January 2025 Bloom Day

 

Miniature orchid Epidendrum polybulbon in bloom

Today is Bloom Day for garden bloggers, hosted by Carol Michel's May Dreams Blog. The temperature outside my Virginia home is about 21 degrees, and my yard is still mostly covered with snow, though the south and western exposures have gradually been melting during the past week. Some ornamental grasses and evergreens are about the only notable things in my garden at the moment.

 

Rhododendron 'Ana Rose Whitney' and Wavy grass (Nassella tenuissima)

The leaves of my Rhododendrons are drooping, which they do when temperatures drop into the 20's. The wind blew down a few of my deer barriers so the deer have been creating havoc devouring the Arborvitae and anything that was accessible--the tracks reveal the activity of all the wild creatures roaming in the yard during these cold days.

Herb's bed with ornamental grasses.

Potted azaleas and evergreens in the front yard.

But, my indoor garden has a few lovely surprises--the miniature orchid purchased last year at the Virginia Orchid Society's show started to develop two flower buds around Christmas, and this morning the first one is opening! The flower is about 1/2" and its pseudobulbs not much larger than that, but I'm so thrilled to have been able to keep it alive and thriving!

Epidendrum polybulbon in flower.

My gardenia tree (Tabernaemontana divaricata) produces flowers several times a year, mostly during winter and spring. I bought it for its heavenly scent, which lasts only for the first six hours when the flower opens. But new flowers open every few days, releasing their wonderful perfume.

The Cattleya orchid on the windowsill has yet to produce any flowers, despite growing well for going on seven or eight years. I've tried everything I can think of to coax some flowers, with no luck.

 

Gardenia tree in flower (Cattleya orchid below it)

 

In the upper balcony of our two-story foyer I have a collection of houseplants, among which are two Mamey trees (Pouteria sapote) sprouted from seeds a friend gave me. I don't expect that they will ever produce fruit, but I'm growing them as specimens for a painting that I hope to do sometime if I can find some fruit for sale next summer.

Mamey is my favorite fruit--there's an old saying that a Cuban will walk a mile for a mamey... I still remember the artistic displays of fruit in the vendors' carts in Havana, and my mother stopping to buy. Mamey season was the best, when the vendors cut the mameyes to display the delicious orange-red flesh with its single shiny black seed!

Mamey trees with other houseplants.

Episcia flowers

 Downstairs, my collection of houseplants threatens to take over the foyer, but I love the illusion of an indoor tropical forest! It needs a good bit of housekeeping--the leaf drop and insects are hard to deal with, it's a constant battle.

 

The foyer

 

The Bearss lime tree is still producing some blooms, but it's now mostly setting fruit. I've grown this tree for over twenty years, and wonder when it will finally get too old to bear fruit. Last spring I bought another Bearss lime to replace it when the time comes.The smaller tree is right next to the biggie.

Bearss lime tree.

Fruit on Bearss lime tree

 

Here's a Kalanchoe that managed to rebloom, and more houseplants.

Kalanchoe flower.

Assortment of houseplants.

That's about it for this January Bloom Day, thanks for visiting!

Gardener's Bloom Day, January 2024

Dried Hydrangea blossoms with snow

 

It's Gardener's Bloom Day once again, sponsored by Carol Michel's Blog "May Dreams Garden." What a lovely surprise to wake up to see about an inch of snow on the ground this morning! It's been two years since we had any significant snow here in my USDA Zone 6b garden. I believe we're supposed to get another 1-3 inches tomorrow, let's hope. I love having a bit of snow cover at this time of the year, it seems fitting and proper.

 

Princess holly, lavender and barberry shrubs.

It was about 23 degrees outside when I took these shots with my phone--why won't these phones work when you are using gloves? My hand was an icicle by the time I got back inside!

 

My cut-leaf Japanese maple 'Viridium'

Muhly grass with dried perennials.

The Little Indians bed.

The west bed with sedge and grasses.

I love the way some plants look when they're dusted with a bit of snow, but there are definitely no blooms here to be seen, unless you consider these "snow blossoms." Indoors, however, I always have a few flowers to console myself with. My collection of indoor plants is a weird mix of exotics and very eclectic, so here we are.

My Gardenia Tree (Tabernaemontana divaricata 'Flore Pleno') likes to bloom at this time of the year--I suspect this may be its blooming season in its native habitat in southeast Asia. The flowers have the most marvelous perfume for the first 6-8 hours after opening--after that the perfume fades.

 

Gardenia tree (Tabernaemontana divaricata)

 

My home-grown orchids continue to bloom: the oddly colored hybrid I bought at a roadside stand in Florida is probably a hybrid of Oncidium and another species. I brought it into the master bath after the flowers opened to enjoy its blossoms. The other orchids have been blooming for a couple of months now. The plant stand in the family room below is where most of my orchids live--as you can see I have collected quite a few over the years, mostly as presents, and a few from my botanical art classes. My students love to paint orchids, even though they're really difficult flowers to render.

 

Mystery orchid in the master bath.

Miltassia orchid flower spike.

Phalaenopsis on plant stand in family room.

Here are a few other blossoms: an Anthurium one of my sisters gave me, and a Brazilian begonia. I bought the latter because it was touted to have perfume, and I'm a sucker for perfumed flowers, but it has disappointed. This specimen, at least, has no scent that I can detect, but likes to bloom during the winter, which few begonias do.

Pink Anthurium

Brazilian begonia.

 

Someone gave me a waxed Amaryllis for Christmas but the downstairs of my house is so chilly it's taking its time to open. I thought it would be interesting to document the process of the buds opening in a painting, so that's what this last photo is about.

 

Waxed Amaryllis and painting.

I'm saving the center of the painting for the fully open flower, which will probably happen later this week. I'd love to save the bulb to grow, but have no idea if these bulbs will survive if potted once the blooms have faded. I have about four pots full of red Amaryllis bulbs that re-bloom every spring, but I don't know if these waxed ones will grow if freed from their wax covering. Have any other gardeners reading this tried it? If so, I'd appreciate any advice!

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.