Yeah, it's definitely a sickness...

[spark]

Went to WalMart at 2am because my fiance needed chocolate syrup.

I figure while I'm there I'll just see if they have any orchids, since they often have a few exotic houseplants.

Well, they didn't have any orchids, but they did have this:



This is a bromeliad. That's all the tag said, though some google-sleuthing tells me it's probably a vriesea carinata, also known as a paintbrush or a lobster claw.

I'm still reading up on how to take care of it, but it seems pretty simple.

Yay for more plants!

[RootedPhoenix]

It looks really cool.

[spark]

It's pretty awesome. It's related to pineapples!

And it just got bit by my plant-eating cat. Silly thing. :P

I shooed her away right after I snapped this photo, but not before she managed to take a bite!

[BookstoreEscapee]

I think you need rehab.

[Cat]

mhhhhh chocolate



And jealous of all these lovely plants.....I am trying to improve my green thumb, I do care for my porch plants.....but my house ones get ignored


Need to hit a nursery

[spark]

I've found it's largely a matter of having a daily ritual. I wake up, go let the cats into my room (they're not allowed in there unsupervised, they'd eat everything I've got!) check on all the plants, fill the trays for the carnivorous ones, water anything else that needs watering, inspect things for growth or problems, then I check my e-mail, and my forums *waves hi* and then go out and give the garden plants the same treatment. And then I have breakfast and get on with my day. That way I can't forget about anything.

[Food Lady]

I think you need rehab.

I LOL @ that. I had a bromeliad in the bathroom with no window and it died. I guess they need direct light all the time.

[spark]

Yup. They don't like full sun, but they want it very bright.

The only thing I've had survive when put in a bathroom was my immortal aloe. I don't think I could kill that thing if I tried.

[RootedPhoenix]

You're right about aloes being immortal...

My one aloe has been alive for 5 years or so and is still going despite everything I've done to the poor thing. lol

[spark]

Mine is more than 15 years old now. It's been put in the bathroom, it's been forgotten on a top shelf and not watered for six months, it's been left out during the spring rains for a month, it's been eaten down to the base by my cats, it's been pulled out of the pot and left sitting with its roots in the air for weeks, it's had everything you can possibly think of happen, and it still lives! Lately it's been getting better care than that, but I suspect I could do just about anything that normally kills plants to this thing and it would survive.

[SengaKitty]

Lately it's been getting better care than that, but I suspect I could do just about anything that normally kills plants to this thing and it would survive.

.... That made me because I actually DID kill an aloe...

[spark]

Well, not all aloes are created equal.

Also, it's very possible that when you threw it out as dead it was a live plant. Mine has looked AWFUL quite a few times over the years, you'd have sworn it was already a goner.

[RootedPhoenix]

.... That made me because I actually DID kill an aloe...

*hugs*

I've had mine look horrid and they came back. But like Spark said, not all aloes are the same.

I'd send you one of mine, but I don't know how they travel.

[Boggles]

Can I ask what the one in the terracotta pot to the left of it is?
The one with the bottle green leaves.

[spark]

If you mean this:



It's an Adenium Obesum, or Desert Rose.