It’s time….. I *think* fall is finally arriving. So I have cleaned up the pots of the indoor jungle, treated them for bugs, and in they come. I use Bonide Systemic Houseplant Insect Killer. And Safer Insecticidal Soap if I have to.

I did give away my giant Mandevilla. It just got too big for the house so a friend of mine adopted it. She has a great big room with great big windows and I hope it will be very happy there!

I bought all my citrus trees in and well my grapefruit tree has gotten rather large. I grew it from a grapefruit seed about 15 years ago! it’s taller than me now!

My orchids are looking super happy. So are the spring cactus, Christmas cactus, ivy topiaries, and Boston ferns.

The jury is still out on the Clivia. They have not bloomed once since we moved to this house so I trimmed off all the dead stuff and got all the bugs out and repotted them. They are much smaller we will see what happens.

Now I am not showing you all of the indoor jungle. I will tell you hefting around all those pots was a job!

The indoor jungle is a love hate relationship of its own. But it makes the house happy during the cold months. The best thing I can offer in the way of advice is to put your house plants on a routine just like your garden.

Buy a water meter if you are unsure about how much water you need each week per plant. It’s a fun little gizmo and you just stick it in the soil and it tells you if the plant is wet, dry, or just right. I will give you a pro tip because once upon a time I ruined a water meter — don’t run it under running water just wipe the dirt off of it!

So now that the indoor jungle is back inside comes the final outside gardening of the year. I still have some plants to plant and when my bulbs arrive they get planted. I will also get out the lovely gizmo that shreds all my leaves into lovely fluffy leaf mulch.

And then, after all that has happened, I will sit down with all my gardening books and gardening magazines I haven’t had time to read and start thinking about next spring!

Gardening truly is part of the cycle of life!

So tell me, how does your garden grow right now?

Feel free to leave me a comment and thanks for stopping by.