Aloe Vera Update

Hello all, May is has been a month full of steaminess with the spring weather. It has been quite a while since I last posted on Dynamic Gardening but I am back. This month is significant since it marks two years since I bought one of my oldest plants: my aloe vera. I will be honest about this plant, it was doing great last year until the winter months when the leaves started to wilt which was very noticeable. Here's how the plant looked with its leaves drooping:

I did not like my aloe vera looking very sad like this, so I did some research online and asked a few of my followers on Instagram of some possible solutions. This led to the solution of tying up the leaves so that the new growth will not wilt like the older foliage. To do this, I did use what I found around the house which was some purple yarn:

Since I used this method to prop my Aloe's leaves up, it looks much better! The new growth in the center does appear to look healthy as well. I wanted to share this just in case if another owner of an aloe vera encounters this problem with their plant. I still keep this plant in the west facing window in my kitchen that receives indirect light in the morning hours; and direct sunlight in the afternoon hours. If you have any questions about this post, feel free to leave a comment and I will answer as soon as possible. Thank you for dropping by! 

Closing The Book for March

Hello everyone! I can't believe that I'm saying this but I absolutely cannot believe that March has went by so quickly! This is one of my favorite months of the year and it's almost over already. Quite a few things has happened with my plants over the course of this month. I do admit that I have procrastinated by delaying the posts and I am sorry about that. Well going forward, I'll try to be more consistent hopefully.

 Onwards to the plants, the weather has been getting significant warmer which is a huge plus! My indoor plants are responding to the temperature change pretty well! 

On the 11th, my golden pothos (Epipremnum Aureum) turned one! It was a very remarkable day and here's how the plant looks one year since I bought her from the store:

I named my golden pothos Patricia and she's a great plant to have! There are vines growing everywhere and it's a nice sight to see! This plant was very smaller compared to the size that it is today. I am glad to see how far this golden pothos has came! Even today there are more new leaves developing! Currently I water this plant once a week and it is working out well for Patricia! I will post more updates in the future for sure! :)

Next I will show an update on my Dracaena 'Lemon Surprise' plant! Here's how this plant looks currently:

I am amazed by the progress that this plant has made since I saved it from the clearance rack at Lowe's over a year ago. There far are less signs of brown crispy damaged foliage now than before. I water this plant once a week now, since the weather is warming up. It does get some daily afternoom sun from the west facing window in my kitchen and it seems to love it and that makes me very happy! I really love the swirling motion that the leaves collectively create! I hope that you enjoyed the update on my Dracaena 'Lemon Surprise' plant! Do not worry I will post more updates on this plant too!

Last but not certainly least, I am going to show the progress of my peace lily (Spathiphyllum). Here's how the plant looks now:

This plant is doing well! I love those green glossy leaves!! I am hoping to have this plant rebloom because those blooms are a very pleasant sight to see. Out of all of my plants, this is one that likes a lot of water. The leaves slightly droop letting me know that it is time to water. This is a lower light house plant, mine is in a west facing window that does not receive a lot of direct sunlight, and it seems to love it! This plant sits on the counter next to my Norfolk Island Pine (Araucaria Heterophylla). Here's a photo of both of the plants together:

They are both loving that afternoon sun! These two are sort of best buds and are kind of inseparable! I hope that you liked the update on the peace lily as well!

In this past month, the weather has warmed up and I am excited to see what this 2016 growing season has in store for my indoor garden! If you have any questions or comments, do not hesitate and leave it in the comments section below, and I will answer as soon as possible. Thank you all for stopping by my blog today! Have a great day!

Mother in Law's Tongue Update

Happy Friday to all of the plant lovers and enthusiasts out there! I have noticed that I have not done any updates lately on any of my houseplants so why not start off the series of updates today. I will update you all on my mother in law's tongue plant (sansevieria trifasciata):

I haven't posted about this particular plant recently but it is doing amazingly well still! I have had this plant for over a year now and I am totally impressed by the transformation that it has made since I found it on a shelf filled with plants at a local grocery store. Last summer I did repot it and right now it seems to love that ceramic pot! Since it has been very cold here in North Carolina, the growth rate has slowed tremendously but within the past two weeks, it seems to have picked up its growing pace. The tallest leaf seems to keep getting taller as time progresses! I water this plant once every week and a half since it's not the growing season yet. As for its lighting situation, it is sitting in the west facing window in my kitchen which receive a few hours of direct light in the afternoon and evening hours.( In the photo above, the plant is not in its regular growing location for the purposes of taking this photo because the lighting at the window wouldn't make it look clear.) I'm looking forward to seeing new leaves approaching in the coming months and I really hope that this plant will flower for me one day. I have read that sansevieria blooms have amazing fragrances and I would love to experience that sensation personally. I hope that you have enjoyed the update on my mother in law's tongue plant! If you're a beginner, this is the perfect plant to get! It is very forgiving if you forget to water sometimes which I am guilty of sometimes, and it rewards with beautiful foliage with remarkable leaf pattern markings. Have a wonderful weekend everyone!

New Addition

Happy February gardeners! The weather has been frigid lately and I do like it. It does create a great feeling of winter. The other day I did stop by my local Lowe's store and went in the indoor plant section of the store to browse around. They did have a wide variety of beautiful tropicals; I do wish that I did take a picture of all of them. There was one plant that caught my attention was this plant:

The tag did say that this plant is a Philodendron 'Silver' (scindapsus pictus). I have also heard that this is a satin pothos as well. This is a beautiful plant indeed and I never had one of these before. Those patterns on the leaves are very remarkable! I did buy this plant for full price, as I usually buy clearance plants, but it was totally worth it with this plant. I am glad that I do have a sibling for my golden pothos plant now. I'm excited to see how this plant will grow. Here's another photo of the plant:

I love this plant! It's a perfect fit for my dining table because it is a low light area. Thank you all for reading, and if you have any additional tips for my newest addition , feel free to leave a message below. Thank you for reading today's post!

New Year, New Works!

Hello my fellow Dynamic Gardening readers! Happy New Year of 2016 to all of you and let's make this year the best one yet! I'm excited to see what this year has in store for me and my indoor garden. Since the Christmas season is officially over, I have been doing some un-decorating around the house. I took down these lights that were in my bedroom window:

It was sad to see the lights go, but it's time for new beginnings. Here's a before picture of my Norfolk Island Pine (araucaria heterophylla) that I received on my birthday all decorated:

It sure was really festive for sure! Within the past few days I have removed all of the ornaments and decorations. Here is an after picture of the Norfolk Island Pine after being un-decorated:

This plant looks amazing even with no decorations and I love the designs that are created within the structure of the branches of this awesome pine! I mist this tree every once in a while also making sure that the soil is moist enough for the pine to absorb the needed water so that it will not dry out too much. Hopefully this plant will last for many years to come! I always wanted to successfully grow a Norfolk Island Pine and I am holding on to my faith in this plant! I hope you enjoyed my mini experience of taking down the Christmas/ Holiday decor. Tell me about your un-decorating experiences in the comment section below! I'd love to hear your experiences! Thank you all for taking the time today and stopping by Dynamic Gardening! See you soon!

Birthday Plants

Happy Saturday! It is the end of a very long week and also today is my birthday! I'm excited still! It's going very well as a matter of fact and I would like to share the plants that I received today as my presents: 

They are a Norfolk Island pine (araucaria heterophylla) and a poinsettia! They are both very beautiful plants and I'm excited to use them as a part of my Christmas decor at home:

They're both sitting happily on the dining table currently and they look absolutely festive! I love the bright red color of the poinsettia and the lush green look of the Norfolk Island pine! I might possibly add some lights to the plants to bring more Christmas spirit. I hope you have enjoyed the poinsettia and Norfolk Island pines introduction for today, I hope you all have a great day! I surely will enjoy the rest of my birthday! See you all next week! 

Dracaena Update!

Hello all and happy Wednesday! The weather today has been cool and refreshing! With these cooler temperatures outdoors, indoors I am still watering all of the plants less than I did during the growing season. For today here's a plant update in store for you to see! The plant that I will be showing the update on is with the Dracaena 'Lemon Surprise' plant that I rescued from Lowes earlier this year. The plant was sadly sitting on a clearance shelf along with others and this plant really caught my attention as I have been wanting a plant of this variety for quite a while. Here's a photo of the plant from back on March 10th of this year(2015):

This was a couple of weeks after I purchased the plant. I could see past all of the flaws that were present in this plant and it was slowly improved. Here's how this plant is doing today:

There are not that many hints of brown, crispy foliage on this plant anymore which makes me very happy! I like how the leaves have a visual appeal of a swirl motion! In terms of care, it is quite simple and this plant is not very demanding for pampering. My watering schedule for this plant is once every week to every week and a half during the growing season. Currently since it is fall, I tend to water once every 2 weeks or when the soil dries out. That is a good rule of thumb with this plant, is to allow the soil to dry in between waterings. The lighting situation for this plant is in a west facing window, which it does seem to enjoy a lot. These plants would be happy in an east, west, or north window, as they do not like too much direct light like from a south facing window. As for fertilizing, I use miracle grow houseplant food that is sold at many hardware stores and garden centers. This plant would like to be fertilized once a month during the growing season, and none at all during the fall and winter months. 

This is an awesome plant that looks very appealing! I am very glad to see how far this plant has come in less than a year and I am excited to see what new things will happen! I hope that you have enjoyed this update on the Dracaena 'Lemon Surprise' plant! If you have any questions or comments about this post, feel free to leave a comment below :-). Happy gardening!