Plant Shopping: The Whole Foods Plant Trap

There's a Whole Foods location up the street from where I work. It's a convenient location and I do stop by on occasion to drop off Amazon returns or pick up almond milk ($1.99/carton). 

The reason I try to go only occasionally (besides the prices) is their floral department, a.k.a. the plant trap. They regularly stock lovely houseplants and I can't resist browsing and usually end up buying one.

See what I mean, I just came in to drop off a package and there was a whole rack of philodrendrons and aloes to greet me at the door.

With a number of spider plants hanging from upon, and I have spider plants on my wish list. I managed to resist because I thought the price was a little too much.

I also resisted this display full of succulents, calathea, and what appear to be dracaena. But then, what's that on the bottom left side?

It was a phlebodium aureum or a Blue-star fern. The leaves are such an interesting shape and the price was pretty good. It was $14.99, half the price I saw online.

So, of course it came home with me, the plant trap got me again.

It looks fairly healthy, it has a new baby frond popping out.

It's potted in a grey plastic pot underneath the red cache pot. I honestly prefer the grey pot to the red one.

The only downside is the care tag. It lists basic care info, but doesn't identify the plant. I had to look up that myself. Why do so many plant suppliers choose not to properly label the plants they sell? It is a mystery.

For now, I have a gorgeous new fern to enjoy.

Stay green.

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Plant Fails: My Troubles with Orchids

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I mentioned in my grocery store plant post that I have a bit of a troubled history with orchids, specifically moth orchids (phalaenopsis) as they are plentiful in grocery stores, home stores, gift shops, and unfortunately in my list of diseased plants.

Here's my tale of orchid woe.

My first orchid was brought from Fry's grocery store. It had such nice large leaves, cute white flowers, and 50% off. How could I resist.

I named it Odette and bought a roomier pot from Amazon, and some orchid bark and Miracle grow fertilizer (which I later found out wasn't recommended, but that's a different story). Things were looking good.

Unfortunately, one day I noticed something white underneath some of those nice leaves.

Mealy bugs!

I overly panicked, went totally scorched Earth to spray them and hack them away. Next thing you know, I was Googling how to re-grow roots in orchids. RIP Odette.

My next orchid was purchased at Whole Foods Market for about $12. I named it Fiona like the movie, Shrek. It was about the same time I got an Ogre Ears Jade plant from Home Depot, and yes I did name it Shrek.

Well, Shrek and Fiona both suffered the same fate, too much Arizona Summertime heat and sun exposure.

The third orchid came from Aldi, I thought this one would be different. I learned so much from the other failures after all.

I have read that you shouldn't re-pot an orchid while they are "blooming", so I chose to wait until the flowers dropped to re-pot this one, big mistake.

They lasted 5 months. Because I waited so long, I didn't see that many of the roots were rotting. It didn't help that the poor orchid was originally potted in the tiniest plastic cup thing imaginable.

I had to cut off all the roots and several bottom leaves. And unfortunately, re-rooting efforts didn't work.

Now here's my newest victim orchid from Sprout's. Will it beat the odds and survive in my care. Only time will tell.

Wish us both luck, and stay green.

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Plant Hauls: Grocery Store Plants

You know those days when you stop by the grocery store for just a few items, and come out with a few other things you bought on impulse like...

Plants!

Yes, I caved and here are the leafy lovelies I brought home.

First up is this Alocasia 'Polly' I found at Sprout's. It was the last one. They had it right by door, calling out to me. It said, "Pick me! Save me please!"

The pot confused me. At first I thought it was a plain plastic pot without drainage holes. I thought I was going to have to drill some holes, or at least repot.

It turns out it was just a plain cache pot with a gray pot inside.

I preferred the look of the gray pot, so I left the cache pot off and placed the Alocasia on a pretty saucer.

And after a good watering and some trimming, my new Alocasia is looking a bit better.

Hopefully, those new leaves will unfurl soon, then it will look incredible.

In addition to the Alocasia, and against my better judgement, I brought this mini Moth Orchid. I don't have a very good history with orchids, more on that later.

I was amused by the tag, it says to water with 1 ice cube a week. It's a fun gimmick, but I've seen multiple sources specifically saying not to water with ice cubes.

The flowers on this orchid have all already dropped off. I'm not sure if I should cut off the flowers stalks to let it focus on growing more leaves, or try to get it to bloom some more.

Most of the leaves look fairly okay, though the lower ones seem to be starting to yellow. It could just be normal aging.

The leaves are really floppy though, could possibly need more frequent watering.

Most of the roots look good.

Though there are a few I will need to cut off.

The final plant I got at Walmart. I normally avoid buying plants at Walmart, but I found this Rosemary plant in their produce area. A gorgeous and surprisingly healthy looking plant for less than $3. Yep, it's coming home.

This is the second Rosemary plant I've gotten, the last one died from lack of light which lead to root rot. 

I found it amusing that the wrapping for this plant has a link for a focaccia bread recipe. That is why this plant was in the produce area instead of the garden center.

Still, it is definitely a beautiful plant and it smells so wonderful. I've set it up near a window with a plant light, just to make sure it stays so beautiful and wonderful.

That's all for now, just need to quarantine and wait for new growth.

Stay green.

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