Houseplants in Silicon Valley

I live in Silicon Valley and I have houseplants.  The thing about living where I do is that most houseplants will also happily live outdoors in bright shade for most of the year.  Some years they'll happily live outdoors ALL year.

But, like the grape farmers, I keep an eye on the predicted low temperatures.  If we're going to have a hard freeze (as opposed to a little frost on the roofs and windshields), the plants have to come indoors or run the risk of freezing.  (That happened to me my first year in this house and many of my plants turned to mushy pulp.  It was very sad.)

Don't get me wrong!  Having more plants in the house is a good thing!  They provide more oxygen.  Many of them go a long way toward cleaning toxins from the air.  They're green and cheery.  They visually soften edges and corners.  They provide 'chi.'

But here's the thing.  When the plants are hanging around outside, they're growing like weeds.  You have to trim them.  And, being a gardener, I can't just throw away the trimmings.  So, I stick them in Mason jars of water where they sprout roots.  Well, then I'm obliged to plant the rootings in soil.  

THEN I end up with even more houseplants to bring indoors for the winter!

So, my house is again a jungle and challenging to navigate.  But that's not too much of a problem, unless I try to entertain.  The problem is in keeping the things watered without watering the carpets.  Heated winter air is dry-dry-dry, so the plants dry out quickly.  The soil will suck up water like there's no tomorrow.  Then, quite suddenly, it will dump more water than the saucer can hold and I have to scramble to keep mineral-laden (nutrient-laden, spore-laden, ...)  water from hitting the carpet where it stains, promotes mildew, mold, and rot, and generally causes havoc.

To keep from all this spillage, I have to water each plant slowly, a little at a time.  So the watering task ends up taking upwards of an hour at least once a week.

But the house is sure green these days!  Now, off to water the houseplants.