Time Will Tell

Oregano plants sometimes come back in the spring if they get enough water throughout the winter. Though the cold outdoor weather turns the once bountiful stems into brown sticks overwintering outdoors usually works better than bringing them in since indoor air is too dry.

I always leave some of the dead stems in place to remind me to water and that there are live roots beneath. New growth comes from the roots but I was excited to find lots of tiny seedlings in its pot; wow, I could have a superabundance of oregano—my husband’s favorite cooking herb! But…were they really oregano? I didn’t want to declare anything to you if I wasn’t positive so I searched internet images of oregano seedlings and unfortunately they don’t match very well. They may be the interloping tiny white wildflower I found in another pot—but why such an abundance in the oregano pot and only one other? Time will tell.

The More You Pick

My grandmother’s garden was full of flowers but our childish eagerness to pick flowers was curbed by strict instructions, “Don’t pick the flowers,” except the pansies. Pansies were different since, “the more you pick them, the more you have,”(This is true of many annuals and biennials, sort of like pre-deadheading; it stops the plant’s process of seed production).

So now that my pansies have begun blooming again, I’m taking my grandmother’s advice and making more pansies. I’ve put the cut ones in her green glass vase along with a sprig of peppermint—a frost survivor.



The sun eventually broke through the thick morning fog. Welcome sun.

Color on the Rise

The Bradford Pear outside our window seems eager to open its buds! I wish I had taken my camera on our weekend excursions! The flowering crabs are in their full soft red violet array. Entire streets are now lined with the young trees!

We even saw forsythia blooming! My husband says, “Now I know it’s spring when the forsythia blooms.” My grandmother used to talk about the lovely bushes with their four point yellow star-shaped flowers but I never saw one outside of garden catalog photos until we moved east. They’re now some of my favorites. Maybe I should have bought the cheery bouquet of yellow-flowering branches; they would have surely brightened this chilly gray day.

Are We There Yet?

The daffodils have bloomed for weeks; the flowering crab trees are covered with diaphanous pale red-violet blossoms—on a recent night I saw some surreal-looking ones with light-wrapped trunks. Today’s the second day with temperatures in the mid-70’s. The birds think it’s spring. Who am I to argue with the birds?

However, yesterday’s happy chatter has turned to nervous twitters. The birds know that the weather isn’t right. We’re under a tornado watch all day. I don’t wish it on anyone else but I don’t want it here either. Please pray.

Distinctive

One of things I’m enjoying about this prayer plant is the unusual way it holds its leaves. In the evening they fold up in a prayer-like position, which is where it gets its name (maybe I’ll remember to photograph it then) but during the day this particular plant opens its leaves into a cascade of sorts, almost like a modern dance pose.


A new leaf has opened with red-violet showing through the green with deep red-violet markings--a richness of color that the others lack. I suppose this plant is the unique, creative one.

Venturing Out

I heard it was nice outside so I ventured out. It is! The birds agree. And look what I found—the first Sweet William blossom of the year!

But what is that creature in the foreground of the picture?! Why garden sculpture of course, a.k.a. silly straw. When I saw packs of silly straws at the grocery, I knew they had the right combination of color, translucency, interesting shapes, and sized to fit my small garden—the price was right too! I’ve not heard of this anywhere else. Now you can try it—remember, you saw it here.

Planting Eden

As an artist I often hear of God being portrayed as the ultimate Artist, the One who created everything. Therefore, since he created us in his image (Genesis 1:27) we too are creative—in one way or another. This morning though, as I continued my rereading of the Old Testament (first in a while), I saw that not only did God create all the plants but he planted the Garden of Eden (Genesis 2:8)! Before he put Adam there to “work it and take care of it” (Genesis 2:15), God was The Gardener who arranged particular plants in particular places. I like that a lot. And since we’re all made in his image, we are all, to one degree or another, gardeners—underdeveloped gardeners maybe but gardeners nonetheless.

I also felt affirmed as a visual artist in reading that God made the trees in the garden “pleasing to the eye” (Genesis 2:9)—even the food trees. Making things beautiful matters.

*Oil Painting Glorious Garden

Party Worthy

A fellow art student fascinated me with the story of the Night Blooming Cereus given to her by a friend who inherited it from her mother. The plant was so valuable her friend said that in case of fire, it would be grabbed to go. It had, I was told, a wonderful short-lived flower with a glorious fragrance.

While looking through some of my old photos for something “new” to paint, I was elated to find a picture of my California aunt’s Night Blooming Cereus.

When I exhibited the resulting painting another artist gifted me with a cutting from her special plant. When her Night Blooming Cereus blooms, she throws a party so her friends can enjoy the fragrance with her!

I’ve been growing the cutting in the same little pot for about twelve years; it hasn’t grown very much though it’s happiest in its current space. More sun and more water seem to suit it well. I’ve been hesitant to repot it since I had heard somewhere along the way that they need to be pot bound in order to bloom; I’m always hopeful. However, I think this year is its time to spread out—and maybe get it some fertilizer.

*Oil Painting Night Blooming Cereus

Reaching

The avocado plant has now lost all of its old leaves and the new branch is reaching for the ceiling—at a slight angle, one of the branches, that is. The second branch, tiny as it is, is still green and may just make it; last time the second branch just turned black and fell off. I read the other day that after a year or two, avocadoes begin branching naturally. Though it’s not been the case with my other avocado, which did respond to pruning, maybe this one will decide that the pass-through window frame is the limit and begin branching—or it might curve. We’ll see.

The sun warmed the morning; I soaked in some vitamin D while I could, but now clouds are already gathering for tomorrow’s rain. I hope the sun returns today; I need it.

In the Pink

The Hawaiian Ti plant has a lovely new leaf. Overall, the dark green leaves have a hard, shiny appearance—nothing spectacular though they do reflect light. But oh those pink edges! The sun and even today’s pale “liquid sunshine” shines through the pink and lights it up. What a creative touch God, the Master Painter, added to this plant!

I’m ready for him to brighten up my edges—I’m still recovering from a nasty cold. But recovering is the operative word—I am rounding the corner!

Birdsong

I’ve finally found a way to identify all the lovely birdsong I hear around my garden; the singers aren’t always visible since they’re often hidden by bushes. A website, birdjam.com has fairly long selections of various bird songs. I found my avian friends by clicking on the picture that is labeled “City Birds”. The song I’ve often written of sounding like a swing screeching as it turns on its bar turns out to be the signature of the tiny black-capped chickadee. The “cheer-up” singer is the American Robin; robins also seem to have a “swing-screeching” call.

To some this may seem fundamental—why would a gardener and general lover of creation not know these things? We had cats while I was growing up. The more stalwart blue jays weren’t thwarted though and occasionally swooped down and pecked the cats’ heads just to make sure they knew who was boss.

Surprising Places

I generally expect new growth to come from the end of a plant’s stem but happily, this prayer plant is sprouting new growth from the base, giving the plant more fullness. It’s also a hopeful sign philosophically in that new growth in life and character can pop up in places you don’t expect. That encourages my heart.

Earlier, as many as eight or ten blue jays congregated on the deciduous tree (mulberry?) beyond the balcony! Amazing! I’m not used to seeing blue jays in flocks; I thought they were all males but I found a neat site:all-birds.com that says both male and female are “blue above with a crest, and a black necklace.” The site also has a place to click to hear the blue jay’s call (very cool), which mimics the hawk’s.

I could surely use some sunshine this gray day but I’ll have to look for it in the Lord’s presence instead of from the sun. Funny, as soon as I wrote that, the sun started showing itself. It is, after all, God’s servant.

Relieved

As Valentine’s Day approaches I’m again reminded of how glad I am to no longer be working in a flower shop! Do you wonder why flower prices are so much higher for Valentine’s Day? Here’s the primary answer, increased overhead. The growers spend many nights in the greenhouses to make sure their roses are perfect, that the electricity doesn’t go out and turn them into rosecicles or that no other business-killing disaster occurs. Such a huge volume of hothouse flowers additionally takes a greater amount of fuel to keep them warm.

Then comes the extra overtime hours paid to employees, though floral industry employees make very little—I started at $3.50 an hour! We would be on our feet all day and into the night for days. One shop always had a line of flower-buying men trailing out the door and into the parking lot. The shop owner always hired a deputy for traffic direction and set up a TV with ski videos to keep the guys occupied while they waited.

Yes, some of it is marketing hype but most florists are local small businesses (though they’re being overwhelmed by the more ordinary supermarket floral departments) and aren’t we always being urged to support such businesses? Valentine’s Day is one of the make-or-break days in the business.

Nevertheless, I’m over celebrating Valentine’s Day. I’ve concluded that it puts unfair pressure on men to spend more money on gifts when they already have Christmas, birthdays, anniversaries and possibly Mother’s Day to keep up with. A friend once remarked regarding Mother’s Day that she’d rather be treated right all year than get a corsage on Mother’s Day.

But if you still want to buy your lady some flowers for Valentine’s Day, the other women I worked with in flower shops and I always agreed that we would prefer a bouquet of mixed flowers over the routine red roses as more creative. But if your lady is a traditionalist you’d better stick with long stem red roses. See what I mean? It’s too demanding.

Slow & Steady

In looking through my indoor garden on this cold gray day to see what I might write about, I found nothing spectacular—tiny new leaves on the crotons and the Hawaiian Ti, the smallest beginnings of hibiscus blooms. Nothing but small, steady growth, which is of course, what gardens do—grow. And that’s good. Most plants are reaching for the sun and need turning to avoid leggy growth.

In fact, if my plants were experiencing rapid growth I’d be overrun. Slow and steady growth can be a very good thing.

A Better Place

In Orchids Simplified, by Henry Jaworski (I find lots of good information at my local library), I found that my phalaenopsis orchid needs more light in order to bloom (I suspected that) and that it benefits from being in an eastern window. The added suggestion that it needs a cool spot this time of year in order to begin blooming can be happily accommodated by moving it to the morning window! It should also get a bit more air circulation there. I like it when things coordinate so easily! Hopefully the strong morning sun won’t overwhelm it since the bottom half of the window is covered with fine black screening material (on the outside).

Oskar Update

Though the flowers are gone, Oskar the amaryllis is still growing strong. Its long, strappy leaves will store up plant food*—chlorophyll to make the bulb strong.

Part of the beauty of growing amaryllis bulbs is that they last for several years. Yesterday when looking back through my garden journal I saw that one year an amaryllis bulb I had had for awhile refused to bloom indoors so I set it and its pot outside as soon as it was warm; one day I was surprised with beautiful red flowers. Don’t give up too soon.

*As my botany instructor emphasized, chlorophyll, which comes from the sun is plant food, not fertilizer; fertilizer is for the soil.

Dreaming in the Sunshine

While sitting in the morning sunshine with my feet propped up I felt almost like I was at the beach—almost. “It’s good for what ails you.” So I began to dream of what this year’s garden could be like. I keep a garden journal in color pencil of my plans, of what worked—and what didn’t. This year’s “have” list is much longer than usual (it also filled a second page) since I was able to overwinter more plants this year. That will help.

This year hydrangea is at the top of my list since I so enjoyed a gift of some cut ones from my friend R’s garden. I favor the in-between red-violet ones. When we lived in a duplex in the older part of the city, I tended a hydrangea bush that grew in the mature landscape. I altered the soil in opposite ways on each side of the bush making one side blue and the other pink with purple in the middle. Our elderly landlady and her friends were scratching their heads, "How did she do that?."

I want to make the outdoor garden more of a place where we can spend time—a lot of time, outdoors. I think it’s important to physical, spiritual and mental health (barring the neighbors’ smoke breaks).

Only Temporary

The recent pruning of the avocado plant has proved to be traumatic since all the remaining leaves have withered and curled up. I feel about like that though I felt immediately better than I was after prayer at church yesterday.

However, at the very top of the plant--on either side of the cut, are two new branches emerging. As W. at church said yesterday this cold, and I would add, the trauma to the avocado plant, are temporary.

Breathing

Outdoor plants benefit from rain washing their leaves of dust and pollen; have you ever noticed how intensely green and clean the “world” looks after a rain? Indoor plants don’t have that benefit so gardeners have to fill in. Houseplants benefit from an occasional washing of their leaves with a warm, wet paper towel (or cloth) since they breathe through their leaves; they also benefit from the humidity. And, anything that’s cleaner is usually brighter as well—that means brighter color and that’s almost always good!

My smaller croton plant pictured here has spread out as it has dropped some leaves; new leaves are coming!

My breathing isn’t so good this week—probably a cold, but I don’t think that a wet paper towel will do it for me. I’m resting and praying for healing—quickly and completely.

Singing in the Sun

The natural area is atwitter this morning with crows, cardinals, blue jays and mockingbirds plus smaller unseen birds. A dog somewhere in the distance joined in as did a really big silver bird. They seem to like the warm sunny morning as much as I do.

Though too small to photograph, I found in the outdoor garden two Sweet William buds! The cherry trees in Washington D.C. are even beginning to blossom it’s so warm! No matter what the groundhogs “say”, spring is here now so I’ll enjoy it now, though winter could return at any time. Generally though, later when spring truly comes, cold weather doesn’t mean that it’s not spring since it’s normal for the temperatures to see-saw.

Starting Small

A mockingbird came to visit my outdoor garden this morning then joined a flock flying around the small trees in the natural area. I heard again the bird call that sounded like the screeching of a swing as it rides its bar; circumstantial evidence would attach the sound to the mockingbirds but I couldn’t be sure. Are any of you birders? What bird makes that sound?

The prayer plant baby has more leaves and one more has spots! Another has the slightest shadow of the spots to come.

The prayer plant gets its name from its habit of folding its leaves upward at night—like praying hands. I don’t mean to force this comparison but it came to mind naturally as I watered this morning; just as these baby prayer plant leaves will become larger and stronger, prayers to God can start small and as you pray more, they’ll likely get stronger and larger as you stay with it and get to know him. You can start where you are*.

*Simple heart-felt prayers such as, “Help me Jesus!” and “Thank you Jesus!” carry a lot of weight in heaven.