November

Notes from Winter Wednesday Garden Chats

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November 17th

Subject: Winter Blooming Flowers

Marty's paperwhite bulbs all planted and ready

To see the life of the Paperwhites

Paperwhites are a fragrant flowering bulb that will bloom in winter.  They are tall (about 1" high), medium green, hollow stems with thin strap leaves-think of a daffodil on a diet- with a cluster of small, white blossoms at the top of the stalk.  The flowers look like tiny daffodils, if you use your imagination!  That is just Gloria's personal opinion.
Directions for planting.
Get little pebbles or marbles and put them in a bowl, anything from a glass pie plate to a bowl 4" to 5" deep.  Put enough water in to come to the top of the rocks.  Put as many bulbs as will fit in.  Pointy end of the bulbs up.  Keep it in a sunny window, and it should bloom in 3 to 4 weeks.
The bulbs can be planted in the ground in November in zones 7-9.

Amaryllis:
Easy to grow.
Plant 1/3 of bulb above soil line.
6 weeks from planting to blooming.
Linda puts hers outside after the first year, fertilizes them, lets dry in Fall and then starts over.
Molly leaves hers in pots and puts them under the benches in the greenhouse so they bloom later in winter.
Calls that "The Lazy Way".
Linda leaves hers in pots, too and withholds water in Sept. for Jan. bloom.
Molly says that the blooms last much longer if they are cut and put in water.
Linda says that they do not take to water culture because they need to anchor their roots.
Mini's are available and good for indoor culture.

Hyacinths:
Can be grown in vases or bottles of water suspended so that only their roots are in the water.  They are also easy to grow and smell wonderful.

Sweet potato vine:
See Hyacinths.

African violets:
Either love you or hate you.
Love East windows.
Molly can't grow them,
Helen and Marsha can.

Gloxinias:
Marty says to ignore them, but water when blooming.

Christmas Cactus:
Either love you or hate you.
Most people had good luck with them.
Jim grows 9 or 10 different varieties.
Marty has one that is blooming its head off.
(Pictured on the quick pic page)

Obviously, most of the time was spent on paperwhites, amaryllis, and hyacinths, but there appears to be much interest in CACTI.
JimW, the Cactus King, is going to have a "Jim's Winter Wednesday Cacti Class".  He grows 300 different species of cacti, mostly as a hobby & mostly? from seed.  He and Molly expressed amazement over the thought of running a
nursery being anything else besides a hobby.

Mickie the Wise said Jim is a good gardener because "gardening transcends gender distinctions". Whoo-baby!

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