 27 [18 favorites]
Anyway, it's nice to see my friend happy.
posted by DirtyOldTown at 6:01 AM on February 27 [18 favorites]
Half of our front lawn belongs to the city, and they decided a couple of years ago that a white oak should go there. So they dug in, severed our buried phone line, and planted an 8 ft high specimen. The first year it was iffy, but last year it defiantly shot out new branches and many big leaves. Those big leaves turned chocolate brown in the fall, but they have stayed put through the winter, as if it's proud of them. Looking forward to seeing what it wants to do this year.
posted by Artful Codger at 7:02 AM on February 27 [4 favorites]
posted by Artful Codger at 7:02 AM on February 27 [4 favorites]
Got a couple of the new glowing petunias on order. And this year gonna slice some 55 gal barrels in 1/2 and make a bulk unit to try and get lilacs/honeyberries from cuttings started with the hope the lilacs can be convinced to become a woven living fence in 10+ years.
And rather shocked a US military man setting themselves on fire didn't get a FPP.
posted by rough ashlar at 7:31 AM on February 27 [3 favorites]
And rather shocked a US military man setting themselves on fire didn't get a FPP.
posted by rough ashlar at 7:31 AM on February 27 [3 favorites]
New Job Adjustment proceeds. This morning I had to get up early and schlep up to Midtown, so I could be there at 7:30 to be part of the support staff for a public event. After a couple of basic setups, they sent me to the lobby of the office building wherever were with a sign to hold, so guests would know they were in the right place. No check in list, just the sign. I was a human signpost.
Fortunately my boss and I have a bit of an agreement about if I come in early or have to stay late - I am hourly and we don't want to go nuts with the overtime (which will rack up fast), so since I was 90 minutes early today,I can leave work 90 minutes early some other day this week. Works for me.
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 7:37 AM on February 27 [3 favorites]
Fortunately my boss and I have a bit of an agreement about if I come in early or have to stay late - I am hourly and we don't want to go nuts with the overtime (which will rack up fast), so since I was 90 minutes early today,I can leave work 90 minutes early some other day this week. Works for me.
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 7:37 AM on February 27 [3 favorites]
I’ve got 20 different plants I’ve acquired over a decade, but I have to move from France to the UK in a few months (health problems), and you can only take 1-2 across the border, so I’m slowing giving most of them away 😢
posted by ellieBOA at 9:26 AM on February 27 [1 favorite]
posted by ellieBOA at 9:26 AM on February 27 [1 favorite]
Wait, you're moving from France to the UK because of health problems?? Shouldn't you be moving to the south of France, to Take In the Sea Air?
posted by Greg_Ace at 9:58 AM on February 27 [1 favorite]
posted by Greg_Ace at 9:58 AM on February 27 [1 favorite]
When my dad died (wow) 20 years ago, we inherited a peace lily from the funeral's flower collection. In that time it has gotten transplanted to bigger and bigger containers, then split in half (my cousin got the other half). It sits inside next to the aquarium in winter and gets fed old aquarium water when it starts to droop. In the summer it goes outside and gets a little too much sun, but flowers like crazy every late summer.
We also had a poinsettia inherited from my grandmother, but my mom left it out in the frost one year and it died. I did go to the trouble of trying to get it to bloom one year, and it did! In April.
posted by dirigibleman at 12:17 PM on February 27 [3 favorites]
We also had a poinsettia inherited from my grandmother, but my mom left it out in the frost one year and it died. I did go to the trouble of trying to get it to bloom one year, and it did! In April.
posted by dirigibleman at 12:17 PM on February 27 [3 favorites]
Greg_Ace technically I’m moving from no sea Paris to by the sea near Brighton! But I’m moving back to my parents for support.
posted by ellieBOA at 12:47 PM on February 27 [4 favorites]
posted by ellieBOA at 12:47 PM on February 27 [4 favorites]
I assumed it was something like that, but I couldn't resist making one of my little jokes...
posted by Greg_Ace at 1:13 PM on February 27 [2 favorites]
posted by Greg_Ace at 1:13 PM on February 27 [2 favorites]
I finally got around to splitting and repotting the sanseveria from one pot to three. All of them seem pretty happy now. I also actually planted a couple of spider plant babies in soil, and they are also doing well. I asked my brother in law for succulent cuttings for xmas and he gave me a bunch from his garden along with some pots. I'm generally not great with house plants and forget to water them, so I was very impressed with myself for all the planting.
posted by gingerbeer at 7:48 PM on February 27 [1 favorite]
posted by gingerbeer at 7:48 PM on February 27 [1 favorite]
I see I'm going to have to stop eating at Wendy's. That's a shame because they're a variant of fast food I do enjoy.
posted by hippybear at 8:42 PM on February 27
posted by hippybear at 8:42 PM on February 27
Even common ornamental plants are not necessarily benign! For years, my wife would lose her voice when we went to visit her mother. She always assumed it was due to catching a cold while traveling. Later, it became apparent that it was only happening when staying at my MIL’s apartment, and then we assumed there must be a mold problem there. But at some point she somehow put it together that the plants just outside the guest bedroom window, and under the intake of an AC unit were Dieffenbachia, also known as dumb cane, because it can irritate the throat enough to lose your voice, which historically was apparently used to punish slaves! She eventually got the management to remove the dieffenbachia from the whole complex, and it’s never happened again since.
posted by mubba at 6:39 AM on February 28 [3 favorites]
posted by mubba at 6:39 AM on February 28 [3 favorites]
At first I wondered why on earth would anyone grow a spider plant indoors?
Then I realized I was confusing it with the spider flower
There are some caveats to the easy-growing spider flower, however. Most notably, its ability to self-seed prolifically in the right conditions. The foliage of spider flowers, , also produces a musky, skunk-like odor which some find offensive.
posted by yyz at 6:56 AM on February 28 [1 favorite]
Then I realized I was confusing it with the spider flower
There are some caveats to the easy-growing spider flower, however. Most notably, its ability to self-seed prolifically in the right conditions. The foliage of spider flowers, , also produces a musky, skunk-like odor which some find offensive.
posted by yyz at 6:56 AM on February 28 [1 favorite]
I see I'm going to have to stop eating at Wendy's
Our patronage of fast-food places has plummeted now that we've retired, but yeah Wendy's did have some interesting ff alternatives like the taco salad. I didn't much like their burgers.
Given the new surge-pricing, I would look for ways to track the price, and then game it.
Anyways, I predict that they'll tone it down or drop it. Being punished for having to buy lunch at lunchtime doesn't seem like a winning customer-retention move. There are other less-unfriendly moves for increasing off-peak traffic.
posted by Artful Codger at 7:26 AM on February 28 [2 favorites]
Our patronage of fast-food places has plummeted now that we've retired, but yeah Wendy's did have some interesting ff alternatives like the taco salad. I didn't much like their burgers.
Given the new surge-pricing, I would look for ways to track the price, and then game it.
Anyways, I predict that they'll tone it down or drop it. Being punished for having to buy lunch at lunchtime doesn't seem like a winning customer-retention move. There are other less-unfriendly moves for increasing off-peak traffic.
posted by Artful Codger at 7:26 AM on February 28 [2 favorites]
I don't have cancer, lupus, diabetes, or low B12 (any more). So that's a relief.
posted by jenfullmoon at 9:41 AM on February 28 [10 favorites]
posted by jenfullmoon at 9:41 AM on February 28 [10 favorites]
Gods, give me grace to deal with this "development manager" who shows up late or not at all to calls he sets up, then gives the same five rudimentary "tips" to a room full of senior reps who all knew these things many years ago. I'm ready to offer to take over his job. I'll do it for $20K a year less and will show up on time to say the same five unhelpful, intro-level things.
posted by DirtyOldTown at 12:30 PM on February 28 [3 favorites]
posted by DirtyOldTown at 12:30 PM on February 28 [3 favorites]
I survived my commitment to the Allegheny County court system and served my day of jury duty. There were only two potential jury cases on the docket that day and one of them ended up going to a bench trial. The presiding judge was funny and charming. I was not selected for the trial, but the person to the left and the two people to the right of me were called. If the pattern holds, I'll get a summons again in 12-24 months and then nothing for a decade.
I kind of enjoyed it. There is nothing to do but sit, so I read a lot of fiction.
posted by theBigRedKittyPurrs at 1:19 PM on February 28 [2 favorites]
I kind of enjoyed it. There is nothing to do but sit, so I read a lot of fiction.
posted by theBigRedKittyPurrs at 1:19 PM on February 28 [2 favorites]
My spouse got three separate jury duty summons within her first five years of being a citizen. It was like they wanted her to catch up.
posted by DirtyOldTown at 1:34 PM on February 28 [1 favorite]
posted by DirtyOldTown at 1:34 PM on February 28 [1 favorite]
I mentioned in a previous free thread how I was having some health problems over the past few months. One of the things the doctor told me was that I had some minor liver damage (not surprising since I was a heavy drinker for many years). Today I found a letter they sent me two months ago saying that the lab messed up and actually I was fine (at least in terms of that; my high blood pressure is still a problem). So that's less worrying I have to do now. Still working on the other part.
posted by downtohisturtles at 2:41 PM on February 28 [5 favorites]
posted by downtohisturtles at 2:41 PM on February 28 [5 favorites]
I REALLY need to go back to not watching the nightly news.
posted by theBigRedKittyPurrs at 3:37 PM on February 28 [2 favorites]
posted by theBigRedKittyPurrs at 3:37 PM on February 28 [2 favorites]
I posted about my ever-expanding home improvement project last week. Expansion and progress both paused when I came down with Covid midweek. Not fun, could have been worse. I've now done a slapdash paint job in the lower part of the closet, installed shelves, and refilled the closet. Furniture is in progress. The shelves that started the whole project are still not up.
Between allergies and cats, I don't keep indoor plants - but the outdoor ones are enjoying the early warm weather this year.
posted by mersen at 6:11 PM on February 28 [1 favorite]
Between allergies and cats, I don't keep indoor plants - but the outdoor ones are enjoying the early warm weather this year.
posted by mersen at 6:11 PM on February 28 [1 favorite]
MetaFilter: The shelves that started the whole project are still not up.
posted by hippybear at 6:28 PM on February 28 [3 favorites]
posted by hippybear at 6:28 PM on February 28 [3 favorites]
I just bought a couple of tiny Venus fly traps. Hope they feast on the ample supply of fungal gnats that have taken up residence in various soils including the palm, the Xmas cactus, the peace lily, the spider plants, the aloe, and the vinca vine.
posted by edithkeeler at 6:34 PM on February 28 [1 favorite]
posted by edithkeeler at 6:34 PM on February 28 [1 favorite]
I don't want to talk about plants. Instead, I found out that Unicode now has a limited range of coloured blocks in it ...
posted by scruss at 7:51 PM on February 28 [10 favorites]
🟦🟦🟦🟦🟦🟦🟦🟦🟦🟦🟦🟦🟦🟦🟦🟦🟦🟦🟦🟦🟦🟦🟦🟦🟦🟦🟦🟦🟦🟦🟦🟦 🟦🟦🟦🟦🟦🟦🟦🟦🟦🟦🟦🟦🟦🟦🟦🟦🟦🟦🟦🟦🟦🟦🟦🟦🟦🟦🟦🟦🟦🟦🟦🟦 🟦🟦🟦🟦🟦🟦🟦🟦🟦🟦🟦🟦🟦🟦🟦🟦🟦🟦🟦🟦🟦🟦🟦🟦🟦🟦🟦🟦🟦🟦🟦🟦 🟦🟦🟦🟦🟦🟦🟨🟨🟨🟨🟩🟦🟦🟦🟦🟩🟨🟨🟨🟨🟦⬜⬜⬜⬜⬜⬜⬜⬜⬜⬜🟦 🟦🟦🟦🟦🟦⬛🟨🟨🟨🟨🟩🟦🟦🟦🟦🟨🟨🟨🟨🟩🟦⬜⬜⬜⬜⬜⬜⬜⬜⬜⬜🟦 🟦🟦🟦🟦🟦🟩🟨🟨🟨🟨🟩🟦🟦🟦🟩🟨🟨🟨🟨🟩🟦⬜⬜⬜⬜⬜⬜⬜⬜⬜⬜🟦 🟦🟦🟦🟦🟦🟩🟨🟨🟨🟨🟩🟦🟦🟦🟩🟨🟨🟨🟨🟩🟦⬜⬜⬜⬜⬜⬜⬜⬜⬜⬜🟦 🟦🟦🟦🟦🟦🟩🟨🟨🟨🟨🟩🟦🟦🟦🟨🟨🟨🟨🟨🟩🟦⬜⬜⬜🟦🟦🟦🟦🟦🟦🟦🟦 🟦🟦🟦🟦🟦🟩🟨🟨🟩🟨🟩🟦🟦🟩🟨🟨🟨🟨🟨🟦⬜⬜⬜⬜🟦🟦🟦🟦🟦🟦🟦🟦 🟦🟦🟦🟦🟦🟨🟨🟨🟩🟨🟩🟦🟦🟩🟨🟩🟨🟨🟨🟦⬜⬜⬜⬜🟦🟦🟦🟦🟦🟦🟦🟦 🟦🟦🟦🟦🟩🟨🟨🟩🟩🟨🟩🟦🟦🟨🟨🟩🟨🟨🟩🟦⬜⬜⬜⬜🟦🟦🟦🟦🟦🟦🟦🟦 🟦🟦🟦🟦🟩🟨🟨🟩🟩🟨🟩🟦🟩🟨🟨🟩🟨🟨🟩🟦⬜⬜⬜⬜🟦🟦🟦🟦🟦🟦🟦🟦 🟦🟦🟦🟦🟩🟨🟨🟩🟨🟨🟩🟦🟩🟨🟩🟩🟨🟨🟩🟦⬜⬜⬜🟦🟦🟦🟦🟦🟦🟦🟦🟦 🟦🟦🟦🟦🟩🟨🟨🟩🟨🟨🟩🟦🟨🟨🟩🟩🟨🟨🟩⬜⬜⬜⬜⬜⬜⬜⬜⬜🟦🟦🟦🟦 🟦🟦🟦🟦🟨🟨🟨🟦🟨🟨🟩🟩🟨🟨🟦🟨🟨🟨🟦⬜⬜⬜⬜⬜⬜⬜⬜⬜🟦🟦🟦🟦 🟦🟦🟦🟦🟨🟨🟩🟦🟨🟨🟩🟩🟨🟩⬛🟨🟨🟩🟦⬜⬜⬜⬜⬜⬜⬜⬜⬜🟦🟦🟦🟦 🟦🟦🟦🟩🟨🟨🟩🟦🟨🟨🟩🟨🟨🟩🟩🟨🟨🟩🟦⬜⬜⬜⬜⬜⬜⬜⬜🟦🟦🟦🟦🟦 🟦🟦🟦🟩🟨🟨🟩🟦🟨🟨🟨🟨🟨🟦🟩🟨🟨🟩🟦⬜⬜⬜⬜🟦🟦🟦🟦🟦🟦🟦🟦🟦 🟦🟦🟦🟩🟨🟨🟩🟦🟨🟨🟨🟨🟩🟦🟩🟨🟨🟩🟦⬜⬜⬜🟦🟦🟦🟦🟦🟦🟦🟦🟦🟦 🟦🟦🟦🟩🟨🟨🟦🟦🟨🟨🟨🟨🟩🟦🟩🟨🟨🟦⬜⬜⬜⬜🟦🟦🟦🟦🟦🟦🟦🟦🟦🟦 🟦🟦🟦🟨🟨🟨🟦🟦🟨🟨🟨🟨🟦🟦🟨🟨🟨🟦⬜⬜⬜⬜🟦🟦🟦🟦🟦🟦🟦🟦🟦🟦 🟦🟦🟩🟨🟨🟩🟦🟦🟨🟨🟨🟩🟦🟩🟨🟨🟩🟦⬜⬜⬜⬜🟦🟦🟦🟦🟦🟦🟦🟦🟦🟦 🟦🟦🟩🟨🟨🟩🟦🟦🟨🟨🟨🟩🟦🟩🟨🟨🟩🟦⬜⬜⬜⬜🟦🟦🟦🟦🟦🟦🟦🟦🟦🟦 🟦🟦🟩🟨🟨🟩🟦🟦🟨🟨🟨🟦🟦🟩🟨🟨🟩🟦⬜⬜⬜🟪🟦🟦🟦🟦🟦🟦🟦🟦🟦🟦 🟦🟦🟩🟨🟨🟩🟦🟦🟨🟨🟩🟦🟦🟩🟨🟨🟩🟪⬜⬜⬜🟦🟦🟦🟦🟦🟦🟦🟦🟦🟦🟦 🟦🟦🟨🟨🟨🟦🟦🟦🟨🟨🟩🟦🟦🟨🟨🟨🟦⬜⬜⬜⬜🟦🟦🟦🟦🟦🟦🟦🟦🟦🟦🟦 🟦🟦🟨🟨🟨🟦🟦🟩🟨🟨🟦🟦🟦🟨🟨🟩🟦⬜⬜⬜⬜🟦🟦🟦🟦🟦🟦🟦🟦🟦🟦🟦 🟦🟩🟨🟨🟩🟦🟦🟩🟨🟩🟦🟦🟩🟨🟨🟩🟦⬜⬜⬜⬜🟦🟦🟦🟦🟦🟦🟦🟦🟦🟦🟦 🟦🟦🟦🟦🟦🟦🟦🟦🟦🟦🟦🟦🟦🟦🟦🟦🟦🟦🟦🟦🟦🟦🟦🟦🟦🟦🟦🟦🟦🟦🟦🟦 🟦🟦🟦🟦🟦🟦🟦🟦🟦🟦🟦🟦🟦🟦🟦🟦🟦🟦🟦🟦🟦🟦🟦🟦🟦🟦🟦🟦🟦🟦🟦🟦 🟦🟦🟦🟦🟦🟦🟦🟦🟦🟦🟦🟦🟦🟦🟦🟦🟦🟦🟦🟦🟦🟦🟦🟦🟦🟦🟦🟦🟦🟦🟦🟦 🟦🟦🟦🟦🟦🟦🟦🟦🟦🟦🟦🟦🟦🟦🟦🟦🟦🟦🟦🟦🟦🟦🟦🟦🟦🟦🟦🟦🟦🟦🟦🟦favicons look pretty bad really big
posted by scruss at 7:51 PM on February 28 [10 favorites]
I always thought they were called 'flavicons'. This explains a lot.
posted by mollweide at 7:57 PM on February 28 [1 favorite]
posted by mollweide at 7:57 PM on February 28 [1 favorite]
How long did it take for you to type in all the numbers requires for you to create that, scruss?
posted by hippybear at 8:11 PM on February 28 [2 favorites]
posted by hippybear at 8:11 PM on February 28 [2 favorites]
The Flavicons are allies with the Decepticons.
posted by Greg_Ace at 8:40 PM on February 28 [2 favorites]
posted by Greg_Ace at 8:40 PM on February 28 [2 favorites]
→
Not too long: it's all done with netpbm and sed. What took longest was colour-matching the characters (badly)
posted by scruss at 9:23 AM on February 29
How long did it take for you to type in all the numbers
Not too long: it's all done with netpbm and sed. What took longest was colour-matching the characters (badly)
posted by scruss at 9:23 AM on February 29
I'm very much in "Dear boss, DO NOT LEAVE for vacation until we have a check-in, otherwise I will literally SPIN MY WHEELS for the next week while you are gone" mode.
posted by theBigRedKittyPurrs at 11:46 AM on February 29 [1 favorite]
posted by theBigRedKittyPurrs at 11:46 AM on February 29 [1 favorite]
if you do need a houseplant thing from me, during pandemic I discovered it's an astonishingly bad idea to grow hot peppers on your desk. I don't know whether it's just my allergies or whether pepper flower pollen really does contain an irritant, but I was sneezing like a bastard the whole time and couldn't work out why
posted by scruss at 2:10 PM on February 29 [2 favorites]
posted by scruss at 2:10 PM on February 29 [2 favorites]
OK, I won't mention my tooth, but I was thinking this was my third and might have been my last Thursday Leap Day, so I made an effort to celebrate it.
posted by MtDewd at 9:31 PM on February 29
posted by MtDewd at 9:31 PM on February 29
On the one hand, I had what was the most successful job interview of my life. On the other hand... um, they're gonna contact my job. So, who knows there. I'm not even sure if I'd want the job, but the people were super nice. My head is boggling.
posted by jenfullmoon at 1:27 PM on March 1 [2 favorites]
posted by jenfullmoon at 1:27 PM on March 1 [2 favorites]
If your current employer is going to actively sabotage you moving to a position at a different company when they don't feel you're a good fit at their company, that's a really shitty thing to do.
Are you in any position at all to talk to your employer and ask that they simply verify that you have been employed there and not have them fuck you over? The impression I get is that they'd be happy to see you no longer working for THEM, so why would they make it difficult for you to work for someone else?
posted by hippybear at 1:36 PM on March 1 [1 favorite]
Are you in any position at all to talk to your employer and ask that they simply verify that you have been employed there and not have them fuck you over? The impression I get is that they'd be happy to see you no longer working for THEM, so why would they make it difficult for you to work for someone else?
posted by hippybear at 1:36 PM on March 1 [1 favorite]
Nope, definitely not in any position to have a chat about this. I can't be open and honest with them at this point and in this situation. Unfortunately this job wants to ask about my weaknesses at exactly what this office complains about with regards to me, so assuming boss feels chatty and doesn't stick to "she worked from date to date," which she is under no obligation to do, no matter what my friend just said at lunch... I'm sure the logic would be, "any company hiring her needs to know how bad she is at this."
The people were nice, but even I admit I'm probably not the best fit for the job in reality. It is unfortunately very similar to current job, just different location/subject matter. If I don't get it, I'll be fine. It just boggled me that it went that well in the first place.
posted by jenfullmoon at 3:38 PM on March 1
The people were nice, but even I admit I'm probably not the best fit for the job in reality. It is unfortunately very similar to current job, just different location/subject matter. If I don't get it, I'll be fine. It just boggled me that it went that well in the first place.
posted by jenfullmoon at 3:38 PM on March 1
I just read a headline "Elon Musk Sues OpenAI and Sam Altman for Violating the Company’s Principles" and my first thought was "What does Musk know about principles??"
posted by Greg_Ace at 4:00 PM on March 1 [1 favorite]
posted by Greg_Ace at 4:00 PM on March 1 [1 favorite]
I'm very much in "Dear boss, DO NOT LEAVE for vacation until we have a check-in, otherwise I will literally SPIN MY WHEELS for the next week while you are gone" mode.
My last full-time job was hard to define. I mean this literally: the position was created a decade before I arrived and my two predecessors and I were literally the only people on earth who ever had our shared job title. A large part of it was working closely with the head of the organization, and I met with him at least once or twice a day if we were both in the office — he’d ask me to produce a report on this or help him set up a presentation for that or do some translation work or whatever. If you considered what I actually had to do on autopilot, as it were, it took maybe a couple of hours per week. The rest was ad hoc, or maybe à la carte, but it was challenging and rewarding and constantly changing.
My boss left and a successor arrived. About a month into the new guy’s tenure, we had a meeting, maybe a couple of hours long, where he asked me some questions to get a better sense of what I did. I laid out everything, including a sampling of what his predecessor had asked me to do and made clear that a lot of it varied greatly from day to day or week to week, supplying things as he required.
That was March. In May or June, he told me he wanted to meet with me to get a sense of what I did. I reminded him we’d spent an afternoon on this very topic in March and he looked baffled. “We did? Huh. I’ll have to look for my notes.”
In perhaps August, we had our third meeting in all the time we worked together, which was a tiny throwback to what I’d been doing for years for his predecessor (I had to research some stats for him and assemble a presentation for him to do at some international meeting). I was glad to have something to do.
In October we had our fourth meeting in a year, which began with him saying, “This sort of meeting is never easy to do.” Yes, he was canning me, and the entire national office*.
On the bright side, they gave me three months’ notice. The downside was they went for some flagrant violations of labour law to try to shaft me on the severance (to the point of falsifying my length of employment — their position was that I had worked there for ten years; I found this odd as I had a certificate congratulating me in fifteen years of service on the wall in my office and guess what had vanished off the wall the next time I was in?). Luckily I found a very good labour lawyer and they had to pay a lot more than their initial offer.
Anyway, all this to say I spent a year spinning my wheels. I started at 9:00 and by about 9:20 I had achieved everything I had to do for the day — answered the e-mails, plugged relevant stats into the reports. Then I pretty much just read for the rest of the day, or worked on my own projects.
*For what it’s worth, the organization has fallen apart since then. COVID hit them hard, and their revenue was about 3% of what it had been when I saw some stats a couple of years ago. My new boss for that final year at the end also left a year or so after I did, retiring in 2017. You might recall that #metoo was cresting then. This and his “retirement” were, I am certain, totally unconnected.
posted by ricochet biscuit at 3:27 PM on March 2 [2 favorites]
My last full-time job was hard to define. I mean this literally: the position was created a decade before I arrived and my two predecessors and I were literally the only people on earth who ever had our shared job title. A large part of it was working closely with the head of the organization, and I met with him at least once or twice a day if we were both in the office — he’d ask me to produce a report on this or help him set up a presentation for that or do some translation work or whatever. If you considered what I actually had to do on autopilot, as it were, it took maybe a couple of hours per week. The rest was ad hoc, or maybe à la carte, but it was challenging and rewarding and constantly changing.
My boss left and a successor arrived. About a month into the new guy’s tenure, we had a meeting, maybe a couple of hours long, where he asked me some questions to get a better sense of what I did. I laid out everything, including a sampling of what his predecessor had asked me to do and made clear that a lot of it varied greatly from day to day or week to week, supplying things as he required.
That was March. In May or June, he told me he wanted to meet with me to get a sense of what I did. I reminded him we’d spent an afternoon on this very topic in March and he looked baffled. “We did? Huh. I’ll have to look for my notes.”
In perhaps August, we had our third meeting in all the time we worked together, which was a tiny throwback to what I’d been doing for years for his predecessor (I had to research some stats for him and assemble a presentation for him to do at some international meeting). I was glad to have something to do.
In October we had our fourth meeting in a year, which began with him saying, “This sort of meeting is never easy to do.” Yes, he was canning me, and the entire national office*.
On the bright side, they gave me three months’ notice. The downside was they went for some flagrant violations of labour law to try to shaft me on the severance (to the point of falsifying my length of employment — their position was that I had worked there for ten years; I found this odd as I had a certificate congratulating me in fifteen years of service on the wall in my office and guess what had vanished off the wall the next time I was in?). Luckily I found a very good labour lawyer and they had to pay a lot more than their initial offer.
Anyway, all this to say I spent a year spinning my wheels. I started at 9:00 and by about 9:20 I had achieved everything I had to do for the day — answered the e-mails, plugged relevant stats into the reports. Then I pretty much just read for the rest of the day, or worked on my own projects.
*For what it’s worth, the organization has fallen apart since then. COVID hit them hard, and their revenue was about 3% of what it had been when I saw some stats a couple of years ago. My new boss for that final year at the end also left a year or so after I did, retiring in 2017. You might recall that #metoo was cresting then. This and his “retirement” were, I am certain, totally unconnected.
posted by ricochet biscuit at 3:27 PM on March 2 [2 favorites]
Boss and I were able to sync up. We are sharing a branch for a major change and I wanted to make sure I was not haring off in the wrong direction or duplicating work. As it turns it, I kinda was, but it was work that will need to be done in the future anyway and most of it can be revamped for the current change. So I was able to stash the current work and pivot without too much pain.
posted by theBigRedKittyPurrs at 6:39 AM on March 3 [2 favorites]
posted by theBigRedKittyPurrs at 6:39 AM on March 3 [2 favorites]
We're testing a new service at work and my initial tests indicated it was not only not great, it was mostly unambiguous fraud. My boss's boss (whose baby it is to try this) reacted with straight-up kill the messenger energy so now I have to steel myself to use the shitty service tomorrow and pretend to be super excited about it, so that I can get off his asshole list.
posted by DirtyOldTown at 3:08 PM on March 3 [1 favorite]
posted by DirtyOldTown at 3:08 PM on March 3 [1 favorite]
butts.
posted by bombastic lowercase pronouncements at 3:41 PM on March 3 [2 favorites]
posted by bombastic lowercase pronouncements at 3:41 PM on March 3 [2 favorites]
My dead fern - I was literally looking at it yesterday and thinking, "this plant is dead dead, time to get rid of it" - has put forth new leaves. Perhaps it will recover yet, and then I'll have to take care of two plants. Perhaps the spring weather (too soon for spring, but I can't help liking it) has awakened it. Perhaps I shouldn't keep it so close to the window next winter.
posted by Jeanne at 5:45 AM on March 4 [2 favorites]
posted by Jeanne at 5:45 AM on March 4 [2 favorites]
« Older The food is not what it seems | I thought it was a laugh but people in the... Newer »
This thread has been archived and is closed to new comments
Apparently I only provide post-mortem care for plants. *sigh*
posted by wenestvedt at 5:50 AM on February 26 [14 favorites]