It is springtime in the Mid-Atlantic, and that means we are planting and repotting everything we can get our hands on. Whether you have acreage in the wide open spaces of Virginia or a beach house on the Chesapeake Bay in Maryland or a pied à terre in DC (like your favorite blogger); it is time to plant.
There is something about the longer days and the trees putting on their new leaves that makes one want to dig in the dirt. Such has been the case with me lately. I bought a new ficus tree from the Patuxent Nursery in Bowie, Maryland when the weather started to warm a bit. I placed it inside this lovely orb planter that I got from Crate & Barrel last year. I originally had an Areca Palm in this planter. That just did not work. The palm was unhappy. I was unhappy. I had to find it another home and I decided on a Ficus Benjamina in its place.
When I got the ficus home, I just set it in the orb planter in the container it was in at the nursery. Ficus Benjamina like to be root bound, so I did not repot. A couple of things - first, as I said, they like to be root bound and second, the tree is the perfect size for the apartment, so I do not want it to grow too much, too quickly. As long as it is happy in this pot, I will leave it there. These trees can be very finicky. They like indirect light, no drafts, temperatures in the 60's at the very least and preferably in the 70's and, once you find the perfect spot, they do not like to be moved. The trip from the nursery to the apartment was very upsetting. It dropped leaves for several days. But being in a north facing window with no direct sunlight seemed to take care of that quickly.
The tree was home and in the right location, but the nursery pot just plopped down inside the orb planter was not a good look. It certainly would not do for the long term. I wasn't sure what to do, but I knew something had to be done to make this a little more pleasing to the eye. And then I found myself in the garden center at Lowe's and at the display table full of myrtle. I thought, ... perfect! This will be the perfect ground cover to hide the unsightly nursery pot. So I picked up three flats.
It was time to get the myrtle planted inside the ficus pot, so I started removing soil with my hands. You can see in this picture that, indeed, the ficus is root bound in the pot. I did not remove a great deal of soil. Maybe two or three inches from the top. I did not want to shock the roots too much. I just needed a little room to place the myrtle on top of the soil and then add in a little soil to set them in place.
I placed the dirt I removed from the pot in this copper mixing bowl. I have a set of three of these copper plated mixing bowls which have not held up well in the kitchen, so they have been relegated to gardening. I bought a new set of glass mixing bowls for the kitchen.
I separated the myrtle and placed it strategically around the perimeter of the pot the ficus is in. It did a wonderful job of filling in the void between the plastic pot and the orb planter.
You can see in this picture that, after a couple weeks, the myrtle has taken quite nicely. It is beginning to grow fuller and longer so that it is beginning to cascade over the side of the orb planter. I am very happy with how this project turned out. Eventually, once the myrtle reaches a certain length, we will keep it trimmed neatly around the perimeter of the orb planter.
I sprinkled on a little Miracle-Gro Shake 'n Feed All Purpose plant food. The instructions say that this can be applied once per month and to just water as usual. The ficus is watered every other day, so therefore, the myrtle is watered every other day. That seems to be agreeable to both.
There is something about the longer days and the trees putting on their new leaves that makes one want to dig in the dirt. Such has been the case with me lately. I bought a new ficus tree from the Patuxent Nursery in Bowie, Maryland when the weather started to warm a bit. I placed it inside this lovely orb planter that I got from Crate & Barrel last year. I originally had an Areca Palm in this planter. That just did not work. The palm was unhappy. I was unhappy. I had to find it another home and I decided on a Ficus Benjamina in its place.
When I got the ficus home, I just set it in the orb planter in the container it was in at the nursery. Ficus Benjamina like to be root bound, so I did not repot. A couple of things - first, as I said, they like to be root bound and second, the tree is the perfect size for the apartment, so I do not want it to grow too much, too quickly. As long as it is happy in this pot, I will leave it there. These trees can be very finicky. They like indirect light, no drafts, temperatures in the 60's at the very least and preferably in the 70's and, once you find the perfect spot, they do not like to be moved. The trip from the nursery to the apartment was very upsetting. It dropped leaves for several days. But being in a north facing window with no direct sunlight seemed to take care of that quickly.
The tree was home and in the right location, but the nursery pot just plopped down inside the orb planter was not a good look. It certainly would not do for the long term. I wasn't sure what to do, but I knew something had to be done to make this a little more pleasing to the eye. And then I found myself in the garden center at Lowe's and at the display table full of myrtle. I thought, ... perfect! This will be the perfect ground cover to hide the unsightly nursery pot. So I picked up three flats.
It was time to get the myrtle planted inside the ficus pot, so I started removing soil with my hands. You can see in this picture that, indeed, the ficus is root bound in the pot. I did not remove a great deal of soil. Maybe two or three inches from the top. I did not want to shock the roots too much. I just needed a little room to place the myrtle on top of the soil and then add in a little soil to set them in place.
I placed the dirt I removed from the pot in this copper mixing bowl. I have a set of three of these copper plated mixing bowls which have not held up well in the kitchen, so they have been relegated to gardening. I bought a new set of glass mixing bowls for the kitchen.
I separated the myrtle and placed it strategically around the perimeter of the pot the ficus is in. It did a wonderful job of filling in the void between the plastic pot and the orb planter.
You can see in this picture that, after a couple weeks, the myrtle has taken quite nicely. It is beginning to grow fuller and longer so that it is beginning to cascade over the side of the orb planter. I am very happy with how this project turned out. Eventually, once the myrtle reaches a certain length, we will keep it trimmed neatly around the perimeter of the orb planter.
I sprinkled on a little Miracle-Gro Shake 'n Feed All Purpose plant food. The instructions say that this can be applied once per month and to just water as usual. The ficus is watered every other day, so therefore, the myrtle is watered every other day. That seems to be agreeable to both.
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