Cal's Garden

This is one of several plants I repotted two weekends ago. It was quite root bound, so I belive it should appreciate the extra space to grow. I belive I have had this one since around 2016, but it could be longer? Honestly, I am pretty good at forgetting when/where I got my plants. I assume I got this one when I was at college. It has been fun watching it get taller and taller. Some day I will have to cut it so it fits inside over the winter, but I am going to put off that day for as long as I can.

08/08/26 - I belive I got the mother of this plant at Home Depot, although I forget exactly how long ago. I am quite sure it was in the timeframe that I was dating my husband, but before we moved in together. Maybe even before I went to college, although I am not 100% sure of that. Either way, the mother for this plant lives at my parents house. This little guy was taken as a cutting from her about 4 years ago, so likely around 2022. This guy really does need a bigger pot, but I wasn't able to include him in my last round of repotting. I might try and get to him within the next month, maybe around when I give my resurection plant a pot. It took him a little while to get going, but as you can tell he is now much too large for his current pot.

08/08/26 - I don't have as many of these as I used to, but I still have a couple. If I remember correctly, these have all been grown from a fallen leaf from a large specimen at the college I went to. Although, it is possible that the cluster actually came from a collection of plants I got from my nonno. They really impressed me with how quickly they developed a large "trunk", and how well the take on this tree shape. Honestly, I love them, I just need to make sure I always give them a free draining soil. If their soil is too retentive, it becomes way to easy to overwater them over the winter (although, I have lost branches from underwatering too...whoops!). I do want to repot the one in the square yellow pot. It has outgrown it (although, again small pots help with overwatering!), plus I actually have really grown to dislike that pot. The saucer it is attached to is way to small, so it is way to easy to create a mess when watering. I either need to water it very slowly, or I need to set it into the sink or a larger saucer when watering.

Fun fact, with how easily the fallen leaves take root, this plant has become a bit of a "weed" in my other pots.

08/08/26 - I belive these are both Easter cactus. I got them as one large cutting from a lady at my parent's church ~4 years ago, which I then cut into two cuttings. I really should trim these more to keep them compact, but I honestly love how they trail. Still, I could maybe try and root the trimmings back into the main posts to try and fill them out a bit more. These both got repotted in my most recent round of repotting two weekends ago. They had been in more of those square pots, one of them yellow and the other blue. Just, with the fact I prefer free draining soil and deep watering, it was impossible to water them without making a mess. I had resorted to just putting the pots in the sink and flooding them everytime I watered, and then letting them properly drain and dry before putting them back. With these new pots, it should be easier to just have them set into an appropriate saucer when they are inside. I have yet to be able to make them bloom, but I am also really bad at actually following through with controlling the light. I am just going to hope for the best, that they are happy enough and get a sense of the outdoor light.

08/08/26 - I can honestly call this plant a rescue. My boss had me doing some repotting for a customer, and this plant was half dead. She asked me to just throw it out, and couldn't be convinced that it just needed some trimming and attention to come back. This way likely in 2023. Anyway, I took it home, cut off all the dead sections, and just gave it the care an attention it needed. Look at it now! You can still see all the areas I had to cut it back, but it honestly looks so much better. When I got it, there was only a handful of leaves on it, and now I honestly have trouble finding a place for it over the winter where it isn't pushing into the wall or other plants. It brings me a lot of joy to see this one doing well, knowing that it could have just ended up in a landfill.

08/08/26 - These two plants were a birthday gift to me from my husband two(?) years ago. Despite my birthday being in September, the florist department at Fortinoes already had Halloween themed things out, and as I love bats, he decided to get me this one. Up until recently, the croton had actually been doing better than the kalanchoe, but since they were moved outside this summer they seem to have switched places. I think the croton might be getting too much shade from the other plants, compared to when it was inside. I should try and split these two up sooner than later, with the rapid growth the kalanchoe has had, I expect their soil is becoming more roots then anything that can hold water or nutrients.

08/08/26 - My husband got me this collection of plants during the summer a couple years ago, when he knew I was sad because I lost a couple other plants by leaving them on the roof of my car (a panda plant, and a purple peperomia). I had bought them at work, and left them on the roof of my car at the end of the day, so they ended up...somewhere. I was upset about this, and also upset at how he had initially reacted to me telling him, so he got me this the next day to cheer me up. Originally there was a nerve plant in here too, but I don't seem to be good with those. I should repot these eventually, but for now I am still just enjoying them like this.

08/08/26 - I seem to go through phases with this aloe. It does well, crowds it's pot, and then starts to die. I always get a section of it to come back after I clean out everything that is underperforming however. As you can see, I just recently did this. I really should divide or repot this one a bit sooner next time so I am not doing this whole dance yet again.

08/08/26 - I got this one on May 29th, 2026. I am writing this down so I don't forget! I just really like how orchids look, and yet had never had one of my own, so I decided, why not! When I was repotting things a couple weekends ago, I decided to take a look at this one's roots, and I am glad I did. There was a sponge attached to the center of it's roots, and I could see the early stages of rot around it. I cut that sponge from the roots, and then planted it back into the same clear pot with some fresh orchid bark. I then set this clear pot into one of the pots freed up from the other repoting (I don't mind the square pot here, as I just put this in the sink and let water run through the orchid bark when I water anyway. I also like the clear pot as I want to wait for the roots to turn silver before I water). I think it is doing pretty well, and I look forward to seeing it grow long term. I am not sure if I will stake future flower spikes, or let them hang.

08/08/26 - I am pretty sure I got this one as a Christmas present from my sister a couple years ago. Unfortunately, I waited way too long to report it. Almost from the begining, it's soil didn't want to hold any water, which made it hard to keep this plant happy. I like free draining soil, but I would put in a drop of water and it would come out the bottom of the pot. After a while I just would let the saucer hold water for a bit, but the last round of doing this I think I left the water in too long so it died back from too much water this time. I still see some green, so I am hopful that either the main plant, or the cutting will come back again, and maybe the new soil will make it easier to keep this one happy!

08/08/26 - The parent plant for these two cuttings is another one that lives at my parent's house. Actually, it is sort of cool, the parent here was from a centerpiece for an event my sister organized when she was the head of a youth organization for girls, so we have had it for quite a long time. I actually helped put those centerpeices together, so I have some pride that the parent plant is still alive and doing well. I took these cuttings a couple years ago, but just left them in water for way too long since I didn't have a good potting space. I think they still seem pretty healthy at least, and I am pretty sure they will make the transition to soil well!

08/08/26 - I bought this plant for my husband the same day I bought myself the orchid. Sadly, the yellow colouring of the leaves has gone away as our balcony doesn't seem to get enough sunlight for it. Still, it has been doing well since I repotted it, and the hope is to eventually plant it in the garden when we have a house. Still, it would be nice to find a spot on the balcony where it's leaves get their yellow colour back.

08/08/26 - This is a plant I got as a cutting from my sister. I will admit it was happier growing at our old place where I could give it a lot more sunlight over the summer, but at least with the balcony work done I am able to have it outside for the summer again. I hope to be able to drape it over the edge of the balcony so it can get a bit more sunlight, but it developed a bit of a kink in it's stem after being inside for a couple years without any real support. I think it also got seperated from it's main root at some point, but luckily it was able to suport itself with the areal roots that had found their way into the pot. Maybe I would be better doing a new cutting, but it seems healty enough for now. I really do like this plant, and I want to see it thrive.

08/08/26 - I got this plant as a cutting from a different lady at church maybe around 8 years ago? I love how much it flowers when it gets good sunlight, and how well it seems to grow for me. I repotted it two weekends ago, but it is still in too small of a pot (you might notice it is a pot in a pot right now). Still, I didn't want to move it up too quickly, so I will have to make sure I move it into the bigger pot in the spring once the roots have gotten a chance to grow out a little. I really should cut off the top so it is less top heavy, but I cannot bring myself to do it, even if it would mean I could have a second plant.

08/08/26 - One of my 2 newest plants! I bought this at a new independant plantstore at my local mall on Aug 2, 2026 as it is a plant I have heard about, but never actually seen. I have let it go through 1 cycle of "resurection" and drying out. I want to give it something closer to it's natural habitat however. So, I intend to get some rocks and limestone screening so it's roots can actual ancour it into something similar to what it might find where it comes from. It is something of a novelty plant, but I want to treat it well and make it as happy as I can!

08/08/26 - I got this one at the same time as the resurection plant, as something I know my husband likes the look of. It looks so fuzzy, even it touching it, it feels a lot more solid (it has hard spines that grow out to just under the "fuzz"). It has been a long time since I have grown a cactus, but I tend to favour plants that like to dry out between waterings, so I think it should do well! I do need to move it to something other than the nursary pot, especially as the soil looks rather moisture retentive.

08/08/26 - I got this plant early in the summer of 2026, although I forget exactly when. I have wanted an air plant for a long time, but just never actually bought one. I looked up what species this was, but I didn't write it down anywhere and have forgotten again. Maybe something ike T. stricta ‘Black Tip’? It will be easier to tell for sure if it ever flowers for me, so fingers crossed!

08/08/26 - I have 3 apple trees on my balcony. A Freiherr von Berlepsch, a Delbarestivale, and a Dolgo Crabapple. My intention is to espalier the first two, and bonsai the crabapple. The goal being to keep everything compact enough for the balcony, and having something to plant in the ground someday when I have a garden. The two I am going to Espalier will be wired into shape and pruned in the fall, and moved to a larger pot in the spring. The crabapple with also be wired in the fall, but I will hold off on the pruning until the spring, when I will likely also move it down to a smaller pot. Unfortunately the graft union is pretty high, so if I want all of the branching to be the Dolgo crabapple, I will need to keep this as a larger bonsai so the proportions are correct. Still, I think these will all make a neat challenge, and a neat creative endeavor!