Linda

Glad I am not the only one...I have 3x as many as I had year ago (probably more, but didn't count them yet). How did this happened? Well, I joined GW in Feb. 2012, that's how! LOL.

Rina

I've too been wondering where in the heck am I gonna put the plants from outside at. I live in an apartment, and I already have around 100 plants (most of them small, luckly) and there just isn't any room for the plants I don't wanna lose....So...I've been debating on what I really want to save, which is ALL of them, but my windows are already pretty much filled up..

I know my fushia that wont survive the winters here is gonna be pruned back to just sticks (I've done alot of research on how to this), and all my succulents of course (which is quite a few), my coleus that I grew from seeds which is in two medium sized pots, my asparagus fern that's grown ALOT this summer....I'm thinking I should just move out and rent a green house lol.

This is causing too much stress...I think we should start a counseling group for us with stress from caring for these plants lol j/k.

Things we go through for our love of plants...

I have a similar problem. Our winters are mild, so I spend the winter hauling plants indoors for a few days, then hauling them back outside. This year, I'm keeping a bunch of coleus in pots, so that has expanded the number I have to bring indoors. Sigh.

I too have had to make some hard choices about who stays and who goes. I've reduced the number pretty well this summer (down to where the sunroom is just "full" buy not overflowing). Since then, I've got a new rule: if I want a new house plant, I have to give one away before purchasing! Now, I am not an impulse buyer and I usually plan out the plants that I want to buy for years before getting them. For example, next I'm looking for a nice Euclinia longiflora, Osa pulchra, Radermachera kunming and a Cubanola domingoensis. I'll probably spend years trying to find some of these but in the mean time, I've been carefully contemplating who goes to make space.

Top 4 to go: I've decided that the Tamarind tree definitely goes since it has no flowers and is just too big. The large Amorphophallus goes to two friends and part gets planted outside. The Christmas cactus goes. To make space for a 4th plant is really tough! My choices are the cool but enormous Tacca chantrieri or the Oncidium sherry baby I've had for 10 years. Not looking forward to that decision. Having too many plants is stressful.

Well, listen to this!

I recently got so overwhelmed by the amount of succulents I have and the thought of running out of room scared me!

I in a heat of not caring, thinned them down by about a dozen by tossing them on the grounds until they fell out of their pots and chalked them up for dead.

The next day I saw them all back on my stairs in pots again and wondering what the heck had happened?????
Usually you see them scattered about the yard by animals or storms right?

Well, as my father was strolling through my yard, he couldn't believe that the storm had knocked them all over, or so he thought. So in his kind heartedness, he repotted them for me before I got home so I wouldn't be devastated..lol I guess I am stuck with the now.

I'm going to try to keep the number of pots inside this winter under 70 BUT that doesn't count Coleus and Perilla cuttings in bottles of water, which could be around the 200+ mark if we get enough cooperation from friends donating bottles. I put a lot of dust-catchers away for winter so the plants can have more space, and they go in every room except the bathroom which has a window but it's tiny, faces north, and has a covered porch outside of it. We can hang about 10-12 of them, and the rest will displace stuff, and some furniture will probably be rearranged. Some of my pots have plants that are perennial, although they'll have to start over from the roots, the ones that get that treatment. There'll be a clump of pots in the middle of the veggie patch, covered with a huge pile of leaves.

Mike, it sounds like your Dad needs some plants! Hilarious and sweet story!

Lol.

There are two reasons 'and couting,' more plants are added.

1. Visiting Gw. Browsing others' plants here makes us think, 'Oh I've got to have that plant!.'
I don't know how many times someone posted a picture of a healthy specimen. I then spent minutes to hours looking for 'X' plant on different sites.

2. Summering plants outdoors. After placing indoor plants outside for summer makes the house look bare, devoid of greenery. In the meantime, 'not considering our plants are outside,' we end up adopting one, two, three or more.

It's worse when we have 'x' amount of plants, and the thought of babies growing larger is blocked from our brains.
Potting in larger containers, which must be done, sooner or later, reduces space.
Larger pots needs more room..double or tripple.

For those of us who love GW, it's impossible staying away, so we're bound to see a plant or two we must have.

Steering clear from online nurseries is an option, but once you type in a nursery name, that's it..expect to buy more.

FlowerPot. Asparagus Ferns grow very large. Have you considered hanging your plant? A large, hanging AF is a real looker, especially around fall when little, white flowers and berries form.
My friend had an Aparagus Fern, in a beautiful macrame. Fronds grew upwards and lower stems reached the floor. It was in a sunny, south window..Wish I had a picture to show. Anyway, just a thought.

Mike, did your succulents repot themselves? lol..What an enigma!! Ever find out how this happened? Spooky, for sure. lol. The Ghost of Autumn past. lol. Toni

Toni,

It seems you missed it. Pls. re-read Mike's final paragraph where he explains his father found them all turned out & repotted them for him, so he wouldn't come home & be upset to find them all strewn around, unpotted.

Karen, lol. Sorry about that. Missed the last sentence, an important part, too.

Of course, stranger things have been known to happen...unexplainable things.

I'd make a terrible detective. lol

Lol..You are all too funny!

I have decided to sleep in tent outside this winter and give up my sunny bedroom! Plenty of room for them in there without me taking up the space. Boy, how far will we go?

Mike

Hmmm, I hadn't thought of that. Great idea! We have 2 tents!