March has been a wild weather month for Iowa. We had nice weather, then tornadoes, then snow, and now the nice weather appears to be back for a week or so. All of these swings in just the first two weeks of the month.
Today reached 60 degrees Fahrenheit outdoors, so I turned off the furnace, opened windows, and left the door to the dog yard open all day for the dogs to go in and out as they pleased. All six dogs spent most of the day outside, playing and basking in the sun on the warm wooden deck. I refreshed their bowl of cold water several times. The clock is approaching 7:00 pm, and they are all tuckered out. Yesterday was daylight savings time, so our clocks moved ahead one hour, and we will enjoy light until nearly 8:00 pm today. The chickens and geese are still roaming outdoors, foraging for tasty foods.
I love spring and summer. Spring is my favorite season of the year, with all kinds of perennial flowers and plants coming back to life for another season of joy. Over my four decades of life, I have gone back and forth between having houseplants and cursing houseplants. At this time last year, my therapist tasked me with creating indoor spaces that would help me get through the drudgery of winter. I took the opportunity to learn about succulents and found that they are indeed the perfect houseplants for me. I began to buy all kinds of succulents, from aloes to cacti to gasterias to orchids. I filled the main bathroom, then a south window spot on the kitchen counter, then about half of the kitchen island, with a few hanging plants scattered about the house as well. I bought a book on macramé plant hangers and have made a few of those, with plans to continue the craft through this year. I turned a few potted selections into fairy gardens, and even created a living memorial garden for our Benji, complete with a hand painted rock of Benji's likeness that a friend made from a picture in 2020.
Here is a visual tour of my indoor gardens, from pictures that I took today with my iPhone. The blog idea of an indoor garden tour came upon me while I was trying to take a picture of Dove, and interrupted by the rest of the Vallhooligans. I started taking pictures in the kitchen, then moved to the main bathroom, then the small parrot room. My pictures ended there because Navy wanted to come out for a cuddle, so I took a selfie with her and didn't remember afterwards to go downstairs to finish the plant pictures. I have a handful of tropical non-succulents thrown in the mix. I over vigorously trimmed back roots on an orchid in August 2021 when repotting the plant, and it died, but otherwise my indoor plant endeavors have been quite successful!
Commenti