Sun Room Jungle ~ Thursday Garden Update

 It has been so hot outside and our area of the Pacific Northwest continues to break records for high temps and NO rainfall, almost unheard of for us. ( I am so missing the rain ! ) I decided to give an account of our indoor garden, our sun room jungle. The above picture is of an African Violet I have had for many years. She is blooming in a terrarium in the sun room.

 It really is an indoor jungle in our sun room. I spend a lot of time watering, dead-heading, and cleaning up after the plants growing in this room right off our dining room. It was originally designed and used as a closed-in porch entry and there is a door in this room to the front porch. I blocked the door with porch furniture outside and plants inside because after a few years of living with the door accessible to any and all we decided it was one door too many for us.

 My plants thrive here . The Dracaena Emarginata , the tallest plant in the room, was originally a gift to me from my pre-school class when I had our first son. It came in a small pot and now swoops over other plants and is a small tree. I told our oldest son he will receive this tree when we move or die... I hope he makes room for this plant that is as old as he is.

 Norfolk pines and Hoyas also thrive here and grow so large they are taking over the sun room.

 The sun room has windows in the roof and I know they are the reason the plants love and thrive in their home. The plant on the far left is a fig tree I seriously neglect. I know it is root-bound, yet it grows and grows. I have had it many years. It too is a small tree now.

 This Hoya is planted in a very small pot and has twined and tangled all around the sun room. It blooms all year round and sometimes I have to cut its strangling vines away from other plants in this room.

These are poinsettia plants from Christmases past that are also thriving and becoming bushes. My sun room is really a small jungle brimming with  plants reminding me of pleasant and precious times and providing a small room of living greenery for all seasons.

This is my Thursday In The Garden update. Thursday in my indoor garden !

Spot on Hoya ,Forgiving Survivor!

~Finally, I have packed up and cleared away the last of the Christmas decorations. The Christmas Village is the last to be put away because there are so many little buildings and little people, and little accessories to be carefully wrapped and then very carefully re-shelved. Whew !My sun room is clean and ready for me to put my plants and bird's nests back in to the room of windows adjoining our dining room. Do you see Hoya in the corner under the blue and white plate on the wall ? ~I am thinking of calling our sun room 'Hoya's Room'. In the corner of the sun room, near the door, is a wrought iron shelf on which resides a Hoya plant we received many, many years ago from Hubby's sister Judy. The plant came to her via her friend Carol, and it came in a little 4" pot. Barely 10 inches of vine and leaf. Shortly thereafter we moved, that was more than 20 years ago. We moved into a repo trailer to live in on our property while we developed it and built our home. Hoya lived in dark and chill rooms with us while we took 2 years to build our home. Hoya was ignored. Really. ~Here is Hoya, in the 2nd pot I moved her to, I am not sure when, but at least 15 years ago. She has pretty pink and green leaves with the occasional splash of white. Hoya went from her 4" pot to this....and has kept her feet in this pot for years.I don't think this has hurt Hoya. ~As you can see, Hoya has reached out and grown up her shelf. She has grown up the wall, over the windows, through and around everything she encounters. Look at her. Hoya has thrived in our sun room through extreme temperature changes. This room gets extreme heat and extreme cold. The only constant for poor Hoya is my neglect. I water her when I remember, and seldom give her any special attention. Hoya does not bear me any resentment for this neglect.

~Hoya thrives and blooms proficiently in spite of me.~

~Hoya: Any plant of genus Hoya having fleshy leaves and usually nectariferous flower.~

~Blessings: easy to keep plants, blossoms in the winter, sun rooms