new picky friends

...
after the cacti
euphorbias are my new obsession

Cereus peruvianus monstrosus
cut and still has to built new roots
Cleistocactus strausii

Trichocereus macrogonus
Euphorbia
Echinocereus

Euphorbia neobosserii or Pachypodium succulentum
with huge caudex and very few small leaves
no flowers yet, so difficult to classify

Rhipsalis

this and this website helps me to find out which species it is

Pilea shippment II

...
I'm absent since a while
not even checking if I have new comments
but I do

all about the pilea

my dear readers
I'm glad you're all that interested in, but it's not possible to force nature
at the moment pilea is in winter sleep
so no new cuttings at the moment

but after 3 years and an enormous growth
the kalanchoë is blooming

and I decided to post again
after readers - friends in real life asked for it

the weather is changing, the climate as well
all spring flowers are much too early

iris, supposed to come in March

pilea shippment

...
in times like this
we have to share more and not make money out of everything we can
there are so many refugees here in Europe from Syria
and in other corners of the world
people put their pilea on ebay
how weird is that

pilea is the plant to share and not to sell
she makes so many babies, once you have it
you don't know where to get rid of them

cuttings were send to UK, Italy and USA

from Lawren I got a nice parcel
included some more jetons from "Le nine jaune" in a color I didn't have
a beautiful collage as well

plantlife

...
otiorhynchus was on my selenicereus grandiflorus
obesa is blooming
elephant ear as well
stilllifes in the courtyard of Lohaus
finds from the fleamarket

I really would like to see the garden of Frida Kahlo in New Yorks Botanical Garden
in 2009 I started to make my apartment, terass and studio more green
my inspiration was Frida
I collected plants on my journeys, mostly looking for shape and weird species
I already have quite a lot like Frida

tiny flowers

...
outside and inside
tiny flowers
so delicate
but stronger then I thought

it's still not easy in my shade garden to get a lot of flowers
but I'm happy with the few ones who come

rescued cactus

...
gerettet hab ich sie
die zwei kurligen Kakteen sprich Euphorbias
beim kringloopwinkel in Mortsel

der nicht besonders hübsche ist eine Euphorbia obesa
der Grösse nach sicher 20-30 Jahre alt
die wachsen so langsam, dass man echt nichts mitkriegt
Wurzeln hatte er kaum noch
hier der gleiche

der zweite
auch eine Euphorbie, Spezies noch nicht gefunden
hatte leider gar keine Wurzeln mehr
nur noch einen Knollen
ich rede ihm gut zu
denn ansonsten sieht er recht stark aus

spring cleaning I

...
this time of the year
I always feel that I have too many things
that my apartment is too cluttered
that I need space in my studio
that I have to get rid of things which I don't even remember that I have

so I'm cleaning and organizing one room by one
the windows got washed by M. after 9 years living in this apartment
I'm so happy

more green

...
found some more objects in green the last weeks
and yes, I'm collecting plant pots but only in shades of green and black
and it seems that it's the colour of the coming season in interior

the small painting I found in an antique shop in Antwerp
it shows definitely a landscape from the canton of Berne
the house is typical for Emmental-yes where the cheese comes from!
it feels good to bring something like this home

after the hail

...
there's not much over
of the plants
after last nights thunderstorms
it was like the end of the world
broken glass
broken leafes
my so loved greenhouses in Antwerps city center are completely destroyed
200 years old cacti are standing in plein air

the same but different II

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a new houseplant - calathea "network"
Egon Schiele - Hauswand 1914 - Belvedere Wien
maharam - grid by scholten & baijings

summer air

...
the smell
the warmth
the colours
the light
the sound
it's nearly summer
went to see a house for sale
you couldn't see the end of the garden

starting a cactus collection

...
M. and me started to collect cacti
he goes for the big ones, the most sculpture like
I go for the strange ones
once they will come together

I have now more from south africa
desert plants like euphorbia obesa, pterocactus tuberosa and jatropha podagrica
then I have a selenicereus grandiflora
she will probably bloom in two years

we got them all from this event
collectors are special people
and I realized a certain love from older men for cacti :-)
they were so passionated about their prickly species

the big collection is from Antwerps Botanical Garden
euphorbia obesa has male and female plants
females are bigger and they grow very slow
mine is 10 years old

finally Opuntia

...
since January I got obsessed to get a big Opuntia cactus
I saw it everywhere
on tumblers, on blogs, in interior magazins, in advertising, on old photos
but not in real
till Saturday
in Mortsel, a village outside of Antwerp
where common people sold there plants and cuttings
a guy with a real obsession and passion for this kind of cactus
he had around 20 of them
in all different sizes
I took the biggest one and a smaller one for M.
they are perfect
of course I still have the little one
but it takes years to grow up

wild tulips on the terrace

...
they are so beautiful
tiny
fragile

Persische Tulpe "tulipa clusiana"
Kretische tulpe "tulipa saxatilis"

both from manufactum

and the forsythia is still blooming and growing inside
every year again the azalea from Aldi!

abounded house

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P. and me passed the house during a trip to the thrift stores in Antwerps surroundings
abounded for years
the wallpaper was mounted in 1936
I found checks from 1956
it has been a hugh nursery for orchids
all things where already took like the doorhandles and lamps
natur takes the property over