When at first you don't succeed, blog, blog again.

This is a beloved Laeliocattleya orchid of mine named 'Gold Rush' which bloomed earlier than usual this year.  I almost missed it in the midst of all the holiday madness, glad I didn't!

Christmas tree creativity

In our small Queens apartment with three cats it is pretty safe to say that a standard Christmas tree with all the trimmings would certainly come crashing to an untimely death, or we would have to spend the month de-resining the cats, or some such undesired outcome. So this year I decided to get creative. Enter Dracaena marginata, the Madagascar dragon tree. You know this as a wonderfully reliable house plant for bright to low light conditions. As a member of the Agave family (Agavaceae) Dracaenas are tolerant of dry city apartments, hence this guy has been happy with us for a few years now. Well, we decided to reinvent the Christmas tree this year and this is what I came up with - no saws, arboricide, or sappy kitties!
And isn't it funny that for all the hundreds of dollars we spend on gifts for people during this time of the year it's the silly $7 purchase at the local dollar store that spawns the funniest looks and laughter and instant entertainment. Ah, what a world we live in. Happy very merry everyone.

Winter Windowsill

x Laeliocattleya 'Gold Rush'

Philodendron 'Brasil'

Cast of Characters (L to R): Asplenium sp., Tradescantia sillamontana, Begonia maculata 'Wightii', Begonia x 'Sinbad', Kalanchoe marmorata, Jatropha multifida, Asplenium sp.

new Begonias

Begonia x 'Sinbad'

These past couple weeks I have been scrambling to save various annuals from an untimely trip to the compost pile before frost sets in. Before bringing them in I cute them back pretty hard, pruning back to just above the node(s), leaving a few stubs remaining. Thanks to the (now inside) heating up of their root systems, keeping the roots and soil slightly moist, and misting and trying to keep the humidity increased, I have seen the plants determination to maintain what us botany geeks love to call the "root-to-shoot ratio". These such begonias have been putting out tons of new growth and I am so happy to see them bounce back so well. You have to love species persistence to survive. Now the challenge is just to keep the humidity up through the winter months. Good thing I get up at sunrise every morning and can mist my new acquisitions as much as they like. And I love this one, with the comical white polka-dots:

Begonia maculata 'Wightii'