Indoor Plant Care Tips Guide

Yet another perennial. I like these colors together, the black and blue and pinky-purple, but something about it looks sort of . . . unfinished? Perhaps if there were a lot of blooms going at the same time. As it is, it's B-/C+ work at best. I think I prefer the smaller, more compact annual Centaureas. Which we do not sell. Anybody want to weigh in on this?

Like yesterday, another picture of a perennial I'm not incredibly familiar with. The picture is much more impressive (or at least much more, you know, big) if opened in a new window. You can practically count the pollen grains. Though please don't. You have better, more interesting things to do than pollen-counting. PATSP may be a little light on text and long on perennial photos this week,

According to a UCLA study referenced by UPI, gay marriage will bring an additional $160,000,000 into the state economy over the next three years, due to couples from neighboring states where gay marriage is not yet legal choosing to marry in Iowa. The estimate is that 55,000 couples would do this.Assuming that Iowa doesn't panic and fuck it up somehow. Midwesterners are not, as a people,

Owing to the way that things are set up at work, I spend most of my time with the tropicals and annuals, but we have perennials too, and occasionally I wind up getting to see them. I don't have much to add to this picture; Brunnera is one of those plants I remember kind of liking but the name hasn't really been sticking with me. Hopefully that will change now, though. One of the nice things about

Yesterday at work, Younger Co-Worker attempted to guess my two favorite annuals based on what we had more varieties of this year compared to last year. She guessed coleus (Solenostemon scutellarioides) and Osteospermum cvv. She got it half right: coleus is high on the list.This year in coleus we will have: 'Quarterback,' 'Fishnet Stockings,' 'Merlot,' 'Merlin's Magic,' 'Pink Chaos,' 'Gays Delight

Okay okay. That was fun. We've had a cold, a lizard, and gay marriage, but let's get back to talking about the plants. . .. I'm sorry; I got nothing. Could I maybe get a pass for today and just try to be, like, extra clever tomorrow, please?

I'm afraid I have not yet completely managed to get my head around the Iowa Supreme Court's UNANIMOUS decision this morning. I'm still working (writing this very quickly while on lunch break, at home). Every so often, I remember what's going on and think to myself, HOLY FUCK, but then the moment passes and I forget again. This will probably be happening a lot for a few days.For those who have

I continue to work on the plant-toxicity post, which is now looking like it's going to be a PATSP Special Event, something on the order of Houseplant Toxicity Week. (Hey, if the Discovery Channel can have Shark Week . . . ) Things keep getting added and subtracted and moved around, and at last check, the damn thing was up to 6400 words. Not unprecedented (the two parts of the Saintpaulia ionantha

Crazily trying to water the house plants on my day off, which as many of you know involves checking the 500ish plants one at a time to determine whether they require water, and then picking up those that do and taking them to the bathtub, where once the bathtub is full, I water the lot with the detachable showerhead, the plants drain, and then we move on to the next set. It's time-consuming and

PREFACE: Feel free to skip this one if you know it's going to rile you. We don't have to agree on everything. Abusive comments will be deleted as they appear; negative comments will be decided on a case by case basis; positive comments will mostly be allowed to stand, but I warn commenters not to go off attacking broad categories of people. The decision about which comments are abusive / negative

It kind of amazes me how fast we go through Tillandsias. I mean, I can see why people would be interested, in theory, and WCW loves them, but honestly, WCW's tastes are not what you'd call mainstream, so the fact that regular customers like them too kind of surprises me.Of course, I wonder about the long-term survival rate of the plants we sell. Maybe we sell so many because the same five rabidly

Apologies in advance for whining (but isn't the calla lily in the picture pretty?), but I had a cold in early March, and as of about last Friday or Saturday, I have another one. Sore throat, runny nose, stuffy nose, fever, aches, etc. As I write this (Tuesday afternoon), I'm feeling like . . . like . . . well -- I feel bad (facility with simile is one of the first things to go, when I'm sick).