The BIC Plant and Gardening Thread

[sister13]

Hello BIC friends and fellow gardeners! Whether you have a container on your balcony, some indoor plants, a whole garden, or even if you just happen to visit a botanical garden or see a lovely space or plant in your neighborhood you want to share, this is the place! Please share pics, tips, plans and tricks about all things gardening!  

For many years I had a container balcony garden with mostly flowers and herbs (when travel allowed), and I am now embarking on my first backyard landscaping and gardening journey. 

I am often taking inspiration from the natural world around me and have recently had some spring inspiration for the Makeup Challenge of the Week and have loved chatting about gardening in our other threads, so I thought a new thread would be nice. 

It’s always so interesting to me to see plants and gardens from different regions and countries, so I hope you’ll join the conversation!  

PS: if you create a makeup look based on some plant or garden inspiration, please feel free to post your look or flat-lay here, too! 

Here are a few pics of my spring bulbs to start and I’ll share more soon (kindly ignore the weeds)! 

 

 

My old balcony (from the outside) - I’ll try to find an internal pic too:

[JoSometimes]

 

Blueberry bushes blooming!

Strawberry flowers peaking out!

Sadly, I did not get to planting my potatoes or peppers this weekend. Between rain on Friday, going to a wedding on Saturday, and some sniffly children Sunday and Monday (long weekend for us here), I wasn’t able to get outside as much as I would have liked. The strawberry and blueberry bushes are blooming though!

The blueberry bushes have had the most flowers I’ve seen since planting it a few years ago. It should have a decent yield this year. Last year, I had maybe a handful and the year before that it was still too new to put out any flowers. The strawberries are looking great and we should have some berries ready to eat in a few weeks. 

[Saradestin]

Your blueberries and strawberries look awesome @JoSometimes !!! You will be harvesting fruit in no time! 😃 I don’t have any fruit tree or plant or any vegetables, but my parents do and it is so much fun to go out and pick up your meal or snack! 😋😋😋

[JoSometimes]

@Saradestin Its been something I’ve done since childhood. My parents had strawberries too. They were replaced with raspberry and red currant bushes when I was in my teens. When the pandemic hit, my dad build a bunch of planters and now they’re growing all kinds of things, even a few quails for eggs. I took my girls back home last summer and they had so much fun picking fruits, veggies and eggs every morning with grandma and grandpa. 

[Saradestin]

So much fun and so many great memories for them to cherish and keep building @JoSometimes! I remember doing the same in my grandparents’ house and I loved it!! 

[jaaayp]

@JoSometimes *patiently waiting for strawberries* 

[JoSometimes]

@jaaayp I wish my girls were that patient. They’re already talking about all the strawberries they’re going to eat. 🍓

[jaaayp]

@JoSometimes I'm already buying chocolate so I can cover the strawberries in it 🙊

[Samtian]

@JoSometimes I've never seen a blueberry bush before, that looks awesome! I want one. 

[JoSometimes]

I got these at Home Depot @Samtian! They don’t get really big so you can plant them in a pot with some drainage holes. 

[Samtian]

@JoSometimes I'm going to have to keep an eye out. 

[sister13]

And sorry sniffly kiddos, hope they are feeling better soon! @JoSometimes 

[JoSometimes]

Thanks @sister13! They are playing like they normally do now so I think we’re past the worst of it. 

[sister13]

Wow, so exciting to see the fruit life cycle!  BEautiful! @JoSometimes 

[JoSometimes]

@sister13 I completely forgot about the Apple tree! It’s similar to the cherry tree but it has white blossoms and they last a good long time by comparison. I’ll try to get a picture if they weather holds up tomorrow. 

And I love plants that I can also eat. I can’t grow enough to offset my groceries but I love the idea of eating something that basically come from nothing. 

[jaaayp]

Plants of the week! Most of the plants below, I got them when they were the size of a thumb since these are collector "rare" plants but in the recent months, they all  decided to get on crack and bloom.

 

 

 

[Samtian]

@jaaayp That is cool looking! What is it?

[jaaayp]

@Samtian syngonium tri king, syngonium albo, aaaand philodendron white princesses. I believe they're more widely available now if you search online or at your local nursery! 😊

[JoSometimes]

These have some beautiful leaves @jaaayp! Can’t believe they started off so tiny.

[jaaayp]

@JoSometimes yes.. during the pandemic plant madness it was impossible to get your hands on any of these without chopping off your hand in exchange.. im glad it's kinda dropping in prices now tho!! 🙌 

[JoSometimes]

I know @jaaayp! One of my friends was in an exchange. I had nothing to offer except some strawberry runners. 😆

Even supplies were in short supply. I got an order pretty early on in the pandemic and was able to make a few raised planters. But the following year, I couldn’t get a hold of anything!

[jaaayp]

@JoSometimes the struggle!!! Yaaaa plant swaps are very common. I'm interested if you ever got something rare! 🙊