I’ve long had a desire for a green thumb to care for plants in my office. I finally removed the window darkening film. I’m hopeful with the natural light rays freely beaming in now, my plants will survive and thrive.
This plant wasn’t doing so well after I first got it, so I assumed it needed more light.
So I moved it to a window seat, next to another plant that loves sunlight and it seemed to be happy. It started to stand up straight, and a few new leaves started to sprout.
Together the two plants sat in unison facing the warm sun, on the shelf above the books noticeably all organized and stacked (as in good Feng Shui). What plant wouldn’t be all happy and ready to grow to provide me the gardener with results that last?
I was confident in my choice to move it there.
Ever since I’ve been super excited about the growing away from the sun it has been doing. Its pal to the left, aka, the unknown succulent – (I have yet to figure out what kind it is, if you know, let me know PLEASE!) apparently adores the sunny window spot.
Look at that thing grow! The race was on – which plant would thrive?
And then I noticed my little ol’ Fittonia (Nerve Plant) was blossoming. With lots of delicate flowers. Blossoming and then dropping everywhere onto my books below.
Wow, I might have a green thumb after all – like my own little sprout? Just look at her plants and how happy they all are together in her apartment.
Fast forward to today, and look at this Nerve Plant go. Blossoms, stacked upon blossoms, and it just keeps on growing out the backside of the pot, away from the sun. The blossoms seem to like the sun more, though.
When a plant blooms, it’s gotta mean it’s happy, right?
This plant looks really happy to me.
It’s growing and it’s blossoming. That’s a good thing, so I thought.
Well, after I did some research (thanks to these three websites 1, 2, 3) I found out, while it appears to me to be happy growing on the side of the pot away from the sun, oddly enough, all those blossoms mean it’s going to seed.
Oops!
“It’s important to prune any flowers that appear; this prevents the plant from going to seed.” “Prune the leaf tips aggressively to keep the plant full and prevent it from becoming leggy.” – HousePlant411.com
Well, crap. Now I need to prune it and move it to indirect light so it will survive some more, and maybe even thrive? Good thing I have more of the mystery succulent plant propagating in another room that I can move to the window seat so the other plant isn’t lonely.
Moral of the story – I may have considerable odds stacked against me for that green thumb I’ve hoped for when it comes to growing Nerve Plants.
Post Inspiration – Nancy Merrill’s Weekly Photography Challenge – Stacked
PS – How about you, do you have a green thumb? Do you know what kind of succulent it is in the photo? Do you have any plants that get on your nerves or vice versa you get on their nerves?
I thought you were heading for prune-by-kitty. That’s what’s happened to every plant we’ve ever had.
LOL – so far our two kitties have left the plants alone. The location next to the window gives them other more interesting things to look at, maybe?
When we tried the window, the cats just knocked the plants off the shelf.
Dang cats 🙁
Ha! I’ve gotten rid of any plant that doesn’t thrive in my house, so you’re more patient than I. I have two monster jades in the south windows and a Christmas cactus that DH’s eye doctor gave him after eye surgery (a nice touch, but it’s now my project). I would get rid of the cactus if I thought it wouldn’t be noticed, but it does put out amazing blooms at least twice/year. The jades have to be pruned back hard on a regular basis or I would be living in a jungle.
LOL – I don’t know if I’m patient, maybe, or it’s the ‘hmm…that’s weird, wonder what will happen next if I do this” thing about me that keeps me trying. I feel bad when it goes wrong for the plant. I have never been able to keep a jade plant alive. Probably because I haven’t tried a south facing window. Duh! I had a 100 year old Christmas cactus from my grandmother, I loved how it bloomed like you described yours does. I tried to transplant it and it didn’t survive the experiment. I was fine with it, it took up a lot of space. A jade jungle…I’m still amazed, I almost want to go buy one just to see if I could grow one in the south window sill!
appears that the plants are feeling your love
They’re feeling something, maybe I should talk to them more?!
Alice – I love the new look of your blog! I tried to comment, and the comment disappeared. Not sure where it went!? Just wanted you to know!!
Ok thanks I’ll check it out
Keep me posted, please!
Lovely, Shelley!! Your beautiful plants made me smile… 🙂 🙂
Thank you, Amy, I’m glad we shared a smile with you! Your comment made me smile too!!
You do have a green thumb Shelley! The plants look happy 😎
Thank you, John. They’re hanging on. Not quite as bright and lovely as the ones you had in your garden! You have a green thumb too!
Even if we don’t have the green thumb, our love and care are important. Beautiful plants, Shelley.
You’re right, Winnie, a lot of TLC helps plants thrive. Thank you for sharing your kudos for my efforts xx
You’re welcome, Shelley!
No green thumb at all here. Yours and your sprout’s look great. Did you have a problem with your site yesterday? I couldn’t see your posts. Kept telling me there was some sort of problem. I’ll have to click around and see if I can read it today.
Thank you, Janet! I dunno…maybe…WP is weird. I think my Bluehost account is going through things too. Let me know if you see this comment and things work today?! Sorry for the hassle. I appreciate you letting me know!
I was able to see your response and maybe it was something on my end since no one else said anything and obviously were able to see and comment.
It’s hard telling with WordPress, I’m glad you can see the replies!
You’re supposed to prune the flowers on house plants? Well that’s news to me. Maybe I will, maybe I won’t. 🤔
I dunno – maybe just for this plant? I haven’t decided if I’ll trim or not? It’s an experiment for me now that I know there are more variables to consider. Hmm…
I’m so impressed with your creative plant doctoring! Nice job – room darkening film…I’m intrigued! Never heard of that before. Your plants look like they’re thriving 🙂.
Thank you. The film…a fix by Mr. when his office was in the room, it gets a lot of afternoon sun and it gets really hot, so he thought that would help keep it cooler. My plants were missing the natural lighting, so I thought. They have done better since removing it? Go figure!
So not so great for the plants. Good detective work. 🙂
Not so much. So far, my work has paid off. 🙂
I was better with outside plants and even then I occasionally lost them. But inside plants – now that is scary. A poinsettia will not last until Christmas even if purchased a few days before Christmas as I usually overwater the poor thing (plus the water drains out everywhere). My mom would have hers for months and still going strong.
I take care of houseplants like I cook/bake. I think I have to give up my woman card one day 🙂
LOL – I’m trying to revive my green thumb. I used to be so good at it. I may have transferred the gift to my youngest at her birth?!
You’ve got other creative gifts, you’re doing well to hone those instead!!
It’s never too late to revive it – outside I have silk flowers … next year I have to get new ones. These looked very lifelike but are getting faded – had them 7 years. I went to Michael’s and duplicated what I used to put in my pots and baskets, my green resin garden boots planter and the small wheelbarrow and just anchored them down with orange and grapefruit mesh bags and river rock- voila! Much less work. Thank you – I’m still working on manual photography. I slid back into “auto” again – maybe next year! All the photos in yesterday’s “Tiny Treasures” post were taken with the digital compact, what I use on my weekday walks.
Faux flowers are nice – I have a bunch in my entry way – every year, I dust them off. Much less work than having to remember to water them.
You’ll find ways to get used to manual mode. It does take time. I grab my compact all the time too when I’m heading out. It’s easier to carry and get a quick shot.
Yes, I am never without the compact – I got some more squirrel shots today – it’s so much easier to use it and feed the squirrels, though I missed a couple of shots today as they were too fast for me. 🙂
Good thinking!! I didn’t have my camera with me and we saw a tiny deer standing in the sunlight looking at us. Sigh… it’s a nice memory, though!
I hate when that happens. The first time I went to Grosse Ile to check out the deer (since a fellow walker lives there and showed me pics of deer family near his home on his phone), I had the big camera with me and in the case on the back seat. Normally, I always carry the small camera in a pouch on my fanny pack in case I see something and I always have the fanny pack on. But I had taken the camera out to get some pics off the card from the day before and thought “I don’t need it – I have the big camera.” Two bucks were right in front of me crossing the road. – Sigh is right.
No my thumbs are a mysterious orange with brown and purple stripes!!
I hope you’ll read my post for this challenge. I bet we would laugh together!
LOL – at least your thumbs are colorful! Yes – your post made me laugh, good one!!!
Thanks!😄