Saturday, December 15, 2018

Winter Flowers, Plants and Mom



Winter seems like a long season
 to me because I miss flowers and
 gardening so much. 
I am grateful for the break from garden 
chores but would be happy with only one
 month of winter! 


Our little greenhouse has helped me through this winter so far, but I still want flowers 
to enjoy daily so I have added more 
blooming plants in the house,
 especially in my mother's room.
  I think it's so important to help the elderly stimulate their senses and give them something to watch and grow.  Mom is so excited with each new bloom. 

  
I've been taking  care of my mother full-time  for over a year now in our home.  She is from Florida and is a real plant lover and enjoyed gardening when she was more mobile.   She now has a south facing window with lots of sunshine so she wanted to start a small collection of her favorite plants.  Mom's little "garden window" is full of easy to care for houseplants  and some seasonal plants as well.  I've added amaryllis and paperwhites to her collection for the holidays.  




She has several pothos plants, a snake plant, a ponytail palm, philodendron and a 
peace plant on the lower shelf.  
The top shelf is for blooming plants and she especially loves red amaryllis.  This variety is Red Lion.  



 I seasonally rotate other plants in her

room like amaryllis, orchids, tulips, daffodils,
Christmas cactus and ferns.   



Red Lion Amaryllis





I found at pink cyclamen and a delicate maidenhair fern at the nursery this week and placed them on her bedside table. 




 Studies have shown that women who surround themselves with plants and lots of greenery live longer.  As an added bonus plants help purify the air quality indoors too, making our enviornment healthier.




Summer bouquet from our garden

 We are bringing the outside in for Mom so she can enjoy her "little garden".  We also have bird feeders right outside her window.  She enjoys all the bird's visits especially the cardinals and a pesky squirrel. 


I follow Dee Nash at Red Dirt Ramblings and she has some great information about growing amaryllis and paperwhites on her blog this week.    She also lives in Oklahoma and is my go-to person for
 gardening questions. 
She is a great source of inspiration!





Monday, December 10, 2018

Winter Greenhouse




It's been months since I've posted but thought I would do an update post on my little greenhouse and how it's doing this first winter.    


I'm so excited to see everything growing and blooming in December.   I put as many pots as I could fit inside and we hooked up a small portable heater and so far it has maintained the temperature around 40 degrees even on the coldest nights.


I mostly have herbs, geraniums and coleus stored inside and  everything is doing really well.   After a few months of tending in my little space, I now know how I will re-organize the shelves next year to leave more
 room for my larger pots.  


I plan on starting seedlings in late January, 
especially milweed for the Monarchs. 
This past fall we had the most incredible 
migration of Monarchs I've ever seen.
If you plant milkweed they will come!
   



Merry Christmas!