Sunday, February 21, 2010

Green Thumb Sunday - February 21, 2010

The scene outside my kitchen window today.


Inside, though... on my kitchen windowsill,
you'll find a new resident!

A miniature African violet.

Too cute to leave in the grocery store!

The "Christmas Cactii" are still blooming - in fact, now it's the pink's turn to shine.


The hyacinths have been moved to the living room.
#1 is now #3... and definitely reaching the end of it's season.

But wait! Do you see another new household resident?

This was purchased for a friend,
but it turned out that I got to keep it.

(reluctantly? ha!)

The kalanchoe has begun to bloom.

And a lily bulb has outdone itself in the Valentine Bouquet!

"A flower's appeal is in its contradictions - so delicate in form yet strong in fragrance, so small in size yet big in beauty, so short in life yet long on effect
." ~Adabella Radici

14 comments:

MrBrownThumb said...

Got a nice collection of blooms there, Shady! I have resisted the urge to get an African Violet all winter.

Glad to see some people can't.

Shady Gardener said...

Hi Mr. Brown Thumb. I can resist others, but I couldn't resist this mini! ;-) Are you receiving snow today??

Rosemary said...

Yuck on the view out the window way too much white but oh my what a delight inside.

Catherine@AGardenerinProgress said...

I can't believe those Christmas cacti? I must be doing something very wrong with mine. I love the light pink color of the one in front.
I love your lily! I just planted some a few days ago and the squirrels have already dug up most of them :(

Rebecca @ In The Garden said...

Lovely indoor blooms Shady! :)

MrBrownThumb said...

Hi Shady,

Yeah we're getting a dusting of it as I type.

joco said...

Good morning Shady,
Lovely scene.
You have got snow, haven't you?
And lots of it.
Guess what? I woke up to a white layer as well.
I'm going to emigrate. Somewhere warm.
Those 'petite' saintpaulias are so sweet.
Difficult to keep though. Let's hope you have the touch.

Shady Gardener said...

Hi Jo, It is lovely out there... Going somewhere warm? Indoors?? ;-)
Re: the 'petite' sp, I hope have the touch! ;-) Have a great day!

Johnny Nutcase said...

pretty snow, and great flowers! you've got a lot of beautiful blooms, nice photos of 'em!

Noelle Johnson said...

How wonderful to have so much color indoors while the outdoors is stormy and white :^) I love your newest addition - African Violets are some of my favorite plants.

Shady Gardener said...

Thanks Johnny - a compliment coming from you. :-)

Noelle, Thank you for your visit, today, too. :-) The snow has quieted and the day is now clear and beautiful. (And the birds are acting ravenous!)

Northern Beauty Seeker said...

Thank goodness for blooming houseplants! Your Christmas cactus is gorgeous :)

(And the scene outside is very pretty)

Anonymous said...

Hi Shady~~ Your plants are delightful. I bet the lily fragrances your whole house.

It's funny as I was working in the garden this afternoon, it occurred to me that I neglected to mention the age of my garden. We must have been on the same wavelength. It is 12 years old. It's small, enclosed, I live in Zone 8 with mild temps, tons of nurseries within close reach... You get the idea. Everything is working in my favor. Ironically the garden takes a lot less time to tend now that it has matured but believe me there were some seriously sore muscles in the early years. Thank you for asking. I'm thinking I'll need to blog a bit more on my garden's history. It would be really easy for newbie gardeners to compare theirs to mine and get discouraged. I would hate that. There is no substitute for time. Unless you're Bill Gates or God. :)

Shady Gardener said...

Hello Garden Ms. S, Thanks for stopping... yep that Christmas cacti is loaded!

Grace, Thanks for leaving the comment with the helpful info. Yes, I believe posting this information would be an encouragement, especially (as you say) to newbie gardeners. I like to think that we are actually God's gardeners... helping to make this world more like it's supposed to look! :-)