Posts Tagged 'indoor plants'

This has been the most amazing February on record.  Very few blades of grass to be seen all month.  I can actually look back and note years when we have tilled the garden in February but this year has seen snowfall after snowfall.  At long last the Amaryllis (Hippeastrum) have come into bloom to add some flowerful color to our lives.

An Amaryllis couplet

Even the Amaryllis seem to have been delayed this year past their normal appearance.  I usually take the cue from the plants and don’t try to force their pace.  But once they start to grow they get lots of light and water.  Though somewhat retarded in time they have put forth a solid set of blooms.

Amaryllis in bloom

Though widely known as Amaryllis the flowers we grow under that name are more properly Hippeastrum.  There are 70 species and over 600 cultivars and I’ve long since lost the names of the two particular ones that we grow.  They respond well to living on the outside during the summer then a dry dormancy at the end of the fall where they live in the dry basement.  In December we start watering gently again and wait for some sign of growth.  They flower for an extended period of time and they’re well worth the small effort to grow them.

Amaryllis detail

Outside I’m seeing increasing patches of green.  The crocus are showing above ground in the spots where the snow has melted — there is still a foot or more of snow in many places— but they would still like to have some warmer weather before granting a bloom.

Crocus just starting out in the grass

And in the garden bed where the most of the snowdrops live, the same snowdrops that appeared in January are still hanging in there.  A bit bedraggled from living under the snowpack, but flowering nonetheless.  I am becoming a real admirer of these little bulbs.

Snowdrop (Galanthus nivalis) still in bloom

Novel Orchid of unknown parentage

Well we find ourselves in Boston for this Garden Blogger’s Bloom Day and the outdoor flowering is definitely limited.  So the focus is once again on orchids.

We did take a walk around the yard today and, although they don’t have the heavy layer of snow that we have in Frederick, the flowering and color is definitely on the side that requires considerable imagination.  I was struck once again by the unusual Hellebore variety ‘Red Silver’

Helleborus foetidus 'Red silver'

and there is an unusual Rhododendron with distinctive red buds in the kids’ garden.

Rhododendron 'Scarlet Wonder'

But in the end the wonderful orchids that they have sprinkled around the sun-lit interior of their house are what captures the mind’s eye.  I took pictures of the five that are in bloom right now and thought that I would share them in this posting.

Fuschia colored moth orchid (Phalaenopsis)

Miniature Cattleya

Miniature Cattleya Orchid detail

Speckled Moth Orchid

Phaelenopsis orchid branch

Lovely Oncidium Orchid

Despite my hopes that winter will begin to pack up its bags I note that another 5 inches of snow are expected in Frederick tonight.  I guess we will be a long time thawing out this year…

Well, here we are starting off a new year with Garden Blogger Bloom Day.  Sad to say there aren’t many flowers to show from a tour around the property.  Certainly the most spectacular on site is a very nice Moth Orchid growing inside the house.

Stripped Phalaenopsis

As is true with most of our orchids they blossom with incredible staying power, 4-6 weeks I would guess, and the flowers will stop you in your tracks.

It’s a good thing we have the orchids going on because outside there is not much to show this month.  I took a pretty good walk around and saw only the same little snowdrop that has been out for nearly a month now.

Snowdrop (Galanthus nivalis) in January

Otherwise it was a lot of promising buds but no cigars (to borrow a phrase).  We’ve had a lot of freezing or below days that have only just ended with 50 degrees yesterday, today, and tomorrow.  One warm spell has trouble making up for a lot of frigid temperatures.  Things like the hellebores and quince are just waiting in the wings and I see lots of daffodils sticking up their little green spikes.  Scary to think that we are not even at the middle point of the winter as far as the ground temperature goes.  That could make one start to plan a trip to Florida for spring training (which I plan to do this year…).

Of course even when the plants are dormant many of the birds are still here to keep us company.  The red Cardinals are always a comfort when we get up in the morning.  But today I was noting how nicely even the House Finches are colored when they are not side by side with the Cardinals.

House Finch in January

Another surprising element to me is just how much color is left on the male Goldfinches even in the dead of winter.  Is it always this way and am I just paying more attention?

Goldfinch in January

Along with the warm weather we have had a couple of amazing sunsets.  I sat outside and watched this one with a cup of tea last night.  Those red adirondack chairs on the pasture hillside are wonderful for contemplation until the sun goes down and it gets cold enough to chase me inside.  May your winter seed catalog dreams match glowing colors of the sunset…

January sunset

After yesterday’s post it seems only fair to give equal time to the other large flowering plant that contributes to our wintertime flower scene. Just like the Clivia, the Amazon Lily (Eucharis x grandiflora) is stimulated to flower by a spate of cool weather and typically produces flowers at least twice a year under our conditions. We leave it outside on a shady porch most of the year and bring it inside from late Fall to early Spring. We have never divided it, but it seems perfectly happy just somewhat potbound. With it’s glossy foliage it makes a spectacular impact when the beautiful white flowers come forth. Although there are quite a number of species in this genus, it seems likely that ours is the grandiflora hybrid as I’ve never seen any seeds.

Amazon Lily flower

The Amazon Lily sits next to a west facing window

Every year about this time we have several weeks of flowering from a very pot bound Clivia miniata (Kaffir Lily). It sits in a north window during its flush of flowers and otherwise in the basement under lights for the winter. For the summertime it lives outside under a large Japanese Maple. The Clivia likes a certain amount of dryness between watering and the Maple is happy to accomodate by keeping most of the raindrops for itself. Usually we put the Clivia outside early enough that it will flower again in the Summer — it needs cool weather (not freezing) to stimulate flower growth. For several years I have been trying to get the courage to divide this beautiful plant which is one of the easiest-to-care-for and also most valuable semi-tropical plants that we have. I bought the original for $3.95 in a 1 gal container in California and brought it home on the airplane many years ago. It would be a small fortune to buy one this size locally. Another task is to take the easily havested seeds and have a go at growing these in the basement. And so the to-do list grows…

The brilliant orange flowers of Clivia miniata

The glossy green foliage is an excellent backdrop for the flowers

I always assumed that the Clivia came from India as I’ve seen them there and the name seemed synchronous with Robert Clive, the Englishman who spread empire to that part of the world. But, as it turns out, the genus was named in the 19th century for a Lady Clive, who later became a governess for Queen Victoria and all of the species are endemic to South Africa. Mostly we find the miniata in cultivation but the other species look like they would be interesting to try as well.