porch plants

Hi everyone! 

We are having a glorious week of weather after several days of dark skies and heavy rain last week. 

There are three porches on the home we are renting in Beaufort. We have a set of front porches and a little side entry porch from the driveway and garage.  

The front of the house has northern exposure so there is filtered light through the woods on each side of the house morning and late afternoon. We are using the classics...ferns and palms. 

Easy to find at good prices, the nurseries are full of them. They sell out quickly but new shipments arrive weekly.

 I added pansies to the base of the palms to add fullness.

We also have a bird's nest anthurium/anthurium hookeri placed in the middle of the porch so it does not receive too much light.

We have been enjoying the lower porch in the evenings with cocktails and mornings with our tea but the afternoon sun is starting to interfere as it lowers at this time of year. If this was our permanent home, we would hang outdoor drapes at the end of the porch to block the harsh afternoon sun.

The morning light is so pretty....

The upstairs porch has a delicate frilly palm.  I need to start learning the palm varieties. We are using the common ones I found at Lowe's. The top porch is our privacy porch with a full sized sofa, good breezes and nice views.

The side entry porch has a fiddle leaf fig that was difficult to find. I was looking for several months and had to finally order one. They are so popular that they sell out as soon as they arrive. 

We have a small one because the space is tight. I still have not found them at Home Depot where some other bloggers have. I just planted herbs in the tiered planter as I did on in our last home.

We thought these oleanders next to the chimney were goners after the polar vortex came to South Carolina but after painstakingly pulling all the dead foliage off, they are coming back. The landscaping on the house is simple, balanced and attractive. 

The back yard does not have a porch. A screened in porch would be perfect there because it faces the pond.

The pond has turtles that rest on the bank and take surprisingly big leaps into the water when we get close. Also wood ducks are usually here. Geese visit and spend most of their time honking at us if we are out in the yard.. The lawn is not in great shape but as renters, we are not really wanting to spend much on the lawn. I did buy weed spray and a neighbor boy is cutting the grass for us.

So what about your porches? Have you potted your porch plants this spring or are you making plans for when the weather allows? Sticking with the classic palms and ferns makes it easy.

Thanks for visiting!

Cindy

caring for and propagating fiddle leaf figs

My friend found a fiddle leaf fig (ficus lyrata) for a great price at Home Depot this past weekend and blogged about it here. Who knew! Never seen them at our HD before and the price was 1/3 of what we paid for ours several years ago at nursery nearby.

Our fig tree sits next to a northern exposure window so it reaches a bit to get the light. It came with a tangle of gorgeous leaves when we purchased it and dropped them slowly to find its right size for the conditions of the room. 

I have been propagating them the last few years which is quite easy. 

This is one I rooted and potted this year, very happy in a southern exposure window. On its way to becoming a tree because I placed just one branch in the soil. If I wanted a shrub form, I could have placed several in the pot. (The snow melted last night, windy and warm today.)

I just root in a glass of water for several months and freshen the water weekly. I have placed three in this glass. Activities like this make getting through the winter more enjoyable!  Here is the thing about caring for fiddle leaf fig trees. They do not like constant moist soil. They like to dry out. Let them dry out completely before watering. This means do NOT water each week. I think I must water just two times a month. It is on its own schedule. The baby plants I am growing do get a bit more water because they are in a sunnier location and dry out faster. Best way to know is to put your finger down onto the soil and feel for dryness. A sign that you are watering too much is brown edges on the leaves.

Bulb update- the second stalk of the white amaryllis bloomed and its sibling is finally inching up.

What about you? Is there a ficus lyrata in your house?

paddle plant

I love the look of this plant that according to Tovah Martin is "practically unkillable". Does anyone have one?

pretty pots

Love these Saigon planters from Pottery Barn.

fiddle leaf fig

Homes need plants in them to clarify the air from toxins that are in our environment from all the chemicals used in everything around us.... cleaning products, furniture and building products. An easy plant to grow is the fiddle leaf fig, a ficus variety.

Unlike some other ficus, it does not get the sticky mite disease which requires regular spraying of alcohol and soapy water solution to remove.  Ours faces a northern window so it never receives direct sun. Every so often, I add Miracle Gro to the water for its weekly waterings and will occasionally dust the leaves with a wet sponge. It is planted in a English sandstone pot which I can no longer find here in the States. The nursery that carried that line is no longer in business. Has anyone else seen a source for them?

Some dogs take up a lot of floor space..... Andy before his summer haircut.

stylish serendipity photos

improve your air quality

by adding houseplants to your home.

Joel Snayd/source

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Jessica Helgerson/source

Elizabeth Sullivan/source

Brooke Giannetti/source

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Shannon Bowers/ source

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