#iron-cast plant

[recurring-polynya]

It's been a minute since I've done one a Houseplant Spotlight, but I got some new cast iron plants, and I wanted to show them off. The nursery where I got my first cast iron plant is going out of business, so I wanted to get a couple more while I had the chance. I am running out of sunny spots in my house anyway, and I could use a few more plants that prefer the dimmer corners.

The one on the left is an 'Amanogawa', which means "river of the heavens", and is also the word for the Milky Way. It has both stripes and speckles, like stars in a river. This one should be a little smaller than my 'Akebono'--it's supposed to grow to about 18" vs 24."

The second one is actually an Aspidistra vietnamensis, rather than an A. eliator, but it's still a cast iron. This one is called "Seiun', which means "nebula". The speckling on it is really cool--it almost looks glowy, like when you use the 'add' blend mode in Procreate. 😂 This one is quite petite, and should grow to be about 12."

In case you wanted an update on my first cast iron, it is a little bigger, but they are slow growers, so it's not too much different. (It seems to have gotten wider, if anything.) It is still in the owl planter, and currently centerpiecing my Autumnal Dining Room Display.

[simply-sithel]

[marmork]

[ereborne]

Soft asks #12, 24, & 25 please 👋🏻👋🏻🥹

12) how are you? Hi Caitlin!! I'm trying to stay awake in the limbo between lunch and my afternoon meetings, and I got an anon message that reminded me these ask meme questions were waiting in my inbox, ready to help keep me occupied! Thank you ❤️

24) what’s something you do to de-stress? I'm doing it right now, actually: I'm by the window in my living room, looking out at the birds at my feeder! I love my birds so much. The sound and sight of them is simultaneously very soothing and very entertaining for me. Today they're all sparrows on the feeder and mourning doves underneath, but there's times, especially in late spring, where there will be a dozen different types all hanging out together.

25) what’s the best personal gift someone could give you (playlist, homemade card, etc.) Probably a playlist! I keep very strong mental associations with songs, so it's a lovely sentimental reminder, and also songs are the most portable gift I can think of.

[transvampireboyfriend]

food is community and culture and fuel and connection and heritage and love! it's love! !! don't let anyone fool you!

[theres-whump-in-that-nebula]

I got a handmade rice/soup bowl. Was it indulgent? Slightly. Will I use it? Yes. I refuse to eat out of anything else I love it so much.

[petula-xx]

My indoor aspidistra plant has grown a flower! I got this clump cutting a few months ago and potted it. I was thrilled to see new flower stalks coming but the flower is very unexpected.

Research tells me flowers on aspidistra are very rare. I'm excited and intrigued.

[automotiveamerican]

The Ford Flathead V8, Early Casting Challenges.

The Ford Flathead V8, introduced in 1932, was a ground breaking engine known for its simplicity and reliability. However, its casting posed several challenges during its early development: Metallurgical Issues: In the early years of casting the Flathead V8, Ford encountered challenges with the metallurgy of the engine blocks. Achieving the right balance of strength, durability, and heat…

[bluelockmaniac]

prisonguard!jjkmen X prisoner!reader ★ slight suggestiveness + gn!reader

prisonguard!satoru who shamelessly makes out with you, unbothered by the agape mouths of the prisoners in the surrounding cells. he shoots them a menacing glare, silently threatening them to keep their tongues locked in their mouths if they know what's best for them. he then gently pulls your curious (and slightly aroused) face closer to his, until your cheeks pressed against the cold metal of the iron bars. despite the barrier, he was able to capture your sweet lips fervently, slightly nibbling on the soft, addictive flesh.

prisonguard!nanami who openly delivers the warmest meals and the comfiest clothes directly to your cell, ignoring the envious gazes of covetous prisoners who were painfully aware of the privileges you had, that they lacked. the other guards held him in high regard due to his intimidating reputation, so when they caught him hauling a thick mattress, coupled with a fluffy pillow and blanket, slung effortlessly over his broad shoulder just for you, they immediately casted you in a new light— surely you were wronged, right?

prisonguard!sukuna who plays a dangerous game, sneaking into your cell late at night in a vulgarly obtrusive manner, as if he held no interest in the possibility of rousing all the vile convicts from their deep slumber. he settles himself homely on the edge of the wooden plank you called your ‘bed’, and while you couldn’t see his face properly due to the dimmed lighting, you can practically feel the smirk forming on his lips as he pulls you onto his lap, whispering temptations laced with a certain bittersweetness, promising that he’ll get you out of here one day—but not yet. he still wants to use you.

prisonguard!toji who couldn't care less about concealing his painfully obvious favoritism towards you. while he cruelly forces the inmates to do all the labour, having them sweep the dirty floors of the institution, scrub the filthy metal toilets of each cell, and handle the reeking laundry, you were innocently seated on his spread lap, in his office. you giggle softly as he plants kisses with blatant intentions on your hair, trailing down to your nape, all while you flip through the brand-new magazine he had bought exclusively for you.

prisonguard!choso whose careful footsteps echo down the walkway early in the morning, drawing closer to your cell as he does every single day. he enters quietly, a smile spreading across his face when he sees you waiting for him on the edge of your dented bed, wide awake, with the scalpel he had gifted you resting lightly in your grip. you quickly stand and move to the cement wall where dates, names, and vulgarity were carved. sighing happily, you feel him standing behind you, his chest pressing against your back. he gently guides your hand with the scalpel to the wall, slowly chipping away at the concrete to write a number. three. you glance back at him with a smirk, which he responds with a ticklish pinch on the plush of your waist. three more days till he gets you the fuck out of here.

prisonguard!suguru who flashes you one of his notorious smiles, your eyes immediately drawn to the prison guard’s uniform hanging from his arm, then to the scarlet-tinted baton he held carelessly in his other hand. your lips curl upwards into a grin of delight, laughing as you fathom the fact that he actually followed through on his promise. you quickly loop your arms around his neck, kissing him softly, before taking the slightly oversized uniform and dressing up while no one, prisoner or guard, was watching. after you were finished, he walked confidently down the hallway with you by his side. no guard bothered to question the unfamiliar face beside him. he didn’t even have to use the excuse of patrol duty. ultimately, he was able to successfully orchestrate your escape. but not to worry, he has you safely and comfortably hidden in his apartment after a search for you was later launched that day.

© 2024 bluelockmaniac — do not repost, copy, translate, modify, etc my work on any platform !

[recurring-polynya]

The real reason I started my weekly houseplant feature is because I wanted to tell you about my current best beloved, my

Cast Iron Plant

I have found that the little tags they stick in houseplants at the store are not always the most accurate or complete. I like to read up on plants at home, and get a good idea of what kind of light and humidity requirements they have, how much attention they need, how fast they grow. Even though my animals don't tend to eat my plants, I try get non-toxic ones (this is *never* on the label), just in case.

A plant that kept coming up on lists of easy-care, low-light, unkillable plants was the cast iron plant (Aspidistra eliator), sometimes also known as a bar room plant. The more I dug into them, the more interesting they got. Although people have kept plants indoors since ancient Roman times, our modern idea of houseplants really got started during the Victorian era, and the aspidistra was the It Plant.

From Why Victorian People Loved Posing Next to Aspidistra Plants:

Aspidistra is an interesting plant. Native to Japan and Taiwan, this slow-growing, evergreen perennial plant with glossy dark green leaves, was brought to Europe during the 1820s where it quickly earned the nickname “cast iron plant” because of its remarkable tolerance to neglect and abuse. The plant can survive extreme temperature fluctuations, withstand drought, most pests, and even thrive in low light and the poor air quality of a Victorian gas-lit house. The aspidistra became such a popular houseplant in Victorian Britain that it came to represent—as the Oxford English Dictionary puts it—”a symbol of full middle class respectability.” George Orwell, in his satirical novel Keep the Aspidistra flying, published in 1936, used the aspidistra as a symbol of the stuffiness of Victorian middle-class society. The plant also appeared in music hall routines, such as Gracie Fields' The biggest aspidistra in the world, which in turn inspired the British Secret Service to name its 600 kilowatt transmitter, built during World War 2 to disrupt enemy communication, Aspidistra.

Here's a delightful excerpt from Keep the Aspidistra Flying, which I found in the article Once the Queen of the Parlor...:

“It was a peculiarly mangy specimen. It had only seven leaves and never seemed to put forth any new ones. Gordon had a sort of secret feud with the aspidistra. Many a time he had furtively attempted to kill it — starving it of water, grinding hot cigarette-ends against its stem, even mixing salt with its earth. But the beastly things are practically immortal.”

With all due respect to George Orwell and none to middle class respectability, I wanted one immediately. My house is a folk Victorian, built in 1889, and I am always trying to respect the history of the house in my design and decor decisions, so this seemed perfect.

Except that I couldn't find one.

I don't know if it has something to do with my geographic location (they are outdoor-hardy just south of me, and can be used as an alternative to hosta, so I am guessing they are more common??), or because they aren't a very sexy plant, or if it's because you propagate them by dividing rhizomes, which is a bit more of a pain than taking taking stem and leaf cuttings, but I couldn't find them, even at the two fancy-pants nurseries I visited. I didn't love the idea of ordering a plant through mail order, and all the ones I found where either huge and hundreds of dollars, or a single rhizome that I would have to nurse into its own plant. I also did not want to order it in winter time, for fear if it freezing, but I didn't want it to get into summer, for fear of it getting too hot. So, when it was mid-spring, I made another effort. I finally found a botanical garden that sold a bunch of cultivars, except that shipping was exorbitant. However! I then searched some of the rarer cultivar names directly, and found a nursery in New England that also offered a bunch of varieties for a much more reasonable shipping price.

Cast iron plants come in solid green, but there are also come in striped and spotted varieties. The one my daughter and husband liked best, 'Snowcap', grows white at the tips (it's an improvement on the 'Asahi' cultivar, which only does this if planted outdoors??) was, unfortunately sold out, as was 'Mangetsu', which I wanted for obvious reasons (also, it's pretty). I picked 'Akebono' instead, because I liked the striped varieties, and this one was a heritage cultivar, so I felt it was one you would rightly find in a Victorian parlor. Here's a close-up of the leaves:

It arrived in lovely and healthy condition in late May, and I put it in this owl-shaped planter my mom gave me for Christmas (the owl does not have drainage, so it's in a plastic pot inside the owl; they do not like to sit in water).

I am super happy with this plant, I love it so much. It's currently sitting on my writing desk in my bedroom, so I get to look at it a lot. It seems to be doing well, so far, I think it's even made a couple of new shoots since I got it. We'll see how it does over time, but I'm already considering ordered some more varieties when the nursery opens up its fall sales.

[growing-my-green-thumb]

It's a baby Aspidistra! Today I changed the soil of my main one and I cleaned the roots really well because there was some rotting. This baby was completely separated from the rest of the roots and its rhizoma root was struggling with rotting so I cleaned it and saved it and put it in this jar so I could also see it grow and how long it takes to mature.

I love it so much 🌱 idk why I feel attachment and affection

[evergentleandkind]

Contemporary Landscape Austin

Ideas for a mid-sized, modern backyard with stone landscaping in the spring sun.

[brainstirfry]

REACTION SPEED [Heroic: failure] - a single ravioli, damp from the water, still pleasantly steaming, lands with a defeated slap, on the linoleum floor. You see it happen, watch it flip through the air, like an Olympic bronze off the high-dive, or a suicidal veteran of war. you feel yourself shout a "No!", but it is too late. there, the ravioli, impossibly, lays limp. FORSAKEN RAVIOLI - Why, it thinks, why me? For all the time I was grown and processed then crafted and for all the time I have waited for the only purpose which I was made for. To be cast so suddenly, so errantly, into the realm of the beyond? Beyond savior. DRAMA - And here you stand, clad like a captain with your wooden spoon, watching as an honorable soldier, nay, a man, lies without your hand to aid him, on the kitchen floor.

VOLITION - you must act, now! first it must be picked up, then its fate can be decided. COMPOSURE - Its fate is the trash. AUTHORITY - Its fate is the trash. YOU - You pick up the ravioli, it is hot, nearly still boiling, gushing steam and hot pasta blood down your hand. It hurts, but standing here, there is nowhere else for it. PERCEPTION - It looks fine... LOGIC - Don't do this. SHIVERS [Heroic: Success] - Somewhere southeast of here, perhaps hundreds of miles, grain sprouts in a field, rich wheat, and butternut squash, only an acre over. The wind whistles through the fields, running like gleeful children through the tiny, green plants. Some will be eaten by birds, worms, or moles, but some will reach high into the sky, where they will be plucked and ground into pasta dough. You have seen the birthplace of this soldier. It is humble, a beautiful childhood, and so, so long ago. An entire pasta-lifetime, now. FORSAKEN RAVIOLI - I thought I had finally made it. And with my brethren... YOU - You look at the bowl, the rest of the ravioli, steaming in mournful, pyrrhic celebration. My company... EMPATHY - This ravioli could be you. You can't give up on it now. Not because of your own mistake. AUTHORITY - This is not what a dignified man would do. send him off and mourn, perhaps, but do not spend one moment more considering his limp, cooling corpse. DRAMA - Where has your heart gone, O Honorable One? Authority - … EMPATHY - the greatest service you could do for this little soldier, and for all those beyond you that forged him, is to eat him. What else is rightfully to be done? VISUAL CALCULUS - It was on the floor for less than 4.7 whole seconds. ENCYLOPEDIA - most forms of bacterium are able to jump, especially to wet materials, in about 1.2- PHYSICAL INSTRUMENT - any residue on your kitchen floor may well be material which was once already in your stomach. CONCEPTUALIZATION - if you think about it, that means you've already kind of eaten the ravioli.

INLAND EMPIRE - From the Floor, Of the Floor, To the Floor. To be, or not to be, one with this eternal cycle? ENDURANCE - Anything the floor could not contain, you could digest. (with VOLITION) We are iron. HALF LIGHT - Bite into its soft, warm flesh. EMPATHY - Give it peace. ELECTROCHEMISTRY - Eat the floor-violi, pasta slut! YOU - weeping, bring the ravioli to your lips, and then, impossibly, with infinite mercy, love, bring it into you. It tastes fantastic. You would have never know it was on the floor at all. You can feel the hum of satisfaction, the glory of it in your lungs, swelling to fill you more than even a pasta-feast could. This is the mercy you wish your God could cast on you, when you fall. KIM KITSURAGI - "Harry,"

[lindaseccaspina]

Findlays Ltd Clippings 1972 Des and Jean Moore Scrapbook

all clippings-Des and Jean Moore Scrapbook thanks to the Moore girls Lost Ottawa rtnoSpedsot8h810838l2it688gtm1u8ae fu9n1fcm102luJ t58c30,afc  ·  Carleton Place Findlay Stove Foundry dates back to 1860, when a Scottish molder – David Findlay – is said to have walked 33 km from Perth to Carleton Place. There he would remain, carrying on his trade, producing plows and stoves. His stoves, as one…

[frimleyblogger]

Flying The Aspidistra

The #aspidistra was so popular because it was one of the few #houseplants that could survive the noxious atmosphere of a 19th century drawing room

Look at a photograph of a Victorian family posing indoors and there is likely to be a large upright plant with leathery, lance-shaped leaves lurking in the frame. Its sculptural form enhanced the composition, but its presence was much a statement as an artistic prop. For the aspiring 19th century middle-classes owning an aspidistra was a sign of arrival, of success, of having enough disposable…