Promises

Amaryllis, december 6th, '06

I'm eagerly awaiting the blooms of this Amaryllis, which will add some color to the small jungle that sits by our sliding glass doors.



January 11th '07 (note the long-awaited snow on the porch)

An Amaryllis shoots up so fast, it seems you can almost see it growing!

January 14th

I don't know if these blooms will be pink or red. I have both, but one isn't doing anything. I doubt it will offer to bloom at all this season, probably due to improper treatment and neglect.

At the end of last summer I read an article on how to properly care for these lovely plants after they bloom, so as to carry them over the summer and get them to rebloom the following winter. I've had both plants for several years and they've rebloomed several times, but only through dumb luck, and not always when expected. The pink one bloomed again in June in 2003!

Here's what the article said: Cut off the flower stem a few inches above the bulb after the flowers are spent. Don't remove the leaves. Water regularly and fertilize once a month. You can move the plant outside (in its pot) to a partly sunny location once the warm weather returns. Before the first frost bring it inside. Stop watering and fertilizing around September 1st. Let rest in a cool location for three months. On December 1st unpot the bulb, clean it up and repot in fresh potting soil. The top 2 inches of the bulb should be above the soil line. Water well and place in a cool, yet sunny spot. Water as needed until the first green shoots appear from the top of the bulb, which should happen in 2 or 3 weeks.

In 4 to 6 weeks, you should have several magnificent, velvety flowers.

New baby December 6th, '06

I was amazed and excited to see this new growth emerging beside the old stem of this Dracaena. For months I've been debating what to do with this plant because the leaves have been turning brown and shriveling up. It looks a bit like a palm tree with a very skinny trunk....not very attractive at all. The top of the plant looks very healthy and keeps growing taller, but the lower leaves are still turning brown.

January 6th

But now here comes a new baby! Perhaps I'll cut off the old trunk when the new one grows a couple of feet tall. Any suggestions would be welcome.




Tall & Skinny



Jasmine birdwatching

One of Jasmine's favorite passtimes is to watch the birds.

While I was at work on Wednesday, Ross said she was watching a couple of mourning doves cleaning up dropped seed on the porch. She began throwing herself against the door trying to get at them. After She'd done this several times the doves started buzzing her. Ross thought they looked like they were teasing her.
He finally stopped her and chased the birds away because he was afraid she'd hurt herself. Of course he was highly amused by the whole show :) I wish I'd seen it.

And finally we have last year's Paperwhites. I did a post about them here. It was a bit of a funny story :)

I didn't expect to see them growing because I neglected them and let them sit on the enclosed side porch in the pot all summer with very little water (I usually just pop them in the ground somewhere outside and forget about them). Apparently they didn't mind the neglect, because not too long ago I noticed new growth on the bulbs so I began watering them. I brought them into the dining room just last week and they've grown very quickly since then. It remains to be seen whether or not they'll produce flowers. It's a mystery to me. I've never tried to get more than one season's bloom out of paperwhites before. Have any of you tried

that and had success?

Dreaming......

Winter has truly arrived in NY this week! Last Monday we were a balmy 45º while Sue in California was freezing! That's a switch! But then the cold hit us and the temperatures plummeted.

The ice storm on Tuesday affected some of the surrounding areas, but here on the farm it wasn't bad at all. We had a little on the trees, but it had melted by 10:00AM. Annie in Austin, Texas, was inundated with ice, and has posted some pictures of the sights she woke up to. Her friend Pam at Digging has some wonderful ice pictures too, that you'll really enjoy.

I hope all my blog friends in cold areas are staying warm, and the ones in hot places (all you Aussies) are staying cool!