December Bloom Day

 

Streptocarpus '7007'

It's the fifteenth of the month again, when we post what is blooming in our gardens and link to Carol Michel's blog May Dreams Garden. December isn't offering any blooms in my outdoor garden, but there are a few in my indoor gardens (which are spread out through my house). The Streptocarpus '7007' above is the best-looking specimen of several I've reproduced by cuttings from one I bought years ago. My other variety of Streptocarpus below is 'Wow' offering just one bloom so far.

 

Streptocarpus 'Wow'

The orchids in the master bath continue to bloom, as well as the African violet (Saintpaulia hybrid). Another orchid that had gone into decline is sporting a new blooming spike--I don't know if this is an indication of its dying swan song or if it's going to come back stronger.  As a devoted gardener, I shall hope!

Orchids blooming in the master bath.

Orchid with flowering spike developing.

 

My indoor collection has expanded over the years with more tender succulents. Among them the Moses-in-the-cradle or Purple Heart (Tradescantia pallida) is the only one blooming.

 

 

Succulents in my foyer.

Moses-in-the-cradle (Tradescantia pallida)

My Thanksgiving cactus has finished blooming, but has a few more buds developing, so it will probably have another flush of bloom in a week or two. Since I learned from Carol that mine is a Thanksgiving cactus and not a Christmas cactus, I too am on the lookout for a real Christmas cactus specimen.

These African violets are from a set of 'Optimara' hybrids I've had for over forty years. I used to have six different colors but with time, only two varieties have survived. It's hard to keep these healthy, as they are very susceptible to spider mites as well as mealy bug (the plague of my outdoor garden!).

I routinely spray these and other houseplants with insecticidal soap, but it seems that no matter how much I spray, some insects survive and start to multiply right after.

 

Vintage African violet 'Optimara' hybrids.

Not exactly blooms, but this is a view of the balcony overlooking my two-story foyer. The south-facing light here is so favorable, I overwinter some plants along with some exotic tropicals that stay here year-round. The two large-leaved small trees are young mamey seedlings (Pouteria sapote) grown from seeds that a friend sent me. There's a saying in Cuba that a Cuban will walk a mile for a mamey, and I miss this delicious fruit more than anything else I left behind sixty-some years ago. It tickles my fancy to try to grow these small trees even if I know they are not likely to ever bloom or produce fruit.

Plants on the balcony overlooking the two-story foyer.

My Bearss lime, on the other hand, is setting a lot of fruit right now--it has been faithfully producing about a dozen limes or more every year for the past ten years or so. I recently acquired a Meyer lemon tree, but I expect it will take a few years to start producing fruit.

Bearss lime setting fruit.

There is no sign outdoors of any of the snowdrops or other bulbs I planted this fall--wait a minute, it is still technically fall until the solstice on Dec. 22!  But that's about it for December. I wonder what the New Year will bring?

Garden Bloggers' January Bloom Day

 

Orchids in my bath.

For my first post for the Garden Blogger's Bloom Day (a day late) I'm starting with my indoor garden, where I have a couple of orchids in bloom in my bath. The dark pink is a Miltonidia, a hybrid of Miltonia with Oncidium, I believe. This was the first orchid I ever bought many years ago--it was on sale at a local garden center and looked almost dead, but the orchid expert there assured me it would revive if soaked in water for a few hours, which it did. It has bloomed regularly since then.

The other orchid in the bath with fading blooms and a new flowering spike coming up, I bought at a road-side stand during a trip to Florida, and appears to be a Brassia hybrid, maybe Brassidia? It too flowers regularly for me every year during this time. This season it produced three flowering spikes.

 

Phalaenopsis hybrid

Moving along downstairs to the family room is another orchid, a Phalaenopsis hybrid one of my sisters gave me a few years back, that has re-bloomed reliably. I have another five or six florists' orchids around that haven't bloomed in several years, but hope springs eternal in a gardener's heart, so I won't throw them out just yet.

 

Pink Anthurium

Near the Phalaenopsis is this pink Anthurium, also a gift from my sisters. The African violet below is one of two Optimara varieties I've grown for nearly forty years; I've kept them going by taking leaf cuttings regularly.

 

Optimara African violet (Saintpaulia hybrids)

 

The plant below is the exotic Gardenia Tree (Tabernaemontana divaricata) which I've been growing for about seven years now, and blooms during winter. The flowers have a marvelous scent for the first six hours after opening, and gradually lose their fragrance. My tree is about three feet high now, and I'm wondering just how much larger it might get--I may have to give it away to someone with a greenhouse when it reaches a size I can't accommodate.

Gardenia tree (Tabernaemontana divaricata)

The only thing blooming outdoors in my USDA Zone 6b garden is a native witchhazel tree (Hamamelis virginiana), and some buds are appearing on a Japanese Andromeda (Pieris japonica).

 

Witchhazel blossoms.

Japanese Andromeda cultivar in bud.

There is one more blossom to account for, but this one is the fruit of my artistic endeavors--a flame azalea watercolor that I finally finished. As I was painting this, it was exciting to I learn that the eastern Tiger Swallowtail butterfly is one of the few insects that can pollinate these native azaleas in the wild.

 

Flame Azalea and Pollinator.

I photographed the flowers and the butterflies two years ago during a trip to a West Virginia forest.

Starting Off the Year

Overlooking the wetlands trail at Blandy.

 

On the last day of the old year and the first few this year, we had an extraordinarily warm spell with highs in the 70's. Being so unusual for the season, I naturally took the opportunity for an afternoon walk at Blandy, and encountered other folk who were enjoying the wonderful break in the weather.

 

Winterberry.

I parked in the back forty to walk the wetlands trail and encountered this large winterberry with lots of  colorful berries. On the way back I checked on the magnolias and other trees in this back area. The Magnolia veitchii whose seedpods I had admired a couple of years ago had been cut back severely--apparently the old trunk was diseased, so they left only a few shoots at its base to regrow. I guess it will be a few years before it produces any blossoms.

Longleaf pine

I saw a longleaf pine (Pinus palustris) and observed the geometric pattern of its leaf scars on the twigs. Longleaf pine doesn't occur naturally in our area, its distribution is more coastal, but it does survive here in USDA zone 6.

The respite was short-lived, and by the end of the week it was back to more normal winter weather, and being back indoors, where there is no lack of flowers. Here are two of my orchids are blooming in the master bath: a Brassia hybrid (white with maroon) and a Miltassia hybrid (dark pink).

Two orchids blooming in the master bath.

 The African violets (Saintpaulia hybrids) are also flowering, and my Christmas cactus is displaying the last of its blooms--this one had grown so much in the last year I re-potted it recently, and it seems to be happy in its new home.

African violets in bloom.

Christmas cactus blossom.

 

January is the time when gardeners dream and plan what we will grow in the spring. Tons of gardening catalogs arrive in my mailbox and I welcome them and start dreaming of the new plants I'll grow this year. I love to sketch out designs for my garden, to figure how to expand and re-arrange my plants within the existing beds. When a gardener begins to dream, spring can't be far behind.