Well, you caught me... I'm playing hookey from work. After a couple of 12 hour days, then having to do a bunch of stuff at home, I just decided that today was the day... Most of the chores were done by noon, so I get to rest up until I mow the lawn after the sun starts to go down... The cleistocactus is blooming again...

and this Mammillaria, which I never did decide on a name for, decided to put out some blooms.

and the banana is almost ready to take into the flea market. Probably will go in this weekend.

The neighbor still hasn't mowed that grass... I'd really hate to have to have a word with him... but it's looking more and more like I might have to...

Well, the neighbors have evidently learned...

It seems that all my neighbors have learned that if they set a plant out by the side of the road on trash day, that I'm going to pick it up. So they might as well just give them too me... Speaking of which, the rescued banana plant has started to grow and has put out it's first rather impressive leaf...


BTW - disregard the overgrown grass in the photo... that's the neighbors problem.

So, a lady down the street is downsizing into an apartment, and evidently will not have room for her plants... at least they're succulent...

First off, some sort of aloe. I have aloe vera here and that's it. Not a genus I've paid a whole lot of attention to for some reason. Anybody out there wanna give me a clue? And the pot, cute as it is, is a little too cute for me... not to mention that I'm just not sure that an aloe looks entirely comfortable in a pot that has daffodils on the side of it.

Next, a rather nice sized, though possibly etoliated, Chamaelobivia 'Rose Quartz' Now, I already have one of these, sent to me by Aiyana at Water When Dry, (see her blog to the right) and I'm going to have to find something besides that danged nursery pot to put it in... but it's a nice enough plant.

And this is some sort of Euphorbia, which is really in excellent shape. Again, I'm going to need a clue folks...

And I must say, I like this plants spiraled stems... but I don't know how big it's gonna get. For some reason just looking at it makes me think it could turn into a monster...

And finally, and probably in the worst shape... This Echeveria gibbiflora hybrid. Well, that's what it says on the faded sticker on the side of the pot...

He's definitely seen better days. I'm tempted to lop off the top and reroot it, and then let the leftover stalk resprout new plants. That's usually what I do with overgrown and etoliated Echeverias. I'm going to have to do some research on the plant though... a lot of this genus survives our winters outside, but I'm under the general impression that this one won't. Not sure though, I can't be expected to remember every detail of every succulent out there, can I?

So, these are my new additions... what do you think?

stuck at home...

Well, the AC stopped working on the truck again yesterday. I finished the day at work, but by the end of it, I was a puddle, so back in the shop it goes. It should be done today, and the mechanic knows that I am not happy.

So today, I was sitting here feeling a little depressed, so I went outside to work in the yard... it's a little too hot to be working too hard, so I was actually just goofing off, but I did manage to take some pics...

True to form, the hotter it gets the more the Pavonia blooms...

And today was trash day, and one of my neighbors was throwing this out...

It's a banana tree! Most probably Musa basjoo... the winter hardy variety. To be more accurate, they're winter hardy if you wrap the stems in newspaper or burlap or bubble wrap for the winter, but nobody seems to want to go to the trouble. Otherwise they come up from the root and get about 3 or 4 feet tall before the next winter hits. The ones in my yard get 8 feet tall and bloom, but only because I wrap the trunks every winter...

This plant was still in it's original nursery pot, complete with $9.99 price tag, and while I'll admit that it had definitely seen better days, it's very far from dead. Bananas are oportunistic growers, given a good drink and put in the ground this one would be fine. So I nabbed it, planted it in a pot that somebody else had put out for the garbage a couple of weeks ago... (I'm such a scrounge...)

Trimmed off the broken thrashed leaves,

and in a couple of weeks I'll have a really nice plant to sell at the flea market. Or, if I put some smaller plants in the base of the pot, wait a month, then I can double what I was gonna charge.

And all the while, Phennig was sitting on the carport finding this all rather amusing...

So, I guess something productive happened, and today wasn't totally a bust...

later...