Thursday, January 18, 2007

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...... Posted by Picasa

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!

21 comments:

Anonymous said...[Reply]

Hi Kerri! I have an Amaryllis that my husband gave me when we had our second son, and it's been 6 years! It still blooms now and then and there were times I thought it was gone, right now it stands out in the balcony, it's Summer down here and as it got some rain the other day... the leaves are not as pretty because of that... Let's just wait and see what color yours come out!

Anonymous said...[Reply]

Have you started any seeds for the garden yet? I know it's early, but I can't hardly stand waiting much longer!!!! How about you?
God bless!
Terri

Anonymous said...[Reply]

I just love waiting for a bloom. Such a wonderful gift of nature. Can't wait to see what color. I have been already dreaming about my lilies in the spring. We planted so many new bulbs.

Take care,
Connie

Anonymous said...[Reply]

Kerri, you absolutely need to post your amaryllis again when it will be blooming again!

I never had any luck with mine so far but guess what: one of the shops over here sold amaryllis yesterday at a very low price, including a clay pot! I asked my hubby to bring one or two with him from his way home from work. And guess what I found in the kitchen yesterday evening: four new amaryllis!!! Yeah!!!

Anonymous said...[Reply]

Good morning Kerri!
What a lovely cheery post. That picture and description of Jasmine's antics with the birds was too funny.
Your plants look like they're thriving inside. My patio plants look a bit :-(
due to the cold (thanks for the link BTW)
We're a nice cheery 40º as I write this.
Our PG&E bill will be over the moon!
Talk to you soon..
xoxoxo

Annie in Austin said...[Reply]

Your sliding doors must give those plants great light, because they all look green and healthy.

I've never had paperwhites rebloom inside and think the buds would have probably pushed up when the leaves were halfway up - but that's just a guess. We can let them bloom inside, then plant them in the garden. Sometimes it takes a couple of years before the bulbs rebuild enough to bloom out there.

Most of my ice has melted so I need to take new photos - Pam's already put hers up.

Can you imagine what Jasmine would have done if one of the mourning doves hit against the glass?

Annie at the Transplantable Rose

Anonymous said...[Reply]

Love all the kittly pictures. Luck Jasmine getting to stay in the warm. mine will hardly go out if its raining.

Anonymous said...[Reply]

We are getting lake effect know! We cold get up to 12 inches. Now that is a western New York Winter!! Stay Warm.

Carole Burant said...[Reply]

Hi Kerri:-) It's funny how some plants just thrive on being neglected! lol I have plants I baby a lot and they hardly grow...others I forget about and they grow like crazy...hmmmm! lol Love the pictures of Jasmine and oh dear, I can just picture those doves teasing her! We have a squirrel here that drives the dog next door bonkers, you can actually tell he teases her no end! lol We're supposed to get a bit more snow tonight and get much colder again for the weekend. Hugs xox

Anonymous said...[Reply]

You have a wonderful sunny window to put the plants in frony of. I love to watch a plany grow, mother nature and God can produce magic.

Anonymous said...[Reply]

I wish I had this info re: amaryllis in Sept. as I {{{threw out}}} mine from last year! I cut the stem off after blooming and placed outside all summer and boy did it thrive! I did not know to place in cool dark place to rest so I tossed it..Yikes how terrible of me!There's always next year. Love your
sweet ~Jasmine~ =^.^=

Anonymous said...[Reply]

Heh, that was cruel of the birds to tease Jasmine like that. Lucky thing your husband was there to save her from herself.

BTW, I got your email and posted my response as a meme on my blog.

Anonymous said...[Reply]

Kerri, I laos like the amaryllis, but I can't have one, my cats eats my plants. Now I've got some new plants, and look, how long they can grow!

Sigrun

Jellyhead said...[Reply]

We stay cool by looking at blogs like yours! More snow pictures, please!

That is so funny about the doves buzzing Jasmine....poor kitty!

Motherkitty said...[Reply]

Loved the pictures and info on the amarylis. I haven't tried to grow any in quite a few years. I have paperwhites in the garden and they bloom like crazy each spring. Don't have any in pots though.

Loved the pictures of the kitty. Mine usually get "buzzed" by mockingbirds during the summer.

We've had so many beautiful birds at our feeders this year, including a red-headed woodpecker and mate that visit several times a day. All this unusual weather is causing havoc on my plants -- I noticed that some lilies out front were putting out new shoots and I had some potted perennials on the deck getting green. Put that pot in the garage. Also noticed a pot with last summer's dusty miller was thriving. Crazy weather. We are supposed to get some snow and ice this evening and tomorrow. Can't tell by the weather man -- totally unreliable.

Alice said...[Reply]

I'm so envious of your lush, healthy indoor plants. I'm totally hopeless at growing plants indoors. They never survive - hardly surprising given the large doses of neglect they receive, and that's about all they receive. Yours are just beautiful, Kerri.

It's good of the birds and Jessica to put on such a show to entertain Ross. Hope he has the video camera ready next time.

Stay warm, dear.

DellaB said...[Reply]

I absolutely reckon the birds were teasing the cat. It always amazes me the way birds seem to think, and out-think cats too, more often than not.

thankyou for the lovely pictures Kerri..

Anonymous said...[Reply]

Great pictures, Kerri.
Well, there's been a cool change here in Vic, Australia and it's even raining so yes, we're staying cool!

Anonymous said...[Reply]

You always make the "best" cat pictures...of course your subjects are very photogenic too...lol!!
Wow...you have an awesome green thumb...snow showers right now out my window!!
:-D

Anonymous said...[Reply]

Kerri, your winter garden looks like mine (minus the kitty, though). Our south facing sliding doors are full of plants, too. I'll have to post a picture one of these days.

Anonymous said...[Reply]

Beautiful plants!! I seem to not be on speaking terms with anything green indoors. My plants refuse to converse with me any ol' time! The one where the new shoot is poppin' out?---------my cat eats that one! How do you keep your kitty from chewing?

Anyway---beautiful just beautiful.

I'm here from Susie's blog and wanted to not leave without saying a biggo howdy do from Texas.