Plant Chores, Fun and Not So Much

Starting with the not so fun plant chores…

this Crown of Thorns sits beside our front porch and over the years has gotten a tad overgrown. We’ve been avoiding dealing with it because… look at those spikes!

But it was on my must-do list and tomorrow is trash day, so hubby and I chopped it back as close to the pot as we could get. Marie, my phone-a-friend, what-the-heck-is-this expert, says the white milky sap is irritating if it gets in your eye but not toxic to adults.

Plant on the right is a giant rosemary (the herb) that also loves this spot

Do I care if we killed it? Nope! Although I think it’ll take more than pruning to get the better of it. I’m ok if it grows back - hubby really likes the flowers - but we’ll keep a better eye on it going forward. 

There’s something about this spot that plants really like. 

This Aeonium Kiwi (yes I had to ask Marie what it was…) and the Crown of Thorns obviously busted through those blue ceramic pots we had them in and rooted into the ground. This one I like! Planning to take cuttings and hopefully get more of this growing in the yard. 

The fun plant chore? Replanting the amaryllis bulbs Gary and Cheyenne gave me in December. I was able to cut the plastic cover from the small bulb (white flower) 

but I had to call in The Tool Man to get the big one apart (red flower). I forgot to get a picture, but the bigger bulb has a pup/baby/tiny bulb forming near the roots. 

Hoping these survive and I can get 3 - or more - flowers for the holidays.