#plantlife | Trader Joe’s Rants & Raves (mostly raves, a few rants)

Trader Joe’s WAXED AMARYLLIS BULBS (early spring/limited item)

“Trader Joe’s Amaryllis Bulbs come to us conveniently pre-sprouted and carefully hand-dipped in a paraffin Wax. Fascinatingly enough, all of the nutrients and moisture that the Amaryllis will require for growth & bloom are already packed into that one big, round, colorful, Wax-covered Bulb. Which means that when you get your Bulb home, you can just place it on a counter (or in a window—anywhere that receives filtered light is fine) and periodically turn it to encourage tall, straight growth. That’s it. No water. No soil. No constant watching. No kidding! The Amaryllis Bulb in Wax is the must-have, must-gift plant of the season, no green thumb required.”

https://www.traderjoes.com/home/products/pdp/waxed-amaryllis-bulb-058231

So I got one of these. Both my wife and I were a little bit skeptical that this would work as they said it would. Or that it would work so well. It was just a waxed bulb with a tiny green shoot at the time peeking out at the top of this round wax ball, containing the amaryllis bulb. But guess what? It absolutely did work, and then some. I mean, Wow!

I placed the bulb in a sunny place. And waited. Thats it. It took about a 6 weeks or so. One could see where the flowers would come. About a week or so later there were flowers emerging and after about another week the thing looked magnificent as you can seet bloomed with 4 huge Amaryllis flowers.

This could be a fabulous gift. Maybe next Easter time?

https://extension.umn.edu/houseplants/amaryllis

Trader Joe’s MINI CAN FOLIAGE PLANTS

Trader Joe’s say this about these “mini can foliage plants” that have come out for Fall now :

“Here, designs from some of our favorite canned products ever to grace our grocery shelves, including items from both the past and present, have been re-imagined as holders for a variety of beautiful, (and, we mention with appreciation, quite low-maintenance) tropical plants.”

https://www.traderjoes.com/home/products/pdp/mini-can-foliage-082987

These new Trader Joe’s plants in cans, seem to gotten a lot of attention all over Social Media. I am going to bet that almost every dorm room now has one of these in them! Granted these are cute because they are not not in a little pot, but in Trader Joe’s cans, with labels for actual TJ’s products like the canned corn.

So yes, I totally get these look cute and kind of cool and OK, I like the recycling take added to design philosophy. Frankly though I have a feeling they are not actually in recycled cans, I think they were produced just for this use. I know that that tomato paste comes in a very skinny little can, not this size can, which is way bigger which leads me to assume these cans were made just for this purpose.

Frankly though I had a few reservations when I saw them at my local (NYC) Trader Joe’s.

First, the price?! Whaaaaa?! 4.99!? Five bucks for one of these just seemed a little steep when I saw them. When I search their website I saw a few kinds of plant varieties. But at my TJ’s (UWS NYC) there were only these one kind a fern species. The ones I saw appeared to be not in great shape, at all. The ones I saw looked like they would die in about a week after you took them home. They were already dying.

I would not buy the ones I saw (the ferns) again which are not even shown as you can see in the top picture I got right off TJ’s website which shows other plants – which all look robust. And better varieties of plants some worth five bucks.

I did see healthy plants for that exact same $4.99. Those looked way healthier and more robust looking plants Also labeled “mini foliage in pot”. Those will last if you take care of them. Not sure if those ferns could be rescued.

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This guy on Instagram got much luckier to find good little cans of plants that had more of the varieties as they are shown on TJ’s website. Perhaps you will in your area.

Still as cute as you think the (frankly over priced) plants in those little metal labeled cans are, in general those plants will live longer if you eventually re-pot them into a bigger pot with hopefully some drainage holes at the bottom (or at the very least be careful not to over or under water these) If you find more robust varieties in these cans, you might get lucky.

(update: a reader Commented below that depending on the exact plant variety you find, it might be well worth $5 – but repot them)

By the way, these looked very healthy!! Some has been feeding them flies?