A December Peek at Tomatoes and Hyacinths and Things

We've moved into typical Gulf Coast December weather, where there's fog at night and mist in the daytime. He-Who wonders about these things could not decide why we had no tomatoes in the fall.

Sure enough, as soon as night-time temperatures fell, we commenced to see small tomatoes.  Pollen fails in heat. There are tomatoes that set fruit in hot weather but few are indeterminate types, which are necessary for continued growth and fruit set over months, even years.

Tomatoes are sharing space with Thanksgiving Cacti in bloom.

Holiday Cacti are sharing space with Hyacinths. My hyacinth trials using last years' bulbs that were allowed to grow on in their little pots were a success considering that many of them did set buds and bloom again after chill; a failure as far as size.

 They have as great a fragrance as ever despite the small size and sparse blossoms. The bulbs will go into the garden after blooms fade.

Arrowhead vine and Foxtail fern keep company with Chlorophytum and a bromeliad decorated with a begonia flower.

Areca palm culm that I pulled out of the big pot by accident has made another plant. Rooted Persian  Shield with Purple Heart and Purple Jew are crowded in with Begonias and Dark Alternanthera that grows in pots and in the floor at will.

Still outside awaiting a freeze to encourage dormancy are potted Agapanthus.

Inside, I'm waiting for the sun to shine. Maybe I'll make a fruitcake today.

Bloom Day in the Greenhouse

Just a peek at a few blossoms.

Begonias are usually a sure thing for blooms.

Stunning in red, they are pretty in pink, too.

Mistletoe Cactus Rhipsalis has fat buds about to open.

There are white Begonia blooms at lower left, just so you

know I have white, too.  Amaryllis bulbs are slow so this

is as close to a bloom as I have, a fat Benfica bud.

Behind are Kalanchoes just coming into bloom and you 

can see tomatoes in the back ground. I picked 3, ripe.

Tomatoes are still blooming too.

Spider plant entered into the spirit of things with little

white blooms on long, long stems.

Chlorophytum comosum blooms, little spiders on the ends.

First of Pentas cuttings to bloom. Ready for Spring.

 Usually there are blue conehead blooms on Persian Shield in late winter. Only Purple Heart has blooms so far. They are in separate pots but jammed in together willy nilly under a bench for a little shade.

Hyacinths are blooming outside while these just kind of 

took their time. At least the buds were not killed when I 

put them in a refrigerator to chill where there was fruit. 

I dressed the pots with moss as the Swedish do.

Winter is not over. These will be wonderful in bloom.

Join the fun at May Dreams Gardens on Sunday to see what's blooming in gardens everywhere. 

If you haven't a bloom to show, rush out and buy an orchid plant. They are not nearly as difficult as you've been led to believe. The one I bought before Christmas has just shed its last bloom and my older plants have new bloom stalks emerging, one with fat buds the size of grapes. I keep mine in the house in an east-facing window.

End of Year Peek into the Greenhouse

Christmas Cactuses are mostly finished. I deadheaded a few. It is time to think, just think about what seeds to plant and when.

Cuttings of Kalanchoe at bottom left did not bloom in time for Christmas. These are white -- I should have bought a pink or a red last summer to start cuttings for Valentine's Day. On the stool are cuttings of pink Pentas and red and blue Porterweed for next summer. At least one of the Pentas is forming buds now to bloom in the greenhouse until warm weather.

Bromeliads take up a lot of room.

Bromeliads on a tree.

Persian Shield cuttings over behind the Bromeliad tree may bloom before winter is over. They seldom bloom outdoors but I had blossoms last year. Purple Heart tucked in there has some pink bloooms.

It was a struggle but one little greenhouse pest control helper 

made it it from a Shrimp plant leaf to a Ghost plant rosette.

Next year's plans include having 4 tomato plants for the winter instead of one. We ate ripe tomatoes on Christmas Day. We would like to have enough to give some away on Christmas next year.

Another plan is to repot Russelia alone and dump the Graptopetalum which is kind of naked now. Russelia and Graptopetalum made a great show when the Ghost plant was newly rooted. Russelia requires an ocean of water to bloom continually indoors.

In order to make room for  more tomatoes some plants are going to have to move outside permanently. Spider plants have increased to a point of too many indoors. I'll take some of the planks off the end of the shelves where the spider plant sits and underneath to make a sort of tomato cage in the northwest end of the GH.

More tomatoes can sit where there are many spider plants this winter:

 Spider plants are root hardy in the ground here so these may become edging in 2015. I brought in every pot when cool weather came.

Improvised planter with succulents.

It's hard to decide who goes and who stays when things get crowded. I can always give away a few Schlumbergeras. Epiphyllums are taking up a lot of room, too. Pots of Amaryllis that sit around and wait to get going could go in the house. I used to start Hyacinths in the laundry room and keep certain cuttings there, too. 

I may change my habits to accommodate more things to eat. Peppers and eggplants did well in containers before. We can grow cole crops, lettuce, onions and greens outdoors. 

What are your plant plans for 2015?

Ripe Tomatoes in December

Two days ago I was showing off green tomatoes on my Seedscatterer Blog.

December 6, 2014

Today I noticed a different hue.

December 9, 2014. 

And up above where I had not looked carefully before, a ripe tomato!

Definitely its best side!

He-Who-Mows and eats tomatoes

spotted another from the outside.

He-Who is already asking whether I can plant enough next year to share with neighbors and wondering just where I could put them? I am thinking they could climb up behind south shelf and the electrical panel board. 

Some Chlorophytum comosums may have to take their chances outside next year or come live as house plants.   

Outside for Summer, Line Up for Haircuts

Burro Tails and Mistletoe Cactus. I saw these displayed together on Martha Stewart's blog. Of course her burros have 4 foot tails and the Rhipsalis matches that length and there was a Selloum Philodendron.

My mistletoes would be happier in bigger pots and I will oblidge.

 Last year this was a single Tillandsia cyanea, now three. The stem from the bloom of the original plant is just visible in the center. I gave it a tug; it is firmly attached. I like these Viet Nam pots. I put the Cycad seedling in one that matches this one. It is already outside with the Christmas Cactuses.

I brought over one of the pots of Chlorophytum comosum, Asparagus densiflora 'Myersii' and a white Begonia from the Front Garden. I've had this pot for more than 30 years. The patina is real.

 Purple Heart and Persian Shield have almost outgrown their planter. A haircut will do the Setcreasea good, getting those bare stems off. There are more of these in the greenhouse. Sometimes I get carried away with cuttings.

Another candidate for a haircut: Firecracker Fern. This Rusellia also has split ends. Its graptopetalum companion has some leggy stems, too. If there wasn't a water source very near, I would never have brought all these out so far from the house to seek shade. 

I've far too many plants in pots and lots of them are asking for division or haircuts and rooting the trimmings. I am afraid to pick up any pots of Christmas Cactus -- I know they have roots sticking out of their drainage holes. I bumped up a half dozen that were in really tiny pots.

My immediate goal is to get everything out of the greenhouse before the temperatures get really unbearable.   

Putting More Plants into a Small Space

After I moved these pots into the Greenhouse, I saw two Pins with plants in a

container that gave me the idea to put the spider plants that were all around 

and two Foxtail ferns into the begonia pots. The ideas came from Boxwoods

Garden, Atlanta. 

Begonias have shallow roots so the deeper pots had styrofoam pieces in the bottom to fill up space. I pulled out most of the styrofoam to make room for the Foxtail Ferns' fleshy roots. Begonias lifted out easily and tucked back in. All the Spider Babies needed was clipping off and tucking into the soil, except for the one in the above pic. I cut away the plastic pot where the roots had grown through the drain holes and filled the cache pot under it. 

Bromeliad pups are almost as large as the mother plants which are fading.

I think I'll leave the pups in place until spring. 

Ready for Bloom Day with White Begonias

Between rain showers on Bloom Day I might sit on this bench and contemplate the rest of the garden.