The Great Houseplant Census of 2010

by Kathy Purdy on February 2, 2010 · 10 comments

in Plant info

hyacinths forced into indoor bloom

Mr. McGregor’s Daughter, in an effort to promote domestic harmony*, has requested gardeners everywhere to tally up the number of plants they currently have growing inside. Here are my results:

Outdoor Plants Wintering Over

1 rosemary
1 ‘Rehoku Sunrise’ carex (an experiment)
1 apple seedling (my middle daughter’s experiment)
1 orange tree grown from seed by my 16 year old son

Year Round Houseplants

4 Aloe vera
2 Christmas cactus
1 Thanksgiving cactus
1 ivy (my eldest daughter’s)
1 stem of wandering Jew, rooting in water (also my eldest daughter’s)

Forced Bulbs

8 hyacinths (pictured above)
5 Soleil d’Or narcissus (there are actually more narcissus, but some aren’t sprouting)

For a grand total of 26 plants. I would have guessed half that, but then, I probably would have counted the pots of forced bulbs as one each, and I wouldn’t have counted my children’s plants. Good thing we haven’t started any seeds yet!

What about you? Do you know how many houseplants you really have? Do you dare to find out? If so, submit your tally here.

*If you have more indoor plants than Mr. McGregor’s Daughter, you promote her domestic harmony.

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{ 10 comments… read them below or add one }

1 Nathan (2af) February 6, 2010 at 6:02 pm

Twitter: @2acrefarm

If I hadn’t already moved my onions out to the cold frames I would have had over 300 :(

Reply

2 Cindy, MCOK February 4, 2010 at 10:19 pm

Twitter: @mycornerofkaty

Kathy, I’m tickled that Evan commented to chide you about his orange tree. See, you had more than you thought!

Reply

3 Shady Gardener February 4, 2010 at 10:51 am

Very nice post! What a pretty vase for your hyacinth bulb. :-) I took photos yesterday, but am tardy in creating a post.

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4 Living wall artist February 4, 2010 at 7:43 am

Twitter: @isupereco

I love the Aloe Vera. We had one growing up and we’d occasionally break off a stem to use it to treat a sunburn. A good looking and useful plant =)

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5 Dee/reddirtramblings February 2, 2010 at 10:06 pm

Twitter: @reddirtramblin

You have bunches more than I do, and I love how you listed them. This has been fun.~~Dee

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6 Meredith February 2, 2010 at 7:36 pm

Do we count *each* seedling? Or each pot or tray of them? What about potatoes that have sprouted but not yet made it in the ground?

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7 Kathy Purdy February 2, 2010 at 7:40 pm

You should address your questions to Mr. McGregor’s Daughter. I think she said each seedling should be counted individually. Sprouting potatoes–personally, I wouldn’t count them. But it’s her census, not mine.

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8 Evan P February 2, 2010 at 6:26 pm

What makes my orange tree not count as a house plant? =(

(I bet you just forgot it…)

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9 Kathy Purdy February 2, 2010 at 6:34 pm

I did! I forgot! It is now corrected.

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10 Mr. McGregor's Daughter February 2, 2010 at 6:06 pm

Twitter: @suburbangarden

Thanks for participating. I do want to know how many people have less, in the interests of truth and fairness. (But I am starting to feel rather smug.) The number of indoor plants can be surprising once you start counting them.

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