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January Brightness
Feb. 6th, 2013 04:20 pmIt's been a remarkably sunny January. Well, remarkably sunny for the Lower Mainland here. I have some new and very pretty violet blooms, but also a bunch of winter plant stories.
First, though, spring has begun its march:
It will likely snow again a couple times, it usually does in March and sometimes in Jan, but these daffodils will keep on coming. Granted, the colder it is, the slower they'll be.
Next up, I'm a big fan of natal mahoganies as houseplants. Normally I get upset at a plant so completely out of place as a giant tropical tree in a house, but these guys do so so well. They can be cut back infinitely and they're such happy lush plants. If humidity is too low and soil never dries out, their leaves get a little unhappy in a very cool way. This one is at work:
Now to the violets. I've been potting many of my violets down, they've just been in pots that are too big because the 4" are what I could get from work. Over christmas we did a bunch of little arrangements so I have the tiny 1 3/4" to go down to, and I bought myself a big bag of perlite and one of vermiculite to make a proper violet mix since most contain so very much peat.
Here's my potting-down station, and my idea of a blissful evening:
The hardest part of african violets for me is labeling. I can tell my veggie seedlings apart easily, but I can't tell varieties of violet apart yet. This means I need to keep up with the labeling, but I make more plants faster than I get to the store for more labels some months. Mid-planting-fest I had to get up and search for anything plastic - milk cartons (I've switched to glass), yoghourt containers (I don't eat it) - to make more planters. Frustrating.
To counterbalance that, look at my Emerald Love! It's gone to town! I wish I was a better photographer, because the contrast of dark leaves and light blossoms blows out the white a bit, so you can't see the exceptionally lovely ring of green around the flowers. It's been expanding as they age!
This one is Irish Lace Sport. As tends to happen, both the plants from the one leaf are blooming pretty close to simultaneously. This is the most advanced flower, though. Look how very ruffly it is, and full of my favourite colours:
Here is Boreal. She's supposed to have a fantasy (spots) on her blooms, but there are only a few light flecks. Apparently on the second bloom some of those things show up more strongly, so then I'll know if she came true from the cutting or not. She does have exceptionally large flowers, either way.
Finally, here are three flower-hopeful pictures, the first from an unknown. SQUEEE! See that bud!!
B-man's Taomina:
And here's Green Dragon, too lovely to need to bloom, really:
Finally, here's just over half my repotted collection, about two weeks after the potting-up. This is the good window, where they have ideal light and a view of the church.
First, though, spring has begun its march:
It will likely snow again a couple times, it usually does in March and sometimes in Jan, but these daffodils will keep on coming. Granted, the colder it is, the slower they'll be.
Next up, I'm a big fan of natal mahoganies as houseplants. Normally I get upset at a plant so completely out of place as a giant tropical tree in a house, but these guys do so so well. They can be cut back infinitely and they're such happy lush plants. If humidity is too low and soil never dries out, their leaves get a little unhappy in a very cool way. This one is at work:
Now to the violets. I've been potting many of my violets down, they've just been in pots that are too big because the 4" are what I could get from work. Over christmas we did a bunch of little arrangements so I have the tiny 1 3/4" to go down to, and I bought myself a big bag of perlite and one of vermiculite to make a proper violet mix since most contain so very much peat.
Here's my potting-down station, and my idea of a blissful evening:
The hardest part of african violets for me is labeling. I can tell my veggie seedlings apart easily, but I can't tell varieties of violet apart yet. This means I need to keep up with the labeling, but I make more plants faster than I get to the store for more labels some months. Mid-planting-fest I had to get up and search for anything plastic - milk cartons (I've switched to glass), yoghourt containers (I don't eat it) - to make more planters. Frustrating.
To counterbalance that, look at my Emerald Love! It's gone to town! I wish I was a better photographer, because the contrast of dark leaves and light blossoms blows out the white a bit, so you can't see the exceptionally lovely ring of green around the flowers. It's been expanding as they age!
This one is Irish Lace Sport. As tends to happen, both the plants from the one leaf are blooming pretty close to simultaneously. This is the most advanced flower, though. Look how very ruffly it is, and full of my favourite colours:
Here is Boreal. She's supposed to have a fantasy (spots) on her blooms, but there are only a few light flecks. Apparently on the second bloom some of those things show up more strongly, so then I'll know if she came true from the cutting or not. She does have exceptionally large flowers, either way.
Finally, here are three flower-hopeful pictures, the first from an unknown. SQUEEE! See that bud!!
B-man's Taomina:
And here's Green Dragon, too lovely to need to bloom, really:
Finally, here's just over half my repotted collection, about two weeks after the potting-up. This is the good window, where they have ideal light and a view of the church.
