It's a very, very dark shade of forest green....

The lack of a yard has never stopped me from having plants. This cool info-graphic helps justify my ever growing windowsill collection here at chez refeathered. Next time Ler rolls his eyes at a new plant I can just say "biophilia hypothesis, dude, biophilia hypothesis." However, my green thumb has changed from a verdant shade to a very,very dark shade of forest green. It started with this innocent looking little violet, which was a thoughtful gift from a first-grader.

  

Dead. Totally dead. I came home one afternoon and it was covered in aphids. Where the hell did they come from? I quickly disposed of it and inspected my other susceptible plants. They looked fine. I kept my eye on them and all was good for a few weeks until...

dead. Like, over night dead. Poor little rose bush. Also a gift from students. Damn aphids.

 

Also, dead. Same crappy little bugs killed my basil. They must have been very motivated to make that journey. The distance from the living room window to kitchen sill must be like the Oregon Trail for aphids. The thyme plant, however, meet a kitty demise. That scrappy thing next to the sad basil was once a nice little bush. At least the aphids didn't get the satisfaction of killing that plant. The lavender is thriving though, since it is not pleasing to their palate.

 

Neither bug nor cat related, but the aloe in that picture is also dead. I tried to encourage new growth. Nope. No roots or shoots. Just dead. Dead. Dead. Dead.  



Well, I am not going to let the ghosts of little plant corpses or *#$%&@!# aphids rule my apartment. Off the the garden shop! Since succulents are not a favorite of aphids (should any still be lingering somewhere) I went safe and got a lovely sedum plant to keep the aloe company. The red edges and ginko-like shape caught my eye immediately. I thought it would compliment the bright, spiky aloe well.

The ivy on the bookshelf showed signs of aphids, but I just blasted it with cold water and washed the little bugs down the drain. So far, so good.

New basil! Alive and well. And tasty.

Ferns! So far the cats have not eaten these cute little guys. They are residing on the bathroom sill and doing well. The little green container is an old soy candle tin. I loved the print and it was the perfect size for this mini-fern.

 

 

I also picked up this mottled plant for the faux-driftwood planter I found at my grandma's house. By the way, how neat is that planter? Love it.  Not sure how long this pink-freckled plant will survive though. Mogget and Simandl love to munch on him. Hopefully they loose interest before it's chomped down to the root like the thyme. Cats, you are bitches.

 

Don't let their innocent snuggles fool you for a minute. They are quietly plotting. 

How are your plant adventures going?