October: Birthday Junior, plus one

It's been a long time since I've posted about, or acquired, any houseplants. I took a several-month hiatus from collecting, cooing over, photographing, and in some cases watering, the juniors, and am just now starting to regain interest in their cute little lives. I did however work up the energy to buy two plants recently...

Vriesea hieroglyphica, my birthday present to myself (and $20 off, thanks to Groupon)

and Portulacaria afra 'Variegata', purchased from a vendor at the Chicago Botanic Garden's bonsai show.

I don't know if I will maintain its horizontal branched form or just let it go wild. I certainly do not have the patience for full-on bonsai action, as evidenced by the collection of empty bonsai pots in my basement.

I put some of the houseplants outside for the first time this year. Usually, indoor plants stay indoors, outdoor plants stay outside, and never the twain shall meet. I mixed it up this year, overwintering a hibiscus and then putting some things out in the summer. Lesson learned: even morning sun is BAD. I nearly lost my treasured night-blooming cereus and another cactus to sunburn. On the other hand, the desert rose thrived and bloomed in the sun (until the wind knocked it off the table; now it sort of....curves) and the yucca put on a bunch of new growth. Trial and error, I suppose, but I'm going to be very reluctant to put anything outside next year.