Houseplant - Crassula ovata (jade plant)

As winter approaches, I've been trying to figure out what I'm going to post about.  I can always talk about garden planning and plants I fancy, and there will be seasonal topics such as evergreens and weather to discuss.  As I was compiling a list of such topics, it hit me:

Houseplant Thursdays 

I guess it doesn't quite roll off the tongue like Wordless Wednesdays. 

These days, I have quite a few houseplants and I would like to learn more about them and share what I've learned.

First things first - is it house plant or houseplant?  Wikipedia seems to like houseplant, so that is what I'll use.  Next, should I use scientific names or common names?  For some reason, I only refer to houseplants by their common names.  I'll be looking up the scientific names and including them in each post title, but I doubt I will ever think of a jade plant as crassula ovata (or even just crassula).

Speaking of which - our first houseplant is the jade plant (or crassula ovata, or sometimes even crassula argentea).

Jade Plant (and Andy, our one-eyed cat)

One of my earliest "gardening" memories is picking leaves off my mother's jade plant and putting them in the dirt to make new plants.   It seems like we always had a jade plant when I was a kid.  They're a really easy to care for, low maintenance plant.

Mine does well in a sunny window with minimal watering and well-drained "cactus" soil.

The biggest thing to watch out for with jade plants is overwatering.  In the past, I have killed jade plants by overwatering them, mistaking their crinkled leaves as a symptom of a thirsty plant.  According to wikipedia, you should water them every 10-20 days in the summer and only every 30 days in winter.  I probably water mine every two weeks. 



Beautiful red-tinged, succulent foliage

This is my first attempt at keeping a jade plant since I had to surrender our last one to my mother-in-law for safe-keeping.  I purchased it from Home Depot in the Fall of 2010 and so far, it's done really well.  It spent the summer on the back deck and seemed to flourish.  We'll see how it survives another winter indoors.

Wordless Wednesday

Fall Foliage - Weeks 3 & 4

Between home and work, life has been a little crazy lately.  The good part is I feel like I'm finally starting to catch up with things (projects, social obligations, laundry).  The downside is, I'm not spending as much time online, so I'm not posting as much.

I took these photos last Sunday, so this should really be week 3.5.

The oakleaf hydrangea (above) is starting to turn a really deep, rich, red.  Right next to it, the viburnum (below) is a deep, brownish red.
 

The tree I mentioned two weeks ago, with delicate yellow leaves, turned out to be a beech (above, left).  Between the yellow buckeye, the tulip poplars, and the three beech trees I found in the woods, we have yellow covered. 

The really big oak tree out front (above) still has a bunch of leaves, but they're starting to turn.  Our Japanese Maple (below, left) is starting to turn bright red and the kousa dogwood (below, right) is mostly green, but some leaves are turning almost purple.

I'll try to post more over the next few weeks as we finish up our garden prep for winter.  I'm especially looking forward to Friday -- I get the day off, my daughter is going to daycare, and I have about 250 bulbs to plant.  It will be fun.

Wordless Wednesday