Category Archives: House plants

First Day of the Last Month

Posted on December 1, 2025 by daeja's view

It looks like we might have our first significant snow storm of the season tomorrow. Of course that prediction could easily change, but I rescheduled a long-distance appointment anyway. As always, over the last month or so the geese in … Continue reading →

Posted in Aging, Autumn, Cooking, Dogs, Food, Holidays, House plants, nature, Perspective, Seasons, senior musings, The Urban Porch, The Urban Porch ™, Uncategorized, Views From he Urban Porch ™, Weather, Winter | Tagged December, End of November, fallen leaves, impending snow, intention, Japanese Maple, medicine card, missing loved ones, move with intention, murmurations, my red tree, northern lights, one flower standing, onward, Papi-Chi, papillon, The Antelope | 1 Comment

Slow Rollout

Posted on October 19, 2025 by daeja's view

So here we are, mid-October, and it’s rolling out in slo-mo. While other areas are getting color, this little corner of the world (at least my world) has been in a bit of a stall. The maple tree in front … Continue reading →

Posted in Aging, Animal Stories, Autumn, Dogs, Gardening, House plants, nature, Perspective, Photography, Seasons, senior musings, The Urban Porch, The Urban Porch ™, treasures, Uncategorized, Views From he Urban Porch ™, Weather | Tagged Autumn, autumn color, Color, colors of autumn, dull fall, dying garden, farmers market, fly swatter, Gardening, Halloween, halloween decorations, homecoming parade, houseplants, jerusalem artichokes, my cowboy boots, no kings, Papi-Chi, papillon, paw-paw season, porch skelly, senior dog, spotted lanternflies, sunchokes, sunsets, writing | Leave a comment

Chicken

Posted on March 8, 2025 by daeja's view

OK, well this is going to be another one of those brain-salad riff type posts where I am all over the place, but if you follow or if your brain works like mine, you might find the connections somehow. Or … Continue reading →

Posted in Aging, Animal Stories, Are you kidding me?, baking, Birds, Cooking, Food, House plants, nature, Perspective, Seasons, senior musings, Spring, The Urban Porch, The Urban Porch ™, Uncategorized, Views From he Urban Porch ™, Weather, Weird, Winter | Tagged 11:11, brain salad, chicken, chicken for chicken, crow royalty, Dutch Baby, Foodie, Memories, neglected clivia, organic eggs, senior memories, senior musings, spring of deception | Leave a comment

Summing Up Twenty-Four

Posted on December 29, 2024 by daeja's view

Scrolling back over the past posts of 2024 puts it right in my face that there was plenty about nature, food, weather, and just mindless, ambling summations. That, and a couple of Rants here and there. At the beginning of … Continue reading →

Posted in Aging, Animal Stories, Coping, Earworm of the day, Flashback, Food, Gardening, Holidays, House plants, nature, Perspective, Photography, Rant, Regrets, Seasons, senior musings, The Urban Porch, The Urban Porch ™, treasures, Uncategorized, Vent, Views From he Urban Porch ™, Weather, Wildlife, Winter | Tagged 2024 in retrospect, celestial phenomenon, clouds, colors, Cooking, earworms, impressions, little dog, mind-spinning, oddball thoughts, ROYGBIV, serenity, snow, Stuff, the Zone, Weather, whimsical observations | 1 Comment

Seasonal Snippets

Posted on December 10, 2024 by daeja's view

Earlier in the week it snowed these little tiny snowballs. Not hail, but actual little snowballs. I thought it was pretty cool. Of course as soon as I tried to scoop some up, they immediately began melting in my hands. … Continue reading →

Posted in Aging, Autumn, Cooking, Dogs, Food, Holidays, House plants, Perspective, Seasons, senior musings, The Urban Porch, The Urban Porch ™, treasures, Uncategorized, Views From he Urban Porch ™, Weather, Winter | Tagged almost winter, apple syrup, chocolate chocolate, comings and goings, dead plants, holiday, Holidays, Little Rudi, passages, regenerating scallions, regrowing scallions, scallions, scenes from the urban porch, snow, winter | Leave a comment

Soaking In the Last of Summer

Posted on September 7, 2024 by daeja's view

September in the Northeast. While it is probably a temporary thing, we did get a break in the heat and have had some deliciously bright, temperate days. Actually there were a couple of weeks of those days, with one or … Continue reading →

Posted in Aging, Animal Stories, Autumn, Daeja's Garden, Gardening, House plants, Mushrooms, nature, Perspective, Photography, Seasons, senior musings, summer, The Urban Porch, The Urban Porch ™, treasures, Uncategorized, Views From he Urban Porch ™, Weather, Wildlife | Tagged black walnut remains, cricket in the house, edible Fuschia berries, flash flood, Fuchsia, Fuchsia berries, fungus gnats, Fuschia, gnats in houseplants, moss, moss magic, mossy bliss, Northeast September, September, squirrel action | 2 Comments

Summer By the Side of the Road

Posted on July 12, 2024 by daeja's view

Well into July now, the weather is hot and steamy and the neighborhood is a-pop with the next phase of color and bloom. With just the tiniest bit of guilt, I note the tidily tended perennial beds of the house … Continue reading →

Posted in Animal Stories, Daeja's Garden, Gardening, House plants, Mushrooms, nature, Perspective, Photography, Seasons, senior musings, summer, The Urban Porch, The Urban Porch ™, treasures, Uncategorized, Views From he Urban Porch ™, Weather, Wildlife | Tagged Hollyhock leaf rust, July, july garden, Mid-July, orange flowers, Oranges of Summer, porch Papilllon, Robins, rose of sharon, shabby chic porch, The House by the Side of the Road, weedy garden, wild front yard, wild garden | Leave a comment

Fall Back

Posted on November 4, 2023 by daeja's view

The week has brought forth a number of seasonal changes and fall-scapes. With something just short of a flourish, the Halloween decorations were happily removed from The Urban Porch ™ very early the following morning – so ready to have … Continue reading →

Posted in Autumn, Daeja's Garden, Gardening, Holidays, House plants, nature, Perspective, Seasons, senior musings, The Urban Porch, The Urban Porch ™, treasures, Uncategorized, Views From he Urban Porch ™, Weather, Wildlife | Tagged autumn scenes, curious raccoons, daylight savings time, fall back, fallscapes, first frost, Halloween, night animals, November, peak leaves are over, take down the decorations, the fading of autumn, trick or treat, trick or treaters | Leave a comment

A Low-key Flurry

Posted on December 11, 2022 by daeja's view

There is a low-key flurrying happening both inside and outside the house. The outside part is a steady, light, gentle, almost-mist of snow occurring right now, just enough to get you a little bit wet. It’s the first real one … Continue reading →

Posted in Holidays, House plants, Travel, Uncategorized, Winter | Tagged buy nothing free site, carry your own suitcase, dealing with my plants, first snow, giving away your things, Holidays, houseplants, little gifts here and there, travel neck pillow | Leave a comment

Planticide

Posted on November 30, 2022 by daeja's view

It appears the cycle is beginning again. It was about eleven years ago when I first posted about the sudden neglect of a few houseplants, here – Black Thumb. The particular incidences of “planticide” that occurred with some of the … Continue reading →

Posted in Autumn, Daeja's Garden, House plants, nature, Uncategorized, Weird | Tagged black thumb, brown tips on leaves, dead cactus, dying houseplants, killing my plants, sick of my houseplants, too much water or not enough?, why are my plants dying? | 2 Comments

Ms. Almanac

Posted on November 26, 2022 by daeja's view

The riotous outdoor color show is over. A lacework of sepia and gray branches framing the sky is pretty much what’s left behind, although the grass is still green, for now. I have removed the dead hanging plants from the … Continue reading →

Posted in Autumn, baking, Dogs, Holidays, House plants, nature, Uncategorized, Wildlife | Tagged autumn insects, christmas cactus, grandchildren, holiday baking, little dogs, Mema, moving towards winter, the cranberry custard curd, urban wildlife | Leave a comment

The Aliens Are Landing

Posted on April 20, 2012 by daeja's view

The idea was to get a few perennials to fill in a few spaces in my garden. Gardeners know what a tremendous high it is to spend part of a beautiful afternoon at a garden center. It is almost impossible … Continue reading →

Posted in Gardening, House plants, Photography, Uncategorized, Wow! | Tagged African Daisy, Alien plant, garden center, Osteospermum, outer space plant | 14 Comments

A Nice Start

Posted on January 1, 2012 by daeja's view

The Clivia bloomed.

Posted in Gardening, House plants, Uncategorized, Winter | Tagged a nice star, Beginnings, Clivia, New Year, winter | 5 Comments

Some Updates for Those Who Are So Inclined

Posted on July 31, 2011 by daeja's view

Just sitting here at the moment, sipping some refreshingly iced mint tea made with fresh mint from the garden. That, and a secret stash of Mexican chocolate laced with cinnamon. Momentary slice of bliss. As the month of July winds down, … Continue reading →

Posted in Diet, Gardening, House plants, Uncategorized, Weight | Tagged Dinner Club, July, Summer, Tree of Heaven, Updates | 2 Comments

I Can Make Poison Arrows Now

Posted on July 29, 2011 by daeja's view

Repotting a cactus is something I have been avoiding for a long time…..many, many years actually. All of them are bursting out of their containers, but the thought of handling them has triggered an automatic aversion. The potting soil and new pots have … Continue reading →

Posted in Gardening, House plants, Uncategorized | Tagged candelabra cactus, Euphorbia, Not a Cactus, poison arrows, Poisonous Plant, repotting cactus, Spurge | 6 Comments

Black Thumb

Posted on February 11, 2011 by daeja's view

There are two different cactus plants, two spider plants and an Air Fern “growing” in my office. The cacti are crammed into pots that are pathetically undersized. They are also missing most of their soil because they have been knocked … Continue reading →

Posted in Gardening, House plants, Humor, Uncategorized | Tagged fake plants, house plants, killing plants, resurrection plant | 4 Comments