Tame Jungle

I have a palm tree. My husband bought it for me at Sam's Club about a week after Christmas. I call it my 'Christmas tree'.

At this point I have to express my astonishment at the buyer for Sam's Club ordering a pallet of palm trees during the first week of January in Iowa. I mean, it's cold here at that time of year. Hardly a hospitable environment for polar bears let alone palm trees. Maybe the buyer thought it would lessen the post-holiday letdown that some folks experience.

I was expecting the palm trees to be in very poor condition. Instead they looked quite healthy; evenly colored and producing new growth of fronds. I told MySpouse that I wanted one, today, while they were still healthy. Also, to get my money's worth from a plant purchase: 5-foot tall plant for $8.00 plus tax. An unusual purchase, to say the least.

Palm tree was purchased and we took some pains to wrap it up and protect it from the cold outside. Put it in the truck and wrapped it with a sleeping bag that was in the truck bed. Hustled right home and took it to the upstairs bathroom.

I found out last winter that the back porch is not a proper environment for large tropical plants. The soil in the pots gets too cold and roots start to rot. The upstairs bathroom is large enough to accommodate about three big plants and several smaller ones. Plenty of warmth and humidity and moderate light.

My 'Christmas tree' spent the summer outdoors in a spot that is shady all summer long. No direct sun until late afternoon. A good location for it since most houseplants are understory plants in their native environments. It has rewarded me with the growth of four new fronds.
I'm glad that it seems to be pacing itself and not growing as rampantly as a trumpet vine.

Getting on to mid-September, frost warnings on the weather site that we subscribe to, it's time to bring my tame jungle indoors. First the plants will be on the back porch for a couple weeks and then I'll take some of them to the upstairs bathroom. We'll all survive the winter in good condition, barring disasters.

With the plants in the upstairs bathroom I won't have to look at the horrible wallpaper that's in there.