On plants...

I don't keep as many house plants as I used to.

Mostly because of space and the intensity of light here.

I know, most people wish they had more sunlight, but here our windows face south

and the windows are very large, so the sunlight can almost be too much.

In the colder months, we can, on sunny days, claim to have 'passive solar heating'.

All this means is that the heat of the sun coming through the windows, is enough to warm the house sufficiently.

So the few plants I do have must be kept out of this blistering light and since our space is limited, so are the amount of plants I grow indoors.

I have my 3 little cacti, which sit on the windowsill...

This one has needles that look suspiciously like a tiny house spider I've seen in the bathroom.

I have a few orchids, which I've learned, like neglect and just a tiny bit of water once a week...

Then there are the sometimes prickly and healing aloes, which seem to love the heat of the loft...

The ferns that I keep out of the direct sun seem to do really well here.

And I love ferns...

I have three strange ones.

One is dormant and not very photogenic right now.

The second is called a rabbits foot fern...for obvious reasons...

These are external roots that creep outside of the pot.

Some people think it looks like giant, furry spider legs.

It really is a lovely fern.

The third is called a Mother fern.

She is growing in a small pot set into a giant pot which holds my palm...and loves lots of moisture...

The lacy, fronds grow up to a meter long and the really interesting thing about this fern is how it reproduces...

Babies are growing right out of the bigger leaves...hence the name Mother fern...

So I have taken a bunch of these babies off of the mother plant and will try growing them in one of these little peat pot greenhouses...

Who knows...maybe I will go into the fern growing business if these little guys do well!