[Thursday] May 2014 Garden Bloggers’ Bloom Day

Let’s take a look at what’s blooming in and around the casa:

Inside, the Echeveria on the kitchen windowsill continues to bloom its funky flowers:

A Haworthia bloom stalk photographed from above:

You can’t see Gus in this photo, but this is the Gasteraloe’s bloom stalk:

Crissy, one of the Schlumbergeras, is still blooming:

As is one of the Euphorbia miliis:

Both Chlorophytum comosums are blooming like crazy:

And the Orchid has been blooming since my birthday at the beginning of March:

It just sits there day after day prettying up my windowsill. Love it.

That’s what’s blooming around here. Thanks to Carol over at May Dreams Gardens for hosting the Garden Bloggers’ Bloom Day around the 15th of each month. Check out her blog to see lots of other pretty flower photos.

If you have flower photos you’d like to share, but you don’t have your own blog, you can send your photos to me and I’ll post them for you in a few days.

I’ll be back tomorrow with an all-new Ask the Experts Panel. I’ll also have a new puzzler for you.

You still have time to guess the current puzzler, in which I asked if these plants were real or fake:

Not an easy puzzler this week. The deadline is tonight at midnight MST (that’s 2am EST). You can leave your best guess in the comments section. I’ll reveal the answer and the winner(s) after the Experts Panel tomorrow. Imaginary prizes will abound for all who play.

I hope to see you back here.

[Tuesday – Flowers and Flowering Plants] April 2014 Garden Bloggers’ Bloom Day

Hey look, photos of pretty flowers!

It must be time for the April 2014 Garden Bloggers’ Bloom Day.

We’ll start with what’s blooming outside the casa.

Everyone likes April flowers, right?

I love spring blooms!

Inside the casa, last year’s birthday Orchid is gorgeous again this year:

This little Kalanchoe is a temporary visitor, but a cute one:

Another sweet succulent bloom:

I had a whole bit planned for this Echeveria bloom, but I may have to abandon it for being a ridiculously long post. We’ll see. For now, here’s what the bloom looked like a couple of days ago:

I can’t get enough of those pink blooms!

Two of the Schlumbergeras are blooming again. I hadn’t really noticed until mr_subjunctive mentioned it, but one plant produces red blooms, and another produces orange ones (that plant was originally from Dottie). I thought for a long time they both had red blooms but the orange was more pronounced this past season. I tried several times to capture the difference in hues on camera, but without wanting to move the plants (for fear of knocking the flowers off), I wasn’t able to accomplish that.

But with this new round of blooming, I was able to capture something else – the plant decided to grow striped flowers. That’s new:

I love them! So snazzy!

The red bud in the photo below isn’t quite open all the way, but you should be able to see the color difference I was talking about:

Or maybe not, haha! You may have to take my word for it.

My regular readers know how fond I am of Chlorophytum comosum ‘Spider Plant’ flowers. I think they are so darling!

Adorable!

I think this one looks like she’s dancing:

Or possibly coming in for a landing!

Thanks to Carol over at May Dreams Gardens for suggesting we post photos of what’s blooming in and around the house on the 15thish of each month. You should check out her posts, as well as flower posts from around the world.

I’ll be back tomorrow, hope to see you here.

[Saturday] March 2014 Garden Bloggers’ Bloom Day

Aaahhhh, it’s time to share photos of what’s blooming in and around the casa, courtesy of host Carol from May Dreams Gardens (in Indianapolis).

In Albuquerque, spring is in full bloom. Fruit trees, including my plum, are blooming all over town:

My backdoor container garden oasis is looking oasisy:

(Fritillaria flowers)

How can you not love a flower that has purple checkered petals?

Or well-placed tulips?

Last night, it poured downtown, and this morning, a heavy fog covered the city. After the fog lifted, the flowers were looking all dewey:

Cool.

The rain is much appreciated.

I’ve got flowers blooming indoors as well, like the Chlorophytum comosums ‘Spider’ plants:

And the Osmanthus, whose tiny blossoms pack a huge scent:

The funny basil blooms:

And the orchid:

Be sure to check out Carol’s blog for flower photos from around the world. She hosts the GBBD every month around the 15th.

If you have flower photos you’d like to share, but don’t have a blog of your own, you can send your photos to me and I’ll post them in the coming week. You can include info about the flowers if you want, or just send the photos alone – it’s your call.

I hope everyone has a nice weekend, thanks for visiting my site.

[Tuesday – Flowers and Flowering Plants] February 2014 Garden Bloggers’ Bloom Day

Hello my dears, happy Tuesday!

Around the 15thish of each month, Carol (Indianapolis) of the May Dreams Gardens blog encourages us to post photos of what’s blooming in and around our casas. Well, she posts her photos on the 15th. I aim for the vicinity.

Albuquerque’s not having the same problems with snow that most of the rest of the country is having. In fact, if you’d like to send us some of that snow, that’d be great. Address it to the mountains, please.

In the meantime, let me send you a little spring.

The Eranthis (the little yellow buttercup flowers), Galanthus ‘Snowdrops’ and Crocus flowers are the first wave of the spring bulbs that my good friend Judie and I planted last fall in my backdoor container gardens. You can see lots of the bulbs from the second wave getting ready (in between the greenery of the onions and garlic stalks) for their moments in the sun.

While I’m totally loving the outdoor flowers, it’s my winter-flowering houseplants that make me the happiest.

Nel and Sue, both Chlorophytum comosum ‘Spider’ plants are back with their adorable blooms:

The Schlumbergeras are enjoying a rebloom:

This little Hyacinth bulb isn’t growing the way I expected (it’s in water – it should be taller) but wow, what a scent!

Also blooming, my cheerful Euphorbia milii ‘Crown of Thorns’ plant, Elise:

So cute!

Blooming but not pictured: My sweet little Osmanthus ‘Fragrant Olive’ plant has bloomed nonstop since I got it from Ginny a few months ago. I didn’t manage to get any good photos of the blooms, though. Also, the tomato plant in the foyer is blooming like crazy (and producing fruit like crazy) but I don’t have photos of those blooms either.

Thanks Carol, for hosting once again this month!

If any of you readers have photos of your flowers that you’d like to share, but you don’t have a blog, email them to me and I’ll publish them in a February Garden Nonbloggers’ Bloom Day post. Depending on when/if I hear from you, I’ll figure out a good day to publish, a few days from now, in order to give you a little time to snap photos. I look forward to seeing what’s blooming in your house.

[Wednesday] January 2014 Garden Bloggers’ Bloom Day

Oh dear.

What happened here?

That does not look good! Well, the green part looks cool but the violent breakage isn’t nice.

Wasn’t I just bragging a few days ago about how awesome my white Hippeastrum is, that I got from my awesome cousin Bill? I showed you this photo of the flower’s beauty:

Later that same night, the flowers looked like this:

It appears that somebody got a little too top heavy and just tumbled right on over, breaking his neck and spilling his guts all over the floor. I was in the kitchen making dinner and heard a thunkish tearing noise. Doh! I guess I shouldn’t have been surprised – he had gotten quite tall in the days leading up to his accident.

My cousin Bill sent two Amaryllis bulbs this year, and the second one was almost as tall as the first. So I found a spot for her where she won’t fall over:

Shew! Safe and sound – another white-flowering Hippeastrum! I love them!

I felt really bad that the flowering stems of the first bulb broke off, so I’d stuck them in water. The next morning, I put the vase on the windowsill. Later that day (yesterday), the flowers looked like this:

Fun! They’re determined to shine!

Let’s see…what else is blooming around the house? Oh right, one of the Euphorbia milii ‘Crown of Thorns’ plants is:

So cute!

Also blooming, the Osmanthus from Ginny, although the silly little blossoms are so tiny it makes a good photograph difficult:

The basil is blooming its little heart out. I tried to stop it, but there are only so many times you can say no to a basil plant who wants to bloom:

And lastly, I thought I would be doing some more bragging on my gorgeous lemon tree and its prolific blossoms. Sadly, that’s not the case due to a minor calamity that befell the poor tree. Ok, maybe a major calamity. Only these blooms remain open:

So what was the calamity? Well geez, howz about I tell youse all abouts it tomorrowz? (Haha, it’ll take me a little while to make up a good story – the truth is dreadfully boring!)

Thanks to Carol over at May Dreams Gardens for suggesting we post photos of what’s blooming in and around the house on the 15thish of each month. She’s a lovely host, you should check out her blog.

Non-blogging friends, do you have any photos of blooming houseplants you’d like me to post? How about I post them this weekend, so you don’t have to race to get them to me. If no one has anything blooming now, I’ll ask again in mid-February.

[Tuesday – Flowers and Flowering Plants] December 2013 Garden Bloggers’ Bloom Day

Nothing’s blooming outside – brrrr! – but there are lots of plants blooming indoors.

Like the Osmanthus that Ginny sent me:

Smells delish!

And the newish lemon tree:

Also a lovely scent.

And the Schlumbergeras, of course (all three are blooming now):

And the Euphorbia milii, or Crown of Thorns plants, this one is named Elise, is blooming:

So cute! The cream colored bracts surround the yellow flower. I love them!

Also blooming but not pictured are two basil plants, the lime tree, and a few of the Coleus cuttings.

She’s moved on beyond the December Garden Bloggers’ Bloom Day already, but check out Host Carol’s website over at May Dreams Gardens. It was her idea to share photos of what’s blooming in or outside the house each month.

If any of you nonbloggers have photos to share, email them to me…I can publish them next week to give you a little extra time.

I hope you all have a very warm and merry Christmas!

[Liza’s Plants] November Garden Bloggers’ Bloom Day

Hello everyone!

My regular readers know that I live in downtown Albuquerque. Our growing season is long, even though the city is located at 5,000 feet above sea level. I can remember eating Thanksgiving dinner outside more than once. That’s desert life for ya.

Still, it’s been chilly, and has dipped below freezing enough to kill off most of the flowers. But not all of them.

When I was without a laptop for that week recently, I ended up spending a lot of time outside. Cleaning and doing garden chores to prepare for winter. And taking tons of photos.

Since I missed the November Garden Bloggers’ Bloom Day a few days ago, I’ll just show you today what’s blooming around the house, starting with the backdoor container garden:

Lots of cheerful flowers, including the Gazanias, the Alyssum, the Zauschneria (California fuchsia), the Osteospermum and at least some of the Marigolds. Oh, and a few Gaillardia (Blanket Flower).

Most of the Cosmos have been knocked out, but some remain. And look who’s trying to grow next to them – I think those are my Irises!

Nobody told them that it’s the wrong season! Silly flowers.

Inside, this Echeveria is trying to pull the wool over my eyes:

She knows that I’m hesitant to prune her because of the flower stalk – and she’s right – but she doesn’t know that the Euphorbia miliis tried a similar trick to avoid pruning, and I eventually did it anyway. Pruning is for her own good – look, she’s practically falling over (the rosette on the right is producing the flower stem):

(Clearly her strategy has been working for several weeks months now, as the above is an older photo.) She better watch out, because I will not be tricked again!

Two of the three Schlumbergeras (Christmas Cactus) are blooming again, as is the Lemon tree, and the Chlorophytums (Spider plants). I’ll save those for December’s Garden Blogger Bloom Day. The outdoors should be covered in snow by then, so I’ll be glad to have my indoor flowers to amuse me until spring.

Before I go, check out this hilarious little guy:

I guess he’s letting me know what he thinks about my little indoor windowsill tomato garden idea! It totally cracked me up.

I’ll probably be back with a new post tomorrow, but with the recent technology bustup – and the subsequent enjoyment of being offline – I’m not sure. I kinda liked not being able to blog in the sense that it forced me to do other stuff, which were cooler things than anything I was doing online. So now I have mixed feelings. At least about the Monday through Saturday schedule that I’ve been maintaining for a long time now. Lately that seems a little much. But we’ll see how things go, ok? Thank you for your patience, and for visiting my site.

(Garden Bloggers’ Bloom Day is hosted on the 15th of each month by Carol at May Dreams Gardens. Check out her blog!)

[Wednesday] October 2013 Garden Nonbloggers’ Bloom Day

And now it’s time to share photos of those gardeners who love flowers but who do not have their own blogs – the October 2013 Garden Nonbloggers’ Bloom Day.

Let’s start with Nancy Popp Mumpton in Phoenix, Arizona. Says Nancy:

>>>>”Attached are some photos of plants blooming today: Bougainvillea (of course it blooms for 9 months here), Hybrid ‘Sparky’ Tecoma Stans, Hybrid Lantana, Tecoma Stans (Yellow Bells), Datura. ‘Sparky’ was developed at Arizona State University with the Sun Devils colors of gold and maroon. The Datura flower is unusual for me in that it opened at night but lived all day the next day instead of only until noon. They have lavender edges also, probably from the cold nights.“>>>>

Swoon, Nancy! I don’t think I’ve ever seen lavender-tipped Datura (Jimsonweed) before – it’s gorgeous. And I love Lantana, too. I enjoyed your story of how the trumpet flowers were created to match the University’s colors – that’s very cool.

Lovely flowers! Thank you so much for sharing them with us.

Let’s now take a look at Ginny Burton’s flowers, she lives in the DC area. Says Ginny:

>>>>“We had heavy rains for several days, so things are a bit bedraggled, but those zinnias just keep on keeping on, bless ’em!”

This is my Alister Stella Gray rose which has climbed up 30′ Styrax japonicus and then flopped over to hang at nose height.  A fabulous rose, very fragrant.  In the background is my Franklinia, already changing color.  I grew both the Styrax and the Franklinia from seed and planted them too close together years ago when I didn’t know any better.

My 7 year old Osmanthus (almost reaching the ceiling) just knocked us out lately in perfuming the breezeway. We’d come home from work, open the door, and be overwhelmed by its scent. It smelled just like the white peaches that we bought this summer at the Westover Farmers Market. 

The bricks you see outside of the breezeway were collected (with permission of the builder!) from an old walkway and patio behind one of the 1950s houses that’s going to be torn down.  I asked if they planned to recycle/reuse the bricks and if not, would it be okay if I dug them up and carted them off.  Whoever made the patio did a superb job: bordered with timbers and set in a deep bed of sand, it was intact 60 years later.  The bricks are heavier than modern ones — over 5 pounds each. I got 500 of them!  When/if my energy returns, I plan to build some raised beds with them. 

Thanks for hosting this!

Ginny“>>>>

Lovely, lovely, lovely. Zinnias are the best, aren’t they? So reliable, so cheerful. I’d really like to grow an Osmanthus of my own, but I haven’t seen any available in the Albuquerque area. But I’m going to keep looking for one. You always talk about the scent of the blossoms, so now I’m totally curious.

Great score on the bricks! I hope you take lots of before and after pics of your raised beds and share them with us. I think it’s a fabulous idea to build your own. I’m looking forward to hearing more about them.

Thank you so much for sharing your flowers!

That’s it for today’s Garden Nonbloggers’ Bloom Day. Thanks for staying with us. I’ll be back tomorrow, I hope to see you here.

[Tuesday] October 2013 Garden Bloggers’ Bloom Day

It’s time for the Garden Bloggers’ Bloom Day again, yay! You know how much I love flowers!

Let’s start by checking out the backdoor container garden oasis on a recent afternoon:

Shadows nonetheless, I’m still happy with how the containers have performed all summer. They have been a joy.

Also a joy, the Cosmos flowers in front:

I sure will miss them when they’re gone.

More from the back – the Marigolds making me happy:

The Geraniums (somewhat) came back to life after a long absence this summer:

The Gazanias also came back to life after an absence:

Another fav is the Agastache:

My fall bloomers are still blowing my mind, the Zauschneria ‘California fuchsia’:

I have no regrets adding those to my garden.

Indoors, Candy, a Lime tree, is producing heavenly scents indoors:

Lady Evermore, an Aeschynanthus, has blooms but they don’t produce a scent. Which is ok, because she makes up for it in color:

And the Echeveria whose bloom is like the energizer bunny:

It’s so nice to have blooms indoors.

Judging by the buds on the Schlumbergeras, next month will be packed with Christmas Cactus blooms. Fingers crossed anyway.

So that’s what’s blooming in and around my casa. If you like flowers as much as me, you should check out Carol’s blog over at May Dreams Gardens. She’s the one who suggested we post photos of our blooms around the 15thish of each month. Thanks Carol, for hosting again.

I’ll be back tomorrow with photos from those of you who don’t blog but still want to share their flowers with us. If you haven’t sent photos to me yet, you have plenty of time. Just shoot me an email.

I hope to see all of you back here.

[Monday – Liza’s Plants] September 2013 Garden Bloggers’ Bloom Day

Hey, lots of pretty flowers!

And indoors:

Thanks to Carol over at May Dreams Gardens for suggesting we post photos of what’s blooming in and around our casas on the 15thish of each month. Be sure to check out everyone’s flower photos on her blog.

As I mentioned, I’ll post photos for you nonbloggers out there tomorrow. You still have time to email your flower pics to me. I hope to see you back here.