This is a list of plants I own or owned. One could say this hobby got out of hand. All these plants live in a single student room, so it’s quite… cozy.

Araceae ¶

Watching these type of plants create new leaves from a spadix and sometimes a spathe will never bore me.

• Alocasia ‘Portodora’ (“Elephant’s Ear”)
  • Very big, hence the elephant reference
• Spathiphyllum
• Dieffenbachia
• Homalomena “Maggy”

Climbing Varieties ¶

• Monstera Deliciosa (huge!)
• Philodendron Cordatum (“Heart Leaf Philodendron”)
  • Or… philodendron hederaceum, haven’t found the difference yet
• Philodendron Scandens ‘Brasil’ (variegated)
• Philodendron Squamiferum Hybrid
• Scindapsus Pictus
• Epipremnum Aureum

Marantaceae ¶

Definitely another favorite group. Their leaves dance and sing.

• Maranta leuconeura var. erythroneura
• Calathea Ornata
• Calathea Lancifolia

Trees / varia ¶

• Pachira Aquatica
• Ficus Microcarpa Ginseng
• Lemon tree

Strelitziacaea ¶

• Strelitzia Nicolai
  • Lives permanently in water, so it grows slowly (that’s a good thing, in this case)

Urticaceae (“nettle family”) ¶

• Pilea Peperomioides

Asparagaceae ¶

• Chlorophytum comosum Variegatum (“Spider plant”)

Davalliaceae (a family of ferns) ¶

• Davallia fejeensis
  • Also called Rabbit’s Foot Fern, because the leaves grow from wooly rhizomes that hang out the pot

Succulents ¶

• Aloe Vera (specific type unknown)
• Sanseveria Black Coral
• Crassula Portulacea (“Jade tree”)

Cactii ¶

• Cereus Validus Spiralis
• Several unidentified small cactii

Gardening Season 2019 ¶

Despite living in a student room without access to a garden, I managed to create an improvised hanging city garden on my fire escape. I am aware that this doesn’t sound like the smartest idea, but the fire escape is no longer in use and not an official flight path. Growing vegetables in my own room is not an option first of all due to space limitations, but mostly due to lack of direct sunlight. My windows face north/east, whereas the fire escape is on the south side of the house. On the fire escape there is nevertheless still no space for larger vegetables such as courgettes, so I started my green journey with three cherry tomato plants, a pepper plant, loose leaf lettuce, and basilicum.

I sowed the tomato seeds inside in plastic containers under plastic in the second week of April. Multiple seeds sprouted in the next two weeks. At 15 May one tomato plant was 5-6 times bigger than the other seedlings, so I repotted it and put it outside. Around that time I also brought the pepper seedling outside, which I had received from a friend. I brought both in at colder nights.

I sowed a lot of loose leaf lettuce in the beginning of June. I repotted two other tomato seedlings and brought them outside in the second week of June. By now the tomato plant I brought out the first was already quite big. When planting the young tomato plants I dug them in until their main leaves, for extra stability. I also buried the original motor leaves. I planted some basilicum under the tomatoes, just curious how that would grow.

All plants were showing this interesting growth, where the trunks diverge and fuse again:

By the end of July I was getting my first ripe tomatoes. During August I ate a ripe tomato once in a while. Delicious!

End of August a significant amount of tomatoes were ready for a long time already, and some were starting to drop or burst. Harvest time! A few tomatoes were still a bit greenish or orange. All plants were also still making many new tomatoes, but they will not come to fruition as sun will become increasingly scarcer this time of year in the Netherlands.

The end result: 462 grams of very tasty cherry tomatoes.

No longer with me ¶

                                  _  /)
                                 mo / )
                                 |/)\)
                                  /\_
                                  \__|=
                                 (    )
                                 __)(__
                       _________/      \\________
                      |                          ||  
                      |         R. I. P.         ||
                      |                          ||
                      |     - Echeveria's x3     ||
                      |     - Senecio Archeri    || 
                      |       "Himalaya"         ||
                      |     - Senecio Haworthii  ||
                      |       "Kilimanjaro"      ||
                      |     - Aloe Vera          ||
                      |     - Hedera Helix       ||
                      |     - Zanthoxylum bonsai ||
                      |                          ||
                      |                          ||
                    ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

As you can see most of these plants are succulents, which are supposed to be easy, but aren’t for me. I have mediocre light conditions with a northern / slightly eastern window. I try to water succulents as little as possible, but when I do, they tend to not dry quick enough with the risk of root rot, due to the lack of sun and the low growth rate in these conditions. For example, in full sun during summer, I could water the Senecio’s as often as 2-3 times per week. But once the sun stopped shining, the plants immediately got into trouble, even if I stopped watering immediately.

The hedera I found to be too susceptible to lice, so I had to get rid of it to spare my other plants.