Creativity with Mother Nature

Hi! I have missed posting to my blog. Thank you, my cyber friends, for your caring e-mails. For those who may be unaware, Paper Crafting and anything involving intricate use of my hands has not been in The Plans for 2012 due to health reasons. But I've enjoyed visiting your blogs as often as possible, and being inspired every day by your tremendous talent. Maybe soon some of these medical conditions will lapse back into remission, and I may rejoin you in crafting endeavors.

In the meantime, I hope you will indulge me as I share some photos from my Real Passion (no, they are not X rated photos of my husband LOL). I'm a Dirt Person! Though working diligently in the garden has not been possible this year,  all the container plants are blooming, and the indoor plants are happy.

Have you ever seen a Philodendron bloom? This one did, as have others over the years. Normally, this specie will not bloom until matured to a good 7-10 years. However, I learned a trick four years ago, quite by accident.

Older plants need to be pruned to maintain a full shape, and the cuttings are far too precious to throw away, so I root them directly in the soil with a tree fern post for stability. When the cuttings are taken from mature plants, the cutting is "tricked" into thinking that it is dying. The cutting senses something is wrong, so a flower emerges for the purpose of making berries (seeds), therefore insuring that Life will continue.

The bloom on this particular cutting is long past. The "cutting" is now 3 years old, standing 5'6"tall (1.7 meters). Greeting visitors as they enter the foyer, he proudly stands guard in front of the 10' foot tall ficus tree, which is also regularly pruned. Here is the "cutting" at 3 years old:

Thanks for sharing my little show 'n tell, and for being such great friends, inspiring me, and checking in to see how things are going in my little life.

Always Yours and Lots of Hugs, of course,