Re-potting my ivy plant

My sister's mystery weed plant

Today, I’ve decided to focus on learning more about some of the other plants that I haven’t mentioned much in my posts. I have 3 interesting plants that I haven’t paid much attention to. Two of these plants are ivy plants, and one is a type of weed plant that my sister gave to me that rises with the sun. (Its weeds perk up during the day, and droop down at night… kinda creepy I must say). Unfortunately, I am not sure of its botanical name, so, unless I am able to find a picture of it online with information about it, I won’t be able to provide much information other than a picture, and the information I explained in the previous sentence. I did however find this website for beginner gardeners. The website allows people who don't know the names of their plants to submit photos of the plant that they have, and hopefully, somebody, somewhere in the world will leave a comment with the actual botanical name of the plant. I, so happily submitted my photo, and am now waiting for some interesting responses from experienced gardeners.

As for the ivy plants, I will be working on my first attempt to re-pot the plant. So far, I’ve clipped plants and potted the clippings, but never have I actually repotted a plant that has actual grown roots at its end. I’m abit nervous…

Hedera Helix:

Hedera Helix

The Hedera Helix is a type of ivy plant. According to the website noted, it sounds relatively easy to maintain. I can't say too much about its maintenance just yet, seeing as I purchased it only a couple of weeks ago, but according to the website, its leaves require abit of misting here and there to keep from drying up, something I’m sure that even I can manage. Interestingly, this plant can be trained to climb up a trellis, or grown as a vine plant with abit of pruning as it grows. It requires fertilized feedings about once a month. As for its light requirement; luckily, it doesn’t require too much sun. This type of plant prefers to thrive in fluorescent lighting.

So, on we go..

Re-potting the ivy plant:

This will be my first time to actually re-pot a plant, so I decided to educate myself on it before I begin. Seeing as this is my first time, and with my “cursed” experience with killing plants in the past, I thought that the information contained in an instructional site such as www.dummies.com would be most appropriate to check out. Fortunately, I did find step-by-step directions on how to transfer a rooted plant to a bigger pot, and it seemed easy enough to follow. But, before I get started, here is a video that I watched which includes pretty much the same instructions that the previous website www.dummies.com explained.

Here we go…:

Im nervous...

Getting started...

Roots!

Tadaa! 

Not too bad if I must say so myself... So, now the waiting game begins... We'll see in a few weeks if this ivy plant will survive after this. I sure do hope so... I've grown rather fond of these plants over the last 3 weeks...

Potting My Pothos Vine

Getting over my fear:

Today, after taking a look at the pothos vine clipping that I’ve had sitting in water over the last 2 and a half weeks, I decided that it’s time to get over my fear of planting my own plant, so I went for it. BUT,  I wasn’t planning on taking such a big leap without informing myself first of the basics of the pothos vine species, so I read up on a couple of websites. In the gardening section on About.com's website, I was pleased to read that pothos vines are incredibly easy to grow. As well, an article in the website; Plant Care.com said that;J

“The Pothos – Jade, Golden and Marble Queen leads the way in houseplants. In fact, it is one of the top houseplants.”

According to both websites, pothos vines generally are not too picky with how often they are watered. Not any more than other typical house plants anyway… A bonus for a forgetful person like me.

As well, before getting started, I watched a video that I found on youtube on the basics of pothos vines. It pretty much summed up in audio form what I read in the previous two websites. Here is the video:

So, here we go:

The basic planting care package

Before I could get started, I needed to arm myself with the supplies I would need to plant my clipping. I went out to the store and bought myself a bag of all-purpose potting soil, 3 types of fertilizers, a couple of pots, and a watering can. I sure do hope that I bought the right type of everything… It was the name “all-purpose” which sold me on buying this particular brand of soil. As well, for the fertilizers, I decided to purchase 3 diffferent types... you know, for the “just in case” type of situation… 

The end result:

I must say that although I am not sure of how well this plant clipping project will turn out (only time will tell from now on), I am pleased with myself for attempting to get over my fear of killing another plant. Never before have I ever attempted to propagate any type of plant through making my own clippings and replanting from scratch. So, now today, my windowsill looks fresh and happy with a newly planted pothos vine plant. I am proud to say that I have now planted my own clipping, and even though the websites above mentioned that these types of plants do not require much fertilization, I decided to fertilize its first feeding. It is a fertilizer that is added to directly to the water. I hope that this was a wise choice, but again, only time will tell...

One more thing:

Lemon Geranium clipping

I had spoken in previous posts about starting a new growth from my lemon geranium plant. I felt that I was allowing my fear to take over, and kept putting off taking a clipping. So yesterday, I went for it, and now my lemon geranium clipping is currently sitting in a glass of room temperature water, working on growing its roots. I even wrote down the date that I cut the plant on the glass so that I wont lose track and have the plant sitting there all year round (I'm sure I would end up forgetting the month I made the clipping... just kidding). You can see in the picture above, the glass next to my newly planted pothos vine. The other two plants on the left of it seem to be doing pretty well, so far.

Something funny:

I came across this article today called "Houseplants you can't kill: Easy care, minimal maintenance indoor plants". I laughed when I read the title because I thought that maybe I could have done a better job with keeping plants alive, had I come across an article such as this one years ago. Oh well, not better time to start then now right?

Introducing Plant Fertilizers

As of November 15

The fate of my lemon geranium plant:

After much reading, and viewing online videos on how to care for my lemon geranium plant, I’ve realized that although I have studied quite abit on geranium plants, I haven’t actually been doing much “hands-on” work with the plant. I did mention in a previous blog post that I would like to attempt re-potting a new plant to see how that goes. Seeing as the original 4 foot lemon geranium plant doesn’t appear to be doing so well, I figure I’ll be able to “save” its “species” in my apartment if I start a new growth from this plant. This website offers step by step instructions on how to pot soil for geranium plants.  But, right now, I would like to focus on choosing the right fertilizer for this plant.

Different types of fertilizers:

All-purpose plant fertilizer

There are several different types of fertilizer that can be used for different species of plants. I am still iffy about picking the right fertilizer, but depending on what our stores currently have to offer, I am hoping I won’t have to order some in online. In the meantime, the following website which includes instructions on how to care for, and plant lemon geranium plants suggests the following; “Mix in 1 tsp. Epsom salt with the water-soluble fertilizer. If you don't use a water-soluble fertilizer, mix in 1 tsp. Epsom salt with 1 gallon of water once every four times that you water the geraniums. The Epsom salt will introduce magnesium, which is loved by lemon-scented geraniums.” I will definitely be getting my hands on some Epsom salts. I also posted a question in the comments section asking what type of fertilizer is best for lemon geranium plants on this site. Let's hope somebody,somewhere in the world has the answer for me! 

Here is a short video on organic fertilizing (I always prefer the idea of consuming organic foods). It is an introduction to fertilizing through the leaves, rather then the soil using liquid fish, or liquid seaweed. Very interesting I must say. Now if I can get my hands on some liquid fish and/or liquid seaweed..

Plan for the week:

So, after some reading, I'm concerned that my plant may actually be malnourished more than she is thirsty. I will definitely focus on finding the right fertilizer, and feeding the plant the required amount this week. In the meantime, while I wait for my plant to hopefully "re-blossom", I will start my plans to re-pot a new growth.

In the meantime:

Check out my bowl of amateur potpourri. Rather then throw out the leaves that have wilted, I'll be collecting them into this bowl. Who knows, maybe I'll eventually gather up the ingredients to successfully conjure up some potpourri worth giving as gifts using these recipes. :) Here is an instructional video on how to make potpourri using dried foliage, and essential oils.

 I love the idea of taking our plant life from our land, and turning it into potpourri.

Seems simple enough... you think??? :)

The little boy on the left is my son, who knows, he could be an
expert potpourri creator one day. :-)

Main focus for the day

I've decided today that I'm going to focus on how my lemon gernaium plant is growing. She's not doing so well, so Ive looked up some information online in the hopes that I'll be able to save her before she joins the rest of my unlucky plants that I've had no choice but to send over to my plant cemetary (just kidding, I dont have a plant cemetary... not yet anyway...).


This is what I plan to achieve after
this project. (Just kidding...)



According to the following video, geranium plants should be fairly easy to maintain. The lady in the video says that geranium plants are very forgiving and require little care. hmph... I suppose I should take into consideration that this lady has probably been growing plants her entire life. She did inform us viewers that geranium plants require quite abit of sun (which I did mention in a previous post). This website as well says that lemon geranium plants require quite abit of sun, as well as require little water.

Another leaf wilted...

I've been thinking that I would like to try clipping a piece off my lemon geranium plant and starting a whole new pot. Maybe this way, if my original plant doesnt do so well, I'll be giving myself the option of a "second chance" with this touchy plant. Thanks to the ever-growing, and resourceful internet, websites such as this will teach me how to do just that. Im excited. =) Here is a video that I came across that teaches viewers the first steps into cutting plant clippings.

Learning from the bottom-1 week later

One thing I forgot to mention in my earlier post is that, along with challenging myself by buying myself a 4 foot lemon geranium plant, I also cut a clipping off one of my mother's plants. It is a vine plant. I'm not 100% on it, but it appears that the vine I have is called a  Lucky Reptile Pothos Vine .I have it a in a cup of water, and so far, it seems to be doing pretty well! According to my mother, it should start to grow roots pretty soon. I clipped it a couple of weeks ago, and so I decided to look at it today. There seems to be some root growing! Exciting! Here is a picture of what I'm assuming is my "Lucky Reptile Pothos Vine".

So, to add more to my challenge, I'm planning on spending some time this weekend learning how to propogate my plants. I seem to have done pretty well with my smaller plants (again, not so much my lemon geranium plant), so Id like to expand on the plant-life that surprisingly has been growing in my apartment. Here is a picture of one of the plants in my apartment that appears to be doing pretty well. I'm not sure of its proper plant name, but I decided on naming her Sherry for now. But hopefully, as I go along with this, websites such as this will help to introduce me to the proper terms used for plants.

To get as much as help as I can, I decided to use the internet as my resource, and came across this funny video on how to start new plants from cutting. I hope you enjoy it as much as I did. :)

Learning from the bottom

For some reason, Ive always had this inability to keep plants alive. I swear, I buy a plant, take it home, and once it passes through my door.. it wilts.  Ive joked with friends and family that I can take good care of my son, nurse him back to health when he's sick, keep him fed and well-nourished... but I just cannot seem to keep a plant alive... so... I have decided to challenge myself and have been trying to grow a "green thumb".. (consequently, my sister made a joke about this and said; "I dont think you can "grow a green thumb", I think you're born with it". She joked because she's witnessed first-hand the wilted, dried up plants that Ive thrown into my garbage can...) so now Im challenging her and myself. :-)


Over the summer, I bought a pretty nice looking plant.. this was 3 months ago. Surprisingly, it's STILL alive! (mind you, I left town for about 8 weeks, and left it to my sister and her boyfriend... so i dont know if I should be taking any credit yet for it being alive 3 months later..)


Since then, Ive purchased a couple of smaller plants that are sitting on my windowsill. So far, it looks promising. They've managed to live through 1 whole week in my apartment! but I felt that this wasnt challenging enough, so I decided that if I really want to challenge myself, Im going to go for something big, and something that requires real care.. so I went and bought myself a 4 foot lemon geranium plant. After reading an article in the site Ehow, I realized that these plants are apparently pretty touchy with how often they're meant to be watered and require quite abit of sun (something we dont get much of up here). The website says; "Lemon geranium is particular about water, as the plant rots in soggy soil and doesn't thrive in overly dry soil. Watering in-ground or potted lemon geranium is similar, as the plant needs generous watering, but only when the top of the potting mix or garden soil feels dry. Water at the base of the plant to keep the foliage dry and prevent fungal problems. Water in-ground plants thoroughly to wet the root zone. Water potted lemon geranium until water drips through the drainage hole, then allow the potting mixture to drain. Feed lemon geranium a balanced liquid or granular fertilizer regularly. Apply fertilizer according to the directions on the package". So far, it's not looking so good... the leaves have been turning yellow, and I have yet to figure out a type of fertilizer, where to buy it from, how often I should be feeding it... It may just be a plant, but Im thinking I may have my work cut out for me. I realized that I dont even know the basics to recognizing when a plant starts to look dry, and knowing my history with killing plants, Im pretty sure (or I hope) that Ive either been under-watering my plants, or over-watering my plants, so I decided to check out a video. It looks pretty straight-forward, but again, with my luck.. you never know... Here is the video to what should be so simple to recognize..

                                                     

This is what my lemon geranium
plant looks like..



        

This is what a healthy lemon geranium
plant should look like...

 Unfortunately, a few leaves have already wilted and fallen off. I dont know if this is what normally should happen (I highly doubt so), but Im debating looking for one of those plant light thingys (I have yet to learn the proper terms for plants and plant supplies) Im starting from the bottom here. Ive attached a picture of my lemon geranium plant so that you'll be able to watch the outcome of this plants fate over the next 3 weeks. 

Wish me luck, Im sure my plants will need it.