Living Half Wild Arts Living Half Wild Arts

A jade plant in bloom

A wonderful thing happened shortly before Christmas: one of my jade plants came into bloom! I didn't even know jade could bloom, and in an entire lifetime of keeping jaded as house plants, this is the first I've seen bloom.

A wonderful thing happened shortly before Christmas: one of my jade plants came into bloom! I didn't even know jade could bloom, and in an entire lifetime of keeping jaded as house plants, this is the first I've seen bloom. 

The clusters of pink buds formed over a period of weeks, an then they opened slowly and bloomed for a very long time. It is over a month since the blooming started, and the flowers are still open, though just starting to fade. 

i've done some reading since this unexpected blooming, and it seems that cold temperatures and direct sunlight are needed for a jade to bloom. I also suspect that a couple of early fall fertilizing gave the old potted plant a boost. This particular plant was a recent gift, and I'm pretty sure it hadn't ever been fertilized. My new (and now favorite!) fertilizer for house plants is a nettle infusion added to the watering can. To make the fertilizer, I use half a cup of dried nettle plant, steeped in one pint of boiling water for 12 hours. Strain and add to your watering can. This has been a wonderful alternative fertilizer since I gave up Miracle Grow in my journey towards a healthier, more sustainable life. I use nettle fertilizer on all of my house plants now, and the are blooming and thriving in a way I have never seen. Try it on you plants and let me know how it works for you!

jade plant in bloom

jade plant in bloom

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Living Half Wild Arts Living Half Wild Arts

In praise of winter nights

With winter days short, although lengthening at last, it is easy to lament the loss of longer, warmer summer days, and yet, each day as I am about to curse the dying of the light, I look to the sky and see such scenes of beauty that it is hard to deny the magnificence of winter.

With winter days short, although lengthening at last, it is easy to lament the loss of longer, warmer summer days, and yet, each day as I am about to curse the dying of the light, I look to the sky and see such scenes of beauty that it is hard to deny the magnificence of winter. In fact, sometimes it feels as though winter provides many more perfectly calm and solitary moments to truly enjoy it's beauty. There is so little hurry, so little hustle in the cold evenings, that I find myself looking up and cherishing what sunlight we have as it slips beneath the horizon, the blanket of white on the ground, and later the piercing stars in a clear night sky. If us northerns must endure the cold and the dark, at least we learn a unique appreciation of the light.

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