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check out this instagram post for a timeline of this beautiful plant!

Back again with another edition of how’s it growing!

then & now –

I constantly give updates on this plant over on Instagram. Rescued from my parent’s house a few months after my mom passed away, it was very much on it’s last leg. The photo on the left is from June 26th. The one on the right is from March 5th. Less than 9 months and approximately ten leaves turned into three beautiful plants.

The two larger ones are my established ones that I’ve been growing since the beginning. The smaller one (in the center) was planted the same day I took the photo. Instead of rooting in water, I just plopped it in the soil. Fingers crossed it roots well and grows into a lush beautiful plant like the others.

I’m positively obsessed with this thing. My plan is just to keep propagating over and over until I have too many of this darn plant and have to start giving it away.

My mystery yard find! I still don’t know what this little baby is (and still haven’t tried looking it up) but will you just look at that growth from February 12th to March 8th?! More impressive than how much its grown is the fact it’s flowering! Ah!

I don’t really know how this thing will do in the long run but it has me looking at all the random plants growing in my very very tiny yard differently.

new arrivals –

Help. I can’t stop.

I popped into Lowe’s and realized they had one dollar clearance plants. Lowe’s and Home Depot used to be my go-to for plants many moons again but once I found garden centers I loved I was more than happy to support small businesses that actually specialized in plants. BUT that definitely doesn’t mean I can’t take advantage of great deals at big box stores. I MEAN A GOSH DARN DOLLAR!!! How could I resist?!

So, below are my dollar plants. They’re not bad at all but I did tidy them up after I got them home. Removed dead leaves, trimmed off anything not super pretty and replanted them in pots more to my liking.

My most recent online plant purchase – Begonia ‘Flamingo Queen’. I did a dumb thing, I bought a plant online during the coldest weather we’d been having all season. I thought that purchasing a heat pack with them would save my butt… USPS had other plans though. My package took a two-day detour around different parts of Ohio before making it to Cleveland. Although the plants I purchased were packaged spectacularly, they definitely didn’t appreciate the cold.

It’s hard to tell from this photo but the three leaves on this plant are not great. They got a little soggy around the edges from frost damage. I am SO bummed about it.

The good news is, nearly a month after getting it I’ve got a new leaf working it’s way out. It’d probably grow faster if I stopped checking on it every five minutes.

purchased from Botanicaz. It was packaged beautifully but absolutely buy a heat pack from them if the weather isn’t warm in your state!

Zebra plant! I couldn’t resist the leaves. On top of that, it’s a great specimen with promising growth. Just check out those four sets of leaves coming in!

not so great news –

Gotta keep it real, right?

My Madagascar Palm (that’s what this gal is, correct?) lived in my bathroom and barely got watered for nearly two years but still survived. I eventually moved it into the dining room with the rest of my plants. It took off! It looked so so so healthy and even pushed out a pup. Since it was doing so well, I thought it’d be a good idea to remove the pup and grow it as it’s own plant.

Nope. Apparently not the right move. She’s mad. Within a few days all the leaves on both pieces yellowed so I removed them. Ugh. I’ve got my fingers crossed for a full recovery.

above left – before // above right – right after splitting the two // below – a couple of days later after removing the leaves. so sad!

This is more good news than bad news… maybe? Another plant from my Botanicaz order – Begonia ‘Wightii’. I bought two stem cuttings. One was just absolutely toast when it got here because of the cold. The other is this one. The leaf suffered a bit but I decided to pop it in water anyway. It did nothing for a couple of weeks until I placed a plastic baggie over the top to beef up the humidity. Now we’ve got some tiny baby roots making their way out.

This plant definitely has a long way to go before it’s the beautiful specimen I was dreaming of but I guess it’ll just be all the more satisfying when it’s grown up.

grow little roots, GROW!

fun stuff –

I thrifted this silly popcorn container and it ended up being the perfect size for this big guy. More than that, it’s still flowering! A whole month after starting, new flowers are continuing to pop up and open.

I knocked my Sansevieria Starfish off the table earlier in the week. Luckily it somehow landed safely between the chair leg and the wall so there was no breakage but it made me realize how tiny the planter I had it in was.

This happened the same day I got this funny little moon(?) planter in the mail so it actually worked out for the best. Aren’t they a precious combo?!

Okay, so I actually found a lot of really great planters in the last month. Just look at this silly little kitty one. It doesn’t fit my rule of ‘only black, white or black and white’ planters but I definitely had to make an exception – also grey is neutral anyway. (I did have to drill a hole in it but here’s how!)

Ah, well, I think that’s it for now. Better go stare at my plants so more. xoxo

Check out my instagram hashtag for more photos of my plant collection – #kaylahheartsplants.