Calathailea

Just a plant mom named hailey who’s favourite plant happens to be her calathea. 😊

[calathailea]

Technical Difficulties

I'm having some issues with tumblr lately.. it doesn't seem to want to let me post anything..

[calathailea]

Glitchy

So.. I am still here but for some reason tumblr keeps telling me "well that certainly didn't work" every time I try to post something.. not sure what's going on. Some posts work and some don't, but lately, every time I try it's not working. For now, I'll try this. Look what I found for dirt cheap in a department store. Philo Pink Princess. Not the craziest variegation or anything but great for what I got it for! Not gonna list price to hopefully prevent the post from getting rejected.

[calathailea]

The Ficus

Currently, I have a variegated Weeping Fig, fiddle leaf fig, variegated rubber tree and what I suspect is a Ficus Aubrey though it was given to me and labeled Ficus Altisima. I can't be sure on the last ones ID until it fills in a bit more and the previous owner had chopped it back quite a bit so it only has a few leaves. Hence why I haven't bothered really taking any pictures. If you look closely in my more recent pictures, you'll probably see it. It has a ton of new growth so I'll share more about it down the road I'm sure.

All my Ficus seem to be pretty happy right now though.. For some reason ficus typically hate me lol. We'll see if now that I have some artificial lights, they do a little better. So far so good. I think I would like to buy a larger Aubrey to sit on the floor beside one of my shelves but no other specific Ficus goals right now.

My main wish list plants right now (at least the more expensive ones) are Philo Florida ghost and Thai Monstera. Now that I have my Albo, I'd love to get a Monstera with more stable variegation.

On a side note. I went to my local SharKare today to see if they had any of the things I needed to make my own potting mix and the store employees ended up asking what I needed and why. When I explained my collection/showed them some pictures and got into discussing plant care, one of the employees said I was "very knowledgeable" and asked if I wanted a job "like, right now." 🤣 I was like nahhhh, my plant knowledge only really goes as far as tropicals... Not sustainable plants. It was pretty cool though.

[calathailea]

The Hoyas

Currently in my collection, I have Hoya P., Krimson Queen, Krimson Princess, Curtisii and Carnosa (Carnosa is rooting right now) Next I would like Liniaris and Sunrise.

I adore these plants. They are so easy to work with and get to grow. They dont ask for much and their blooms are amazing too.

[calathailea]

Antherium Clarinervium

Isn't she gorgeous?

This is my first ever Antherium and I'm honestly obsessed. Typically, these guys would have flat leaves so I'm not too sure what's up with the big one but otherwise, the plant seems pretty healthy. For 10 bucks, can't complain! At one point, these plants were crazy expensive.

I brought out my good camera so there should be some nicer pictures posted for a while 😄

[calathailea]

My Safe Space 🥰

This corner really is my own personal heaven. Sitting here makes me so happy.

[calathailea]

Monstera Albo

I'm so excited!! My husband bought me a baby Monstera Deliciosa Albo Variegota. They are sooooo pretty.

They do tend to have unstable variegation but with enough light (I use artificial, full spectrum LED's on a 12 hr timer. A good ariod soil mix and lots of love and care.. I shouldn't lose variegation. In theory. Lol. Either way, I'm on cloud 9 right now. She's beautiful 🥰

[calathailea]

Oxalis Plum Crazy

My friend decided to drop this absolutely amazing oxalis on my doorstep last night. I'm not sure of commonality in this plant. I typically see triangularis, but she knew I would love it and I do! I've never seen this kind of oxalis before! So beautiful 😍

So glad I have amazing friends who enable my plant obsession 🤣

[calathailea]

New Life

While I did want my first post to be about my giant philodendron, tumblr isn't letting me post about it... idk why. So I'll start with my Philodendron Micans since I noticed some pretty cool new growth this morning anyways.

This is Micah. Creative, I know. I keep Micah under my plant lights and I think he approves because check out this crazy new growth! I have 2 leaves coming out of growth points at a time 😯😯

[calathailea]

I finally got my account back!

Stay turned for updates. I'm rebuilding my collection again and not only do I have more rare and uncommon plants this time, I'm currently at 63 plants with a 64th on the way.

[calathailea]

FLF and Edema

These speckles on my rescue fiddle leaf fig are called edema. While fairly harmless to the plant, it may be a bit of an eyesore to you. Edema are cells that have burst from water that the plant can't absorb. Essentially, if you over water or in new, sensitive growth, your plants cells may burst and cause these speckles. It won't hurt the plant and you can simply cut back a bit on the watering to sort out the coloration. Just be careful not to cut back too much especially if there is new growth as your plant will need more water to support said growth. It will also need adequate water in the summer when it's hot. Try to find a nice middle ground.

These spots can also be caused by other things such as spidermites, false spidermites or even fungle or bacterial infections. However, edema is the most common.

HUGE thank you for 2k followers!! I really never thought I would even reach 100. My mind is blown. Thank you!

[calathailea]

Calathea Ornata

Look what I picked up the other day for 9$. This is a beautiful calathea ornata. I was very excited and surprised to find it at a local grocery store.

[calathailea]

Some updates 😊

Things are starting to come back to life and look happier again.

[calathailea]

I'm here.

Black. White. Purple. Blue. Yellow. Brown. Whether you need help, a mom, a friend or just to vent. I am here. I stand with you. You matter. We all matter and we are not different. You may be treated different but in order for that to change you must not treat yourself as though you are different. I will not treat you different. I will be that mother figure you need. I will be that supportive best friend or give you a lecture if you've done something wrong and need to be lectured.

I hope that this senseless racism ends and I hope that these protests go down in history so we never forget that our beautiful black community will rise up and stand for their right to be the beautiful people they are and live their lives not in fear. I hope these protests go down in history so we never forget how many people came together in support. And although there is still a ton of work to be done, I hope the black community sees that they are not alone, not all white people are racist and some of us white people love them and support them. I hope they see that we have their back.

Picture is of myself, my biological son, my step daughter my husband and my dog. This was before baby. I was pregnant with her at the time. My son is brown, I worry about him every time he leaves the house. He is a strong boy and I know he will be okay but I still worry.

All lives can't matter until black lives matter.

[calathailea]

Two collections collide

Everyone knows I collect plants but did you know I also clean and collect skulls? Many people in my family and circle of friends hunt fish and trap. Many are also pagan or live a fairly paganesk life style and respect the lives they take. All of the animals killed are eaten and all parts of the animal are put to use. However, some parts are hard to make any use of, like the heads. That's where I come in. I take the heads of the animals from my hunter friends and clean the flesh and such off the bones. This is a huge process and in order to get museum quality it can take me over a year to clean one skull.

I do this not because I lack respect for these animals but because I love them just as much in death as I did in life. Cleaning these skulls is my way of paying tribute for their sacrifice and for feeding my friends and family. This cougar was hunted by my friend and was his first ever cougar. This is now something he will pass down to his son and so on. A new family tradition and I was apart of it. By cleaning this skull for him, it will last many years and his family and future generations will get to see where it all started every time they look at it. Death is an important part of the circle of life. I'm glad I can help honour it.

This is a cougar skull. Yes, he was eaten.

[calathailea]

Shes finally here 🥰🥰🥰 this is Robyn.

[calathailea]

Mental Health and Plants

Well. Today I am going to share something very sad and difficult for me to admit. This happens to more people than you would think though and I feel like it needs to be brought up. I've seen many people on some of my favorite plant groups talking about how they can't keep plants alive no matter how hard they try and that they feel guilty. But what about those who are amazing with their plants when they are mentally doing okay and unfortunately end up neglecting them once they aren't okay? Today, this is what I'm going to discuss because I personally am guilty of this.

Let me start off by explaining my current situation. As many of you have seen, I am expecting a beautiful baby girl, any day now. In the beginning of this pregnancy I had EXTREME morning sickness and dizziness and could not stand up for more than a couple minutes without getting sick or feeling like I was going to pass out. This lead me to being unable to water and care for my plants properly. One by one I had to sit and watch my beautiful plants wither away to nothing. The more I watched this happen the sadder I got. As someone who suffers with PTSD, depression and anxiety already.. I decided it was time to let them go and focus on keeping myself and my baby healthy. I decided to ignore the plants too far gone to save, cut back all my bulbs and tubers, stop all watering and hope to god I could bring them back in the spring once I was healthier.

This was unbelievably hard for me to decide because I knew I would lose the majority of my plants..

I went from a collection of over 50 plants to a mere 18. 4 of which are tubers or bulbs and will have to completely regrow. If I can even bring them back.. this has made me unbelievably sad and this morning I decided it was time to try again. As I trimmed my plants dead leaves and gave them water I apologized out loud to each one of them and told them I loved them. That may seem silly to some but those who love plants will understand.. this wasn't so much me actually expecting them to understand as it was me apologizing to myself. I had to forgive myself for neglecting them. My morning sickness went away before my collection had fully died off but because I was so upset at my losses I couldn't bring myself to go into my plant corner and save the ones I had left. Mentally, I didnt have the power or energy to fix the damage that had started.

This is where this conversation comes in. Plant lovers, I want you to know that this does happen and you are not alone. Taking care of your mental well being is and should always be, put first and foremost. If you lose some plants in the process, know that that doesn't mean you are a bad plant parent. Even in nature, not all plants survive. I'm not saying it's fine to let them die out of laziness by any means. But in nature, plants die from drought, lack of nutrients in soil, animals stepping on them or eating them.. it happens. If you need to chose between your mental or physical health and your plants? It should always be your health that gets attention.

Now that it's spring, I plan to get back to making posts about my plants. Maybe trying to rebuild my collection bit by bit and bringing back the troopers that survived my neglect. If you would like to see how this goes and watch as I dig myself out of my own depression, give me a follow and I will post progress pics and such.

I hope this made someone feel better, knowing they aren't alone and that our mental health really does affect our plants and that that's okay. It isn't your fault. If you have had this happen over the winter or recently in general, let's rebuild our little plant empire together. I can't promise my plants I won't let them down again.. but I certainly promise them I will always fight to pick myself back up and show them love again when I've finished falling. With every fallen tree, new life springs forth. Dont forget that.