trying not to kill the beautiful things
Each year, this is when it begins.
Slowly but surely, the spring bulbs reach for the sun.
This year, in addition to the Reticulated Iris and the very beginnings of hyacinth buds, I also have cream-colored crocuses.
By the next Bloom Day, the daffodils and hyacinths will be in full force… but we mustn’t rush things.
Thanks as always to Carol Michel for hosting Garden Bloggers’ Bloom Day on the 15th of each month! As Elizabeth Lawrence said, “We can have flowers nearly every month of the year.”
These dwarf reticulated irises were an impulse buy from a big box store back in the fall of 2016, I believe. Ever since, they’ve been the first pop of color in the Early Spring Border in February or March.
Granted, they don’t deal as well with the March and April snows as their later-blooming neighbors — muscari, hyacinth, daffodils, brunnera — but I welcome their early flash of color every spring, even if it’s brief.
Mid-February is the season for snowstorms here in Zone 6 Northwest Ohio. I’m grateful to have my stalwart kalanchoes in bloom indoors.
The purple shamrock is also in bloom!
Also, even though we were quarantined for COVID exposure and had to get our groceries delivered to our home, my husband still managed to sneak a grocery-store Valentine’s Day bouquet onto the list without me knowing.
Thanks as always to Carol Michel for hosting Garden Bloggers’ Bloom Day on the 15th of each month! As Elizabeth Lawrence said, “We can have flowers nearly every month of the year.”
It’s been a mild winter so far in Northwest Ohio (Zone 6). Even so, the only blooms in sight are indoors: an African violet and two colors of kalanchoe.
I’m glad to have a few spots of color during the winter! As always, thanks to Carol Michel for hosting Garden Bloggers Bloom Day on the 15th of each month.
There’s not much bloom action happening outside right now in my Zone 6 garden in northwest Ohio; all the color is indoors.
Above: I received this African violet as a birthday gift from a co-worker at my previous job, some 15 years ago now. Since then, I’ve started a second plant from it… or is this the second plant?
Below: I only recently learned that the correct pronunciation of this plant’s name is not, in fact, kuh-LAN-cho — it’s kal-uhn-KO-ee. However you pronounce it, I have several kalanchoes that bloom in different colors, descended from cuttings from a former co-worker at my current employer about five or six years back.
This purple shamrock was a gift from a coworker who still works with me (hi, N! *waves*), also about five or six years ago. Even though it’s not currently in bloom, it still adds a welcome dash of color to my home.
I promise, not all of my houseplants were gifts from co-workers… just the more colorful ones, I guess.
Thanks as always to Carol Michel for hosting Garden Bloggers’ Bloom Day on the 15th of each month! As Elizabeth Lawrence said, “We can have flowers nearly every month of the year.”