Rediscovering (& reimagining) the joy of houseplants

Back when I was a student at the Nova Scotia Agricultural College, my room in residence resembled a miniature jungle. At one point, I had over 100 plants in that room, ranging from tiny lithops (living stones) to sprawling English ivy and philodendrons, to colourful African violets. 

Although I don't have quite so many indoor plants these days, I still have quite a few. There has never been a time since I was in my mid-teens that I haven't had houseplants, and I can't imagine ever NOT having them. They are like cats in that respect--they are part of who I am. 

Often when people come to visit, they admire my plants and tell me how they can't grow indoor plants because they have a black thumb. I don't accept that label, though. As with gardening outdoors, anyone can have great indoor plants. You just need to match your home conditions to the correct plants. 

Happily, two new books have been published to help would-be indoor plant gardeners overcome their fear of failure. 

Snow-themed plants for the beginning of FARCH...

 Depending on where you live in North America, yesterday's Groundhog Day prognosticator either saw his shadow or didn't (yeah, I know what I just wrote). I like what one person said, we can either focus on six more weeks of winter, or only six more weeks til spring. No matter how the groundhog called it, we have just entered that everlasting period of winter that I call FARCH, which begins on February 1 and winds up on 31 March, hopefully with some signs of spring unfurling.

To give us all a lift in winter (or to cool off our friends in the Southern Hemisphere, in midsummer as they are), some plants with "Snow" in their names, beginning above with 'Amethysts in Snow' centaurea.

My Gardening Non-Resolutions for 2014

 Resolutions are meant to be broken, aren't they? So it seems, which is why I resolve never to make resolutions, even about something I'm passionate about like gardening. Oh, we have the best of intentions, but then life intervenes, or we forget about our best-laid plans, or other curveballs come into play. So I never declare I absolutely will do thus and so about anything. There are things I do tentatively plan to do, most of which I do every year, but I still won't call them resolutions. Other than to continue to loathe goutweed, because that's a resolution that will never break.

I will, however, plant more seeds this year, especially of my favourite annuals: poppies, sunflowers, nigella and sweet peas. Especially those sweet peas. There is hardly anything more glorious than a bouquet of sweetly scented sweet peas sitting on the table or office desk, and I have the seeds already. I just need to get em in the ground come spring.

Happy New (Knee) Year!

Suddenly, it's 2014. A new year, a new month, an (almost new) season...of winter. In the past three weeks, we have had an amazing number of storms throughout Atlantic Canada, with records amount of freezing rain, snow, subzero temperatures, power outage...some poor souls in New Brunswick are into day 10, I believe, since losing their power, with another storm forecast for tonight and tomorrow. 

There is, however, a pristine beauty to the natural world, although a week plus of ice on trees and shrubs isn't likely doing them a lot of good. 

Is there still a place for garden blogs?

 I'm back, did you miss me? Probably not, if you follow along on Facebook, on Twitter, on Instagram, on Pinterest...or on the somewhat stagnating Bloominganswers. (You'll notice I ignore Google Plus, because that's what I do with it: ignore it).

It's fascinating to see how many types of social media have erupted since I began writing bloomingwriter so many years ago. They've proliferated pretty much like enthusiastic perennials. You know how we say about perennials, 'First year sleep, second year creep, third year leap"? That seems to be how social media options roll, too. Some sort of stumble by the wayside, like StumbleUpon, which was the second thing I joined (and which technically is a discovery engine as opposed to a social media thing), but which I never even look at now.

Suddenly it's Autumn...almost

 It's little more than an hour until Autumn arrives in Nova Scotia (local time for the autumnal equinox, 1744, or 5:44 pm if you only speak in twelve hour clocks). At times in the last couple of weeks, it has certainly felt like autumn, with cooler days and nights, and of course, that annoying loss of after-supper daylight. Today, it's subtropical here, as some sort of a weather front is pushing in with high winds and warm temperatures and supposedly some rain eventually.

If you have been following along over the past few years, you know I encourage people to keep on planting until you can't get a shovel into the ground, and to plant later-blooming shrubs, perennials, and trees. And to deadhead and fertilize your container plantings, to keep them blooming; and to embrace later blooming annuals for refreshing your containers. So I can report lots of colour in my little garden, how about yours?

The Garden Colours of August

 It's late August, somehow--after a slow, cool start to spring and summer, things have become rather hot and dry in the past couple of weeks. I hear people lamenting a lack of colour in their gardens, and I'm not sure why.

Recently, I went to Quebec City to attend the annual Garden Writers Association symposium. While it was far from the best conference I've ever attended--though I saw some friends and made a few new ones, I found the overall group very clique-ey, like high school--, there were some interesting moments, and I got to meet some terrific folks at the trade show, like Angela Treadwell-Palmer of Plants Nouveau. 

Wildflower Wednesday: Rejoicing in Milkweeds

It's been a long time since I did a post for Wildflower Wednesday, and it seemed like a good idea to pop up a post about one of my favourite, and most important, of wildflowers: milkweed. 

Milkweeds belong to the genus Asclepias, in the dogbane family, Apocynaceae. It's related to dogbane (Apocynum),  bluestar (Amsonia), periwinkle or myrtle (Vinca) and hoya, the wax plant with its stunning flowers. Looking at the flowers of milkweed, I can certainly see the relationship to hoya-the flower clusters, with their individual florets, look like they're made of china--just perfect.

'And they were all Yellow..."

I remember there was a time when I thought I didn't like the colour yellow. Maybe it was because of the awful lemon-yellow of painted walls, or harvest gold appliances, of my childhood and youth. I do not wear the colour yellow, but I love my softly yellow walls in my home, and the cheerful colours of so many yellow flowers. I'm still not particularly a fan of school-bus yellow flowers, but there are so many other, more subtle and gorgeous flower colours, and this seems to be my year to plant a lot of yellow. Starting, of course, with one of my favourite roses, 'Graham Thomas'. 

Planting for the Pollinators

It was hugely, bitterly ironic that last week was National Pollinator Week in the USA; the same week in which thousands of bees were killed when public trees in an Oregon community were sprayed with a pesticide deadly to bees. Others were saved by quick action from the community and from the Xerces Society for Invertebrate Conservation, and the catastrophe has generated a lot of awareness and dialogue about what we can all do to protect and enhance our pollinators--not just the cute butterflies and hummingbirds, but the bees, flies, beetles and others that do yeoman's service in pollinating plants that we all eat. 

 I have been going on about pollinators and protecting them for as long as I have been gardening, so I'm  pleased to see more and more pollinator awareness happening. My column in our provincial newspaper this weekend is about bees and other pollinators, and I indicated I'd be putting up a list of plants that are great for pollinators here on bloomingwriter.

New Under the Gardening Sun, Part 2: Awesome Annuals

I have a good excuse for why I haven't posted recently--I've been too busy planting containers, planting perennials, making a garden area, reclaiming other spots...dirt under my fingernails, soil in my shoes, I'm a happy camper. But now, to have a little chat about some of the annuals that have turned my head this season--so far. 

 Let's kick off with one of my hands-down favourite annuals, Lantana. I love the way its individual florets change colour as they go from buds to open blossoms on each flower head. They're like a little rainbow of pinks, oranges, reds, yellows and inbetween shades. Someone had fun naming this one, from the Santana series: it's called Banana Punch. Sounds like a Doctor Suess plant; Santana Lantana Banana! Or maybe, like a song sung by Minions...?

New under the garden sun, part 1: Perennial Pleasures.

 Now that we're finally moved (again, and hopefully for a long while), it's time to make some new gardens so I can plant the new plants that I've seen, and, in some cases, have been coming my way this spring. Some of them are brand new, some are new to this neck of the woods. All of them are charming and I hope they do very, very well.

The very busy season!

Hi faithful readers and fellow gardeners. It is THAT season, when there aren't enough hours in the day, week, month...lots has happened in the past few weeks, including relocating to a great place in Wolfville that is much easier for me to manage and much more suitable for all kinds of purposes. We're still in the process of moving, so it's a challenge to keep up with non-urgent stuff. But there are a couple of very neat upcoming events to tell you about here in Nova Scotia. 

The first one is the Pugwash Communities in Bloom Gardening Fair, coming up in less than 2 weeks, May 25 9am-4pm. It's the first time I've attended so I'm really looking forward to it. 

I don't CARE what the sign says, the plant sale being advertised here is being held at the NOVA SCOTIA AGRICULTURAL COLLEGE in Truro. This plant sale is a fund raiser for the Rock Garden on the campus, one of the absolute finest gardens in Atlantic Canada, and probably beyond. There will be choice and delightful plants on offer, and if it's anything like the Rare & Unusual Plant sale we just had this past Saturday in Annapolis Royal, it will be a first come, first served, don't wait or you'll miss out kind of event!

Whew! There are assorted other things taking place too, but I don't have time to list them all. You can find some of them on the Events page at bloominganswers.

I will say this--I started buying plants last week, including this double English Primrose 'Ken Dearman'. I need soil, however, so I can start building beds. Anyone ever give someone a few bags or a load of soil as a housewarming gift?

A chocolate garden for spring

It's been a very busy April, with garden talks and nursery openings and all the chores of spring. So I've been somewhat remiss in doing blog posts, opting instead for chattering on bloominganswers.com and on my open page on Facebook. Now it's the rush to get ready for the annual Saltscapes East Coast Expo, which is next weekend.
I'm very fond of chocolate, but it has to be dark, good quality chocolate. And one shouldn't eat too much of it, so, I'm opting to turn some of my fascinations to Maybe a better idea is a chocolate garden, featuring plants with deep, rich, chocolate foliage or flowers?

No lilies indoors! An Easter warning & other options

"Hello. My name is Tiny Timbit, and I have an important message for all you cat owners out there. It's about keeping us safe during Easter (and during other times of the year."

 "There are all kinds of plants that you can have in the house when you have kitties. We usually won't bother most plants that might not be tasty, like Hydrangeas..."

Green Flowers for the Irish (and for Green Flower-lovers)

 It's been quite a while since I did a colour-themed post, and what better day to do it than on St. Patrick's Day? Green flowers and/or Irish names for a late-winter, it's gonnna-be-spring-someday Sunday afternoon.
(Above, clockwise left: 'Greenland' tulip; 'Irish Lemon' heath; 'Spring Green' tulips'; 'Green Envy' echinacea'; 'Green Eyes' echinacea)

 I've heard people say they don't like green flowers, because foliage is green and how will a green flower show up against foliage? Well, in some cases they are somewhat subtle, like the native Jack-in-the-Pulpit seen here.

Farewell, Fellow Plant Addict

 I've told the story many times of how I met Captain Richard Steele, and how he put me on the path to being fascinated with ericaceous plants. How he inspired me to be the best plantswoman I possibly could, and to rejoice in plants of all kinds.

I met Dick's daughter Diana the same day I met him. In fact, it was Dinah, as her family call her, who took me up to the greenhouse to introduce me to the great man himself, and who made tea for all of us. Before we made it to the greenhouse, however, my late beloved came bursting out of a path at Bayport Plant Farm, where the Steeles planted and bred plants for so many years.

"You have GOT to see this!" he proclaimed. I followed him around the corner, to meet my very first blue poppies, a great profusion of them, growing like weeds. Dinah just grinned at my reaction. She grinned even more at my reaction to her father a short time later. I'm not sure who or what I was more awestruck by, but they all made a permanent impression on me.

The Art of the Garden Journal

 So last weekend I ran a garden journaling workshop, which was well received by the participants. It's the first time I've done this workshop, so it was a learning experience for all of us, but everyone seemed to come away inspired to do their best at recording their gardening experiences.

Why keep a journal? You'll learn from your own experiences from year to year. When should you start tomato seeds indoors? Which echinaceas did you plant last year? And where DID you plant those echinaceas You'll get to know your garden's soil, microclimates and other factors affecting growing conditions much better. You'll keep all your plant and planting information in one place so you don't go searching for it year after year. You can create an artifact which can be handed down to future generations, or, if you sell your home, to future owners of the home. You can track the natural world, from the blooming of the shadbush to the arrival of the hummingbirds to the hatching of monarch caterpillars. You're only limited by your time and imagination.

The Orchid Show at Acadia University

 Yesterday was a real red-letter day for me. I was out for the first time since arriving back home from my knee-replacement surgery, nearly two weeks ago. My friend and fellow plant geek Jill picked me up and we went to the annual NS Orchid Society show and sale at Acadia University's KC Irving Centre in Wolfville.

On the Mend...and planning for the future

I'm happy to report that my knee-replacement surgery DID go ahead last week. I got back home on Monday and am faithfully doing my exercises, walking with a walker but soon going to a cane, and looking forward to the spring. Between the cats, who act as nursemaids, and the flowering plants in the house, like this Paphiopedilum (lady's slipper orchid), I'm feeling pretty cheery most of the time and much encouraged at how much less pain I have!