Today In and Out of the Greenhouse

There at bottom right, see that tray of fine foliage? Sweet Williams.

Twenty-three Sweet Williams planted out after I brought in a wheel-

barrow load of compost. Oh! I forgot to make a picture of the compost in

the old galvanized cattle trough, a real oddity.

 

One the plants were in and watered, I hauled pine straw to cover the bed.

The little Wms. are tucked under pine straw since I made the pic.

We're expecting some freezing weather Tuesday night.

 

Back inside, some random views:

 

The final layout with the shelving on the left at right angles to

the north wall shelf.

Every picture has at least one bromeliad.

This one tops the sphere of Schlumbergera.

Up close.

A big Noregelia. I started out with one.

Now there are six and the mother plant is dead.

Tomatoes? In January?

More Noregelias and some Brugmansia cuttings.

Christmas cactus babies up close. I need to take more cuttings.

Spinach and Lettuce

Carrots and more Spinach

Growing.

Need to thin.

Benfica's second bloom. The old bloom stalk is just visible.

 

Next year I plan to have 3 Amaryllis plants, all alike.

Haven't decided on the cultivar yet. Will be a single.

Will not be scarlet nor persimmon color.

 

Maybe Appleblossom, an old but favorite Hippeastrum.

Maybe white and white hyacinths. Or Benfica again.

 

I'm thinking of Christmas when we've not reached Spring yet.

I should be planting seeds.

 

 

 

 

 

A Last Look in the Greenhouse, 2012

This will be the last peek into the greenhouse for 2012. Christmas flowers turned out differently than I had envisioned.

'Nymph' Amaryllis still has not bloomed, so it moved into the house to see if consistently warmer temps will encourage it. It has a second fat bud trying to catch the tardy one. 'Benfica' which bloomed so magnificently is fading as a second scape rushes to fill in.

Bird of Paradise foliage and fern underplanted gives the

tropical look that I love. Schlumbergera on the back wall

are fading fast. Last to bloom was a peach color, which

we'll see in a moment.

Freezing temps last night and predicted for

tonight sent my seedling veggies inside.

Spinach, carrots and lettuces.

 

Sweet William seedlings will go outside soon. The awkward

cuttings are Brugmansias and behind them, small

cuttings of Gardenias for a hedge when summer

arrives. They grow fast once planted out.

Under the bench is a huge Epiphyllum oxypetalum

peeking out. They have to be tucked somewhere

for winter protection and don't seem to mind where.

Graptophyllum and Rusellia make good companions.

The Firecracker Fern has bloomed since I brought it in.

Pentas cuttings and more Epiphyllums are behind.

 

Pineapple Sage adds more red blooms. Red is

the January color in here until hyacinths

bloom in blue and peach.

If you look closely you can see a green tomato.

Container vegetables are new this winter in

the greenhouse.

 

The last Christmas Cactus to bloom and buds

remain. We had blossoms in pink, scarlet,

white, yellow and peach.

 

I bought this Staghorn in a tiny pot last January.

More red: a Begonia that seeded itself into the floor last fall. I dug it

and planted in a pot. Surrounded by Bromeliads, it seems happy.

Viola seedlings I potted up seem happy, too in a turquoise strawberry pot.

 

I had hope for at least green leaves for Christmas

if not blooming hyacinths. They finally have

green tips. My new Tillandsia arches above.

 

A last look at the seedling Begonia and some Bromeliads.

 

 

I want to have a seating area and a tea table and more accoutrements to make my greenhouse look like those on Pinterest that are so pretty and interesting. Somehow bits of cuttings and little seedlings and emerging bulbs just take up all the room.

 

The cat demands his space and the dog really needs room to turn around to leave rather than backing out like she did today when seedling containers temporarily blocked the path. Nights will be above freezing after tonight and we can clear the path. When heaters are not needed at night, I can move them out of the way as well.

 

Tonight's low is predicted 32 degrees F. The next few nights will be above freezing. On freezing nights I have 2 electric heaters set on low.

 

 

Happy New Year from the Greenhouse.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Runners-Up in the Bloom Day Contest

It's hard to leave off some of April's Blooms when writing a post for Bloom Day. So many pretties, so little time for readers to go down the entire list before rushing on to the next glorious photos on another blog. I tried to show some of the more uncommon plants in my garden on the fifteenth while passing over some beauties. "I'll give you a whole post of your own later," I promised some while reminding the roses that they get shown off all the time.

One of two kinds of Larkspur, show with a poppy.

This one is more double, blossoms reminiscent of delphinium.

Single Larkspur with little bunny heads in the blossom if you look carefully.

TAMU calls this one Consolida ambigua 'Bunny Bloom'

Laura Bush Petunias and Sedum acre

Pentas cuttings are just getting started.

A few of last year's have new growth.

Verbena on a Stick and the first Corn Poppy.

Gerbera. Note the hole in the leaf; hail did that.

Poppies failed to make the cut because most of the petals have fallen,

leaving lots of decorative seed pods.

Sweet William seedling.

First blossom on White Dawn rose climbing on a rough cedar post.

My Original Bloom Day post is here: Sparkleberry and White Shrimp .