Data: 4" tall on 2004-01-24

Pedigree: Jade plant (Crassula Ovata). The only naturally arising kin of Phoenix

History: The beginnings of Phoenix 2 are intimately tied to Phoenix. After taking root in the remains of Phoenix, regular watering allowed Phoenix 2 to grow to a height of about 2". However, when the original leaf had fallen from Phoenix, it had landed near the edge of the pot. Hence, as Phoenix 2 started to take off, I decided to center him in the pot. A small growth spurt followed the centering, but has since tapered off. I often fear that the soil in the pot is somehow bad since it is the same soil that Phoenix had lived in for many years already. As such, I have been trying to find ways to add nutrients to the soil, above and beyond the regular watering with Miracle Grow. So far I've tried small amount of fish food and the dead leaves from Mister and Misses. We shall see if they have any positive effects.

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Data: 12" tall on 2004-01-24

Pedigree: Jade plant (Crassula Ovata). Kin of Phoenix, sprouted from a jade leaf in a glass of water.

History: Alpha was one of the first in a batch of three or four leaves to form sprouts by soaking in water. After the initial sprouts developed enough, it was transplanted to soil. It has done exceptionally well and has always maintained a proud physique. It has been potted up three or four times and continues to have healthy growth. I have heard rumors of extremely healthy jade plants flowering. Alpha would probably be my best shot for observing such phenomena. It also has the distingstion of being one of the only two (Mister being the other) plants of mine ever to be potted in an old Gatorade container (shown in the drawing to the below).

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Data: 9.5" tall on 2004-01-24

Pedigree: Jade plant (Crassula Ovata). Kin of Phoenix, sprouted from a jade leaf in a glass of water.

History: Beta was one of the first in a batch of three or four leaves to form sprouts by soaking in water. After the initial sprouts developed enough, it was transplanted to soil. It did exceptionally well at first, but, due to some poor potting techniques, it hit a plateau in growth for awhile. Upon realizing my mistake, I moved it to a much better pot where it took off again. Although not as fine a specimen as Alpha, Beta has a lot of potential.

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Data: 9.5" tall on 2004-01-24

Pedigree: Jade plant (Crassula Ovata). Kin of Phoenix, sprouted from a jade leaf in a glass of water.

History: Though just as tall as Beta, Gamma is not nearly as full. It, too, was one of the first in a batch of three or four leaves to form sprouts by soaking in water. After the initial sprouts developed enough, it was transplanted to soil. It quickly grew, surpassing my expectations considering its relatively small pot. Gamma continued to grow until its height out of the ground was about twice that of the pot. At that point, I decided to upgrade its pot to something a little wider. Unfortunately, the larger pots were already being used from upgrading Alpha and Beta. So, although transplanted to a larger pot, I feel as if Gamma's growth is still slightly stunted by its pot size, for it continues to grow upwards but not outwards. It has yet shown the ability to grow wider than its pot to the extent that Alpha and Beta have achieved. Nevertheless, it is a fine and healthy jade plant.

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Data: 5" tall on 2004-01-24

Pedigree: Jade plant (Crassula Ovata). Kin of Phoenix, sprouted from a jade leaf in a glass of water.

History: Delta was one of the last jade plants to come from Phoenix. After the initial sprouts developed enough, it was transplanted to soil in a very small pot (the pot in the drawing has diameter of about 2"). Its growth always hampered by its pot, it stayed a very small jade plant until recent repotting into the pot shown on the left.

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Data: 6" tall on 2004-01-24

Pedigree: Jade plant (Crassula Ovata). Kin of Phoenix, sprouted from a jade leaf in a glass of water.

History: Betty was one of the last jade plants to come from Phoenix. After the initial sprouts developed enough, it was transplanted to soil in a medium-sized pot and has always done well. However, when I began to water my plants with Miracle Grow, Betty suffered a blow. It seems that if you don't mix the Miracle Grow into the water well enough and the actual chemical gets onto the plant, it can cause something akin to a chemical burn. The result can be seen in the close-up of Betty's leaf shown below.

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Data: 3.5" tall on 2004-01-24

Pedigree: Jade plant (Crassula Ovata). Kin of Alpha, sprouted from a jade leaf in a glass of water.

History: The Twins are the beginning of a new generation of jade plants. When I moved in late-June of 2003, the jostling made Alpha drop some leaves. A few of these were put into water, but only the Twins sprouted enough to be moved to soil. They're in a large enough pot to florish, so it should be fun to watch them grow together.

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Data: 27" tall on 2004-01-24

Pedigree: Seed from a grocery store (red?) bell pepper, sprouted in a glass of water.

History: In love with my budding green thumb, I decided during the fall of 2002 to give it a try with a different type of plant. Not willing to spend money on seed or sprout but newly in love with bell peppers, I decided to take some seed from the vegetable and put it in some water to see if it'd sprout. I used some seed from a red bell pepper and some from an orange bell pepper. Mister and Misses were the result though time has washed away which is from red bell pepper and which is from the orange. Mister has grown exceptionally fast, always outgrowing its pot and shooting up in height faster than any of my other plants. During the fall of 2003, I had to buy a wooden dowel for it to support itself on. It also has the distingstion of being one of the only two (Alpha being the other) plants of mine ever to be potted in an old Gatorade container (shown in the drawing to the left).

Update: Mister now has two peppers growing on him (see picture on the left). Hopefully they turn out as well as Misses's peppers.

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Data: 17.5" tall on 2004-01-24

Pedigree: Seed from a grocery store orange bell pepper, sprouted in a glass of water.

History: In love with my budding green thumb, I decided during the fall of 2002 to give it a try with a different type of plant. Not willing to spend money on seed or sprout but newly in love with bell peppers, I decided to take some seed from the vegetable and put it in some water to see if it'd sprout. I used some seed from a red bell pepper and some from an orange bell pepper. Mister and Misses were the result though time has washed away which is from red bell pepper and which is from the orange. Misses has grown steadily since being put into soil. As stated above, it frequently produces small white flowers as shown in the close-up to the right. As these flowers begin to wither and dry up, a small bulb of vegetation appears Only once has one of these small peppers grown any larger than a pea, and that time is right now. We shall see just how big this pepper can get.

Update: The pepper is now almost completely orange (see picture to the right). I don't know if its diameter will continue to increase anymore. Currently it is about 2.5" across.

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Data: 8.5" tall on 2004-01-24

Pedigree: Ivy. A gift from my girlfriend, origins unknown.

History: As stated above, Eve was giving to me by my girlfriend when she first moved in with me. Ivies seem pretty prominent on the east coast and this one has done well. It is by far the fastest plant I have. By that I mean that when I rotate it, it is the quickest at bending towards the sunlight again. It is also the only hanging plant I have, so I hope some day it gets really big and cool.

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Data: 6.5" tall on 2004-01-24

Pedigree: Christmas Cactus (Schlumbergera bridesii). Bought at Home Depot.

History: Merry was bought as a gift for my girlfriend to replace the Christmas Cactus that she had to leave behind when she moved out East. Merry bloomed beautifully right around Thanksgiving (as can be seen in the pictures to the right and the bottom left) and hopefully I can get it to produce similar results next year. Supposedly, rumor has it that if you want a Christmas Cactus to bloom you need to put it somewhere a little bit cooler from September to November. Then when it's reintroduced to a warmer area, it'll bloom. That's the rumor at least and it seems to work for my aunt. The other interesting thing about Merry is how infrequently I have to water it. Being a cactus, I really only have to water it about half as much as my other plants, which just seems weird to me. But, hey, that's life.

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Data: 19" tall on 2004-01-24

Pedigree: Bamboo. Bought at Ikea.

History: Musashi was bought while my girlfriend and I searched for some things for our new apartment at Ikea. Purchased as nothing more than a stick with some roots at the bottom, Musashi has produced some nice foliage. Originally placed in a narrow glass vase shown to the right, it reached its limit and growth has stopped. Only recently have I repotted it into the larger glass vase shown to the left. Already Musashi's root system is expanding again and hopefully the leaves will begin to grow as well. Another note to the rookies out there: watering your plants with aquarium water = good idea. Using aquarium water for your bamboo = bad idea. When I tried the latter, a green scum quickly overran the whole vase, making it quiet unsightly. Now that I just refill the vase with regular tap water, the vase and rocks maintain a nice, cleaner look.

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Data: 4.5" tall on 2004-03-05

Pedigree: Jade plant (Crassula Ovata). Bought at Ikea

History: Cruella was bought during a random trip to Ikea to get laundry bags. Of course, we perused the garden section while we were there and found Cruella and Damion. When my girlfriend first brought Cruella over to me, I dismissed it saying that I didn't need another jade plant. She questioned whether or not it actually was a jade plant. The leaves were the same, but the general shape and composition seemed different. My jade plants were tall and tree-like, while Cruella was more shrub-like. It's tag said: 'Crassula Ovata' but I didn't know then what the scientific name for jade plants was. So I bought it. Turns out Cruella is just another jade plant. However, being from a different strain, (i.e. not a descendant of Phoenix), maybe she will maintain her more shrub-like appearance instead of growing up like the others. It should be interesting.

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Data: 9.5" tall on 2004-03-05

Pedigree: Croton, Codiaeum variegatum. Bought at Ikea.

History: Damion was bought on a random trip to Ikea to get some laundry bags. Of course, we perused the garden section while we were there and found Cruella and Damion. As soon as I saw a plant of Damion's species, I liked it. The only problem was that at first all I saw were large and expensive versions. Eventually, we found Damion with a price tag of only $1.50. Not bad for such a killer-looking plant. When I got home I realized that the species was only indicated as 'Tropical Plant.' I searched without luck through a bunch of websites dedicated to tropical plants to figure out what exactly it was. Then I showed a picture to my mom and she knew immediately. One of the reasons I may have had trouble locating a match on any of the websites is that a Croton can have either colorful blothes (such as Damion) or colorful lines and veins. Most pictures online only display the latter variant. Whatever. Hopefully Damion will grow to a much larger size. It's just such a neat and colorful plant.

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Data: 2.5" tall on 2004-03-16

Pedigree: Some sort of Cactus. Bought at Home Depot.

History: There's not much to say about Princess. As soon as I saw her, I knew I had to have her. She's just so tiny and cute. Hopefully the pink color stays so vibrant. The picture to the right hardly captures its quality.

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