Bichetii Grass (aka False Lily Turf,  Siam Lily,  botanical name:  Chlorophytum bichetii) is in the same genus as Spider Plant, a very common variegated form of Chlorophytum laxum.   Like Spider Plant, Bichetii Grass has green, long slender leaves with tapering tips and ivory-white band down the center or the outer margin of the leaf.  And just like Spider Plant, Bichetii Grass has flashy roots and bloom tiny, unnoticeable six-petaled white flowers.

While the “baby spider” or offset, if you prefer the horticultural term, is the easiest way to tell apart a Spider Plant from a Bichetii Grass, we can also get some clues from the leaves of the plants.  Compare to the leaves of Spider Plant, those of Bichetii Grass are thinner, with inconspicious midvein.

As you can imagine, the similar looks of Bichetii Grass and Spider Plant have caused lots of confusion.  And it could be even more confusing when we identify the plants with common names.  For examples, sometimes we find Bichetii Grass called as Variegated Spider Plant, or Dwarf Spider Plant.   This is just another perfect example of why do we use botanical names, when the common names can be very misleading.

A hanging basket would be nice for trailing plants like Episcia, but I couldn’t find a suitable place in my house where I could hang the plant   While I was puzzling over the new container problem for my Episcia, I saw a cool bike/trolley looking raised planter when I was shopping one day. Yes! This could solve my problem I thought, and so I bought it right away.

This is what I got for my Episica. I guess it can keep the stolons hanging nicely for another year at least

I bought this Hoya Kerrii (aka Sweetheart Plant) a few months ago in the summer.  Although I know that Hoya Kerrii is a slow-growing plant like most other succulents, I observe it closely every once a while, and hope that I will find something new, something different and exciting on this Sweetheart Hoya.

And last month, I finally got to see some “action” -  my Hoya Kerrii has grown another heart-shaped leaf!  Unlike the other leaves of my Hoya Kerrii, this one is all in green.  Now I wonder if the edge of the leaf will somehow turn yellow as the leaf grows bigger.

I did a bit of research on Hoya Kerrii and have learned that Hoya plants need to be a bit potbound before they will bloom. In many cases they simply will not bloom the first few years, but only until adequate roots have formed. A slightly potbound plant will put its energy into growing leaves and flowers rather than producing a larger root system. Hmm… do you think I should pot my Sweetheart Hoya into a smaller pot?

These are the flowers of Hoya Kerrii (photo from Brian’s Garden).  Cute aren’t they?  And from what I have learned, Hoyas are also very fragrant and some species even smell like chocolate too! Ok, now I am looking forward to this day to come

I didn’t know that a flame violet can have different bloom colors.  So when I saw a flower bud earlier this month, with similar color and look as the one in April, I was expecting another bright orange-red flower.  But instead, the color of the bloom I have this time is in yellow, with a tint of orange at the bottom of each petal.  What a last minute surprise!

Now, I am already looking forward to the next blooming of my flame violet, wondering what color will it be… 

The colors of the flower buds are very much alike, yet the colors of the flowers are totally different.

Thru some research, I have learned that Flame Violet can be propagated by stolon cuttings. This is my first time growing Flame Violet. Everything to me is new and interesting. And surely, I would like to try stolon propagation. While I was wondering when I should cut the stolons of my Flame Violet for my experiment, my dear brother accidently cut off two stolons from the plant with the rotor blades of his newly bought remote control helicopter. Ok. That’s great! At least I was saved from thinking too much more before taking any action.

I removed all the leaves that seemed too big, and planted each stolon in a 2” pot.

For the first two months, I had kept waiting and waiting, and the two Flame Violet stolons showed little sign of growth. While I was wondering if I should give up on them, I found a tiny pair of leaves growing from the center of both baby plants! Yeah!

I have an impression that my two Flame Violet stolons have taken longer than normal to develop their root systems and grow their first leaves. I wonder why. Was it not the right season for propagating Flame Violet? Or did I leave too few leaves on the stolons for the plants to grow and develop their roots quickly? For some of the leaves, maybe instead of cutting the whole piece, I should cut only half of the piece, so for the plants to absorb more sun and moist in the air.

But anyways, my baby FlameViolets are growing strong and healthy now!

You can check out this post for more detailed instructions on how to propagate plant by cutting.

As a curious gardening novice who like to try different things, I decided to take up this challenge and separate the crowns. It has been almost three months since I separated the crowns. Seeing that the separated crowns of my African violets are now growing healthily, I consider this “operation” as a successful one. And here, let me share with you how I did it.

This was my African violet three months ago. As you can see, the plant was very messy, jam-packed with its leaves shooting to all directions.

First, I allowed my African violet to dry slightly so the compost was loose and the leaves were rubbery. This helps preventing the roots and leaves from breaking easily when one tries to separate the crowns.

I picked out all the unhealthy leaves from the plant. You can also do this after removing the plant from its pot.

Then I removed the plant from its pot, shook away any excess compost and exposed the root ball.

After some careful examination, I found two distinct root systems. With a clean sharp knife, I cut between the root systems. I feel like a doctor doing a surgery.

Since there were existing roots on the crowns, both of them could be placed directly into fresh compost. If the crown is an offshoot without its own root system, then it is better to first be placed in water to permit root development.

The two African violets, which I have separated there months ago, are growing strong and healthily now.

My friend, Man, told me that after her cat, Mao Chu, sniffed around and examined the wheatgrass for a while, it just left the pot of grass behind without giving it another look.

Janet’s kitties love their snacks. Janet said she doesn’t think she can ever grow a second batch of wheatgrass since her cats just keep eating whatever they find growing out from the soil…

Instead of letting her cat eat out from the pot, Christina feeds her cat on a plate separately.

Tabletop garden – Black N Matching

Here, let me show you how to make this tabletop garden.

In this tabletop garden, I used mini Fittonia, dwarf Neanthe Bella Palm, and Chinese Evergreen. All of these plants can grow well in partial shade, as well as indoor.

Because this is my Mother’s Day present for my mom, I handmade a heart-shaped S and put it in the garden. It is not only my initial, but also my mom’s (Susana), as well as my brother’s (Stephen). If you don’t have a particular design that you want to put in your garden like I did, you can consider using cookie cutters, which make good decorations in your tabletop gardens.

Here are some tabletop gardens that I have used cookie cutters:
Tabletop Garden – After Jurassic
Tabletop Garden – My Star
Tabletop Garden – Double the Love

Chopstick is a common gardening tool for Chinese. I like using a chopstick when I am potting my plants. And in Japanese Garden, Gururaj shares how he uses his pair of chopsticks in his garden. I bet many Japanese gardeners use chopsticks when they are in their gardens as well.

Besides chopstick, my pointed-tip tweezers is another gardening tool that I have found very helpful. In fact, since the objects in my tabletop gardens are very small, for greater precision, I prefer my tweezers over a pair of chopsticks when I am working on my tabletop gardens.

I made this tabletop garden on May 9, a day before Mother’s Day. It looked fine, with only a small part of the “S” being covered by the mini Fittonia. However, on Mother’s Day, which was just a day later, I found the plants had covered almost the whole “S”. This was due to the nature that plants – the tendency of reaching towards the light source.

I got reminded again that, unlike oil painting or sculpture, the matters involving in a tabletop garden is organic and will change along with time and its surrounding environment.  And yes, that’s the fun part too!

Besides Louise, I have a few other friends who guessed the plant that I used in my tabletop garden – Money Bowl is Nasturtium. Actually, it could be quite confusing since both plants have leaf stalks growing from the center of the leaf disks. Yet, it will be very easy to separate the two plants when they blossom.

Nasturtium has yellow or orange flowers.

Interesting Facts of Chinese Money Plant

Besides Chinese Money Plant, Pilea peperomioides is also called Missionary Plant due to the fact that this plant was introduced to Europe by a Swedish missionary working in China in the last century.

For more details, you can check A Chinese puzzle solved – Pilea peperomioides in Wild Chicken.  In addition, here is the plant care information of Pilea peperomioides

These photos are taken on the 5th day after I planted the seeds. And since my friend, Janet, is planning to buy a house in the next few months, I added a tiny house in the garden as a little decor. When I gave this catgrass tabletop garden to my friend on the 8th day, the grass was around 6-7 inches tall, just about right for harvesting