Christmas edition - wacky oddballs for fun!

It's finally Christmas and we weren't sure we could even celebrate till the last minute. We have all seen our neighbourhoods optimistically lighting up with fairy lights and Christmas trees in front rooms as we drive by. It isn't snowing here and rarely does in the South of England but there is nothing like a Carol Service by candlelight (which we attended in Harbour Church) last week to really bring home the message of Christmas. It was uncertain times then at Jesus's birth as it is now, with our fears in this pandemic and economic & climate crises. We all so need the peace, hope and goodwill this season brings.

I am Miles's dad writing the blogs for now as he is busy with A level revision. However I will continue to feature his plants and today, I thought in line with the good cheer for this festive season, we should remain true to our mission of looking at houseplants not just as a source of health and wellbeing, as they are, but also to bring a smile to your face by being fun & wacky, like these three oddballs plants below. They may not pop out of a cracker you pull at Christmas, but they will surprise you all the same.

Before I do that, we finally put up our tree above a week ago with our children who have just made it back from university. It is, to the observant eye, and perhaps a surprise to you, an artificial, and not a live, tree. So why an artificial tree? We cannot ignore the fact that we all have to do our part to stop climate change, highlighted in November by COP26 (https://ukcop26.org/). David Attenborough's challenge to all of us is to encourage rewilding and move to renewable energy. So it doesn't make sense to cut down trees for Christmas if we can reuse an artificial one for years. Furthermore, many of us are ignorant of the risks undertaken by adults and children to climb trees to harvest fir pine cones each year in Georgia to grow our Christmas trees. This was highlighted by this episode of "From our Own Correspondent' BBCRadio4, 18th Sept 2021, and is well worth a listen to if you have not already done so. (https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p09wbkxq)

Back to the oddballs.

The first is a transparent plant. You might say "What is so wacky about that? Isn't this like having see-thru wrapping paper around your Christmas present that takes away the surprise?" But transparent plants are rare and fascinating and this is one of them.

Haworthia Cooperi 'Ice Lantern' is an unusual succulent with transparent tops to their leaves that looks like ice (hence commonly known as Ice Plants). In the wild in South Africa, often only these transparent tops are visible above ground. Care is similar to any other succulent. I find the transparent tops useful as they will wrinkle when underwatered. Do not overwater, let soil dry out before watering and sparingly in winter.

The second is a 2-in-1 plant - looks succulent but with spikes like a cactus.

Pachepodium lamerei commonly known as the Madagascan Palm (although it is not a palm) looks like below in the wild.

It is a succulent of the genus Pachepodium characterised by 2 features - pachycaul trunks and spinescence. In plain English, these mean swollen trunks that store water and up to 6cm spines around the trunks. The latter makes these plants tricky to handle so beware. However, they are easy to look after and can become spectacular specimen indoor plants if you provide it sufficient light and space to grow. Water only when soil is dry and sparingly especially in winter. There are dwarf species that grow to only 8cm through to branching giants of 6m! This one could reach heights of 1.8m indoors.

The third should be spiky but is fluffy instead.

We should have featured it in the previous blog on hairy plants, but it epitomises Christmas in the same way that Christmas cactus and Poinsettas below do. In a red pot, its tufts of snow (looks like Santa's beard!) against the green makes it a perfect Christmas cactus. Astrophytum asterias (Star Cactus) is small, round, spineless and squat, reaching a height of 6 cm and a diameter of 15 cm. The disc-shaped body is divided into 7–10 ribs; in the middle of each rib there are woolly areoles. The body is a greenish-brown colour and may appear speckled from its covering of white scales called trichomes. The flowers of this cactus are yellow with red bases. Green to pink oval fruits are produced.

Finally, we cannot resist one bad cracker joke: 'Why does Santa have three gardens? So he can 'HO! HO! HO!''.

I leave you with the wish that amidst your fears and uncertainties, you will indeed find peace and hope in the message of Christmas. Wishing you all a very Happy Christmas and New Year!