Why I Oughta...

We had our large front porch galvanized 'trough' container done by Churchill Garden Design of Downers Grove this week and Elise delivered a nature-inspired, festive arrangement that feels right for our house and our family.  If you look closely, you'll see a variety of evergreens, some dyed eculyptus, pinecones and branches in greens, browns, reds and even white.  What jumps out to me is not just the variety in terms of palate she chose (the analogous greens and browns), but more importantly:  the texture(s).  There's short, fine needles mixed with broader foliage.  Cascading habit/form mixed with upright, rigid shapes.  Arching tips and draping edges.  Harder shapes and structure backgrounded with softer, organic flows.  Have a look below: Here's a link to Churchill Garden Designs Instagram page where she features the porches she's been doing around the suburbs.   And,  here's her post (embedded below) showing our container: ...

About three weeks ago, we planted a pair of large amaryllis bulbs in some terra cotta containers (that we had on hand for this very purpose) and had dreams of Christmas blooms.   The first one (without moss) is a Flamed Amadeus Amaryllis that had good roots, but was showing no growth.  Not even foliage tips.  Now, three weeks (or so) later along with a little bit of water, a lot of light and even some warm conditions (these are on a stone table that sits on top of a heat vent in a full southern-exposure window in our dining room), we're seeing the first bud tips emerge from the bulb.  Below is a look at the Flamed Amadeus Amaryllis just starting to show the first bud tip. Shine Dream Amaryllis is the name of the other bulb we planted.  This one has moss around the top of the soil, but was treated the same (water, light, heat).   This one (below) is showing two flower bud tips coming out of the top of the bulb and is a little big further along....

November is the time when the outdoor garden gets put to bed for the year, but it is also the time when I turn to some indoor (seasonal) gardening.  That usually starts with Amaryllis bulbs - or as we call them around here:  Christmas flowers.   Last month, I posted some photos and details of the $10 Amaryllis bulbs that my local Orange Big Box store was carrying and talked about how their smaller (than what we normally buy) size would work well for a 'multiple' bulb container. My mom has this faux birch cache pot that seemed like a perfect vessel for three smaller Christmas flowers.   I figured I'd fill it up and we can deliver it back to her for the season. At the story, I picked-up and handled dozens of bulbs until I could find three that 'felt good' to me.  That meant that they were firm, green, had *some* roots and the foliage wasn't all strap-y and exposed already.  I've had bad luck with Big Box Amaryllis bulbs before (I've also had duds f...

At the Wannemaker's Annual Christmas Open House, we met the Big Guy (of course), ate some grilled foods from Casey's and...came away with two big amaryllis bulbs.  As is the tradition.  Each of my two youngest kids picked out a bulb that there plant as we try (*fingers crossed*) to get some Christmas flowers.  I previously posted some details of amaryllis bulbs at Home Depot this season .  Last year, I planted two bulbs from Wannemakers:  A Double Dream .  And an Exotic Star .   The Exotic Star bloomed right around the New Year .  But, the Double Dream was a total dud.  It sent up a bud tip in March (yes...March!), but then it withered and died.   In 2023, we planted three .  One of them was a dud - Samba. But, the La Paz went off quickly. With a Rilona Amaryllis coming in right in-between.  Blooming in January .   This year, we are trying two new (to us) bulbs.  Here are the two tags of the bulbs they...

There I was, buying some self-leveling concrete gap filler at the Home Depot big box store when I (of course) found myself wandering into the garden center to see what they had doin' in there.  In addition to all of the Christmas decor they've put up (trees, inflatables, those *REALLY STRONG SMELLING* bags of cinnamon pinecones), they also have a large display of Amaryllis bulbs.  This display seems larger than in previous years where they (iirc) mostly had those 'kits' of bulbs with peat pucks and little plastic pots.   I took a couple of photos showing the bulbs and thought it would be best to go home and try to figure out if any of these were worth buying.  We normally buy sets of these from Wannemakers, but maybe this year we should try some of these slightly smaller Christmas flowers? Here is a photo of the first set: And, here below, is a look at each of the ones in this part of the display: Blossom Peacock Amaryllis: Via Amaryllis Bulb Co :  "Bl...

I figured we had a total dud with one of our Amaryllis bulbs this past Winter.  It never took off.  But, look at what we're seeing right now:  the tip of the flower bud has emerged - see below.  Will it take off?  Or is is this all we'll see this year?  Guessing failure to launch will persist, but...for now, I'll keep it inside and watered.   

The Exotic Star Amaryllis bulb continues to bloom - now all the way until mid-January 2025.  I last posted about the Amaryllis' that we're growing was on January 1 - so a little bit over two weeks ago.  At that time, the first bloom had appeared on the Exotic Star, while the 'Double Dream' Amaryllis was still in dormancy.  Today....same situation.  Here, below, are a couple photos showing the Exotic Dream in bloom with the striped petals and candy-apple-green center. I like the 'dotted line' nature of the stripes.  You can see them in the close-ups below: The Double Dream is stuck - so we're (right now) hitting 50% bloom for the season. 

I put together a pair of evergreen arrangements for my Sisters that include a bunch of foraged materials - including Thuja, Spruce, Boxwood and Yew clippings as well as a little bit of euclalptus and some branches from both Magnolia and Alder trees.  The vases are, of course, thrifted.

Yesterday, I posted the details of the first of our two Christmas Amaryllis bulbs - the Double Dream Amaryllis .  Today, are a few photos and some details of the second one named Exotic Star Amaryllis.  This one is also one of the 'larger', individual bulbs from Wannemaker's vs the ones you find in the 'kits' at big box stores.  History tells me that these *usually* do better than the kit bulbs.   NOTE:  Last year, I had a dud - a Samba Amaryllis never grew a flower stalk .   The Double Dream is named appropriately - as it is a 'double amaryllis' - with two layers of petals in the bloom. The Exotic Star is a 'single amaryllis' with one layer of petals.  This one stuck out - when looking at the boxes on the shelves.  (There are also something called 'Spider Amaryllis'.  I grew a variety named La Paz Amaryllis last season .  They're different, but quite striking.) Longfield Gardens describes the Exotic Star:   "The flo...

As is the custom around here, we planted some Amaryllis bulbs in small containers in the time right around Thanksgiving.  We picked this one up - the Double Dream - at Wannemaker's.  Below is the bulb set in the soil and below that is the plant/bulb tag showing the fully-grown pinkish full bloom of the Double Dream Amaryllis.  

Last year, I made my first few Winter arrangements featuring a mix of foraged materials and some store-bought highlights.  Last year, I leaned heavily on evergreens and ecualyptus with the only pops of color coming from either red Dogwood branches or crabapples that I foraged from parking lot trees. Here's the first one I made last year in a vintage Santa ceramic pot .  And, here's what I called V2 - that was more upright and I put together in a Goodwill thrifted vase .  I used some foraged curly Willow branches to give that one A LOT of height.    I also bleached pinecones for the first time and I liked how those turned out - the sort-of 'stood out' or had more contrast against the green needles.  And, I even started to give them away - here's one I gave to my sister .   With all of the dahlia arrangements that I worked on this Summer, I felt emboldened to go a little bit further with my 2024 Winter (evergreen) arrangements.   Last yea...

It is still Amaryllis season in our house with three different varieties all working on their own (different) schedules in terms of bloom time.  The fastest one - out of the gate - was the La Paz .  It is a Spider Amaryllis and has a different look than the traditional spade-shaped-petals of most Amaryllis that we've grown.  Our La Paz Amaryllis bloomed in mid-December .  And is still putting out blooms today.  Pretty good.  The next one - the feature of this post - is the Rilona Amaryllis.  This is another unique (to me) bulb in that it isn't red and it isn't white.  And it isn't red and white.  It is salmon-colored.  And quite lovely.  Doesn't have the same OOOMPH that a dark red one does, but still a really lovely flower and the color sure brighten ups the dark days around here in January.  Reminds me of the Disneyland Rose . Here's a post showing the three bulbs when we bought them at Wannemakers . Here's a post just about ...

I went to the orange big box store to look for a Winter Rose Pointsettia this weekend and while I didn't find any of those (they had just the traditional pointsettia), I did find a large rack of Hellebores.  They're all white ones that are in quart nursery containers.  They were (originally) listed for $9.98 and now have been marked down to $4.99.  They're an all white-turning-to-light-green flower variety.  See below for the hellebores: I'm wondering to myself....can these be planted in December?  I mean...the ground isn't QUITE frozen yet and they ARE hardy to our zone.  Would they survive?  Or, could I just keep them alive as houseplants until Spring?   A quick search on the Web turns up answers like this : Container-grown hellebores can be used as houseplants. They prefer to be grown in garden soil but will survive indoors. Give them plenty of light during the winter months and indirect light in the summer. This action will mimic their n...

Just a few days ago, I posted photos of the three different Amaryllis bulbs that we're growing this season and showed how the new (to us) Spider variety - La Paz - was way, way, way ahead of the others.  Just a few days later and the La Paz is putting on a full holiday show.    It has three tall, slender (maybe too tall) flower stalks that each have multiple flowers dangling from the top.   See below for the current state: I say 'maybe too tall' because I didn't get around to watering this with an alcohol mix until it was too late, so it shot way up.  I've used a single-prong flower stem support to keep them upright.  As the stalks were growing up, I was able to sort-of 'tuck' them into the support and keep them centered and (hopefully) stop them from flopping over. Here, below, is the Amaryllis support that I use to keep the top-heavy flowers from flopping-over.  It is about 12" tall and I stick it into the soil at the base of the bulb.

Yesterday, I posted a couple of photos of my first winter (evergreen) arrangement that I put together using foraged materials and a vintage Santa planter that we had on hand.  As is wont to happen around here, things took off fast and winter arrangements are my entire personality right now.  I've put together a number of them and have added an even wider array of materials - some foraged and some bought.  Below is one of these V2 winter arrangements. It features crabapple branches (for some red), eucalyptus (from TJ's), some Magnolia leaves and a number of different evergreens - pines, cedars, juniper and firs.  There's also a couple of different branches in this one - curly willow and red (might be dogwood) uprights. I made four of these (all a little bit different) and put them in vases from Goodwill.  This one is a Hoosier Glass 4090 (Green Swirl) that I was drawn to at the store on Ogden Ave.   The other ones are in reds and/or clear vases - all f...

Back in mid-November, we bought three different Amaryllis bulbs and planted them indoors in three identical terracotta containers .  In some years, we get blooms timed right up with Christmas.  In other years, we end up with blooms that arrive in January or later.  Either is great - having blooms early or having them arrive late.  This year, we *may* end up getting a bit of both.    As I mentioned in the intro post , the La Paz (Spider Amaryllis variety) was off to a fast start.  That has continued with (now) three flower stalks that have shot up and the first of which is already opening.  See below for the La Paz Amaryllis: With a couple of weeks until Christmas, I'm thinking we'll have Spider blooms come December 25th. Next up, and a little behind the La Paz, is the Rilona (Galaxy variety) Amaryllis.  This bulb has shot up one bloom stalk (so far), but it is much more compact that the La Paz.   See below for the current state of t...

'Tis the season for indoor Winter gardening.  It wouldn't be the Christmas season around here without growing some Amaryllis flowers from bulbs.  I've worked with the kids for a number of years to plant and grow some Christmas flowers.  Here's a look at last year's Amaryllis bulbs .   We picked three bulbs out at Wannemaker's Holiday Open House in November and planted them up.   The three varieties we selected were new to us:  La Paz - a Spider Amaryllis.     This La Paz is a Spider Amaryllis or 'Cybister'.  This post details how they're different: Over the last decade, Cybister Amaryllis have become increasingly more popular. Originally hybridized in South America, Cybister Amaryllis have narrow, somewhat spidery flower petals that appear more species-like than their big saucer-shaped cousins. La Paz has upper dark coral petals, while the lower petals are greenish-white edged in dark coral with darker midveins and a starburst ...

We're one month past Christmas.  I think that's enough time to pass for me to officially declare that my PaperWhites are a failure.  No blooms at all.  I bought them in early November - a week-plus ahead of when we traditionally buy and start our Amaryllis bulbs.  But...here's the key (I think):  I bought them from the orange big box store .  I planted them as directed:  in gravel.  And watered them in up to the middle of the bulbs.  They responded immediately.  And strongly.  With a thick, dense and vibrant root mat that came off of each of them.  They also shot up new green shoots from the top of the bulbs.   Based on what I've done before (with Amaryllis bulbs) and what was suggested on the Web, I watered them in with a diluted alcohol mixture .  In an attempt to stunt their growth and keep them from 'flopping over' and getting too leggy.   I last checked-in on these in mid-December.  More than ...

In early December, I p icked up a 6" Winter Rose Poinsettia for $9 at the orange big box store and brought it home for the season .  We have - typically - bought a Christmas poinsettia, but when we came across the Winter Rose, I did a quick Web search to learn a little bit about this specific variety. By now - late January - our typical Christmas Poinsettia is usually looking pretty ratty.  Leaf-drop, leggy stems, etc.    The Winter Rose promised a longer shelf life and that's turned out to be true for us - in a big way.  See below for the Winter Rose Poinsettia that is sitting on our kitchen table today: I'd call this plant being in 'full bloom' - but I know it isn't blooming.  Those are leaves, not flower petals. But...still....look at it.  It is thriving.   What's not to love about this pop of color well-past Christmas?  January and February are hard, hard months for growing, so seeing this thing do so well has really affirmed - for m...

The last of the new Amaryllis bulbs is in full bloom this season.  A week ago, I showed the Flamenco Queen flowers on a very tall, slight stalk .  Today I'm posting a photo of the red and white striped Sunshine Nymph in full double bloom.  This is the second-straight season that we've grown the Sunshine Nymph and in both situations it bloomed after Christmas.  Here's last year's post from early January (just about a year ago today) when that version of the Sunshine Nymph was in bloom .    I attempted to keep and force last year's Sunshine Nymph this year , but so far, no stalks or buds.