Tags
African violets, Amaryllis "Gervase", blooming houseplants, garden bloggers' bloom day, In a Vase on Monday
A busy Sunday precluded time to take pictures and write a post, so today I give you two, two, TWO posts in one! I’ll start with the monthly garden party hosted by Carol at May Dreams Gardens. On the fifteenth of each month, she invites garden bloggers all around the world to show off what is currently blooming in their gardens and to share it with other bloggers via her blog site. It’s a great way to see things outside of your own climate zone and meet new gardening friends!
There’s still a foot of snow in my zone 5b garden, so once again, I can highlight only houseplants, such as my grandmother’s African violets:This violet, which I inherited about ten years ago, is, to say the least, vigorous! It blooms frequently and profusely. It sprouts new plantlets prolifically. Every other year, I need to unpot it, cut the plants apart, and re-plant them, as I explained here two years ago. You can see that this pot contains four healthy plants. When it’s finished blooming, in about a month, I’ll put it under the knife:A Cyclamen that a student gave me at Christmas is blooming again:And of course, Old Reliable, the Crown of Thorns (Euphorbia milii) is covered with its cheery cherry red flowers:The three of these plant are happy in my north-facing living room window where they receive plenty of bright light, but no direct sun:
The primroses in the kitchen windowsill are on their last legs, I think, but still colorful:
I have a number of plants that are about to bloom! Hippeastrum ‘Gervase’ is set to open two flowers in this, its third year:While I have success getting my Amaryllises to re-bloom, I find that they are not as strong in successive years, sending up just one bloom stalk and not as many flowers as when they are new. Time to do some reading!
Two other Amaryllises are coming along. ‘Elvas’, new to me this year, bloomed a month ago and has now sent up a second bud full of its frilly double blossoms:I don’t know the name of this one. I ordered it last year, and it is supposed to be ‘Elvas’. However, when it bloomed last year, it looked nothing like I expected. I call it Hippeastrum Amaryllis ‘Not Elvas’. If I recall correctly, it is pale-peach colored:Aside from the Amaryllises, I’ve had little success with my bulb-forcing this winter. However, one pot of tulips may bring me satisfaction. Here is Tulipa ‘Charming Beauty’, a peony flowering tulip in shades of yellow and apricot, about to open:Finally, it seems that one of my Christmas cacti wants to celebrate Easter this year! It bloomed nicely between Halloween and Thanksgiving last year, so this is a surprise!With luck and cooperation from Mother Nature, I hope to be showcasing flowers out-of-doors on April’s Bloom Day!
Now here’s my vase for Cathy’s In a Vase on Monday party. I call it “Branching Out”:The weather today was quite mild and the snowpack has shrunk to below my knees, so I felt secure in venturing outside to cut some Forsythia and Pussy Willow boughs to force into early indoor bloom.
Here are my footprints to and from the Forsythia bushes:Some of these prints are over a foot deep! It was a bad day for the zipper on my left boot to fail!
This is the three-foot snow bank I climbed atop to reach the Pussy Willow that grows at the edge of my cul-de-sac:It did help me reach the high branches!
And here is where I fell on my bum! I have to admit that I thought the impression it left would look more dramatic than this:Well, let’s get back to the vase. It’s a collection of Forsythia and Pussy Willow branches, along with several from a tree whose name I don’t know. The unknown branches show new growth and decently developed buds, so I’m hoping to see some spring green leaves unfurl over the next couple of weeks. It’s very much a “Wait and See” arrangement!Ideally, the yellow Forsythia flowers will open at the same time the velvety Pussy Willow catkins emerge, but that may be too much to ask! Again, “Wait and See”!
After photographing the arrangement against a dark,pattern-free wall, I moved it into the living room, where it will spend the next few weeks. Sometime soon I will pull the Easter decorations out of storage and bedeck these branches with pretty painted eggs:It shares the table with a bouquet of grocery-store daffodils, combined with left-overs from two other recent store-bought bouquets and a short, fresh-cut Pussy Willow twig. Soon I will have my own daffodils to cut and arrange in vases. While I was outside today, I heard geese high above me, flying north. In their calls, I heard the promise of green grass, mild breezes, and sunny days ahead!
Cathy said:
I love pussy willow but all the trees near us are so tall I can’t reach any branches and we don’t have any snowdrfits left to help me out! Love all your flowers this week Kimberley. Hope spring shows up soon for you!
Kimberley at Cosmos and Cleome said:
Yes, the dirty, hard packed snow bank did help! The snow piles here are shrinking a bit every day! Thanks for stopping by, Cathy!
Rose said:
Love the creative title for your vase arrangement:) Those branches will be beautiful when they bloom. It looks like your Christmas cactus is going to re-bloom, too. Your amaryllis look great–every year I do a little research on taking care of mine, but then I forget about them when I really need to give them a little more care. Maybe this fall I’ll do a better job. I can see that the warm weather we’ve had this past week didn’t stretch eastward; I hope it heads your way soon and helps melt all that snow.
Kimberley at Cosmos and Cleome said:
I think my mistake is summering the Amaryllis plants in a mostly shady spot, rather than full sun. I’ll try them on the back deck this year, where they’ll get sun most of the day. Thanks for visiting, Rose!
gardenfancyblog said:
You have so many beautiful blooms in your house — thanks for sharing them with us! -Beth
Kimberley at Cosmos and Cleome said:
Thanks, Beth!
Cathy said:
Lots of lovely indoor plants, Kimberley – I especially like that euphorbia. I had to smile at your photographic evidence of your journey to pick the vase contents…. 🙂 I am sure lots of us are realising just how stylish and attractive ‘twigs’ are in a vase – and what potential they hold. I look forward to you reporting back on them. Thanks for sharing
pbmgarden said:
You’re so dedicated to risk life and limb for the vase but the results are wonderful. Lots of nice indoor blooms too.
Alana Mautone (@RamblinGarden) said:
I must learn how to repot African violets. This year I killed not one, not two, but THREE African violets by trying to repot them. I’ve never succeeded. I obviously am doing something wrong. So it was nice seeing yours – and your primroses. And your bouquets. Your GBBD was truly a pretty one, even though it resulted in a sore bum.
Kimberley at Cosmos and Cleome said:
Alana, if I’m ever planning a trip up your way, I’ll bring you one of my divisions! I’m always looking for good homes for them!
Amy said:
I hope your pussy willow and forsythia do open at the same time 🙂 though it’s an attractive arrangement as it stands. You are making me want to grow African violets again…!
bittster said:
Your house is still so full of blooming color. It sure does make up for the views outside, doesn’t it?
I’m laughing a bit picturing you traipsing around in the snowpiles. I hope that doesn’t make me a bad person 🙂
Kimberley at Cosmos and Cleome said:
Oh, it was quite a laughable experience. And of course, as I’m struggling to move through that snow, a car comes up my road and the driver rolls down her window to ask which house on our street is the tax preparer’s!
Patrick said:
Hey my dear friend,
Funny you should mention it, but Down Under we’ve always called it Easter cactus. I think somebody should consider the name ‘Not Elvis’ or ‘Elvis Has NOT Left the Building’ — actually that would make a great name, don’t you think. There’s a hosta breeder I can track down. I think there is an ‘Elvis Lives’?
So good to conversate C&C.
Victoria @ GardenCookTravel said:
Beautiful primroses and tulips, and your Christmas Cactus pulled up an old memory of my grandmother’s house, 50-something years ago. I guess I hadn’t realized it, but I no longer grow anything indoors … had an orchid in the bathroom for several years, and have been planning to replace it. Thanks for nudging me to do so. Please stop by to see my Bloom Day post (my first ever) when you have a chance … spring flowers and honey bees are running rampant here in the California desert.