I am an outside plant person.
I've never messed with houseplants. Not sure why. I suppose it's because the typical houseplants available just don't appeal to me.
This year, however, I have been fussing over the one plant that made it inside this once the weather turned. Mostly out of fascination.
Meet my succulent pot.
When Winter came in 2019, I ignored it for the most part. A few weeks of freezing cold softened and withered the aloe to the point where I figured it was a gonner for sure and the only reason it was on my porch come Spring was simple laziness on my part.
When I was about ready to toss it during a cleanup weekend, I noticed that there was some green in the mass of squishy gray. So I cut it all back and left it alone curious to see what would come back. It went from nothing to something during Summer 2020.
When we had our first frost a few months ago, I made the commitment to bring it in the house and take care of it. I move it from window to window as the sun moves, turning the pot as I go so everything gets a little UV.
For all that I chirp on and on about Carolina blue sky, these past few weeks have been gray and cloudy. And so, my succulent pot has now moved onto the stove underneath the bright light of the LED on the stove hood. This vantage point has allowed me to get up close and personal with this plant.
I'm looking at little babies and suckers and colors... I'm fascinated by this plant.
And now I'm wondering if I want to explore succulents a little more.
I know that they are all the rage right now. I'm thinking I might commit to a few more pots of them on my back porch once the weather warms up.
We keep about four pots of aloe vera plants, three upstairs in my husband's office and one down here in the kitchen. His three don't do quite as well as the one in the kitchen mainly because I forget to water (and turn) the ones up in his office window. Did you know that the aloe plant is EXCELLENT for burns? They've come to our rescue many, many times over the years. Once (for a reason we still can't imagine) when my husband was getting off our old tractor, he grabbed the very, very hot exhaust pipe on his way down. His whole palm was burned. We sliced off an aloe leaf (the spear) and slathered the goo inside all over his hand. He never even had a blister. And that's why we love aloe vera plants. Kinda off topic to your post, but good info to know if you didn't already. :o)
ReplyDeleteNot off topic at all, MP. It's nice to hear a first-hand example of how aloe can heal. Now that you mention it, I remember my Dad rubbing the gel into his hands during Winter. He had those deep cracks in his hands that never seemed to heal.
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