Sorry for the horrible quality of the picture, but I took it on my phone at the mall.  I spent an eternity trying to figure out if the orchids in this planter were really really bad quality fakes or if they were once living plants that were rotting off.  The flowers on them looked real enough (I didn’t get a chance to take a picture of them but they didn’t look faded at all) but the leaves were yellow.  Not solid yellow but that uneven splotchy yelling of a rotting plant.  The rest of the plants in the container were real (for the most part).  I was hesitant to go feel up the plants but curiosity got the best of me.  Sure enough, they were fake plants which begs the question WHY DO THEY HAVE FAKE DYING PLANTS?!  They change out the living plants on a semi regular basis SO WHY NOT THESE?!  I can’t even tell if they’re faded or they started out yellow because they yellow on the top and bottom and all the ones in the mall are like this (which probably means they were yellow).  WHY WHY WHY?!

The Victims

First up we have our victims.  The only reason I’m bother with this is because I got the wacky idea that a weeping Christmas cactus standard would be fun.  WHY DID I THINK THIS WOULD BE FUN?!

A totally unneeded shot of the top… I guess it’s not TOTALLY unneeded (is unneeded a word?  Spell check says it is but it looks really silly to have so many double letters together).  You can see that it has a really narrow diameter, which I’m hoping means it will have a nice skinny vascular bundle which will be important (when you see how narrow the vascular bundle is in my christmas cactus).

Top is lopped off!  Fortunately it had a small vascular bundle, just like I was hoping for!  When you’re grafting you need the vascular bundle to line up properly otherwise the graft won’t take.  I’m hoping I got the veins to line up…

The scion!  I actually took this off a different christmas cactus (One I got from Mr. Subjunctive) because it had meatier veins.  The picture plant is a struggling plant that I got from my mom who got it from her mom who got it from her mom (who probably got it from her mom). I shaved the bottom of this guy so that there would be more surface area exposed with hopes that it’ll increase the chance of the graft taking (and forgot to take pictures!)

The final result!  If the graft takes I’m hoping the plant will grow in a more 3-D way (not just a flat spray but more like a fountain).  I’m not sure if this will work but I sure hope it does!  How great would that look in full bloom (not that I’ve ever gotten a true christmas cactus to bloom)?  I didn’t put a picture of it but I put a rubberband around the the rootstock near the graft to keep the graft in place.  If you’re interested in seeing another attempt at interspecies christmas cactus grafting, check out Mike Is Bored to see a Christmas cactus grafted onto Epiphyllum!

(Have you ever noticed I really like parenthesis?)

Also, Thanks to those of you who voted for my pictures from the last post!

In other news, yesterday it was 55º, sunny and gorgeous.  Today? Snowing heavily, 25º and generally annoying.  At least I have my wall of houseplants to keep the white at bay!

I know its a little hard to see here but the Crocus speciosus just finished blooming.  In January.  In Minnesota.  I wish I got some pictures when they were open, the last ones were still going strong a few days after Christmas.  Now if that ain’t ridiculous I don’t know what is.

Doesn’t that look warm and cozy?  Yeah…that’s me standing on a foot of ice.  Turns out it’s still been cold in MN even if they haven’t had any snow.  I’ve never actually seen the lake freeze over without snow before.  It was actually kinda freaky, the ice was clear enough that you could see through it.  The lake is pretty clear so this means you could see pretty damn far down.  Ugh.  Now I remember why I hate lakes.

Anyways onwards and upwards to planty things!

Remember my dwarf amaryllis?  Well I now have a comparison picture so you can actually tell it’s a dwarf and not just me having giant hands!

On the left we have Red Pearl, a standard sized amaryllis (also possibly the prettiest one I’ve ever grown.  The pictures do it absolutely no justice.  The flowers are a rich velvety dark red with an almost iridescent sheen).  The one on the right is Neon Rose, the one I mentioned in the last Garden Blogger’s Bloom Day.  It has become quite apparent that Neon Rose truly is a mini.

In other news my Chicago Hardy fig has decided to be done with winter dormancy!  I’ve even got some baby figs already!  They’ll never survive to ripening (the apartment isn’t warm enough to ripen figs) but it’s still so exciting!  I think this makes me a giant nerd…BUT I’M SO EXCITED!!!

And last but not least I did stop by the old job while I was home and pick up a few new plants.  I got some sort of old-man cactus that I’m going to try and graft christmas cactus onto (cuz damnit I want to make a weeping christmas cactus standard), an Alluaudia procera and….

This sideways (because wordpress hates me and won’t let me rotate it) little gesneriaceous gem.  It’s name is Codonanthe gracilis.  The flowers almost look like tiny little foxglove flowers.  From my previous experience with xCodonanthus I’m guessing it’ll be an easy grower but I don’t really know much about it.  I’ve never encountered one for sale before so it’s new to me.  I hope I don’t kill it…

I’ve never seen one with the scalloped petals that are fused like this.  I’m really not complaining, I love how unique it is, I just want to know if it’s going to be staying like this or if it’s going to eventually look like a normal violet again.  I really hope I don’t kill this little guy before I find out…

In other news, the model town is coming along nicely, eh?

Now that it’s up and growing again I’m sure it’ll be huge in no time.  The jury is still out on whether or not that is a good thing.