The Rabbit Holes of Winter

The Rabbit Holes of Winter

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I've recently decided that January is one of my favorite months to think about gardening.

There is time in January to relax a bit.  The holidays are over.  The winds howl and only the hardiest of souls try to garden when the ground is frozen, or nearly so.

It's best to just stay indoors.  Indoors where there are gardening books, and houseplants, and seed catalogs, and warmth, and books.

I'm

Blooms for the Twelves Days of Christmas

Blooms for the Twelves Days of Christmas

books fairies holidays houseplants Humor

I suppose it really does work out better if the blooms of the Christmas season reach their peak after the 25th of December.  

I will have more time to enjoy them while I relax after the hustle and bustle of pre-Christmas preparations. 

Imagine me sitting in an easy chair by the window so I have view out into the garden where I can see the birds flitting around the feeders I set out and filled

I am not buying a poinsettia this year

I am not buying a poinsettia this year

holidays houseplants Humor

I am not buying a poinsettia this year.

I am not buying a poinsettia this year.  Been there, done that.  I'm more into the Christmas Rose as a potted plant for the holidays.

I am not buying a poinsettia this year.  As soon as I bring them home, they start to drop their leaves. I think they put those foil pot wrappers on the pots of poinsettias to hide the bare stems which show after all the

Lily of the Valley for Christmas

Lily of the Valley for Christmas

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On the surface, the story appears to be that I happened to see some pre-cooled Lily of the Valley pips for sale and decided to order them and give them a try.

But actually the story of how I came to this point of planting Lily of the Valley pips a few weeks before Christmas so they will bloom for the holidays starts way back many decades ago when I was a little girl.

Every Sunday when I was

Tips to Avoid Thanksgiving Day Clashes

Tips to Avoid Thanksgiving Day Clashes

houseplants Humor

Just a little coleus I'm attempting to turn into a houseplant.

Welcome to May Dreams Gardens, home of the clashing Thanksgiving Cacti.

Here in my sunroom, the big story, just in time for Thanksgiving, is about my two clashing Thanksgiving cacti.

Technically, they are both Schlumbergera truncata, and though they share the same name, I must keep them separated in the sunroom to avoid the clash

Amaryllis: From Pinterest to Potted

Amaryllis: From Pinterest to Potted

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I was browsing images on Pinterest and came across a picture of some Amaryllis planted in a large container with ivy, pinned by Mary Ann of Gardens of the Wild, Wild West.

I decided right then and there that I would pot up some Amaryllis and ivy for myself, just like in the picture, sort of.

The picture on Pinterest showed white Amaryllis in a white container. 

I decided on pink Amaryllis

I never cared about Camellias until...

I never cared about Camellias until...

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This is NOT a camellia, it is a rose.

I never cared about Camellias until I started reading Eudora Welty's gardening letters (Tell About Night Flowers: Eudora Welty's Gardening Letters, 1940-1949, edited by Julia Eichelberger).

I thought I knew all I needed to know about them. My daily iced green tea is made from the leaves of Camellia sinensis  and those grown for the flowers, generally