Indoor Holiday Troughs

Sorry for the lapse in postings, my dear readers. The holidays brings its own set of urgencies, doesn't it? I hope you found a place of growth and small shoots of life growing up inside yourself, despite its being the dormant season, horticulturally.

I share with you a few surprises that came to me this season and lessons learned about troughs as gifts. I had a surprising number of requests for the dear simple trough I named Jingle (below).

High demand and not enough supply for this winner

Alas, I had not purchased a sufficient number of Chaemacyparis obtusa 'Chirimen' -- nor had I constructed sufficient numbers of 8 x 8" troughs to fulfill these orders. Dang!

Another lesson: the medium-sized troughs seemed to be the ticket and my daughter-in-law asked me to put together two indoor troughs of this size so she could give them to family members. Another revelation: not everyone wants a miniature alpine forest growing in a hypertufa container on their back patio. With the advice of my trough consultant Chris, I found some lovely durable indoor plants and managed to fill two medium troughs that delighted those who were the recipients. Good idea, Chrissy!

Indoor troughs: Who knew?

In this trough: Polka Dot Plant (Hypoestes), Golden Spike Moss (Selaginella kraussiana 'Aurea'), and "Dwarf Umbrella Tree (Schefflera arboricola ~ syn. Heptapleurum arboricolum)

This trough contains English Ivy (Hedera helix 'Glacier'), Christmas Cactus (Zygocactus
Schlumbergera x buckleyi) and more of the above-mentioned Polka-dot plant.

Final holiday lesson: Some people simply want troughs (usually of a reasonable size) without the plants so they can do with them what they want. My sister purchased three empty troughs from me and filled them herself to give to her adult children as a Christmas gift. She filled them with bright red Violas!

Lessons for the season:  Keep making those 8 x 8s, and keep those Chaemacyparis obtusa 'Chirimen' in good supply!