Val Merlina
4/28/2025 7:38 AM
- Wildlife Guardian 🦉
- 15-DAY STREAK
Plants have always been a big part of my life: from my parents' house, to family members' gardens carved out of Pittsburgh hillsides, to dragging along vining plants and palms to my apartments and into park quarters, or even now my office, there are always plants around that I brought, grew, tended, or admired.
The current challenge is that I've been working on rooting a dieffenbachia (for indoors and away from pets) with a coworker after recovering a large piece of one that had been discarded at work -- so far we are both seeing roots forming in the parts of the stalk we each took! The stalk had been laying in an office space for nearly a month before I found it, I was told. It was a part of what was a much larger, and at least a 10 y.o. plant. Hopefully we can give these stalks at least another 10 years!
Otherwise, springtime means garden time: been spending time prepping my 2 veggie garden spaces, and getting some seeds and starters from a nursery/greenhouse in the county (check out Michael Bros. Nursery in West Deer!).
All around, I've been admiring the redbud, crabapples, and white pines have all been blooming and sporing in the yard. The redbud has been literally humming with bees, and I found it really moving/encouraging to see all of them buzzing around content and alive! If you can, I really recommend adding redbuds to your life and any space you are able to plant one -- native, helpful, and stunning against a PA stormy grey sky when it's in bloom. There aren't even words to describe it. And, the leaves are heart shaped once they grow out -- redbuds = love!
Good luck to everyone in their gardens this year! Good luck to everyone taking on a new plant, and I believe in you to grow whatever you're trying to grow.
The current challenge is that I've been working on rooting a dieffenbachia (for indoors and away from pets) with a coworker after recovering a large piece of one that had been discarded at work -- so far we are both seeing roots forming in the parts of the stalk we each took! The stalk had been laying in an office space for nearly a month before I found it, I was told. It was a part of what was a much larger, and at least a 10 y.o. plant. Hopefully we can give these stalks at least another 10 years!
Otherwise, springtime means garden time: been spending time prepping my 2 veggie garden spaces, and getting some seeds and starters from a nursery/greenhouse in the county (check out Michael Bros. Nursery in West Deer!).
All around, I've been admiring the redbud, crabapples, and white pines have all been blooming and sporing in the yard. The redbud has been literally humming with bees, and I found it really moving/encouraging to see all of them buzzing around content and alive! If you can, I really recommend adding redbuds to your life and any space you are able to plant one -- native, helpful, and stunning against a PA stormy grey sky when it's in bloom. There aren't even words to describe it. And, the leaves are heart shaped once they grow out -- redbuds = love!
Good luck to everyone in their gardens this year! Good luck to everyone taking on a new plant, and I believe in you to grow whatever you're trying to grow.
