I was not in my greenhouse this spring sowing seeds or preparing other plant related things, because my husband and I retired. I tried to convince myself I could go without sowing seeds, growing things, nurturing seedlings, and propagating succulents, or whatever, I would do in my greenhouse in the spring. I decided I want to travel, so really, I won’t be here to water, coddle, care for my plant babies during the summer months. Plus, there is a cost associated with growing plants from seed such as seedling mix to nursery pots, etc. And I thought I should avoid that expense now that we are retired.
However, as the middle of summer hit, I thought this would be a good time to clean the greenhouse. What in 100-degree weather? During CT’s heat wave, you ask! Well, in the early mornings, it is a great time to hose all the dust off everything I left in the greenhouse, and it all dries very well as the heat rises to the point I can’t be in there.
This whole thing “cleaning the dust off” in the greenhouse got me daydreaming about my days in the greenhouse from years prior. Even when I close the slider door, there is a bang slam type of noise as the side of the door hits the frame, and that simple noise is something I heard repeatedly when I was in my greenhouse full time in the spring seasons. It gave me flashbacks. So did hearing the birds outside the greenhouse, seeing the trees sway outside the greenhouse, and just the simple things you experience in there when working in the quiet or sometimes with a speaker playing favorite tunes. Those moments when you are using your hands, hands in the soil, just being with the whole environment. My greenhouse was that place for me for lots of time in the spring, fall, and even winter. Usually mid-summer though, it would be just way too hot be working or playing in there.
But, I did think, well, it will be hot, I can grab the water hose, blast all, reorganize lots of stuff I had piled up here and there, and even hose down windows and doors. I started to take everything out of my antique school style lockers from spray bottles to tools, to cups, to plant labels, to bug sticky yellow traps, to scissors, magnifying glass, and anything else and hosed all the lockers down to remove dust and crime. It felt good, but it also brought lots of reminders of the projects I did in the greenhouse. For example, once, I tried stamping old spoons for a while and have a whole set of the stamp tools in the school lockers along with all my other plant related tools. It just brought back memories and made me realize the greenhouse was my true Zen woman cave. I spent lots of hours in there when sowing tomato plant seeds and it kept me busy. Then in the winters, I’d care for overwintered plants.
Anyhow, I realized I don’t think I can do without using my greenhouse. It is part of my soul. I thought about what ifs. What if I turned it into a pottery studio? But nah, I don’t want to invest in all that. What if we turned it into a place to sit and chill. Well, there is no chill in a greenhouse in the summer, way too hot. What if we covered the clear roof and made it another hang out room? Well, we don’t really need a hang out room in the summer in that heat. What if I just stored a bunch of stuff in there but then it just hit me, I truly miss it. I miss being in there working with plants. It was my thing, and it gave me a special vibe. So, I just may rethink that whole don’t use the greenhouse anymore ridiculous idea.
In the meantime, I’ll keep cleaning and sorting and removing things that I have too much of. And get it well organized so that next spring, I can sow seeds, I think. I told my husband the same, he agreed, it is my thing, and he will repair a problem in the roof for me this fall cause now he is home and can do so.
In the meantime, I just try to enjoy what I do have. I cut back on the plants in my patio pots, and went with just a few. To see empty pots or planters around my home is something I just try not to think about – and look away. LOL. I used to LOVE filling every corner of my deck with plants, but I cut back a lot. Meaning I didn’t grow as many and really tried to reduce this hobby expense.
Anyhow, the other day, changing the pace here a bit, I was sitting on a little couch near my kitchen, and I saw a big butterfly flutter by – and I thought, Oh My Gosh, is he going to my planter on the deck?! And he was – visiting the pentas annual pink flower heads and I was able to take photos of a beautiful large swallowtail butterfly. That made my day between the whole greenhouse cleaning reminiscing phase! Maybe it was a little sign. Keep going he said, don’t give up your plant greenhouse passion!
It’s December 2024 – Wow! Only about 4 weeks till Christmas. Usually, in past years, I was one busy, hyper, nervous woman preparing fresh holiday greens for an upcoming huge holiday workshop during this week, but I stopped doing that during Covid year. And now I’m in a new stage of my life, being retired. I still plan to post on this plant related blog from time to time, but this year, I didn’t post that much. I was in a funk. Family drama entered during the first year of my retirement and my husband’s – such is life, sometimes timing can mess up the best laid plans. I am hoping 2025 will bring better days, but in the meantime, I do find that creating crafts is a form of therapy. So, on my sad days recently, I thought to myself, “Make something – anything. Even if it doesn’t come out good.”
When I worked on my fresh greens for those prior big holiday workshops consisting of teaching how to make wreaths, kissing balls, and other beautiful holiday items, it was my holiday too, but I was always nervous too. Will I run out of fresh holiday greens? Do I have enough for all the attendees? Will the greens last? Sometimes, I over purchased greens or holiday craft supplies like ribbons, berries, pinecones, or whatever used to embellish the wreaths and kissing balls made in workshops or for my special orders just cause of the fear of running out. So, after 20 years or so of doing my holiday workshops, I did end up with some extra “supplies” in my stock room. Thus, I could craft now by myself for another 10 years probably – LOL.
I saw one day a candy cane wreath made of pinecones on a social media feed, and I thought, hey, I have plenty of pinecones still in my stock. And I have 3 frames left in my stock shaped like candy canes. Pinecones are something I would just gather in the woods mostly. Sometimes I purchased them from a wholesale supply house if they were special, like those with silvery sparkles, or an extra touch with berries or whatever.
Thus, I made this candy cane pinecone wreath using a wire frame recently (see photo below). It was easy in ways but tricky with the hands. I just pushed some pinecones I had (faux and real) that were already batched in 3. Three pinecones wired together previously. I used two types and fenagled them thru the wire frame and then just used standard florist wire to secure. The backside of this candy cane wreath is sloppy – but I didn’t really care, cause first of all, you can’t see the back, but I also didn’t care, because I was doing “craft therapy.”
I have some of that moss in stock too – it is a dry type, and I grabbed bits of it and tucked it around. I also have some of those larger red balls and I love those and added some here and there, then added a premade curly bow. I used some glue gun glue to secure some items, but that was it.
Once I was done, I posted photos and people were kind and said they liked it! But it is not perfect. And that is okay. Gathering together with friends, making something crafty, isn’t always about being obsessed with decorating your home for the holidays. It is sometimes used to heal the soul, to heal what may be off for your holiday season. I know that sometimes, in my workshops, I would sense someone that may not have been totally festive – something was off, maybe they were sad, maybe they were lonely but when we all got together to craft together, it tends to make you focus on something else and it is art therapy! It allows your mind to be distracted, to focus on something other than disturbing or upsetting thoughts. It can help you. It is art therapy, and I hope you get some of your own therapy time in too if you need some!
P.S. Someone asked me if I put the white touches (frosted look) on the pinecones myself, which I did not, but you can do that – just grab a sponge, put some white paint on it, and roll the pinecone across it and let it dry.
Love, Cathy T ContainerCrazyCT.com Located in East Windsor, CT Currently retired
Today I did it – I clicked the button to not renew my subscription to another blog I maintained, called Workshopsct.com. It will officially expire on 2-29-24. This site was used to announce my workshops a few years ago, and most recently, my service offerings from things like my creative Succulent Topped Pumpkins to Summer Watering Services. I have officially closed my small plant related business, but I am always here to offer tips on container gardening, plants, and hobbies. Thus, for now, this site, called Container Crazy CT, is staying.
I think one of the hardest things to let go of is all my amazing photos of plants, many of which were showcased on WorkshopsCT.com. I’m addicted to plant photos – probably because I’m a visual person type of person. I love reviewing my photos and thinking about the story behind each container garden creation, or a nature situation like spotting of a butterfly or other cool insects and also looking back on photos of many types of plants, flowers, herbs, succulents, cacti, tropicals, tomatoes, and even weeds at times! LOL.
Anyhow, saying goodbye to a blog is not easy for me so I’m doing it in steps. First to go is Workshopsct.com, and next will probably be my 3rd blog about container gardening services, called Container Gardens CT. But, again, this blog, for the time being is staying. I’ve been writing on it for over 10-15 years, I’ve lost count! Below is a photo of the screen shot of workshopsct.com, just for the heck of it.
Enjoy the rest of your weekend! Cathy T of Container Crazy CT Today’s date: 1/14/2024
A New Year is coming up in just a few days, and what is in store for 2024? It is hard to tell. Things are changing for me. My husband has retired. It feels surreal! It is amazing, and it is an adjustment. New days are coming.
We now feel we will have time to do some gardening together for a change. While he has always been the most enthusiastic helper to my plant endeavors over the years, even learning some of the plant’s Latin names, we could not actually physically build a garden together at our home because he was always so busy with work.
I always fill our long deck along the back of our ranch style home with container gardens filled with plants of all kinds and some vegetables over the years. Tomato plants and hot pepper plants are two of our fav’s. But we have done others like Edamame and pumpkins, just to name two! And of course, many big planters filled with wonderful tropical plants like Ensete, Colocasias, and Canna Lilies.
Steve, my husband, always helped me with the heaving lifting of bringing up pots with a hand-truck to our deck, but sometimes, I was on my own and that is probably how I strained some muscles here and there. We are both getting older and need to be careful with that.
We always dreamed of having a large, raised bed type of garden system in our backyard. One where there are several raised beds in a pattern to walk through, with a fence and arbor entrance. However, one of our big dilemmas is the wild animals! There are plenty in our yard from groundhogs to squirrels. In fact, I usually allow the groundhogs to keep their home under a shed and have babies which are cute to watch scurry across the backyard when they see or hear us at the house or on the deck, but now, how will we ever keep them away if we build our dream vegetable garden in our backyard?
Wild animals have become one of the biggest challenges to gardeners. Some people will put gardens in the front yard or lawns, closer to the street, and that may help keep pests away. However, our front yard is a big hill so that wouldn’t work. Plus, there is no water access up on our front hill.
Sometimes I think we will take down our pool now. It is more costly to maintain. The bucket of chlorine tabs of supplies went up so much in price that we don’t think it will be worth it. The pool filter always breaks, and we are not home in the summers all the time, so we can’t watch the filter basket – stuff like that. Could that area be our new garden space if we did remove our pool? Not sure. Even if it was, it would have to be foolproof to protect from the pests.
That is just one of our goals. I always also grew tomato plants from seed, and it is a wonderful experience. I don’t see the hubby tending to those, but maybe we could grow the plants in our greenhouse till fruit time, but a greenhouse can get very very hot in the summer, maybe too hot to set fruit. Fans and screens need to be maintained, and I suspect insects would be a bigger problem in the greenhouse rather than outdoors where there are more natural insect predators to help. So, I’m not sure on that idea. Maybe I will test it out this year for the first time though. Maybe with smaller tomato plants, like some cherry tomatoes because inside the greenhouse, groundhogs and squirrels can’t enter.
One friend suggested just using the community garden space in our town for a garden, but I would really like to tend to a garden at my home and be able to enjoy it daily. Our backyard is totally surrounded by woods and the river runs down in the back which brings along many types of wild animals. Deer is another. And we all know here in CT how deer love to eat plants. It is like I need a fortress.
We also have lots of home improvement ideas brewing in our minds but which to do first will be the big question. I’m sure we will make a list and decide from there.
Also, I’m kind of semi-retiring myself. I am no longer offering my container garden services and have closed down my business officially via paperwork, but I will always still dabble in plant fun. The other big question is, do I keep my plant blog going?
Can you believe, I’ve written on this blog, Container Crazy CT, for over 15 years? I do have quite a few visitors per my stats, and I added ads this year only because I need helping with maintaining it. For many years, I never put ads on here. I just freely wrote articles to share.
I wonder how much I would miss my blog if I stopped it all together? I have even looked up things on my own blog before to remind me on what I did for this or that. I don’t get many “likes” on this blog on the actual posts – I think it is because people need to log in to do so, and today, clicking likes and heart is so easy for every other platform from Instagram to Facebook, so I think my blog is a bit old fashioned in comparison. It is not so easy to just click like.
When spring arrives, I will have to decide what my new adventures may be. I have often dreamed of getting a pottery wheel and doing pottery in my greenhouse as a new gig. But the expense of a kiln may be too much. Someone told me the other day you can bring pottery to be fired elsewhere – I’ll have to research that. That was always one of my dreams to make my own pottery items.
But the ultimate dream would be to just move to Hawaii. Yup, that kidding husband of mine jokes – Let’s do it – knowing full well he probably would NEVER agree to that! And yes, Hawaii is way too expensive! But dreaming is a good thing – we all should dream – one never knows.
Welp, if you feel like commenting on your thoughts – let me know. Just a week ago, my cousin’s son told me he was researching plant stuff and came across one of my articles from this plant blog. I thought, oh gosh, I hope it was a good article because he is super smart and a talented professional horticulturist himself. What was he looking up? How do deal with squirrels in the garden! Go Figure.
Happy New Year’s to You all. I hope you have some new goals in mind for 2024 too – even if they are unclear like mine.
Salal lemon leaf is a widely used green in the florist industry, but I didn’t know it. I was first introduced to it by my contact at a florist supply house when I asked, “What other greens hold up well that I can add to my greens list for the holidays?” She mentioned Salal.
Salal – Oval Green Leaves Shown above with other greens
Salal lemon leaf is packaged in bundles with rubber bands. Each stem holds several oval shaped green serrated leaves at the growing tips grouped in an alternating pattern. At first glance, I thought, “Wow, these are beautiful.” I definitely wanted to get some, and so I did.
As I read that linked post above, I didn’t realize it grew by rhizomes and I’ve never seen a picture of this plant in its natural state. Apparently, it grows like an understory plant in the forest. It is noted under the botanical name, Gaultheria shallon. It the florist industry, it is listed and commonly known as Salal Lemon Leaf.
Salal is a wonderful alternative, in my opinion, to holiday magnolia leaves. They have a similar shape, but they do not have the thickness or the brown color on the undersides of the leaves like magnolia leaves do, but they are a very pretty glossy green color, and are smaller sized. Apparently, if you rub the leaves together, they smell like lemon from what one website indicated, but I’m not sure on that. I never noticed any scent or fragrance from the leaves.
Salad used in a Holiday Pot Creation by C Testa
They come packed with the rubber bands and bunched in boxes lined with plastic. Sometimes wet newspaper was wrapped at the stem ends to hold some moisture, and sometimes I would remoisten paper towels to wrap on the ends too, but overall, this plant really held up well prior to use, and on wreaths and in holiday kissing balls, and after. I also discovered that it holds up pretty well in vases of water too by recutting the stem ends, because one year, I had some left over and set them in a vase of water.
Salal Lemon Leaf in Vase of Water
I referred to salal lemon leaf in my workshops as a “premium green.” They are pricier than other greens obtained for wreath making and are used more in floral design. It is not a green commonly seen in traditional wreaths sold in the retail settings and stores. As I began to work with salal more each holiday season, I discovered more about it that I loved. Using salal lemon leaf became a real pleasure to me. I think they are gorgeous.
One year, for the heck of it, I thought about spraying silver paint on them. To my amazement, the silver held on quite well outside. I don’t recall if it rained or snowed a lot that year though, but I was a bit surprised the spray paint did not wash off the lemon leaves.
The stems of the salal are very long and somewhat hard but flexible, but they were strong enough too, if you wanted to carefully insert some into a kissing ball, it would penetrate the Styrofoam or florist foam ball with ease, so long as you don’t jam it in there. I would hold the tip of the stem closely at the bottom and push it into the ball for holiday kissing balls here or there. I like the look of wreaths and kissing balls with a mix of greens so this was always a special touch added.
Kissing Ball with Salal and Other Fresh Greens by C Testa
Salal lemon leaf looks gorgeous in wreaths. I suppose you could make a whole wreath with just salal, but it is pricy, so to me it was a beautiful accent plant to use to add those special touches on the hand-made wreaths. Each bundle comes with many stems, and I would keep them stored as bundles before each use.
As with my other holiday greens, a cold room is best for storage before use, like an unheated garage. I also put a tarp over the boxes. I guess that was my method to ensure they stayed as cold as possible and avoided any direct sunlight from garage windows, but in the floral industry, these are kept in florist coolers.
I never “treated” them with any products to maintain freshness but there may be some out there, I am not sure. It wasn’t needed overall for my holiday creations. The leaves also, to my pleasure, held up very well in the windy conditions for a couple balcony high-rise clients I had. They did not break off which is so important because the wind is very extreme on some days in the middle of winter on the top outdoor balcony floor of a 38-story building, and so I was so pleased this green was good to use in my big wreaths which hung on a wall outside.
I always mix various greens together but at one of my workshops, a lady put a batch of salal on her wreath and alternated batches with other greens. It came out lovely and here’s a photo of her holding her wreath from that workshop, which one of my last workshops for fresh greens wreath making – a celebration year (2019). The year before COVID arrived.
I also sold boxes of various holiday greens and added stems of salal to the mix. One year, a lady made garland with her greens box for her stair railing at her home and shared this photo with me. I thought it was just beautiful and a very useful way to highlight this florist quality green.
I felt salal stood out well in the various wreaths I made. I kind of fell in love with this product and really felt it was a wonderful and long-lasting item to offer. I know all the women, and sometimes men, who attended my workshops loved using it too. I would tell them to disperse the salal lemon leaf in places on their wreath to serve as an accent. It also worked well in holiday pots as shown above in this post.
Salal in a Wreath by C Testa
I never really experienced anything bad about using it or storing it – so long as you received it fairly fresh from your floral supplier. It would sometimes have a smell in the box that would remind me of stem rot, so I was always sure to check on it – make sure it was okay, not too damp in the box at the stem ends and staying fresh. Overall, it was the case and never an issue. I never misted the leaves and kept those dry and cold in the boxes when stored before use.
Salal in a wreath by C Testa
Salal lemon leaf made the wreaths, kissing balls, garland, and holiday pots look more professional and luxury style in my opinion, so it was a keeper on the fresh greens list every year. I’m glad it is one I asked about early on! Hope you will use it too in your creations.
Thank you for visiting and Happy Thanksgiving to you!
Cathy Testa Located in East Windsor/Broad Brook, CT Date of Post: 11/23/2023
Making a Wreath by C Testa
Salal Lemon Leaf Photo by C Testa
Stay tuned as I will continue to go over the various fresh holiday greens used in wreaths. So far, I’ve covered Yew, Holly, and with this post, Salal. See prior posts for more information. I hope you are enjoying this upcoming holiday season.
Note: I am making Ribbon Holiday Wreaths this year for sale – see my www.WorkshopsCT.com page for information or visit me on Facebook or Instagram under Container Crazy CT name. Thank you – Cathy T
Yesterday I started the process of taking down my tropical Alocasia and Ensete plants from my container gardens and patio planters at home. It was a nice sunny day, and it is much more pleasant to work on them in the fall when the weather is not cold or too wet. These tropical plants must be removed and stored over the winter because they do not tolerate our cold winters here in Connecticut in pots and planters.
Here’s a photo of the plants I took out of the planters.
October 17, 2023 – Base of Alocasia plants (Upright Elephants Ears) and One Ensete (red banana plant)
And here are my tools:
Tools Typically Used
Garden Sheers, Hori Hori Garden Knife, Kitchen Serrated Bread Knife, Pruners, Trowel, and Small Shovel.
Cutting off the foliage and stems
Cutting back the foliage is the first step and is relatively easy to do. Using the garden sheers or the kitchen serrated knife works perfect. I recorded several videos of me doing this and posted them on my Instagram page as well as my Facebook pages under Container Crazy CT if you wish to see how I used the tools to cut all the foliage back. Here are the links:
For the Alocasia (upright type), I cut off all the leaves with stem (petioles) attached about 6 to 9 inches from the base of the plant. After getting all the foliage off and tossing the items into the compost, the next step is to dig out the base of the plant. This is the area where the corm is at the base (often covered with furry looking or papery material and has the roots attached at the bottom), and up to where the petioles grow from and up to the green part of the plant. Sometimes you will see little round suckers forming at the bottom of the base. For the purposes of this post, I’ll refer to the whole thing as the “base of the plant.”
Base of Alocasia’s above
Base of Ensete (red banana plant) photo above
The components of the Ensete (red banana plant) are a little different than the Alocasia (upright elephant ears) because it does not form a corm per say as the Alocasia does. It is basically like a big stump, with the roots at the bottom. When I cut the leaves off the Ensete, notice I use a knife and cut away from the plant base to avoid nicking or damaging the trunk. Technically, it is called a pseudo-stem formed by the leaf bases but for ease of writing this blog post, I call it the base or the trunk when it comes to the Ensete (red banana plant).
Dig out, Upside Down to Drain, Air Dry
In both cases, the fleshy material can be damp and contain some water so after I dig them out, I lined them up upside down to allow water to drain before laying them on a table in the sun for a few days to dry out some more. If the weather is rainy, I move these into the basement to dry out on a table.
I will trim the roots somewhat so there isn’t as many roots as possible to deal when they are stored in a box. The boxes I use are cardboard with air holes made in them with a knife – slits basically. In a prior post, I talked about how I store the upright Alocasias differently than the regular elephant ears. In my experience, these upright elephant ears store better in a dry and dark state versus a damp and dark state.
I allow the plants to air dry and then I place the base (as shown above) inside a cardboard box that will not allow any light in, and I put the box in a cool, dark place in my basement. I will check them in a few months to see how they are doing. Storing my upright Alocasias this method worked very well last year.
In years prior, I had stored most of my tropical plant bases in plastic bins, with air holes drilled in the top covers, and in some slightly moist peat. This worked well for my Canna Lily rhizomes and regular elephant ears, but I started to see rot on the upright Alocasias and learned dry storage was better for those types of tropical plants. Either way, if you discover the bases are rotting in the boxes, it is best to toss them out. And try again next year.
Now back to how I dig them out of my planters.
The Hori Hori knife is my go-to tool first. I basically stick the knife straight down into the soil and dig around it (the base of the plant) to cut the roots under the soil. I’m careful not to hit the corm or any part of the plant below but I can hear the roots crack as I saw around them with the Hori Hori knife. Sometimes that is all it takes. If that doesn’t get it out, I use a small shovel to dig more around the plant and then I rock the base back and forth with my hands and eventually it comes loose from the soil.
Timing
You can do this process before or after CT’s fall frost, but again, when it is cold wet and frosty, sometimes the corms will start to rot in your pots, so I like to do this “take down” process before things are mushy and wet. It always works for me. I usually do this mid-October when are days are cooling down.
I do brush off or use a leaf blower or just my gloved hands to remove the soil around the roots and the base of the plant base as much as possible. By the way, gloves are mandatory for me – the sap from these can make your hands itch and it is difficult to wash off – so I always wear gloves.
Collapsible Bin – Very Handy
My sister-in-law gave me this bin this year and wow, I wish I had this for years prior. It is so handy. I toss all the foliage in there and toss into the compost.
Check the bases later
As noted above, I will check on the stored boxes of these periodically. Here’s a post I did last March when I check on them and they were doing well. You can see I used newpapers to make a bed for them and how the green is slowly fading on the photo below and eventually it goes dry.
October photo of two of the planters (left Alocasia; Right Ensete)
As you can see, the flowers around the two tropical plants are starting to fade. The Salvias were still blooming (purple flowers), and I will miss those very much because two hummingbirds fed from them all summer. A bee or two was still visiting the blooms as well this month. They were so tall and beautiful. The White mandevilla was still offering some last blooms and the petunias faded pretty much. But the two tropicals still steal the show all the way into our fall season – why I love them so much.
The Ensete (red banana plant) on the right is a new one this year. I had stored a base of an Ensete for over 12-14 years but last year, I lost it, so I scored a new one this season. The Alocasia plants are from an original I got about 4 or so years ago and each year I get more from the pups and the repeat storing of the original. They are tricky to get growing in the spring though – and take a while to start from dormancy, but so worth it. Once they take off – they grow big.
Storing container plants is a way to save money and keep a plant growing larger as the base gets bigger each season. It’s a bit of a process but it went well yesterday for me. I’ve written my steps many times and just use the search bar to locate the posts.
In Connecticut, many plants we use and display in our container gardens and patio pots will not survive the winters here, and must be handled by taking them in as houseplants or storing them by digging out tubers if they have tubers, corms or rhizomes, such as tropical plants like Canna Lilies, Elephants Ears, etc.
I’ve started some of this overwintering setup process already this year. This year, I mostly have agaves, cacti, and succulents to take inside as houseplants candidates. Some of them are rather large and this is becoming like a jigsaw puzzle in my home, because I’m taking them into the house instead of my greenhouse this winter. I don’t want to pay for the heat for my greenhouse – it is becoming too costly. So, I’m literally back to how I used to store plants when I was first into playing with plants over 20 years or so ago!
Pick and Choose the Best Plants to Take Inside
The process of picking and choosing which are worth taking into the home is interesting. I have literally stared at a giant agave and thought, Hmmm, where could I fit this? I’ve rearranged my small home office so a table has space for some plants by a window. And I put many smaller succulent plants (like in 3-4″ pots) in the kitchen garden window over my kitchen sink that faces south. I even moved a small couch from my kitchen sitting area to fit plants under a window facing west there too. Plant people will do anything for their green babies, like a complete furniture rearrangement to make space by a window.
I see people asking all the time on gardening Facebook group pages, what do I need to do to move in this plant? Sometimes it is a tropical Hibiscus plant, other times it is a traditional houseplant they had outdoors, or perhaps it is a giant Canna Lily plant. Everyone has their suggestions, like dousing them with a dish soap liquid combo, or other methods, like putting them in a garage and doing a bug bomb routine, and someone said they even put theirs in paper bags and spray them with insecticide and let that sit for a day to kill any bugs. Are these methods good? Well, if it works for them – perhaps. Not sure about the bag method, however. But you will try anything to take in a plant for the winter and keep it growing or stay dormant so you may use it again next year outside in the summer months here in CT.
My Ground Rules for Taking Plants In:
I, however, use certain “ground rules” for which plants are selected to be brought into the home for the winter. And here are my rules:
The soil must be dry (as dry as possible).
For succulents, cacti, or agaves, I make sure the soil in the pot has dried out – so they were either kept under a patio umbrella (if there’s been rain) or brought into more sun to help dry out the soil on sunny days recently. I make sure the pot is draining very well, even have tipped a pot on its side and let water run out, and I look at the soil to inspect it. If possible, I may tap the plant out of the pot and inspect the roots and just kind of look over if there are any critters in there. Or rotting roots. Dry soil reduces the potential for soil born insects, I find. And cacti, succulents, and agaves do not need lots of moisture in the winter. So before taking them in, I make sure the soil is as dry as possible. We have had a mini summer episode this week for weather, so it is good right now to try to get the soil dry if possible, so I’m doing that now. Rain is coming Saturday. I want to take them in before that.
Blow any Debris off the Plant
I have a small leaf blower and I will use that – especially for Agaves since their leaves are stiff and can take the blowing of air, to remove any debris. Leaves from trees sometimes fall on them and get stuck between the leaves of the plant. A leaf blower is perfect this this – it may blow away a spider or two as well, but spiders are usually good bugs, however, if you have a fear of spiders, you probably want them gone before taking the plant indoors. I cut off any bad or damaged leaves of plants after this. What I’m trying to do is remove any potential for something to cause issues. Some insects feed on decaying plant material, so getting rid of anything decaying on the plant is a must. A vacuum may be another handy tool, and also look under leaves of plants for anything lurking.
Washing the Outside of the Pot
I use soapy dish water to very thoroughly clean the outside of the pot. I want to make sure I’m not bringing along any debris, dirt, or maybe something unseen. All of this is done to prevent bringing in trouble, like hidden insects or any kind of lurking problem. It is a precaution of sorts. But worth doing.
Selecting Best Location Possible Inside
It is tough if you don’t have a glass house, but there are some places I know my plants could make it. Some of my medium sizes agaves went inside the bedroom by the slider. It is Southeast, it will get some sun, just enough to hang in there. I put the mini succulents in the kitchen garden window but remember that window gets cold in winter, but most succulents or cacti can take “some cold”. On good days, I am sure to open the little side windows on the garden window to give the plants air circulation. I also put some on a table in my home office which faces north. I’m not sure if that is going to work though, but I may get a small grow light and try that location. That window and room is colder, but not as cold as an unheated greenhouse would be. However, there are some succulents that actually are fine with less sun so those will go in the office. My bathroom small window works for a couple plants. Plants that don’t need a lot of sun and like humidity from the bathroom shower may go on a little table there.
Spraying Plants with Houseplant & Garden Insect Killer
This I do with only some. If a plant has a bug issue and I see it – and it is bad, it doesn’t make the selection list at all to bring inside. It is too much of a risk to increase and spread. If I may suspect a tiny problem; I may lightly spray the plant before bringing it in to try to treat it. Garden Safe is one I have used. But I truly don’t do this too much. Look at the bottle label on the back, make sure it is a safe product for your particular houseplant candidate (some products should not be used on particular types of plants), and do that outside before you bring it in. Again, I avoid plants with problems, and usually I don’t have too many big issues because I coddle my plants in the summer as well. Many people use insecticidal soaps or horticulture oils, etc. Ask your local nursery person for a good product or browse those sold in stores, but read the label on the back, open it up and see if any plants should not have that spray on them.
Giving Plants Away
I select the people I give my plants to with as much carefully thought-out consideration as I do with which plants come into my home. My sister-in-law has a beautiful big glass living room, and she has a green thumb. I just gave her one of my huge Jades. She was thrilled. I have given her plants before, and she always keeps them thriving for years. It makes me feel good when I see the plants in her home, but I also have that tang of jealousy, like, wow, I gave that one away?! But like I said, my house is small. And she truly does take good care of them.
Overwintering Saves Money for Next Season
Overwintering plants is a way to save money and also is a method to keep your treasured long time plant companions going for years. It also adds beauty inside your home. And life! But probably the biggest concern people will have been insects and the correct place to put your plant so it can make it. A room with absolutely no light may not work for the houseplant candidates. It depends greatly on the type of plant and the temperature too in the house. If you keep a room totally unheated, that can stress a plant. But that room may be perfect for tubers you are storing in boxes, for example. I will go over tuber and storing of corms and rhizomes again soon.
I have a rather large Agave which I’m currently trying to figure out where to fit it. It has matured so much over the years; it is huge and heavy! I noticed one day ants going to the base of the large pot. I thought, uh-oh. I won’t move that one in the house without potentially taking it all together out of the pot and removing all the soil – what a chore, and it can be dangerous due to their spines. I’m still contemplating this one. Should I try to sell it? It’s a monster! What will I do? I don’t know.
Other methods:
There are other ways to capture some of the parts of the plants like taking off-sets or cuttings of annuals or even some succulents will have off-sets or plants on the stalks, seed gathering for other types of plants, etc. And storing tubers or rhizomes of tropical plants which I will most likely cover here again, but I also have many posts from years past on this on this blog. Use the search bar to search for them. But right now, I’m focused on my agaves, cacti and succulents for this post.
Keep your Inspection Hat On!
Finally, once you have decided to keep a plant and take it indoors, keep your inspection hat on. Look over the plants every few weeks or even every few days initially. If you see a problem, act on it before it spreads. Reduce watering greatly for cacti, succulents, and agaves. They don’t need water much during the winter.
Thank you for visiting!
Cathy Testa Plant Blogger Connecticut Date: 10/4/2023, Warm sunny weather this week but rain and cold on Saturday!
I have a post from 2013 on how I stored my Big Red Banana Plant (tropical plant). It is sometimes difficult to search for, so I’m linking it here below for those asking:
Self-watering pots, those with a reservoir area at the base of the pot to hold water for the roots, were not high on my list in regard to usefulness. I had tried them at home on my deck outside and I found that I didn’t like them for several reasons, such as, they tend to get overwatered when it rains and stay in a flooded state (unless you use the drain plug to release the overload of water), they don’t allow air to circulate well when waterlogged, and things like that. In fact, several years ago, I actually wrote a post about how I just didn’t like self-watering pots. I felt they were not good for plants! See that prior post below:
Boy, did I change my mind when I experienced using self-watering pots on a high-rise balcony. On the high-rise balcony, which I tended to for five years for clients’ plants in various pots and some self-watering pots, the environment is so different, I guess you could say, the environment has big weather extremes. And because one of those extremes is intense heat and strong sun, the self-watering pots (they were actually long planter boxes) did not stay flooded after a rain fall for long. The sun and heat dried them out much faster than self-watering pots I used at my home at ground level or on my deck.
A big environmental or climate consideration on a high-rise balcony for the plants was the extreme heat and full-on sun (as I refer to it – sun that is full on and intense). On some days, in the middle of fall, or even winter, it was like being on the beach up there on a balcony so high up if the sun was out. On hot summer days, I would have to make sure I worked on the balcony during the period of day when the sun passed by and there was shade from the buildings so I wouldn’t roast, but that was not often doable. Let’s just say, it gets very hot at times, almost unbearable, so plants which tolerate drought and heat were critical as well. To clarify, this was 38 floors up on the top of a building in a city exposed to all elements from sun, wind, etc.
Because of the environmental extremes such as sun (and wind), trying to keep the soil moist for the plants was more of a job for my clients. They would have to carry water out from inside their penthouse. By hand, with buckets! There was no outside water source, so my big fear was will they water enough? And they did fortunately. Otherwise, the plants would be toast from the extreme sun and heat.
However, with self-watering pots, some of that was solved. My clients actually had two long planters that were self-watering pots before I came onto the scene. When they pointed them out to me, I didn’t say much because I always felt those planters were problematic (as noted above in my prior post from many years ago), and I believed in watering plants in pots yourself. But I was the fool in this case, because I learned quickly, those self-watering planters were winners on a high-rise. So, for those who may be doing some urban gardening, take a look at self-watering pots. They may be very helpful to use if you have plants that require moisture and also if you have intense sun (and wind) on your open balcony up high.
Let me explain why. If the rain fall was abundant, the fact that the sun was so strong and hot after at times, the soil would dry out. The water would not stay in there and flood the planters, like they did at my home after a rain fall. It would be the same exact weather at my house and theirs but due to being up so high, the planter would not stay waterlogged. Waterlogged soil will rot the roots or kill them. It was working out, especially for herbs. Herbs can take dry soils usually, but they do need moisture at times. I started to fall in love with their long self-watering planters.
I learned lots of lessons by working on a high-rise thru experience. I also have knowledge on plants and which were tolerant of conditions, drought tolerant, loved heat and full sun, but I still had lots to learn and plants to test out. In the case of self-watering pots, I discovered that they rock on a high-rise balcony.
The self-watering planters did need to be stored for the winter, however, which I offered as part of my services. I would wash them well, store them and return them in the spring with fresh soil and fertilizer. It was working out and they still have those planters today – those were a very good idea, and an excellent investment.
Pots and planters have special considerations on a high-rise which is another thing I will write about, and I had to find solutions. I’m kind of an out-of-the box thinker – AT TIMES … so I got really creative when during the first year there, which I will write more about later. Weight for example is a big factor. Again, it is not like pots near the ground, there were weather considerations all the time.
Plants that I felt did very well in their self-watering long planters were herbs. I did try smaller compact type of patio cherry tomato plants one year, but they kind of fell over from the winds, so that did not work where the long self-watering planters were positioned near the railing. However, herbs did very well in these. Some herbs in general can take dry soils – herbs like rosemary, for example. Later, I ended up acquiring some tabletop pots which were also self-watering and started to use them with succulents on their high rise as well. Those worked out well also. Succulents do not like soggy soils, so when it rained so much that it flooded the pots, it was fine because the sun and heat would dry them out fairly quickly. Or you can drain them if need be. It was just working out so much better than I would have thought.
A couple things I did was I added some small pea gravel in the base where the reservoir holds the water to weigh down the planters. As noted above, due to extreme winds on a high-rise, I was concerned the planter was not heavy enough. I also used standard potting mix with slow-release fertilizer. And sometimes, I top-dressed the top of the soil with either pea gravel, mulch, or moss, however, it was not really needed but I liked that “finished off” look to add some style to planters.
Here are some photos. I know I have more, but it takes a while to locate them. When I find them, I will add to the next post. I rather enjoyed taking them the planters to my greenhouse to clean for the winter and replant in the greenhouse to deliver in each spring. I felt they were kind of Zen. The herbs would grow three times the size at their balcony – I know I have photos of that but will have to share them when located! It always amazed me how much the plants grew when I would return for a fall change out. Balconies are wonderful places to have a full blow herb garden if you have enough sun, which this place did.
Self-Watering Long Planters with Various Herbs
Self-Watering Tabletop Planter with Succulents Above
Thank you for visiting,
Cathy Testa Container Crazy CT Blogger in East Windsor, CT
Back in 2019, I received a voicemail from a gentleman, and he was looking for a gardener for his balcony. I immediately felt a certain tone in his voice. Something about the phrases he used and his professional manner in his voicemail to me made me feel this would be a call worth returning. And, my friends, it was.
It led to quite the adventure of planting not only one but two high rise balconies for five years, located on the very top floor of a building in Hartford, CT. It’s a good thing I do not fear heights, because if you did, you would not be able to look over the railing at the scenes far below. It can make a person with a fear of heights queasy.
There’s something special about working in a high-rise urban situation. The background city sounds are constant, but they are not the typical sounds I hear at my home, which is filled with birds and maybe a slight sound of road traffic. On a high-rise, you hear sirens, distant constant highway background noises, an occasional high-flying hawk, and air sounds. I liked that. It is not overpowering, just there and didn’t bother me. In fact, because I have tinnitus, I rather liked the background city sounds. It drowned out my tinnitus and also the enjoyment of working in this special place, made me not focus on tinnitus either! Plus, the views were enough to not even think about the background noises.
I also liked how you are up there overlooking the world, and no one knows you are. It is a really neat and inspiring situation. One time, when working on their planters, two helicopters flew right near there, as if a pair flying together. I thought, can they see me here, and I even wondered if it was the president. I had read he visited an area in CT that day.
And after a few rounds of plantings, I started to see bees. Usually, a solo one or two. One time, the client heard a tree frog in the planters. They could not locate it, but they were amazed, and so was I! He either hitched a ride on one of my nursery pots, or could it be possible he climbed up that high?! The balconies are 38 floors up! I always liked pressing that PH button in the elevators, I have to admit.
I thought, gee, I so wish I landed this opportunity when I was younger. I was very excited to work for these clients and their balcony gardening projects, and yes, it was all very large planters the full length of the balconies. Fortunately, they referred me to another couple in the same building, so had two wonderful sets of clients and wonderful planting scenarios.
Probably the best part of it all was the upmost appreciation for my planting work and craft by these clients. I was told often that I was an artist. Can you imagine how that felt? It was wonderful and meaningful to me. And their flexibility, as they fully understood this planting situation is unique and has special challenges. They were always, always polite and understanding because things unexpected can happen on a high-rise situation with plants. I knew it would be challenging yet extremely fun and rewarding for a plant person. Plus, I liked their style. Both had their own unique style, and it was fun to think about how to best meet their needs in that regard as well.
Working on a high rise has many challenges. Try – no water sources outside. Extreme winds that will shred plants. Cold temperatures when I did winter installs. And in the summer, extreme heat. I had a lot to learn and research. And, not to mention, going up and down constantly in an elevator. I am lucky I am a thinker about organization because you have to organize all to be efficient in those situations. And I got to witness how plants respond differently in a high-rise balcony situation in planters, pots, and spaces. Plant colors are different when experiencing extreme heat, they grew to amazing large sizes in some cases, which blew me away. I would plant a small herb and it would reach the size of a shrub by the end of summer. It would shock me sometimes, like wow, they love this sunshine and heat! I read somewhere you could not grow tomatoes on a high-rise, NOT! You sure can and they were wonderful.
I thought it would be a great idea to talk about the plants which worked well in these situations and what didn’t work so well on a high-rise. And write about my high-rise balcony gardening adventures. I actually had trouble finding good books on balcony gardening. I could write one of my own I guess, but I choose to use my blog, here on Container Crazy CT, to write about scenarios I encountered in a series of posts.
It begins today!
Sneak Peak of a Row of Big Square Planters
A tapestry of succulents in long square planters – Loved how this came out in year one!
I’m not sure exactly where to start but these two images above are sneak peeks of two of the many planters. The first is client number 1 and after much thought and questions, I ended up putting together a mini garden and I loved how the deep plums accentuated it. And for the other photos, it was a mix of succulents. Some grew two to three sizes larger in one summer. It was amazing. I will write about these and many other planting arrangements as I do my series of posts upcoming!
More later!
Cathy Testa Container Crazy CT Date of post: 9/12/2023 Location of Photos: Hartford, CT My Location: Broad Brook, CT
This is my 2nd year trying to grow some Long Island Cheese Pumpkins and I started them a bit too early again. They were ready by mid-August, and I’d prefer them to be ready by mid-September. Anyhow, they are just fine sitting on a table with no blemishes and curing for a week or two in the sun. I use them primarily to decorate for autumn but maybe I’ll get into growing more of them next year as a food source for winter soups and Thanksgiving pies!
The Long Island Cheese Pumpkins resembles a wheel of cheese in shape and the color is very pale compared to ordinary orange pumpkins, but I like these for the shape. The seeds for these may be directly sown into a garden or large pot or started early indoors. I started these indoors in early to mid-May of this year, and last year, I had started them indoors in mid-April. It seems early May was still a tad bit too early. So, a new date is noted for 2024.
Because squash, which this pumpkin is technically a squash, grow really fast, they should not be started earlier than 3 weeks before spring frost. It takes about 98 days till they are ready. Anyhow, if they arrive earlier than your needs, just let them cure in the sun for a week or two. Cured squash will store all winter. They are pretty cool in that regard. And because they last a long time, they are perfect for the succulent topped pumpkins I usually make to display in the home thru Thanksgiving time.
This year, I grew them in two places. One in a super big pot on my driveway and one in a large square planter on my deck. The one on the driveway worked out well because I take garden twine and help them run up the twine along a wrought iron fence. The tendrils quickly grasp on various places on the fencing, and they hang on. By having them on a twine like this, the pumpkins do not touch the ground so there is less chance of any rotting from sitting on a wet surface and no blemishes. Also, no animals messed with them. That could be because they were somewhat hidden by a background of other plants.
The one on my deck sprawled out on to the deck floor and then I let it hang over the edge of the deck. I got only one pumpkin on that one, but it was cool to see it hanging in the air, so I helped it stay put by using a hanger. Anyhow, the one on the driveway got 4 pumpkins. I’ve been just kind of experimenting and having fun with them. As I learn, maybe I’ll get into growing more next year.
One of the nice benefits of pumpkins is their huge beautiful yellow flowers – which the bees absolutely adore. Some mornings, I’d find up to 4 bees in one flower buzzing away. If you want to help pollinators, plant some pumpkins!
Pumpkin on the left (tomato plant on the right)
Pumpkin hanging from deck above.
Sitting on a table to cure for a couple weeks.
You can see the color difference in the last photo above. I kind of determined when to pick them by the firmness of the rind and also looking at the stem, but I was somewhat guessing too. Plus, the plants started to look a little worn, so I figured it was time to cut them loose around mid-August.
I watered the plants regularly with generous amounts of water, but I did not fertilize except one time with a liquid feed. The soil had compost in it in the pots. The plants prefer full to nearly full sun, and the one on the deck didn’t get as much sun as the one on the driveway. Oh I said the animals didn’t bother the pumpkins, but some of the leaves got munch off once, maybe by a brave rabbit. Brave because my cat is an excellent rabbit hunter.
I plan to do more research on pumpkins because for some reason I’m interested in them! Maybe because it seems they don’t get bothered much if provided a safe place to grow. Wish me luck for next year – I hope to have more harvested.
Container Crazy CT 