INDOOR JUNGLE JAN 2010

Lol .. you're not wrong ... that is a jungle!

lol - told you! I just started it in November and I love it!

I used to live in a flat that looked a lot like this .... almost the same plants!!!

Then you must have exquisite taste Bernieh, I've noticed that we grow a lot of the same plants, nasturtiums,petunias, the palms and cycads, oh and loads of ferns...great minds?

Yep ... fools never differ! My first attempt at gardening was when I moved into my first flat ... had lots and lots of indoor potted plants just like these! I haven't had any indoor plants for well over twenty-five years now!!

Looks great Jj and I love your dingle dangles too:-) Years ago I used to be mad on house plants and my late (first) husband used to complain that he was afraid to go into our small bathroom in case he couldn't find his way out! Oh it looks like we had a collection of bathrooms doesn't it (small, medium, large) but I mean our only bathroom was small:-)

now we know were you get your name from Junglejen. LOL

Lovely Junglejen........Every home should have a corner like this........

lol Bernieh, gardening for more than 25 years?...you win a golden trowel ! I started with a swiss cheese plant that Mum gave me, I tried to give it back to her because every plant I touched used to shrivel and die. So glad that I kept it because it grew...and grew...and....well it got so large that I had to plant it in a dustbin. Never looked back! :o)))

Yes Yorkshire lol, you've sussed me. Jungle by name...jungle by nature! :o)

Thanks Milky, I'll tell my husband that one. lol. ;o)
I suppose it would be ok if it was just a corner, but there's the porch, kitchen, dining room, bathroom, guest bedroom, and oh dear...somebody stop me I'm out of control AAARRRGGHHHHHH !!!!!

Cooo-eeee....are you there......lol

lol Amblealice....I'm hiding behing the banana's! ;o)))

Junglejen:

All the plants look like they're growing in a jungle.
: > )
They are very healthy!

Our garden room looks like this now, we are overwintering ginger lilies, banana plants, elephant ears, palms, succulents.....all down to you and your fantastic garden lol

OMG Dotty, (knew I'd get the blame lol ), you've really gone for it haven't you!
It's one of the perks of Jungle gardening....you get to enjoy them inside all through the Winter...'My Little Jamaica in January', get's my vote everytime. :o)
You're garden room sounds great...any pics?

P.S. I'm doing one of my experiments at the moment...I bought a fresh yam from the Indian shop. I'm not going to cook it though...I've planted it! Watch this space lol x

Thanks Delonix1, my husband would agree with you there...
"It's like a ****** Jungle in here!" is often heard in this house.
" Mission accomplished" then I say! lol

UPDATE...
It's got worse now, some new BARGAIN additions, January/February's a great time for snapping up tropicals from the GC !!!

Junglejen:

That's funny! I like your answer! LOL! : > )

Spill the beans then.....what have you bought now?

lol...Let's just say that there's a garden centre not too far away from here that USED to have a Banana section! :-0

Junglejen:

That's funny! Before you know it...you'll have 8 varieties of bananas like me. LOL! They are worth it though...there's nothing like fresh home-grown bananas. I especially love the taste of my lady finger bananas!

8 varieties wow!
Now you're just showing off, and I adore those little finger ones, they taste soooo sweet!
I've had mine in fruit before but they're totally inedible, not warm enough to ripen them properly here.
However, I've got hold of a very tiny Musa sikkimensis Helen's Hardy Hybrid, supposed to fruit AND be edible in UK...we'll see this year hopefully!
You've got me going now...gonna go count my Nana's lol ;o)))

Wow one you can eat....sounds good to me, do keep me posted re that one please.

Fingers crossed etc, I hope we get a good Summer, would love to be able to 'pick my own'. Will let you know how we get on Dotty. :o)

Junglejen:

Actually, 8 varieties of bananas here is not very many. : > )
Many people here grow dozens of varieties in their yard...if they have a large enough lot. Yes, my Mysore bananas even though the bananas only grow to 6 inches / 16 cm. long are my favorite. I have the Golden Finger variety which is a big commercial size banana...and it's a very good tasting banana also.

Sounds wonderful D, two things...1:No space. 2:No Sun. lol
I've just done a quick banana count (not including babies) and I got to 6/7 different varieties -one's not looking very well :o(
Do you grow yours from seed? I planted 10 seeds last year and 6 came up which I was quite chuffed with :o), I suppose that you'd expect 10 out of ten in your climate?

Jen how long did they take to grow from seed?

Jugnlejen:

I never grow bananas from seed..they will not grow true to "type or variety." Most of my bananas were given to me from friends from pups. I purchased my 'Golden Fingers' banana from a local nursery which sells about 100 varieties.

I know about space issues...bananas takes a lot of space and in big urban cities land is usually very expensive. Can't relate to the lack of sun...it's very sunny and 76 degrees F. / 25 degrees C. at 10:52 a.m. here now.

They were rather erratic Dotty, depended on the variety. Some popped up in a couple of weeks but others didn't show for nearly 3 months or so. The size of the seed varied according to variety,I still don't know which was which variety as it was a mixed bag and unlabelled, some being the size of grapes and others smaller than the pips. I usually just plant up the pups like Delonix1, but can't resist 'experimenting' and it was very satisfying when those first shoots appeared. :o)
It's not easy to find banana seed over here I've noticed, if you do find them then they're rather expensive, and of course they're not guarranteed to come true as D says, but it's rather nice to know that these babies grew from my hands!
I'm hoping to get hold of some plantain seed to try this year...IF I can find some...has anyone else tried them?

Found some banana seed on eBay, but it sounded really fiddly, so decided not to bother, trouble is the plants can be so expensive can't they?

Tell me about it lol ...having said that, once they are mature, they are fairly prolific so you can increase your stock quite quickly and easily from the pups.
I've had one of mine for nearly ten years now and I must have had at least a hundred 'babies' from it over that time, so in the long run they're good value for money. :o)

Oh that is promising, I wont mind paying out now that I know that, you must tell me what to look for, what do the pups look like? etc.......

I've just taken a photo of some pup's for you Dotty, it's the first one on my gallery x

Thanks just popping over............I could be some time.....!!