Moving outside

 Every summer, I move most of my houseplants outside to soak up the sunshine, be refreshed by the rain, and generally thrive in the fresh air. Each year, I like to experiment with different set-ups for all my plants. Last year and the year before I primarily utilized a rickety (albeit good-looking) wooden plant rack, the year before that was metal shelves on the balcony, and even farther in the past they hung out on little tables I got at Target. Now that I have a yard, I rigged up the biggest, best shelving unit yet.

For about $1 each, I bought six "1/2 size" cinder blocks and Matt rustled up some old wood from the garage. Voila! a great-looking outdoor plant shelf. I made a Buddha face from concrete and will probably hang it above the plants. Look for that project in an upcoming post.

In other news, my silver squill bulb succulent is blooming. The teeny-tiny blossoms are so pretty--they have bright purple stamens inside the light green and white flowers. 

The excitement over this plant spurred me to create this blog. In case you don't remember, check out my first post. 

Anyway, my precious little euphorbia has performed like a champ. He went from a tiny cutting to growing his first leaf bract, then doubling in size in his first year, growing like crazy in the last two years and now... my baby is a parent! You may remember I chopped the head off the top of the plant, and as a result, the base section is now growing pups. The top part has yet to root, but it's still early and I have hope. 

I decapitated him back in February 

The largest pup at the top of the plant is noticeably bigger everyday!
The lighter green cutting in the pot was a hitchhiker in a plant I bought at the greenhouse ;) 

Another update to one of my plant babies is the "Obama cactus" which has grown about a 1/2 inch after being rooted back in November. Yay for Spring!!