Semiannual Plant Repotting Dance Party!

For the past few months, it has been painfully apparent that my plants at work needed some attention. I had rooted some spider plant offshoots in.... March? April? I can't remember - it was that long ago. The Princesses had been confined under the desk since about then as well, when I discovered they were suffering yet another spider mite infestation. (Damn mites.) Things were looking a little ragged and unkempt, and I had adopted two more plants and assumed responsibility for Kim's succulents in the meantime. So the cleanup was well overdue.

If you had walked past my desk, this is what you would have seen - plus another piece of plastic enclosing the Princesses under the desk. It looked terrible.

The main plant area. On the desk, back row, l-r: white-stripe spider plant; Vancouver Centennial geranium; solid spider plant. Desk, front row: spider plant babies; a mixed pot of succulents (Kim's); donkey's tail (Kim's); more spider plant babies. Under the desk: the saddest Princesses. On the white table: fuchsia. Then two aloes on the right, the matron (the original plant from my Mom's ancient aloe) and an incredibly prolific plant.

Area #2. A giant fern on the floor, and the table holds...

... Two aloes (the front one is Kim's); A mixed planter of succulents from the local plant sale; and a pot with three mystery plants.

So I came in at 5, and got to work. The Princesses were suffering from YET ANOTHER mite attack - so they went in the garbage. Seriously. They were gorgeous (they were parrot's beaks, aka Impatiens niamniamensis) but they'd been plagued by mites ever since we picked up the fuchsias (Kim had one too) and a welsh onion for free. The mites hitched in on the onion - and took up firm residence in the princesses. The onion got tossed about two years ago, but I tried so hard to save my Princesses... Alas, they have succumbed/been tossed. I can look into locating another in the future.

So, a full 6 hours later, and I have finished repotting, rearranging, cleaning, and watering.

The new view from my desk

The desk. On top, back row l-r: white stripe spider plant; geranium; solid spider plant. Front row: Kim's mixed succulents; my mixed succulents; and Kim's huge donkey's tail. Underneath: Kim's aloes; an aloe I'm holding for a friend; and the mixed mystery pot - now down to two plants.

The babies: a geranium I'm attempting to propagate; the spider plants; and the baby aloes - all 7 of them came from one pot!

The tall plants: the aloe matron; the prolific aloe; and the huge fern.

I sent a white stripe spider plant and the fuchsia over to keep my colleague's coffee plant company.

The white stripe spider plant originally looked so full because it had split into two plants, so they got separated. The solid plant has also split, but it's not to the point that I want to battle it to split it (it's hard!). The prolific aloe, which is one of the last repotting's babies from the matron, gave me seven babies, and was putting up an eighth which I accidentally destroyed. The pot was waaaaaaay too small and she was prone to falling over, so she got repotted into a larger pot, and her 7 babies will be sold if they all root in the next month or so. The spider plant babies will also be sold or given away - there's 12 there that need to go next week. The geranium propagation is an experiment - I have no idea if it's going to work, but the main plant is getting nice and big and the missing cutting isn't terribly noticeable. The mystery pot and the fern are my two recent adoptions - the mystery pot came from an event in town that a coworker attended, and the fern belonged to another coworker (who got it from yet another coworker) and they have moved on to other opportunities.

I must say - it looks a lot better over here now, especially without the Princesses and their quarantine shelter.

(And a disclaimer: I have NO IDEA what I am doing with any of these plants, really. They get watered once a week, and I haven't lost any other than the Princesses (damn mites). My terminology is all wrong; I don't know the Latin name for any of these and can only identify half with any certainty. So if you want to try your hand at greening your work space or living space, take everything here with a box of salt, and a liberal dash of common sense - and Google or another gardening resource or mentor.)