I spent Saturday cleaning up the patio and balcony, vacuuming up all the dust, debris, leaves, and dead critters lying about. My potted herb garden was looking pretty sad. I decided finally to just give up on it for something new. The dying parsley and chives were replaced with a couple new shrubby plants, seen in this photo. I used a spray bottle to clean off the dust on my pearl ivy plant and moved it into the shade after noticing the leaves looked a bit burnt from being in direct sunlight. I bought this little wooden bench to display the plants that require full sun in this sunny corner of the balcony. They look much happier being off the ground.

And magically, the mammy croton plant (in the orange planter) is coming back to life. It had lost all of its leaves due to over watering. After moving it outside, letting the soil dry out, watering sparingly and waiting for 6 months, suddenly many tiny leaves sprouted all along the length of the two bare stems. I wasn’t sure if it would ever come back to be honest, but held out and I’m glad I did because the curly finger shaped leaves are so unique and pretty. Here’s an example of what the leaves will look like up close when fully grown.

I’m going to be posting less often probably for the remainder of this fall until my subspecialty board exams are done. A lot of changes are happening at work too. New hires are starting and although that should theoretically lighten the work load for me, it will require me to adjust to delegating and supervising, all things I’m not used to. This year has been full of so many life changes and challenges. I have a feeling though that life will begin to settle back down come winter and I’ll be able to post more outfits again for those who care. I’ll try to stay positive until then.