Christmas Past…Spring Forward

January 19th, 2012

Well another Christmas and New Year’s is in the books. I hope each of you had a wonderful holiday and got to spend time with family and friends. We went down to visit my dad a couple weeks before Christmas and my daughter/husband bought me a poinsettia from the kids at church (it was a fundraiser).

I love poinsettias; they are just so colorful and have those big, bold leaves.  The big fun for me comes after Christmas when I do my best to try and keep them

Houseplants can help keep the air in your house cleaner!

growing as long as possible. (One year, I kept a poinsettia growing for about a year and it had lots of pretty green leaves. It was great.) I hope I can keep this one going for a while – it will supplement my current shortage of houseplants. Well, my Christmas cacti are doing fine and I think my orchid is OK although it hasn’t shown any signs of flowering. My other three – not so much. They were fine then they all went “kerplunk-kerplooy.” I’m not sure exactly why but if I were to

guess (based on what I’ve learned at Flowerland over the last year) it might have something to do with not re-potting or changing the soil since I got them 5+ years ago. Either that or I over-watered them last winter. The poinsettia is my chance at redemption.  If that doesn’t work, I’m open to suggestions.

Let me know if you have a favorite houseplant that I should try.

Until next…

Mary Gold

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The air is fresh and the birds are singing….

January 5th, 2012

Houseplants have been shown to improve the air quality of a home or office. If you are looking for something new to add to your indoor garden, Flowerland Recommends an Alocasia Polly. Also known as “elephant ear,” this very distinct plant has large, dark green, arrow-shaped, velvet-like leaves with pale colored veins running through them. Alocasia likes bright, indirect light, warm temperatures and moist soil.

Alocasia Polly (aka "elephant ear") has dark green leaves with pale veins running through them.

 

If you are concerned about bugs attacking your indoor plants, Flowerland Recommends regularly using Bonide’s Systemic Houseplant Insect Control Granules. It protects plants from aphids, whiteflies and more. Plus it also protects new growth in your indoor garden!

Bonide Systemic Houseplant Insect Control granules protect new growth on plants for up to 8 weeks!

 

When it comes to bird feeding, there are an abundance of choices on what to “serve.” If you are just getting started, Flowerland Recommends Black Oil Sunflower Seed. It is a good all-around feed and attracts wide variety of birds.

Black Oil Sunflower Seed is great for attracting a wide variety of birds.

 

If you’re looking to attract chickadees, woodpeckers or jays, Flowerland Recommends Suet Plus suet cakes. Suet is great for attracting birds that eat insects. Plus the cakes are convenient and easy to slide in a suet feeder.

Suet Plus is a great feed for birds like chickadees, jay and insect-eating birds.

 

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Babes and Bulbs

December 15th, 2011

I'm ready to garden, Mom!

It’s hard to believe that we are just over one week out from Christmas. Where has the year gone? It seems like just yesterday I was working out in the yard with my daughter and her little gardening tools.

I had the most fun planting some new bulbs. I picked up some tulips and some hyacinths and let my daughter help decide where to plant what. We decided the hyacinths should go in the front yard. They will actually add some dimension and color to the tulips and crocus that are currently planted there.  She told me where to dig and (for the most part) that’s where they went.

Tulips are even more beautiful when you plant them together!

The tulips went in the back yard in the perennial flowerbed. They will add some nice color in the spring while the perennials get going. We decided to go with four clusters and she sorted the bulbs accordingly. She even helped plant them. While I was digging my holes, she got out her little shovel, dug a hole for one of the clumps, put in the bulbs and covered them with dirt. Mind you, when she went in the house for a few minutes I had to dig a deeper, bigger hole and re-plant them before she came back but so what? The point was to do something with her that we both enjoyed. Plus when the tulips come up in the spring, I can point to them and remind her that she planted those bulbs with her own hands (more or less). I hope it makes her smile to see the fruits – or flowers – of her labor.

One other quick update. As you may remember, I planted some of the Sub-Zero pansies in my front yard this fall. I guess I’ve never planted pansies

before because these babies rock. After the frost, all my other annuals were pretty much toast and had to be pulled out. These beauties still have colorful flowers, which is a wonderful site in an otherwise dormant front landscape. The grower claims they’ll even come back in the spring. If you are looking for a great annual next year that will take you all the way to winter, I highly recommend Sub-Zero pansies.

These are my Sub-Zero pansies on Dec. 2. They still look great!

Until next time!

Mary Gold

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