"Just Let it Grow" 🌞

“When you take something apart, you get a great sense of what it took to originally put it together.” ~ Anonymous

So, before yesterday I had absolutely no idea what the hell a chindi rug was and it took Terri and I going to “Five Below” for her to hold one up and say: “Look at this chindi rug.” Sis and I had eaten Mexican for lunch, and then she wanted to go to the new “Five Below” to browse. I ended up spending $107 and she got away with $74. We’re good browsers.

This is from Five Below…exactly what I used!

Anyhoot, she told me that you can take the rug apart by cutting the strings and then pulling the fabric out! It’s obviously strips of fabric and then you can use it for other things. So, I sat down on the floor and cut the rug apart on a big sheet so the strings would be in one place. It was a good thought…but Edward liked pawing through them so much I just let him make a mess. But I did too!

Then after cleaning all of the fuzz and strings up, I started perusing Pinterest and YouTube for project ideas and didn’t see anything that caught my eye. So, since I’m a quilter, I thought “What the hell?” Might as well see if it could be done. The sari fabric is polyester and some is very thin, or gauzy, or silky so sewing was a bit (cough cough) difficult.

I decided to add strips to a back and used felt batting for it. I just started sewing strips across the batting using a 3.0 stitch and regular presser foot. It was a nightmare! The little frayed threads got caught in the presser foot and it was easy to get the fabric bunched up. But being able to see all the colors and patterns as I was sewing made it worthwhile!

After the strips were sewn, the actual hard part began! Squaring the darn thing up made me cuss a few times out loud, and then the backing. Ugh. I knew I couldn’t do a binding on something like this, so I did a turn and flip (sew backing and pretty side together…leave a space…then turn the piece inside out and sew up the turning space). It worked pretty well but the top and bottom looked crappy…particularly where I flipped it. So, I just sewed an extra scarf on the sides and it helped a lot!

Now, the finished project isn’t ready for the National Quilt Museum, nor am I going to make a 1000 of these and go on QVC. However, I do like the way it brightens up a dingy wall in my bedroom! I like a LOT of color in my house!

Then, the really fun part started after this was done and hung…cleaning my sewing/greenhouse room up! Actually, I like puttering in there and getting it ready for my next project is fun. At least it’s more fun than picking up poop in the backyard, or vacuuming 3x a day because your dogs shed, or going to Wal-Mart on a Saturday. You get the point!

Anyway, it was cool to work with something new and I still have a ton of sari strips. I’m trying to think of some other things to do with them…maybe I’ll just take them all to Terri, and she can make a project herself. 😐

Kristi xoxo

P.S. Love you ma. 🌞

“I always say shopping is cheaper than a psychiatrist.” ~ Tammy Faye Bakker.

So, call me cheap. I can handle that! BUT, don’t call me ‘cheap’ as in ‘She’s CHEAP’…call me ‘cheap’ as in I’m obsessed with the Dollar Tree!

I’m one of these people who prepare more than I need to before I actually DO. I don’t know why I think everything must be just so, but I’m going to blame ma. 😐

When I first started messing around with plants, I thought I had to have the best…i.e. MOST EXPENSIVE…tools/pots/accessories for my plants to thrive. I learned a really important lesson though – plants don’t give a fuck about price…they just want comfort! So, I decided to go to my favorite browsing stand-by: The Dollar Tree! $🌴

Right now is the perfect time to shop there…everything spring it out and by July, Christmas will be on the floor so you might want to boogie there now.

Here’s my haul this season…so far:

These little planters with domes are GREAT for propagation of leaves and seeds!

I love using these covered roasting pans for propagation…they are great little green houses and about $2 cheaper than any other place around here!

These little peat pots are great too…they also have the connected square ones and these are at least $3 bucks cheaper than others I can find!

I love these little green houses. I have herbs in a couple of them and African Violet leaves in the other.

I always use a top coating over the soil to discourage fungus gnats and because I just like the looks of it! Pebbles in bigger quantities are cheaper at places like Lowes, but I like to get just a few different varieties and mix them up!

There are so many pots available and I really like these…the blue ones are self-watering and I love the ‘expensive’ look of the other!

I had to get these little covered domes but don’t know what to do with them yet! Hmmm…

With the roasters, you can definitely just put the soil into them without using the peat pots (why does that sound naughty to me?) but I like being able to plant them individually when they are ready without disturbing the others! However, they are GREAT as seed starters…I have a roaster with Zinnias now!

The individual dome green houses are adorbs and this way, I can easily label each propagation I’m doing. I love these! 🌞

Some of the pots at $🌴don’t have drainage holes which is so so so important. But, my power drill and small bit works. I just have to be gentle to not crack the plastic. I don’t always use the self-watering ones as self-waterers (is that a word), but like the option. The self-waterers (I’m going to make this a word) I use for other plants have the wicks which I just like better.

I used to use a plastic cup for soil and rocks when transplanting, but saw a kitty litter scoop and use it instead! It’s so much easier to control the soil as you’re putting it around the plant. And, since I’m allergic to cats, it’s a way to experience one little part of their lives…the poop part. 💩

Now, I’m not sure what to do with the domes. I was thinking little terrariums but didn’t unscrew them at the store to see how they worked. With the black bottom coming off, I can’t put in dirt, etc. to make a terrarium and am trying to come up with other ideas. I was so disappointed but…OMG! I just looked at the website and found these…I’m going to get a couple for terrariums!!

NOTE TO JOHN: we’ll be going to Lowe’s tonight. (For some reason, this pic won’t center for me. 🙄)

Finally, $🌴 has plant labels, plant clips, bracket hangers, metal plant hangers for the yard, seeds, and the cutest decals and stickers ever for your plant room and pots!!

Plants don’t need to acquire a designer look…they are pretty enough and know that cheap is the way to go! Have fun shopping!! 🙂🙂🙂

Kristi 🌞

P.S. Love you ma.

“I don’t know anybody who deserves to get chopped up and fed to a hungry plant!” ~ Seymour (Little Shop of Horrors)

So, UGH! I started plant propagations last week and did even more over the weekend. I also spent a ton of time rearranging my plant room…yet again. BUT I keep telling myself to stop pissing around with it and get busy growing!

I honestly forgot I had this stand until I dug around in my shed!

But here’s the thing: I’ve been teaching college since 1993 at 3 different institutions and as much as I truly love it…especially my amazing students…I’m ready to look ahead in my life at something new. Before ma died, I talked about opening a small plant shop and visited a bunch of them around central IL. I got so many ideas of how I wanted my shop to look and even started inquiring about a couple of properties.

Then common sense took over. My city is very poor and businesses close more than open. So many of our residents can’t afford even basic needs so a more ‘exclusive’ plant shop would most likely be a no go.

That’s one of the main reasons I started this blog. To connect with other plant lovers and learn and share as much as I can. You know I’m serious about this networking because I’m breaking my Facebook ban (yes, it really affected Mark Zuckerbergs’s life so I made my point 😐) and am going to join plant groups and learn from them. My sister is on a few and many of the people in the group sell plants and I want to be a part of it. I also want to have plant sales at my house a couple of times a year. A lot of people in our area have garage plant sales during the summer and I want to see what the responses to mine might be.

So…what’s the problem? I’m getting this blog going…I’m propagating loads of cools plants, especially varieties of African Violets you can’t find around here…I’m starting to network with others….I read, learn, and experiment all of the time…I’m working on creating a violet hybrid of my own. (I already have a name for it when I succeed…probably 10 years down the road…”ma’s best”!)…I’m creating designs for planters…etc.

I definitely want to have this plant in a hybrid with a ruffly leaf violet…but it’s harder than HELL to get the damn pollen from such little flowers!

BUT, here it is (Susan, please do your drumroll here): I’m scared shitless!! There! I finally said it!!Now, my son is a very successful small business owner and he created an amazing company in the course of just a couple of years. Here’s what he told me when I talked about my plant stuff to him (this is very deep advice…be prepared to take notes): “Ma. Just do it.”

First, that would be a great tagline for a tennis shoe and second, he makes it sound sort of easy. But jumping into all of this scares the fuck out of me. Look, I wanted to be a teacher since the 4th grade and I truly believe it’s the purpose I was given in life. I’m not trying to sound braggy, but I’m pretty damn good at it (I guess that did end up sounding braggy 🙄). I’ve taught everything from 2 year olds to 70 year olds and have so much confidence in my abilities.

But this potential business stuff is new. I’m not confident about getting things going the way I want…and to not be confident in something I want to do is alien to me! I don’t want to fail – school is my ‘thing’ but business isn’t! (Before online banking, I never learned to balance my checkbook. I would just switch banks when it got too confusing so I’d simply have a fresh slate. 😬)

But having talked about this for a couple of years now, I understand I either ‘crap or get off the pot’ so I guess I’m going to start crapping. I’ll make huge mistakes…I’ll probably cry a lot…I know I’ll be calling tons of people for advice and help…but I’m going to really try to make this dream of mine a reality: selling plants, designing plant pots/accessories, etc. and continuing writing. If ma’s death taught me anything it’s this: you truly never know how much more time you’ll have on this earth. I want to make sure I use the rest of mine trying new things…starting new journeys…taking risks.

Kristi 🌞

P.S. Love you ma.

Reproduce? At MY age?

S0, first of all it took me several tries to spell ‘propagation’ right (I’ll be using it a lot in this post) and I still stumble – I want 2 o’s instead of 2 a’s. But hopefully that doesn’t lessen my credibility…or actually…it kinda does.

Anyhoot, I was actually scared to propagate African Violets when I first got that bee in my bonnet, but really, I was scared to take care of violets period! I had heard they were fussy and needed so much special care, so I fucked around with them all the time. Guess what? They want moist-ish soil, indirect light, and no water on their leaves which is why I bottom water them. Now that I leave them pretty much alone, they’re good to me. Like my son. 😐

You know, I never really knew what I wanted to do after retirement and when I started getting plants and learning about them and experimenting with them and finding little plant shops all over the area, I realized I would like to sell plants too. I picture a little shop with shelves in the windows for succulents and then minimalist (that took me 3 times to spell) shelves for lots of violets but also harder to get plants…those you won’t find at a big box store. However, the economy sucks right now. Big time. I just spent $240.00 on groceries with only 5 bags filled. I also live in a very poverty stricken city – 17.6% of our residents live below the poverty line with the national average being 12.8%. A little plant shop isn’t a good idea in this area.

So, I want to start selling plants through other avenues…word of mouth, Facebook, this blog, etc. and I worked a couple of hours yesterday getting a bunch of African Violet leaves in their little greenhouses to grow more and more plants to sell! I’m excited!

Propagating violets is actually a lot easier than I thought, and below are a couple I did last summer…I was shocked when they really started growing and I sent out ‘Baby Plant Announcements’ to all my friends and family. I think I actually sent out more than when my son was born. 🤔

There are 3 ways to get more and more violets:

I prefer to use dirt! All you do is cut healthy leaves from the mama plant making sure you get a nice piece of the stalk and then trim this down to about an inch or so. Actually, I’ve trimmed a bit less and they work. I also trim in a slanted cut. Then, just have WELL DRAINING potting mix in your mini-greenhouse and put the stem in a little more than half way. Then you just want to keep the soil moist…not soggy… and I spritz mine every day or 2. It takes a bit over a month until you start to see TEENY little leaves start to emerge, but then they need to have a pretty good cluster before you transplant them. We need to make sure there are plenty of roots!

This little greenhouse is from Dollar Tree – I’m propagating these for Terri!

I use a ‘greenhouse’ because African Violets grow naturally in east Africa where it’s very warm and humid! So having a contained system is best. However, these little guys don’t like water on their leaves (this can cause spotting)…they are usually protected from this since they grow under canopies of plants where they also get filtered light- direct sun light can burn their leaves. So spritzing is best and I spray the inside of my container to maintain humidity. Then I stick them in my sewing room where I have a HUGE grow light and call it a day. EASY!

OK. Maybe not a HUGE light but pretty big for my small room! I also have East and North facing windows for soft daylight!

You can also propagate violets in water but I didn’t have as good of luck this way. You have to make sure you cut a node from the stem (the bump on the stem where the leaf meets the stem) and then cut the leaf under the node. You just stick the leaf in a bottle/jar of room temp water and then place the glass in your area. Now, you will see roots in a few weeks and once they are several inches long, you remove the leaf from water and put it in moist soil. The only problem with this is that the roots are really delicate at this stage and getting them in soil can sometimes damage them. That’s why I prefer dirt!

You can see I have peat pots and a little seed starting containers. I just buy whatever the store has that day!

As you can see, my greenhouses are fancy-schmancy! Go the Dollar Tree and get roasting pans that have lids. Yep. That’s all. You can get also little peat pots for individual leaves or just fill the roaster with the soil mix and stick the leaves in. I have holes in one of my containers and not in the other…I’m just curious if it makes a difference. The holes I make are really small so the inside stays humid. In other words, $5 bucks and a couple of leaves and you’re set!

Try it out! Honestly, I go to Lowe’s and buy a couple of violets that have good leaves…I don’t care about the flower part (except if you separate the leaves into the flower colors when you get them started). I pay about $6 and end up getting about 6-7 good leaves off of each plant! In other words (again), the Dollar Tree and Lowe’s/Home Depot/Menards, etc. and you are ready to roll!

Let me know if you’ve ever propagated these little beauties…and what your advice is! I’m always wanting to learn more and more!

Kristi 🌞

P.S. Love you ma.

I’m so excited, I wet my plants!

So, if you would have told me 5 years ago that I’d be writing a blog about plants I would have said you were crazy. But, here I am!

I quarantined by myself during COVID, and besides talking to Edward and Mallie, I was bored out of my mind. Plus, I running out of things to say to 2 dogs that find it difficult to talk back.

When I finally went to Wal-Mart for yet more toilet paper, I had to stand in line for an hour before being let in to the ‘golden doors.’ It was the first time I saw human life for a week, I wandered around all I could, and ended up in the back of the store where there was a new shipment of houseplants! They were so pretty and green and alive and I never even considered buying one because of the fact I was a HORRIBLE plant keeper. I was heading toward the check-out when I finally said “Why the fuck not” and bought a Pothos that was green and viney (is that even a word? 🤔)

I got it home, named him ‘Phil’ and set him on the table by a window. And then I watched him. And waited. Like I do when I get a new dog. I felt like he was watching me and I had no idea how long I’d be able to keep this poor guy alive. But the internet is a powerful thing, and I started studying plants! I learned that they need basically 3 things: soil, water, and light. I figured I could possibly master that. 😐

So, I started watering him when he was dry, gave him plenty of light, and let him keep his soil. And low and behold, he survived! And grew! And GREW to where I had to give him a vine-cut for the first time (I did a much better job with this than when I cut my own bangs🙄) ! This gave me confidence to buy another plant…and another…and another. Until…drumroll please…I have ended up with 50 in my house! YIKES!

This is my Philodendron vine shelf! I’m continually cutting and propagating these!

Ok. I know what you are thinking: “She’s going to end up eaten like Audrey in Little House of Horrors” and that might end up being true. But so far, so good.

I killed a few plants (and feel so bad that I call Terri – my sissy – and cry to her) by either drowning them, not watering them enough, or honestly…just because I think they hated me. Like Fittonias who absolutely won’t grow for me, and end up putting themselves out of their own misery. 🙄

Over the past couple of years I’ve learned more and more. I’ve taken some online workshops, read until my eyes would be goopy when I got out of bed, and experimented with so many different ideas, tools, etc. And, I think I have this plant stuff down pat!

That’s what this blog is going to be about. I’m going to talk everything plants, and I’ve created a binder of info that will force me to continue writing until I’m 90. That’s only 33 years from now so maybe you’ll stick with me that long. I hope so! I also want to share project ideas: I love to sew and create things and I think these 2 areas go hand-in-hand. Just making our homes beautiful and feeling good about what we’re doing!

My goal is to help you love plants and be confident in their care, display, decorative ideas, propagation, mental and physical health benefits, species, easy plants, hard plants, rare plants and so so so much more! Also to help you get ideas/tutorials for projects and then hopefully sharing your own!

My ‘specialty’ that I’ve really learned a lot about are African Violets. My gramma and ma both grew them so I had to follow the family tradition! I’m propagating a couple of dozen right now!

You know, Terri was afraid of plants too and when I gave her one, she looked at me like I was handing her a bomb to detonate. Seriously! She called me multiple times a day and was worried sick about taking care of the little guy. But then…guess what? I gave her a 2nd one…and 3rd one…a 4th one (you get the drift) to where she now has over a dozen! ! In fact, SHE drags ME to plant sales all the time! In other words, we all have green thumbs!

So, let’s do this together! Talk back to me about what you want to know…or questions you might have…or successes you want to share! This isn’t about me…it’s about the Plants & Projects family we are going to become!

Kristi 🌞

P.S. Love you ma.