Recycling Glass Bottles for an Indoor Garden

I am a sucker for plants... I can't resist their happy faces, and each year, more and more of them find their way into my home.  I've bought several plant stands to put all my plants on throughout the years at garage sales and wherever I could find them.  Sometimes my kids complain that my plants take up more room and get more attention then they do... lol!  Of course we know that's not true... but I'll have to admit, I do enjoy helping things to grow, and also the gentle beauty that comes with having indoor plants.  Here in north Idaho, there are really no plants that can survive outdoors/indoors, and so each spring and fall it takes a lot of work to bring my plants outside for the spring, and then back inside for winter.  

Recently, some of my plants began to show just how happy they were - in fact they were becoming so overgrown that some of the pots were tipping from the weight of the ivy plant  as it grew. 

I have several different varieties of ivy and all of them had really become prolific!

Every week when I watered my plants I would think - I really need to do something about this... but that time never came... and things continued to get out of hand.

I honestly do not know what this particular plant is called.  It was given to me at a yard sale, and it has continued to multiply at an amazingly crazy fast rate.  It seems to like the low humidity here in Idaho, and the differences in temperature in our house doesn't seem to bother it either.  We heat with wood stove, so at night the temps dip down into the 50s until we get the fire back going in the morning, so there is a big temperature difference for these plants to deal with.  Most ivies and indoor plants prefer consistent temps, but that is not available in this house!

But I digress.  At any rate, my plants were taking over the house, literally.  I had trails of ivy climbing everywhere.  Problem was - what to do with them?

Just a few days ago, I was cleaning out some drawers and amazingly - the answer to my dilemma just fell into place like clockwork!  I discovered all these glass bottles that we have been saving (for what, I don't know - I just hate to throw away glass!).  And when I found a whole drawer full of glass bottles - ding-ding-ding.... lights and bells went off in my head as to what these bottles would be perfect for!

I found my scissors and got busy trimming back my overgrown ivies and stuck them in these glass bottles with some water!

I've found that it is best to let ivies grow in a bit of water and have access to sunlight after you trim them up, and then once they've rooted, you can go ahead and transplant them into their very own new home.

Just don't ask me WHAT I'm going to do with all these green ivy plants once they root?  OH MY!

However, one thought is that I will probably be calling quite a few of my friends up and asking if they want ivy starts, lol!

The ivy starts fit perfectly into the glass bottles after being cut to about 8" long or so.

Here is how I would cut the ivy stem in order to have it successfully regrow a root in water.  I would cut it at an angle just above the next leaf shoot.  In this way, the cutting will be able to root and then successfully be transplanted into its own pot.

In about a month or so, or maybe even less.... I will have a LOT of ivy shoots ready for a new home. Any takers out there - you'll be welcome to have your own ivy shoot... just let me know :) And... if I should still end up with more than enough of these ivy plants .... I know I have plenty of pots (from yard sale finds) to put them in, and it will give me an excuse to find another plant holder to display their pretty leaves.  After all - one can never have too many plants, now can they?  LOL!

At least I have found one consolation in this... I found a great use for all those glass bottles we have been saving - all for an indoor garden... who would've "thunk" it!  I'm sure by the time I get all these ivy starts into their own pots, I will have more ivies chomping at the bit, needing to get pruned up.  I'm just glad to have "killed two birds with one stone" by finding a place for my ivy starts while recycling the glass bottles into new temporary homes for the plants!