houseplants: what's not to love

Houseplants do more than just add to our decor, they can also improve your health. The EPA ranks indoor air pollutants as one of the top five health threats-not to mention we spend up to 90% of our lives indoors. NASA research proves houseplants can remove up to 87% of indoor pollutants. Some great options to improve your own environment are:
peace lilies
palms
ferns
schefflera
anthuriums
zamiaculca (zz plant)
philodendrons
dieffenbachia
Houseplants are tropicals so be sure to address light and humidity needs.

rain rain go away come again another day-or not

Lucky for me I have the best husband in the world- he hooked up my rain barrel this afternoon. I recently read an article that claimed one man who had eight rain barrels was able to capture some 4,000 gallons of rain water in a single season. I don't know about you, but with increasing examples of global warming and drought, I'll be happy to fill my 52 gallons and my plants will be happy too.

charlotte update

I'm glad I took a picture of Charlotte (even though it was blurry) as she is now gone. Maybe she left some babies behind (1,000's)?

meet charlotte

About a week ago I noticed this amazing round spiderweb with this thick zig zag pattern in the center. I took me a few days to realize that there actually was a spider on the other side. This is Charlotte, a writing spider, kind of like the children's book and the namesake of the city we live in. Sorry for the blur in the photograph, she started to move and in turn it made me move.