As the Garden Grows

Some shots of my Amaryllis in bloom

Tricia — Mon, 05 Jan 2009 00:35:43 +0000

Since I was telling you how I rescued my three Amaryllis from the basement in my last post I figured that it might be worthwhile posting some photos of the Amaryllis that I grow. I have no idea what kind I have, all I know is that I have two types. Two that I purchased as bulbs and grew on my own and one that I inherited from my parents. Unfortunately I don’t have any photos of my parents Amaryllis in bloom. If it blooms this year I must take a photo of it.

Here’s a close up of one of my Amaryllis blooms:

And for those that don’t grow Amaryllis, here’s a shot taken from a distance, just to show you how large the blooms are!

You can see one of my orchids blooming behind the Amaryllis just to the right. Orchid blooms are about two inches in diameter or perhaps a little smaller … so you can imagine just how big those Amaryllis blooms are!

Excuse the tacky curtains in the background! These pictures were taken in 2004 and those were the kitchen curtains that came with the house. They’ve since been replaced with cream white curtains.

The Amaryllis plants are starting to green up. You might remember that I said in my last post that when we brought them up from the basement they had new leaves on them, but that they were a pale green. Now that they’ve had a couple days of sunlight they are becoming greener. In a week or so I’ll start giving them a very weak dose of fertilizer and hope for blooms in two or three months.

Orchid blooms for the new year

Tricia — Sat, 03 Jan 2009 04:21:02 +0000

Happy New Year! I hope that everyone is looking forward to 2009.

I’m looking forward to a fresh start. I didn’t make any resolutions other than to hopefully be healthier this year and well … I just have to hope for my Crohn’s to settle for that to happen.

I don’t really have any gardening news … not when it’s freezing cold here and the garden beds are covered in at least a few inches of snow.

My indoor plants are doing well though. One of my Orchids is blooming for the first time in about three years. It has one bloom so far and several other buds, so it looks like I’ll have Orchids blooming all month. The bloom is white.. Somehow I don’t remember it being white in the past. Odd! My other Orchid plant has developed a stem and has a few buds on it, so it will be blooming shortly as well.

I rescued my three Amaryllis from the basement yesterday. I’d forgotten about them! I brought them inside in early November when it started to get cold. I usually keep them outside on the enclosed from porch during the summer. It faces north so they don’t get a lot of bright light, but it’s enough to power them up for winter blooms.

They had survived their stay in the dark basement and were starting to sprout pale green leaves. Now they are on the kitchen table (near south facing window) and hopefully they’ll produce some blooms in February or March.

I love Amaryllis blooms. It’s a pity they only last about a week or so. Hopefully my three plants will stagger their blooms a bit and I’ll get a month of blooms.

How are your gardens and houseplants doing? Any blooms? Any new plans for the garden this year?

Wishing you a Happy New year, health and happiness (and a green thumb) in 2009! Thank you for being loyal readers!

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays!

Tricia — Thu, 25 Dec 2008 05:02:45 +0000

I hope that your Christmas and Holiday season is as enjoyable as this cats apparently was! He sure looks tuckered out, perhaps it was all the turkey he ate?

Are you getting together with friends or family for the holidays? Cooking a big meal or going to a relatives to enjoy a BIG meal?

Have a great day! Merry Christmas!

A fishing we will go

Tricia — Wed, 24 Dec 2008 07:46:45 +0000

Wordless Wednesday

I’m not sure what kind of birds these are, maybe Cormorants, but they sure seem intent on diving into that one area of water. There must be a school of fish in that area. Yummy!

Getting slammed by snow storm after snow storm

Tricia — Sun, 21 Dec 2008 22:18:16 +0000

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We’re getting slammed with snow here in Toronto this weekend. Friday we got about 15 cm of snow and today … well I don’t know how much we’ve had so far, it seems a little less than Friday but it’s not over yet. We spent yesterday just relaxing as we knew we’d be outside shoveling most of the day today. We have more snow coming on Tuesday. At least we get a days break between storms.

It’s a good workout, but it’s also freezing outside. I can think of other ways to burn calories that are much more fun!

On that note my flower of the week is the Maltese Cross. It’s a lovely perennial that grows to about four feet in height and it’s flowers bloom in clusters at the top of it’s stalks. Here’s a cluster of Maltese Cross flowers:

What’s your flower or plant of the week?

BTW did you know that it officially became Winter earlier today? Uh huh sigh …

We’re getting new neighbors

Tricia — Tue, 16 Dec 2008 04:21:10 +0000

On January 1st the home next door will have new people living in it. Renters … not sure how I feel about that.

Sofie, my former neighbor (and stalker) and owner of the house, had a stroke last February and she’s now living with her youngest son. The family tried to sell the house in the Fall but it didn’t sell so they decided to rent until the housing market is a little better.

So … come January 1st a lady with two kids and a young boyfriend will be moving in. The kids are 6 and 9 years old or so we’ve heard. We haven’t met the new people, but in talking with our former neighbors son it sounds like the people gave them an “iffy” feeling. I hope they turn out to be ok neighbors.

Our former neighbors on the other side of our house had a kid, but we have a high fence on that side so we only had to deal with the occasional toy thrown into our garden.

The side of the house that the new neighbors will be on has a shorter chain link fence and some of our roses and other plants tend to hang over or creep over to their side of the yard.

I hope that the kids are well behaved and don’t start pulling on my plants or damaging them come Spring and Summer.

In the Spring Chris and I will take a good look at the roses and Rose of Sharon that’s growing on that side of the yard and give them a trim in order to make sure that they aren’t going into the neighbors yard.

If you have neighbors with kids or possibly bad neighbors have they ever gotten into your garden or damaged your plants? Yes I know, some of you will probably have horror stories of wars with neighbors.

I’m just asking since I’m used to having older neighbors around rather than young kids. I also have some poisonous plants in my garden (monkshood, datura etc) and that’s another reason why I hope that the new neighbors kids are good and stay in their own yard.

An icy flower for an icy day

Tricia — Sun, 14 Dec 2008 07:12:13 +0000

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The weather outside is miserable right now. It’s cold and instead of snow there are ice pellets coming down! I think everything will have a coat of ice on it when I get up in the morning. Brrrr.

As I thought about what kind of post I’d do for Green Thumb Sunday the weather outside (the weather that I got to experience first hand while taking our dog out for her last outing of the night) I remembered how pretty my flowers look just after a rain. Then I remembered this lovely picture of an Iceberg rose … now doesn’t the name of the rose kind of fit the weather we’re having too? LOL

So I present to you and Iceberg rose on an ice pellet day. Hey, it works for me …

I’ll add this cool purple Alium as well. It’s supposed to be a spring bloomer, but mine tend to bloom in late June or early July. The iceberg roses will bloom long before the Alium next year.

Are any of you lucky enough to be enjoying flowers due to living in a warmer climate than I? If so, I envy you. I already miss my garden.

Actually .. I do have a few flowers blooming indoors. My Thanksgiving cactus has almost finished it’s blooms and my Christmas Cactus has a few early blooms. Plus … I have a small hibiscus in my kitchen and it’s producing lovely coral flowers for us. So I guess I’m not as deprived as I thought I was.

Autumn in the park

Tricia — Wed, 10 Dec 2008 06:00:21 +0000

Wordless Wednesday

A few weeks ago the park we take our dog to for hikes in the woods looked like this. This was as nice as our fall colors got this year in Toronto.

That’s long gone of course. We’ve had snow a few times, and the leaves have fallen off the trees. Winter is pretty much here.

I’m happy to enjoy the season - as long as I can stay warm!

Summer rose

Tricia — Mon, 08 Dec 2008 04:50:16 +0000

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This is one of my favorite roses. It’s called Breath of Life and it’s a climbing rose.

The plant grows right at the entrance to my garden and when it’s in bloom I can see it’s lovely flowers from my kitchen window, the enclosed back porch and of course as I begin walking out my back door. What a lovely rose to greet me!

It blooms regularly throughout the summer so I almost never see it without roses. In fact this stubborn plant has a perfectly formed dead rose at the tip of one of it’s branches right now … even thought it’s absolutely freezing out! I’m surprised the rose hasn’t fallen off yet.

BTW sorry this post is so late. I’ve been sick all weekend. Sore throat and or swollen gland in my neck, sore ear, stuffy nose, massively bad headache and a grumbley stomach. No, I’m not a happy camper!

A peanut for a chipmunk

Tricia — Wed, 03 Dec 2008 05:02:59 +0000

Wordless Wednesday

Everyone seemed to like last weeks relaxed squirrel picture so much that I figured you’d probably enjoy this photo of a chipmunk being fed a snack.

I didn’t not take this picture, nor is it me in the photo, but I have feed a chipmunk like this in the past. They are fairly timid, but once they get used to you they’ll come up and take peanuts, bread or other snacks right from your hand, or as in this case, right from your mouth.

As the Garden Grows

Some shots of my Amaryllis in bloom

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Orchid blooms for the new year

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Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays!

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A fishing we will go

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Getting slammed by snow storm after snow storm

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We’re getting new neighbors

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An icy flower for an icy day

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Autumn in the park

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Summer rose

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A peanut for a chipmunk

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