I don’t expect much Bloom Day color in January when I take a photo from the window, but this time my plans were a total failure.
You an see the dried hydrangea blossoms in back of the roses which have amazingly kept a lot of dried foliage, but this does not count and blooms. Obviously, you’ll say. You don’t expect blossoms in the snow!
Last fall I started pulling these green strands up, thinking they were weeds. Not so. Grape hyacinths bloom and disappear in the spring – only to send up foliage shoot late in the summer. And they spread all over! But certainly no blooms.
The rosemary is doing fine on our southern enclosed porch but the amaryllis bulbs are a bust and I do not know why. They grew in a garden bed last summer, then I cut back the foliage and brought them in, potted them up and put them in a rarely used closet. I thought this was the correct process so that when I brought them out and put them on a windowsill in the fall they would be sending out shoots and then glamorous flowers. Didn’t happen. The bulbs seem healthy, very firm, but no action.
I have never grown a begonia and you can see I have a lot to learn. This grew nicely and I did repot it once, but I think my problem is not studying up on proper pruning. I even have Tovah Martin’s book, The Indestructible Houseplant which does have begonia information. I’ll have to read it more closely.
My asparagus fern does not bloom, but it grows happily in the one plant-available south window.
Now this walking iris was given to me by a good friend in the spring – after it had bloomed. She said that the iris blossom would grow from a stem that was inside these graceful leaves. I planted the clump she gave me and it grew energetically. When it was time to lift it and pot it up so that it would bloom in the early spring the clump had increased substantially. Three pots! Sometimes I think I can see is the beginning of a stem in the center of some of the leaves, but nothing too definite. But surely this is promising. Will I have a bloom on February Bloom Day? Will there be a hint of a bloom? Wish me luck.
I don’t have any blooms right now either, but a few of my african violets are producing buds again, so soon! I do like looking at the dried hydrangea flowers, and hyssop too. I tried to keep a begonia once which looked like yours (I think it was called strawberry begonia) and mine died. Now I have an angelwing begonia which grows very differently and thrives no matter what I do! It seems they’re not even the same kind of plant..
Strangely, strawberry begonia is not a begonia but the angel wing begonias are easiest of the foliage begonias except maybe beefsteak begonia which is rhizomatous…love them all but I couldn’t grow strawberry begonia successfully either.
Julie – Thank you so much for this information. I bought my begonia as a baby in a greenhouse that my Garden Club visited. It looked so sweet, but not anymore. I will look forward to getting myself an angel wing.
Jeane – You and Julie are putting me on the right track. I will look for an angel wing begonia. I think they might have one at the Farmer’s Coop. If not I am sure I can find one when we can all travel around a little more. Thank you for giving me this information.