Garden Bloggers' Bloom Day - January '09

I'm tickled pink to have my Rieger Begonia flowering beautifully for January's Bloom Day!

This is one of the many plants given to me by my equally obsessed gardening friend, Marie, who started it from a cutting.

It's a hybrid cross between tuberous and wax (fibrous) begonias that was developed by Otto Rieger (not Reiger), a German plant breeder.

I'm besotted by the soft blend of pink hues in these dainty blossoms...

....held above glossy green leaves.

This photo was taken on January 3rd, and the one above on the 13th, after more blooms had opened.

Care: It prefers cool temperatures of 70F (21ºC) during the day and 60-65F (15-18C) at night with bright indirect sun (east window); that’s why it’s a popular winter flowering plant. Grow it in well-drained peat/perlite soil mix or African violet soil and feed with ½ strength houseplant fertilizer every 2 weeks when actively growing. When watering, let it to dry slightly between watering but not too dry or too wet. Be sure to remove the spent flowers to stimulate new bloom.

Re-blooming: Once the plant slows down and stops blooming cut it back to several inches above the soil line and place in a cool, medium light area, keeping on the dry side or place it in the shade outdoors during the summer. When you see new growth, repot the plant to a larger container, move it to bright indirect light and start watering and fertilizing. Rieger begonia responds to short days and cool night temperatures (fall/winter) which stimulates it to bloom again. (Info from Hortchat.com)

The Abutilon, which flowered profusely on the front porch during the summer, has been cut back, and it beginning to bloom again now.

The blossoms are like tissue paper. So lovely.

Another begonia - a Baby Wing.

This is a cutting from my original plant, shown in the photo below...yet another passalong plant from Marie.

The color brightens considerably with more light, and it did wonderfully well on the front porch during the summer. However, since I repotted it to a larger container it seems very unhappy and I'm afraid I might lose it, so I'm really glad to have the cutting.

This white wax begonia is blooming while overwintering in my 'cellar garden'. It will go into a window box, container, or the garden once the warm weather returns.

Only one of the many geraniums overwintering in the 2 upstairs spare bedrooms is blooming, and none in the cellar. They're all looking healthy though.

One of my Christmas gifts from my dear husband was 2 Amaryllis bulbs, which I potted up, and they're just beginning to grow.

I'm hoping they'll have blooms for February's Bloom Day!

This beautiful Star Begonia doesn't have any blooms, but it's lovely enough without them to qualify for Bloom Day, don't you think? I'm not sure I have the correct name. This came to me as a cutting from another gardening friend and she didn't know the cultivar name. 'Star' begonia was the closest I could come when I Googled the plant.

The front garden is buried under snow at the moment...giving the plants a nice blanket to protect them. They're better off with it than without it,

and I'm better off inside, out of the cold, tending to my house plants! We're having a week of frigid temps.....wool sweaters, and two pairs of socks weather!

To enjoy more colorful blooms, all over the world, visit Carol of May Dreams Gardens.

Happy Bloom Day everyone!