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!





4 comments:

  1. You and your mom are blessed women! How lucky she is to have a daughter who will take care of her and see that she has the things she loves. No doubt those plants are enhancing her days.

    I clicked on the link for your greenhouse the other day...and as with all internet clickings I was taken into never never land. I read some reviews that said their greenhouse was damaged by high winds. I completely forgot that I got there by reading your blog post and you live in the land of wind!! Have you had any concerns with the structure of the greenhouse and the high winds?

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    Replies
    1. Yes Stacey, the night we had 70 mph straight line winds one of the panels blew out, but it was easily snapped back in. We placed the greenhouse in a more protected area of the yard away from north winds, it's on the south side of our house near the fence line away from the easement. My hubbie did run support rebar and anchored it to the ground when he built the foundation. It's definitely not meant to stand up to our 60-70mph winds but it did pretty well. So far we are pleased as we didn't want to spend thousands of dollars on a more permanent structure. This kit can be easily moved or dissassembled and for the price we are loving it! Thanks for your sweet comments! Have a Merry Christmas!

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  2. Sonia, thank you so much! You're such a good daughter. My mom doesn't live with me, but I take her plants each week, and she has a beautiful amaryllis blooming at her senior apartment right now. She's loving it. Thank you again for the link. Hugs!

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  3. It's sweet that you and your mom garden together, my favourite it lots of paperwhites scenting the cool air! I just read that too, gardeners live longer! Wishing you a very merry Christmas.

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