Multiplication

My airplane plant a.k.a. spider plant has been very productive in the warm months; it was time to let some of its babies grow on their own. I gathered up my empty plastic pots, washed them in hot soapy water and filled them with potting soil. Then I snipped off plantlets that most needed the nourishment of soil—and that fit the pots. I’ve been saving shallow clear plastic containers for saucers; buying them would be about 69 cents apiece! These new little plants will make good Christmas presents.


Though I potted ten or eleven plantlets, the daughter plant (daughter of my original plant) has plenty more in various stages of growth—a couple dozen.

Leafy “Flowers”

Flowers, in all their color, are my favorite things to grow. I’ve also painted them for years (I’ve actually been asked, in all innocence, if it would hurt the flowers!) Even these days as I paint pictures of buildings I’m still painting, in effect, flowers.

However, I’ve become quite a fan of plants with colorful foliage. These plants, such as the purple Persian Shield and magenta streaked Parrot Leaf pictured, are still colorful all summer and fall even when the flowers aren’t blooming, looking like stained glass when the sun shines through. They also root from cuttings. In my Piedmont climate, they’re annuals but they last a little while indoors when I bring them in before frost.