slim pickings for january bloom day

I had to do my exploring for flowers indoors this month. The constant rain has made the outdoors pretty uninviting, though the occasional frosty morning brings wintery beauty that is hard to capture with the camera (for me, anyway)

aloe ‘carmine’

You may remember the Aloe I scored on my last trip to Cistus. Well, it is putting out a flower spike.

aloe close-up

I am cheating a bit, because it has yet to color up and blossom fully. There were flowers on some of the plants for sale, but I chose based upon apparent vigor of the whole plant, and this would seem to be my reward. I think it will be a deep pinky-orange at its peak.

kalanchloe fedtschenkoi

Another cheater (you will forgive me, won’t you?) is the Kalanchloe fedtschenkoi. I have multiples of this from a recent dividing project. None of them blossomed last year, but this year every one of them is hard at it.

kalanchloe fedtschenkoi close-up

Like poppies, they start out with their heads bowed and slowly unfurl as they color up to a lovely shade I call “orange sherbet”. I’ll probably trot these out again next month so that you can see the full effect of the chandelier-like architecture in full bloom.

super market flowers

I seldom resort to buying flowers at the super market, but a “buy one, get one free” deal was just what was needed to push me over the edge. This combination of lilies and chrysanthemums kept my spirits up for the remarkable two weeks that they have graced our table. I will have to relent and toss them out today.

With her world-wide reach, Carol at May Dreams Gardens can introduce you to gardeners with much more to boast of in the floral realm.

12 thoughts on “slim pickings for january bloom day

  1. How exciting that your Aloe is going to bloom! I bought my most loved and prolific Aloe (at the Berry Botanical Garden plant sale at Montgomery Park, weren’t those fun!?) with a bloom spike already formed and it has never again bloomed. You chose well.

  2. James~You are too kind.

    Loree~I must admit to feeling sorta smug.

    Melanie~There are so many aloes…you may need more than one.

    Grace~The grocery store lilies were no where near as fragrant as grow-you-own…nor as big, but they sufficed until the real thing comes along.

  3. I do not even know how I ended up here, but I thought this post was good. I do not know who you are but definitely you are going to a famous blogger if you are not already 😉 Cheers!

  4. Tanesha~Thanks for the kind words, and welcome.

    Jane~Everyone commented on the kraft background the first time I used it, so now it has become standard procedure. Glad to give you an excuse to head for Cistus.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *