Greenhouse Filled by Bloom Day, Few Blossoms

Everything that summered outdoors in back inside. Really.

Tillandsia cyanea. These are bracts. The little flowers are bright blue when they appear.

 

Pentas 

 

Cyclamen was a gift last spring. 

It rebloomed after a summer rest.

 

 

Wax Begonias will bloom all winter.

The dark foliage is Alternanthera.

 

Is this Gusmania or Bilbergia? I can never remember. Does it matter?

Happy Bloom Day mid-autumn. Join other Bloom Day blogs at May Dreams Gardens 

to see what is blooming in other locations around the world.

 

Pink Quill

Pink Quill has not only a pink quill but a blue blossom.

I was so excited when the 3 pups from Tillandsia cyanea that I left in a single pot each had a Pink Quill bract. Something (probably a squirrel, perhaps a falling limb) broke one. Today I discovered a blue bloom.

The second pink quill does not yet have a bloom, just color.

The blue blooms are not long-lived but the pink quill will 

persist for weeks, blooming the occasional blue flower.

Once the quill bract dies, the plant will grow pups and die.

Tillandsia cyanea is one of my fav Bromeliads.

Peek into the Greenhouse at Mostly White Flowers

White flowers in the greenhouse, as close to thoughts of snow as I care to go. When I ordered Hyacinths, this year's choices are white and pink. I gave away most of the pink in single pots, a few are left. 

White hyacinths in the broken pot container with Graptopetalum.

To the right as you come in the door, Single pots of Hyacinths

have mostly cleared, White Pearl Hyacinths in pots of 4

remain. There's no particular reason that Burro's Tail Sedums

hand out with them except maybe for the light.

White Kalanchoes are blooming at left. I am not happy about 

their tall lanky look. Young cuttings in a pot look much better so 

plans for the summer are shorter cuttings later in the season.

Five White Pearl in a bonsai container with 

Sedum acre. One has a double bloom forming.

View from a stool where I stand to water plants on high shelves.

To the left as you come in the door are mostly bromeliads and other exotics.

Top shelf includes Alternanthera cuttings in both water and

soil, a couple of Begonias and the nearest of the Epiphyllums.

Pink Pearl at top of Broken Container Garden. 

Pots of White Pearl. 

Next year's plan is for Hyacinths in Purple shades. Claus Dalby featured Woodstock Hyacinths in his blog today. I hope I remember when it is time to order bulbs in late summer.

It's wonderful to have a greenhouse. I used to grow Hyacinths in the barely heated laundry room, kept the Epiphyllums there with rooted cuttings through the winter. I trundled early spring seeds in and out of the tool shed on an old kitchen trolley that I still use in the greenhouse. I'm growing orchids in an east window indoors -- one has buds . An Amaryllis hanging out with the orchids has two fat buds.

Tip for Greenhouse growers: I mentioned before that I use two small inexpensive electric heaters in a 10 x 12' greenhouse set on Low. I got the bright idea that setting five one-gallon milk jugs filled with water about 30 inches in front of the heaters might help mediate the heat process. I keep 10 gallons of water in there for hand watering and rarely use a hose. I can't say if it is my imagination or it really works, but I think the temperatures are staying up better since I started the water jugs idea.

Tonight is predicted 23ºF for the second time this year. 

Flaunting my Flowers at Tootsie Time.

Babyland

I can't help myself. Every stem with leaves, every seed, every bulb needs sticking in some soil.

The need to plant cuttings is why I have Kalanchoes lined up on a board outside the greenhouse and three old plants with tender foliage crying out to be used in a similar way.  If I can coax them to bloom just before Christmas I can find homes for them.

Schlumbergeras and their kin the Easter Cactus have rooted themselves into dozens.

Bromeliads have a curious way of reproducing by making offsets after they bloom. The ones on the left have tiny insignificant blue blossoms in the centers. New plants are forming around them. The one on the right was in bloom when I bought it. It has all but died off and new plants are surrounding the old one. I didn't make a new photo of the tillandsia in the greenhouse that has new plants forming in the center of the plant instead of around the edges. I think they can all stay in one pot after I repot.

 

Every little bean that fell off my Burro's Tail made a new plant.

I have a plan for these, really. Martha Stewart's greenhouse has a display with Burro's Tail and Mistletoe Cactus which is another plant that I just happen to have divided....

 

I could not resist tucking a couple of seeds from a Gerbera Daisy into a yoghurt cup. These can go to live in the garden when they reach some size. It has been a good year for growing Gerberas, though they've been shy to bloom, the bigger ones.

 

Little Plants are  like kittens. finding homes is not easy. I am to a point that I rarely go into a garden center any more except to buy potting soil and more pots.

 

On the other hand, I am making lists of fall planted bulbs and will order soon.

 

I did not garden today. It rained all day, slow drizzle mostly, an inch and a half.

 

How Long Do Seeds Last?

I found some seeds in my desk that had no date, from Janie in Texas. There was a small packet of red Hollyhock seeds and loose in the padded envelope were seeds about a half inch across, round, flat and kind of wrinkled. My first guess is Orchid Tree. I planted them in a tray, 3 to a cell since they are not exactly 'fresh' but being large seeds, probably will sprout. I set the tray under the mist so they'll stay damp enough to sprout in the heat, obviously tropical.

Come on in the greenhouse for your weekly peek.

Tomato seedlings.

3 Camellia seedlings.

I found seeds on a Gerbera and planted them

in a yoghurt cup. Year of the Gerbera, Yay!

Watch for little fat seeds, many are not viable.

White begonias look so cool. They haven't found a home. Yet.

 

 

Pink Begonias beside stone steps to secret path.

 

 

Bromeliads moved out to the rough steps to summer with Begonias planted along the path.