PrettyTiny Film Company Pic-A-Week **2021**! (The End)

[Loona]

I thought Rose looked like a Christmas angel when I saw this pic on Flickr earlier.

Those were my thoughts exactly! She looks so peaceful and calm out on the slightly snowdusty moss. A very sweet story too, that was so kind of your dad

[Lejays17]

She does look like a Christmas angel.

And that’s really lovely of your dad to buy her as an adult gift. She is a great reminder for you of nice things.

[neon_jellyfish]

Another vote for Christmas angel!

[Elfy]

She is quite Christmassy. Almost looks like she needs a tree to stand on top of.

[Alliecat]

Thanks, everyone!

This week's pic would've been better had my hibernating unmotivated self got in gear earlier in the day when the light on these was better.  Oh well.  Dolls With Flowers, continued -- here's Becky!



One of the Christmas cactuses was Dad's mom's, so it's over 100 years old -- but then someone gave Mom one and they look the same and now I've lost track of which is which.  Augh!!  So now I have to keep both of them!!

[dargosmydaddy]

Oh, wow, they match her so well! And a hundred (plus) year plant-- how awesome! (And a lot of responsibility... I do not have the greenest of thumbs, and I feel like if I was entrusted with such an heirloom plant, I'd end up killing it and feeling super-awful...)

[Elfy]

Beck coordinates so well colour wise with the blooms.

[davidd]

One of the Christmas cactuses was Dad's mom's, so it's over 100 years old -- but then someone gave Mom one and they look the same and now I've lost track of which is which.  Augh!!  So now I have to keep both of them!!

Okay, that's both funny and... you gotta admit, pretty pathetic! But keeping both, no problem with that! Your grandkids will be able to say, "one of these plants is nearly 200 years old!"

My mom had a hoya plant that belonged to my grandmother, who had had it forever, or at least, as near as I can determine, since the mid-1940s. I remember it being huge when I was a little kid. It sent vines climbing all over the room it was in, and once in a great while it would develop clusters of little waxy white flowers.

Anyway, after my grandmother passed away my mom kept the hoya plant. But last year, while my mom was in the hospital, my brother, who was looking after her place, neglected to water it. By the time I went out there this past summer what was left of the plant was completely dried up. I dug up the roots, brought them home, and soaked them in water for weeks, hoping desperately to see a sign of life, but nope. It was gone.

This article is funny: it starts off with the line, "If you remember a vine creeping around your grandmother's kitchen, chances are it was a hoya plant."
https://pistilsnursery.com/blogs/journal...-cultivars

Perhaps I'll get one of my own one of these days for old times' sake.

It is nice that your cacti have a cute little plant nurse to take care of them! And they seem to respond well to the personal attention!

[Elfy]

The chain of hearts plant that has been featured here a few times is over half a century old. It originally belonged to my grandmother and as I eressed an interest in it as a kid, she kind of left it to me. My mother looked after it for me, and then when she passed I got it. I’ve also managed to keep it thriving which surprises me.

[neon_jellyfish]

Dolls With Flowers will save the world! Or at least mental health of a part of its population. This is very healing photo!

[Loona]

One can never have enough 'Dolls with flowers' photos - do not be ashamed for a second if the next pic you share will also be one! Lovely photo, by the way, I love the colour coordination and the proud smile on Becky's face as she poses with the plant and the flowers - but I wouldn't be able to choose whether I like the cactus or Becky more (massive cacti lover here)  

Over a hundred!  That sounds majestic! And here I was, thinking how some of my plants that belonged to my mother (who has sadly passed away over 10 years ago - but I remember her getting one of them as a present at her workplace in the late 1980s, or very early 1990s) are old. Nah, they are like teenagers comapred to one of your cacti! Isn't there any clue that you could use? The pot, old pictures, anything? I can totally see myself losing track of which is which if there were two that looked similar but were *so* different otherwise, but I also know I'd feel totally devastated if I didn't know which is the old lady

Joining in to the Hoya discussion - we always had plants, and my grandmother always had plants too, but strangely, I don't remember us, her, or anyone in the family ever having had a Hoya. I've seen and come to love them elsewhere, and have wanted one for a long time, but I don't really like just buying plants, I need a story, a connection. About 2 years ago, through a friend and co-worker, I've become aware of a local community that organises plant swaps, where you can take any plants you have and no longer need (because e.g. you don't know what to do with the plethora of offsprings they sprout, or your are moving apartments, etc.), and find new plant moms or dads for them - and in return, you can also take plants you like. They usually get together on a monthly basis, though it has become considerably less frequent during the pandemic. I have hoped to find a Hoya cutting there, and have also told the organiser that I'd love one - and she spread it to others. In summer, on one occasion she was waiting for me at the entrance with a grin, and handed over a Hoya carnosa "krinkle' cutting to me that someone who couldn't stay has left there for me. She (I consider all plants to be female for their ability to give birth to new life. I am fully aware that concept isn't totally correct) is adorable, and I'm happy to have her - but she didn't stop my wish to one day find a "good old" simple, old-school Hoya. And I did, in, September? October? It was probably the last occasion the community could organise before the weather got cold outside and indoor gatherings were no longer an option due to the virus. There she was, not even a cutting, but a full plant, with about... 15-20 leaves? The girl who brought her told me she's had her for about 2 years, and while the plant didn't die, she also hasn't grown a single new leaf, clearly not feeling at home with her. I told her I have all the conditions Hoyas are said to like, brought the plant home, repotted her and gave her a nice spare IKEA Skurar hanging pot I had lying around, uninhabited, for years, and--- waited. She, at first, lazily started to grow a new leaf, then another - and just last week, I could, for the first time in my life, ex-perience that phenomenon of  "a vine creeping around". My mornings now start with a visit to the window in which she lives, to see the progress she made while I was asleep, and I am still amazed to see that the vine keeps getting longer and longer, it's probably about a metre long now, and while in the beginning it clearly grew upward, it is now bowing down under the weight of the 3.5 leaves (.5 because the 4th one is still tiny ^^) that have now also appeared on it. She's super cute, and helps make me feel better on a bad day (and on a good one alike). It's funny how plant activity can still amaze me so, even after having owned plants all my life, and sharing an apartment with about 50 pots of plants currently.

[davidd]

Joining in to the Hoya discussion... 

That is quite a fun Hoya adventure story! So now you have two! You're well on your way to being... a classic plant-loving grandmother!   Do you also grow trees from avocado seeds?

[Lejays17]

Becky with her matching flowers is so cute & cheerful-making.

[Loona]

That is quite a fun Hoya adventure story! So now you have two! You're well on your way to being... a classic plant-loving grandmother!   Do you also grow trees from avocado seeds?

No, not that (I tried it once, and failed. And then I realised I wouldn't find the plant appealing anyway), but I take the opportunity to try and root any and every broken off plant leaf and bit I come across. Which I'm sure also qualifies me for that title 
Also, given I now have a Hoya, unless I mess something up heavily, I now have the weaponry to have that "If you remember a vine creeping around your grandmother's kitchen"-thing by the time I reach that age. It's the grandmother bit that seems more problematic, as that would require me having kids in the first place, which isn't really among my/our goals.

[Alliecat]

Thanks, all! Good to see some other crazy plant people here
Some of mine have had names, or been "he" or "she" depending on whether they "looked" like he's or she's... About them giving birth to new life, reminds me of a botany teacher who said something like, plants are basically immortal, because the ones that can bud or grow from cuttings or sprout offshoots or whatever, are propagating themselves, genetically... I thought that was cool. So you could have like a 7th generation spider plant or something, and it would still be the same plant.

---

This week's pic was certainly unplanned...
Here's Lea alone & sad in an empty garage because the car is out of commission and in need of major surgery. I'm walking or bumming rides for 2 weeks
Dolly therapy to the rescue.