Wordless Wednesday

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Wordless Wednesday

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Distracted

I couldn't think of anything to write about for today, so I thought perhaps I should share some fresh amaryllis photos. I didn't think of this idea until the sun went down last night, and it was too dark to try to get a good photo of my five pots of amaryllis bulbs. Lizard was asleep in the zero-gravity recliner right next to the living room window, and I didn't want to wake him! He flinched lightly when I snapped the above photo, but he was quickly back to sleep, thank heavens.

I had tried a couple of years ago to scale back on the living room greenhouse because the overwhelming collection of Christmas cactus, assorted bulbs, succulents and hoya, as well as veggies and spices I always tried to grow indoors in winter, had become a literal tripping hazard for my sweet husband.

I transplanted all my amaryllis bulbs into two big bowl-shaped pots, and I gave away almost everything else. The bulbs didn't appear to be too happy about their new homes the following year and didn't produce near as many amaryllises. I was about ready to give up on them! I bought a couple of new bulbs on clearance, and I received a couple of new bulbs for Christmas in 2023 and 2024 (thanks Jo!). I don't know if the oldest bulbs and their kids will produce blooms, but I am getting plenty of flowers this year!

I kept two tiny succulents because I loved the containers and two medium pots of succulents I wasn't able to give away. I kept one Christmas cactus pot with multiple colors of blooms and one hoya pot with two different kinds of flowers I planned to give to my mom next time I go to California. She loves the photos I send of the flowers, and she'd never owned either, so I was going to let her adopt my favorites.

We finally planned to go to California after spending Thanksgiving with Lizard's mom last year. A couple of weeks before our big road trip, I realized there was no way Lizard would be able to tolerate the trip. We'd been trying so hard to build his endurance for a long road trip, but Parkinson's is not user friendly. It refuses to be scheduled.

I called my mom and told her I wouldn't be able to come. My brother very recently taught her how to use Zoom, Facetime and Messenger on her smart phone (she'd been afraid to touch it for two years!), so now we can see each other when we talk on the phone, and what a huge difference that makes. I'm very thankful to be able to see my mom each week, even though we can't get together in person.

We didn't get to go to Lizard's mom's for Thanksgiving because we got our first big blizzard of the year two days before the holiday. We went the following week and celebrated Thanksgiving a week late. We spent the time we'd planned to spend with my mom with his mom. I'd planned to pull the amaryllis bowls out of the basement a couple of days after Thanksgiving, but travel Jenga blurred my intentions until nearly Christmas. With the amaryllises back out and five plastic bakery containers of indoor salad greens, the Christmas cactus, the hoya and the succulents, I'm back to two full shelves of plants, the beginning of a whole new jungle...

It's so hard to stay downsized on plants!!!

I thought the newest amaryllis would be the first to bloom because it was the first to get daylight. The Christmas cactus won the race. The hoya bloomed in October; I don't know if it will bloom again before spring. The 2023 amaryllis looks to be next, and one of the clearance bulbs I bought is next in line.

Plenty of amaryllis blooms are forming, and I'm having as much fun as ever trying to guess what color will be next!

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Winter Gardening

I was a little disappointed with my Christmas cacti November through February because I got only a couple of blossoms. Well, they certainly are making up for lost time now!!!

The hoya plants I trimmed last year, because their overpowering blossoms were a bit intoxicating for us, are doing it again. Within about three days, more than 10 umbels appeared, and within a week, the number had doubled. Now they are all opening at the same time, and in the evenings, oh, how sweet but overwhelming. I think I may have to trim off some of the nodes.

Meanwhile, the cuttings I transplanted last year also are doing grand. If they all start flowering at the same time, boy, am I going to be in trouble. I keep hoping for a sunny, warm day, in which I can put the extras out on the driveway with a "Free to Good Home" sign. I promised to bring one to my mom next time I visit because she's never seen one, and she loves easy plants that flower indoors.

From the sale bulbs I bought during the winter and planted in pots indoors, I got five hyacinth stalks and one stalk of mini daffodils. All the other bulbs have green dots of growth, so they will flower at some point, but they may be waiting until I transplant them outside after it gets a bit warmer.

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Wordless Wednesday

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Fumes

Our three hoya plants, two of which Lizard inherited from his father, have done too well! The third hoya was purchased in 2012 as a very tiny plant. We were replacing a similar one Lizard had inherited from his father but which had succumbed to mealy bugs earlier that year. The hoya plants had never blossomed in Lizard's appartment before he met me, and they never bloomed in my apartment after we were married. The one we lost bloomed for the first time in our home, back in 2011, I think, and I was instantly addicted!!!

The year we lost the curly-leaf plant, one of the straight-leaf plants bloomed for the first time, almost as if to console us.

When we moved the two straight-leaf hoyas into the sun with the new curly-leaf plant, they began blooming! Within eighteen months, the new plant began blooming, too. Photographer's paradise!

Up until last weekend, those hoya rope plants were living up to their name. Some of the ropes had grown more than 20 feet! Blossoms explode every six or so months on all three plants. In the last couple of years, perhaps due in part to both of us being home almost all the time, the aroma of the gorgeous flowers has become more than we can tolerate. I had asked Lizard a few times if I could give the plants a haircut. He was agreeable. But I was chicken.

Last weekend, I researched propagation and worked up my courage. I pruned all three plants and set 14 trimmed stems up in vases. One of the branches was 35 feet long!!! If even a portion of the branches root, I will be happy. If they do begin forming roots, I will plant them in pots. If they survive, I plan to give them away to some wonderful friends who have commented how much they love our indoor jungle. If none of the branches survive, I did my best. I didn't just clip them and throw them out. Hopefully, the original plants will continue to flourish, just not quite as overwhelmingly fragrant!

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