Cassie ๐ŸŒฟ 64c Piedmont Uplands
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passiflora.bsky.social
Cassie ๐ŸŒฟ 64c Piedmont Uplands
@passiflora.bsky.social
460 followers 290 following 370 posts
Founder of Maryland Area Gardening for the Environmentally Conscious (MAGEC) & general advocate for supportive native plant gardening communities Recently-disabled communications workaholic who loathes the term "brain fog" Too many books She/they
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I've been thinking about what I can add to the #nativeplants conversation on bluesky.

I think most of what I can contribute is from my experience starting a community of gardeners who really support each other.
I still exist - but have been flaring for ages. Cooler temperatures mean more ow but also more awake time and less fog, which bodes well, I hope.

Meanwhile, enjoy kid's-first-ren-faire photo.
So far, this is the easiest and most effective way I've found to root Hoyas. It's a big glass vase I fill with a mix of leca and pon and put a bunch of different cuttings. Didn't think to take the pic until I'd moved half to pots. I fill to about 1/3 with water and don't let it go completely dry.
I have been putting together propagation boxes, which are basically clear plastic tote greenhouses. Mine have a lot of sustainably-sampled foraged native moss, and some tropical things I've bought. I'm hoping I can trade bits to increase box and future terrarium variety.
I pretty regularly reply to Facebook marketplace listings in which folks are trying to sell or give away invasive non-native plant species to ask them not to. It doesn't often go anywhere, let alone result in a conversation that goes well, but it's nice when it does.
The child was dismayed about this rhipsalis because it's another thing I will pay attention to that's not him.

But then I tickled him with it.

And had to continue until my arm just about fell off.
Bwahahahaha my A1C is 6! It hasn't been that low for years. ALMOST worth the horror of getting tests done to hear it. #type2diabetes
Would anyone like to do a weird seed pod etc exchange for #terrariums?

Would need to figure out how to sterilize them without destroying them before shipping to avoid spreading invasive species, but I've got these and sweet gum balls and more just rolling toward storm drains.

Cat hair: gratis.
I went for a walk in the woods with my family and without my cane or rollythingy, and I may be half dead, but I feel awesome about it.
Breaking: 7 lb Vakka is now is now just about big spooning 18 lb Diddy. With tail blanketing.

I half hope to die happy before encountering the news again.
... So this development is a balm to my much abraded heart in these times.

I'm honored to have been chosen as human to be present in case intervention was needed, too.
Didymus at a healthy weight is more than his younger sisters weight together, though, and is, well, orange. And Zhem is as jumpy as he used to be. And Vakka takes no sass from anyone. So Didymus has just been pinning the last three years. But Zhem seems to half consent to playing sometimes lately, &
So when some months after we lost Hob we adopted a these bonded sisters, who'd spent half their nearly 3 years of life at the pound, we hoped they'd help Diddy heal. That's Vakarinye, dust sprite, on the left, and Zhemyna, tabby, on the right. After 3 years, they sometimes brave laps for pets.
But Didymus took it especially hard and has basically tried, desperate, to make my spouse Gob's proxy. He was less frantic in his snuggles with Gob but still sometimes seems to try to inveigle himself under M's skin (or into his armpit) to hide.
Hob died around 4-5 years ago and that is still what my kid thinks about whenever there is grief. He was the sort of cat we will all miss forever. He took care of us all in a way that made everyone who met him feel seen and loved.
Except with his friend, Hobgoblin, who I found emaciated and alone at a rural rest stop several years before and who was absolutely made of love.
Didymus, orange, has been with us almost nine years. We adopted him as a nearly full grown kitten who'd been abandoned with his mother and sister into the care of a friend who was only briefly supposed to be pet sitting them. He was terrified of everything, especially kids. Eyes always like this.
This is happening right now, and it's a long-hoped-for moment between a couple of adopted cats with separate, sad histories of abandonment. #adoptdon'tshop #catsofbluesky #snuggling
Thank you! There's rubber sealant all over the wood inside and various other attempts to prevent mayhem. Still working out temperature and humidity, and will probably add more lights.
Pictured: where @wearegonnafindout.bsky.social and I grew up and a lot of why we are who we are.

If you know a native plant person or other environmentalist in upstate NY, who might want to rent a place...