Update -- Big Changes and Overwintering Plants
Autumn is here! The weather here in Texas is still hot during the day (75-90+ degrees F) and the evenings are getting cooler but haven't dipped below 50 degrees F. That means most of my outdoor plants are still able to hang out outside for a bit longer but I am focused on preparing an area for them to overwinter.
Thankfully I do have a second bedroom that doubles as my office so I have plenty of room to set up an indoor greenhouse or a just an area to overwinter with some grow lights. I am hoping to set up a greenhouse shelving unit from Ikea or a wire rack. It would just be easier to organize and manage a greenhouse set up but I already know what my backup plan will look like. That's my big move right now.
Hot porch updates are completely halted for now. I just received notice from my apartment building that they are planning to do some of their own repairs and updates to porches before winter comes down. They want to replant the porches and do repairs to any damages. My porch has some weather damage so there will be some carpentry work going into the repairs. Since my porch will be under construction, I am putting a halt to all lighting and cooling until those repairs are completed. I do not have a set start date and/or completion date for this construction, so it might take all winter. All the more reason to hurry to get my indoor housing for my porch plants completed ASAP.
Another very big reason I am hesitant to put more money into modifying my porch is the fact that Bryan and I have decided after three years of living in our apartment, we are moving at the end of lease. We will be moving about 15-20 minutes away from out current apartment to a new luxury apartment building. Our reasons involved in this decision are varied from small nit-picky matters like wanting upgraded living spaces and convinces and more privacy all the way to questioning the reliability of our new management team and even the safety of our community. When we first moved on three years ago our complex was rated very safe and had several officers and their families living near us. Over time though, those families moved out and the overall character of the neighborhood has gotten worse. There has been an increased amount of drugs, domestic abuse, and street racing in the past year and now we're being targeted for police harassment when coming and going from our home. Despite our beautiful view and comfortable living space, we no longer feel safe and welcome in our own neighborhood and sadly we feel we need to move.
I know this comes across as very privileged that we can just pick up and leave for a newer and more luxurious apartment, especially during these times, but Bryan and I had never planned on living here permanently. We have a 3-4 year plan to save up and buy a house when we first signed our lease here in 2018. We now know it will take us longer to meet that goal and we want to have more while we work on finding our home. Moving out was always the plan. It just so happened we found a new place we both really liked in a neighborhood Bryan and I desire to buy a home in, so we felt it would be better to move there now and start immersing ourselves.
With all that being said, sadly my plans for Hot Porch will need to be modified. We still intend to do lighting, especially for the holidays, but we will not being adding any screening at this time or additional furniture.
As for indoors, that garden has been booming! I have been busy this past month taking advantage of the last of the season plant sales and finding some great houseplants. Bryan has been incredibly supportive with my current plant craze. He's even made requests for plants he's seen online and would like to come into our house. I have been starting with some smaller items, like succulents and "fairy garden" plants, but I have also brought some larger hanging plants and medium sized potted plants into our lives. I have found out my dog is very good about not eating plants so far and enjoys the increased amounts of sunlight he can sleep in now that we are increasing the lighting in the house. As well, he seems to like to hide under the larger foliage, especially the Monstera.
Speaking of the Monstera deliciosa, whom we have dubbed "Cookie" as in the Cookie Monster, he has exploded in new and wild growth! I tried to tame him with a moss pole but he rapidly outgrew it. At this time he is massive -- about 4 feet across -- and occupies a whole section of our living room to himself. Cookie is a key feature to the household now and we are always getting compliments on him.
I am keeping a journal of all of the plants that are coming into the house and joining the garden but I've been very bad about getting new pictures on Instagram and getting the blog updated of everything. I can give a quick list with the hopes that more details to follow later on. I am hoping to do "plant profiles" on my garden this winter. I've actually managed to get a few 'harder to find' plants as well as some plants I've got no idea what they are but I am excited to find out.
I've been trying to keep up on Instagram with the plants for growth and re-potting plants. I've also become more active in the Reddit gardening communities, especially in the What Plant is This? Turns out my obsessive habit of researching and memorizing is actually useful sometimes.
I can end this update with some really great news. I tried my hand at rooting a couple of plumeria cuttings. These were the Kimo plumerias. I noticed about three days ago that Kimo #1 had an inflow. That inflow had a bight pink flower bud on it.
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