power of plants

Our exuberant ficus elastica - once rescued at the plant store in the 'damaged houseplant corner' with a only a few (broken) leaves - has been joined by a clivia, which is about to bloom in orange.

The way i see it, the house is never too green and are the stacks of plates are never too high...

b l o e m

Remember the massive neon sign b l o e m , written in italics with beautiful loops?

Bloem is the dutch word for flower, a word that suits me well.

My dear and very handy colleague Sjaak came to fix it on the wall this morning.

And look how cool it turned out!

I climbed on the kitchen counter to take this photo, with lousy November light, because I wanted to share the end result today, nonetheless.

A grand wall flower between the houseplants, Urban Jungle at the kitchen table!

fishbone ><((('> cactus

fishbone ><((('> cactus

Fishbone cactus boasts many colorful names. Ric Rac, Zigzag and Fishbone orchid cactus a few variations on the name of this graceful plant. I just love the shape of the leaves.

I saw the plant for the first time, years ago in London.

The entire windows at the back of the Terence Conran shop were full of these graphically shaped plants.

It was before I was a plant enthusiast and I did not know the name of the plant and called Matisse plant.

Nowadays we have two mature Matisse plants and many baby plants.

Another cool thing about the fishbone cactus is that you can easily replant its cuttings!

habitat, make it yours

I've spent more time at home in November than I did over the past half year. I'm a 'summer person' and I love playing in my garden and being outside. Inside the house I'm surrounded by just a few (big) plants and interior is getting more important to me.

Interior is an extension of your personality. That's what makes it so interesting and creative. Your interests, personal stuff collected over the years and being surrounded by things that are important to you. Certainly during the autumn and winter months, your habitat has to be a place where you can relax and really charge.

Well this time of year is fine too and I've been looking forward to spend more time at home, reading, watching movies, netflixing and finally finish the unfinished projects and find time to be creative and start new projects.

While the golden xs woodwoolstool cover is still in progress, I already have ideas about what to make next...

candy cane crochet

Candy cane crochet in the backyard.

I'm working on a diagonal stripes variant of the chevron pillow pattern with pastel pink and neon orange yarn from Marrakech.

And with the unexpectedly nice weather, it was great to crochet and read in the garden.

Inspired by the trip to Tanger I am reading Paul Bowles' novel The Sheltering Sky. Bertolucci's movie with Debra Winger and John Malkovich i've seen years ago.

The book is always better... this theory is probably only true if you read the book first.

greenterior

A new green family member in da house.

I spotted the chestnut vine - TETRASTIGMA VOINIERIANUM - at Klavertje Vijf with my friend Marieke in Haarlem a few weeks ago. A vigorous evergreen climber.

I noted down the name in my phone and have been looking for this plant ever since.

And today when I went to the nearby garden center to buy potting soil for the garden, I suddenly came across this rampant climber.
There was only one, also an amiable one, so I had to take the plant home with me (and luckily just fitted in the car).

We have found a good spot, not too light, not too dark and it can climb for a while until the ceiling will be reached. `