GreenWise Gardening 2016
"Just living is not enough. One must have sunshine, freedom, and a little flower."
– Hans Christian Andersen
1/12/16:
I've found some lovely new houseplants to brighten up the rooms of my home. One's a Christmas cactus with little white buds that will hopefully open soon (a red-flowering variety I've had for years in the kitchen just finished its bloom cycle). The new plant's on the bedroom window box where it gets indirect morning sunlight. Sitting beside it, in a container that I'll eventually hang from the ceiling, is a maranta. I found this at the Grocery Outlet for only 6.00! My other new purchase is a shooting star hydrangea. From reading up on these plants, I've learned that it might grow better outdoors once winter's over; I'll re-pot it next to my roses eventually. At the moment it lives on the kitchen windowsill to get the most hours of sunlight available in our house. I love the complex shapes of the blooms.
Clicking on the small images below will bring up a full-size version.
Christmas cactus.
Maranta.
Shooting Star.
My research on indoor plants has also benefited those I'd already owned: apparently the spider plant is capable of blooming! I've had it for years, and it grows very slowly, but has never done flowers or "baby" plants, most likely because I rarely fertilized it, it was watered too infrequently, and it's in a spot where there's not enough light (hanging from the living room ceiling but too far from skylights or the window).
I'm also looking through the containers I have sitting empty outside, and thinking about which ones might be best for planting geranium cuttings. The plants outside will bloom in partly shaded areas, so I could find a better place for the spider plant and move geraniums to it's current location.
My outdoor gardening is still on hold for the most part. January's the time that I usually prune the roses, unless some are still blooming. But even the prodigious pink ones look to be done for now. I've been reading up on the best methods, and am starting to cut the branches back whenever I have time and it isn't raining. I think I left them too tall and they grew rather spindly last year, and I hadn't before considered pruning to outward facing buds. I also should tackle the largest fuchsia before it starts to grow up into the trees and get tangled. This will of course startle all the squirrels who love to hang out on the back fence.
