Uncommon gift ideas for the botanical lover

I partnered up with UncommonGoods to show some fabulous uncommon gift ideas for the botanical lover. The holidays are almost here and UncommonGoods has a lovely array of unique Christmas gifts to explore here. Naturally, when thinking of things a botanical lover would enjoy, I found intriguing items from the garden section here.  

First up, I chose the vertical wall planter. I enjoyed picking out plants to tuck into the modern vessels. It's great that the vessels are attached with large magnets so you can easily remove them for watering and place them back up when done or to change up the design of the garden. What's also cool is that they can be hung on a fridge or a filing cabinet. I placed it in my little office corner which is now much more enticing for me to work on billing and my on-line holiday shopping with my own little vertical garden around me.

Next, these wall dot bud vases are a fun way to easily add a pop of botanical goodness to any room. I added them to my girls' room. They have a sleek modern feel but when paired with the preserved ferns, the modern turns delicate. They also hold water so I am excited to switch them out for fresh flowers once in a while if our garden is blooming or if we see a gorgeous bunch of flowers at the market.

Last, I picked the moss terrarium bottle. Guys are kind of hard to buy for, right? This would be wonderful for their desk or windowsill. The moss comes dormant but you soak it in water and then place it in the upcycled wine bottle and it begins to green and wake up! There are many other unique gift ideas for guys, check them out here.



This post is sponsored by UncommonGoods, an online marketplace offering  unique designed and hand-crafted merchandise. All content and opinions are my own!

croton leaf

It fell off my croton plant that I've pinched back to promote lateral growth. The veins in the sunlight are gorgeous. 

Houseplant ID: string of pearls

String of pearls, also know as string of beads or Senecio rowleyanus. A succulent houseplant, their cascading bead/pea like stems are an attractive focal point to a room and need little care. One of my favorites.

found friday: angela dalinger

Illustrations of German artist Angela Dalinger. My favorite is this last one here. Yours?

gray light

Some phone shots I took of green growing this morning in my apartment as large snowflakes are falling outside my window. I noticed as I was watering my plants, the sunlight has become cold and gray signifying the start of winter. My amaryllis bulbs are still sprouting towards the gray light though. Once the bulbs sprout a little more, my girls and I will pot them up as teacher gifts for the holidays again this year.

I love my macrame planter above from Chris at etsy shop macrame design. There are so many to choose from and great prices too. I paired it with a ceramic planter I made in college and its now one of my favorite corners in my apartment. I'm tempted to get another for my bedroom soon!

plants: 1-frittonia  2-pothos 3-snake plant 4- dracaena warneckii 5- amaryllis bulbs

found friday: sara barnes

Gorgeous mixed media horticultural art by Sara Barnes. "One semester at art school made me realize that I wasn't that great of a draftsman, so I looked to cubism, surrealism, and especially Matisse's cut outs to understand that they are not governed by the normal conventions... I make up the rules that exist in the world of my collages." These pieces are intricately made and I find them intriguing and inspiring.  Purchase and see her work at by some damn art here.
via miss moss. 

horticultural mecca

 

i swear, florida is the horticutural mecca.  every time I visit there, I am in awe. I love seeing all the plants I know as houseplants used in the landscaping. flowers all year round, and sweet smells of jasmine in april. we visited mounts botanical gardens where i took just a few photos of some of the houseplants that infiltrate the sunshine state.

crotons:

asparagus fern:

 

caladium:

dwarf philodendrum:

 

twelve apostle's iris:

 

coral cactus:

 

jade:

and a big old staghorn fern:

 

house plants

its raining. its cold. its the last day of february. my girls are playing nice together, my hubs is off with a friend to philly and I am watching the rain fall out my window. at least its not snow. :)
have i told you i have a thing for plants?!
{photo}

flower id: cyclamen

Cyclamen persicum, or Florist’s Cyclamen, is a common winter flowering plant found in many stores and florists. It is a tuberous plant native to the Eastern Mediterranean area. They come in a variety of shades from white, to red and many hues of pink. My favorite thing is their heart shaped leaves (above) which is perfect for a valentine's day gift. Cyclamen are a breath of fresh spring air in the dead of winter. Their flowers are very fragrant and showy. So fragrant that my girls wont stop sniffing them.

Blooming: Plants will bloom from mid-winter to spring. Cyclamen like bright indirect light while flowering. They go through a summer dormancy when they do not flower and prefer to be kept out of bright light. You can the break dormancy and stimulate it's winter flowering period again starting in the fall.

DIY Valentine's day gift!!!
cyclamen potted in vintage milk glass

... create your own valentine's gift by dressing up a common cyclamen from the store. Add a little sheet moss (available in most craft stores) and pot it up in a thrifted vintage milk glass planter like my hobnail one. If you don't have the time for thrifting, you can find many vintage milk glass planters on etsy here.

flores del sol is also celebrating the 600th sale! Take off 10% today by using the code 600sale at check out!!!! not valid on custom orders.

found friday: wayne pate

because if you follow this blog, you are a happy plant and flower friend and therefore you would appreciate this artist wayne pate. Bright monstera plant, still life flowers and happy urns.

happy fin de semana!

found friday: junyi wu

plants by the talented illustrator junyi wu.

The weather hear has suddenly cooled here considerably meaning fall will be here in a few days! I am excited to celebrate the chilean independence day this weekend with my chilean husband and some chilean friends. you know this means there will be yummy yummy food!!!

I hope you enjoy your weekend!
- christina

DIY: recycled glass bottle watering globes

My husband loves coke (a-cola that is). Especially when it comes ice cold in a glass bottle. He claims that the formula in the glass bottles is different with real sugar (not fructose corn syrup) or something like that. I love the glass coke bottles but always throw them in the recycling not wanting to hoard bottles with no use. Until I saw the idea for using glass bottles as watering globes for your plants! They drink as much as they want. Perfect if you are going out of town for a few days and they can be used for your indoor or outdoor plants.

I tested it out on my sansevieria plant Harvey (named by my 4 year old). So far it's working great and Harvey is taking only slow sips!

How to:
It works best if the soil around your plant is already moist so water first. Fill up your glass bottle with water, then quickly stick the neck deep into the soil. Make sure that there is no immediate leakage or bubbles rising to the top. If there is, take out the bottle and try again until it works. I only needed to do it once. Neat huh!

thursday morning: spider plant propagation

a spider plant I used in an outdoor container planting last week

In my last post a reader made a comment about how "plants seem to go through fashion cycles". Is this true? If so, can I change this and get some back in style?

How about the spider plant. As seen in houses abound in the 70's plant craze, you rarely see them anymore. The leaves are beautiful and variegated (green with white lines) and I think, if placed in the right pot and space in your home, a bit modern.

Little baby offspring shoot out from the mama spider plant and are easily rooted to make new little spidey plants. The photo above is from my recent trip to the greenhouse. We snagged a few of theses spider plants to incorporate in our outdoor container plantings. I cut off a few of the baby offspring and simply stuck them in a vase of water at home on my kitchen shelf to encourage root growth. That was a week ago and already I am seeing some progress!! As soon as more roots grow they can then be placed in a little pot with soil.

i'll keep you updated on my spidey's progress.

It's funny, in college I had a neighbor with plant fever. He would go around campus and take cuttings of different indoor plants and then propagate them in his apartment. I'm not encouraging steeling cuttings from college campuses and malls, but hey it can be done :)


-christina


also check out the kind words and recommendation Elle Decor (!!!) said about me and flores del sol blog here!!