Monthly Archives: January 2024

In a Vase on Monday: Euphor(b)ia

by

Seeing my first ever Cyclamen coum had started flowering – and indeed the first flower of 2024 in my garden – produced ‘a feeling of well-being or elation’, the dictionary definition of ‘euphoria’. 😉 How fitting then to add some Euphorbia to a vase for today as well!

Euphorbia myrsinites loves dry ground and has even spread to the gravel around the house foundation. At this time of year such a fleshy green plant outdoors seems almost miraculous. It  must have anti-freeze in its fleshy stems! 🤣 I look forward to the lime green flowers it will produce in late spring. The vase is the one I bought on my spending spree last week.

And the Cyclamen coum is almost a miracle too, as it is one of two plants put in last autumn… one disappeared within days into a mouse/vole hole. This one is beneath the Wintersweet, which should be flowering very soon now that we are above freezing. The leaves are very pretty too. I placed it in my miniature rose bowl.

A Blackbird has eaten all my crab apples (there were only about a dozen) and the Great Tits are chirping, Hellebore buds are fattening, and the Hazel catkins are growing… and with sunshine and blue skies it certainly does feel like spring is not so far off now. I am sure there will be many more moments of euphoria in the next few weeks as other plants and flowers emerge!
Many thanks to Cathy at Rambling in the Garden for hosting In a Vase on Monday. Do go and visit her to see what she has found in her garden to share this week.

Happy Gardening!

Plant Therapy 🤣

by

I blame it on Frank. And Kimberley. A conspiracy of winter-weary gardeners encouraging me to go on a spending spree at the garden centre. (Thanks Frank! Thanks Kimberley! 😆)

In case you are wondering what I am talking about, Kimberley of Cosmos and Cleome recently posted here about the Ten Days of Plantness; a new holiday that Frank at Sorta Like Suburbia had apparently invented (See here and here). Frank confessed a few days later (he even baked a cake to celebrate!) and I must admit I was easily persuaded to join in. The idea was, to buy ten plants in the ten days between January 12th and 21st in order to prevent winter sticking around for much longer. Well, I missed the deadline, but a trip to the garden centre (now open again after a winter break) was bound to happen sooner or later. And the sight of all these tiny violas when I got there was magical – and the scent of them too!

I am not terribly successful with houseplants and have managed to kill, or at least severely damage several this winter through overwatering or neglect. Greenfly then whitefly invested several pots and I fear they will not survive the spraying with soapy water. So some replacements were definitely necessary. Does this sound like I am trying to justify spending xx euros (the cost of a meal out for two perhaps)?

Anyway, here is what I got….

First of all, an Aloe. I’ve got one already and haven’t managed to kill it off yet, so I am assuming this may be a good idea to stick with what I know. Yes, that is ivy next to the Aloe… it will never make it into the garden, but it will be added to an outdoor container in spring. Various violas and primulas also jumped into my shopping trolley, including the beautiful pale lavender/white one you can see above, a yellow one…

…and this gorgeous frilly pink one. 🩷

Then this beautiful pink flower caught my eye. I have never seen one before and do not usually buy such big and rather pricey plants. But this really appealed to me…

It is a Dendrobium ‘Berry Oda’. It will go where the Christmas cactus (that didn’t flower again) stood. The cactus clearly needs a new location… any tips welcome.

In the background you can see a bunch of pink tulips, tinged with creamy yellow. One broke while I was arranging them, but not to worry, I bought a new vase (😆) which was perfect…

Next to the vase above is a teeny weeny African Violet. Not sure how long it will last as it really is minute, but I will do my best. And the green plant next to it is called a Caribbean Chlorophytum Comosum ‘Bonnie’. Completely new to me but will look good in the spot where my Poinsettia stood over Christmas and New Year. (Don’t ask… Poinsettias never seem to survive longer than six weeks here).

And finally a small pot of Muscari and a white Cyclamen. I have several dormant Cyclamen at the moment. (At least, I hope they are only dormant!) but none in flower. I love white ones as they really brighten up a grey day.

I think I actually ended up with more than ten plants. 🤣

The only disappointment was that the garden centre had no Hellebores worth buying. They had clearly been neglected in their pots during the winter closure and were almost beyond saving. I expect some new stock will appear soon though, and I will just have to go again! 😉

Have you been to a garden centre recently? Or bought a new plant?

Have a good week

and

Happy (indoor) Gardening!

🌷🌷🌷

In a Vase on Monday: Ice Flowers

by

Frozen Hellebore buds

Although it hasn’t been extremely cold so far this winter, it has been cold! Temperatures have been below freezing almost constantly since the first week of January, and we have also had some strong wind making it feel even colder. I haven’t been near any lakes recently, but I imagine they are frozen… which reminded me of this photo on my perpetual calendar. I made this about 25 years ago, long before I had a digital camera. (I originally made it for the year 2000). And although the photo is no longer as vivid as it was, you can still make out figures on a frozen lake, with the sun setting behind them.

Ice skating, curling, ice hockey or just an afternoon stroll across the winter lakes here in Bavaria is an invigorating way to celebrate this brief spell. And it should be celebrated as you can’t count on it happening every year. We have had a few milder years recently, so we were due a cold one. I think the coldest we have ever had it since I came to Germany was -23°C, while this year the coldest has been about -13°C.

Our forecast is mild and stormy this week, so I imagine the ice will melt quickly. But here are a few images of it before it does, taken on a sunny day last week…

And my tiny vase today contains the dried white spiky flowers of Anaphalis, looking quite icy themselves.

The calendar currently stands on a bookshelf, along with another vase of dried flowers that I daredn’t move for fear of them disintegrating! (I think that’s a Scabiosa seedhead leaning into the photo!)

The violet jug is about 6 cm (2.5 inches) tall, so you have an idea of scale.

I wonder how cold your winter has been so far?

I am joining Cathy at Rambling in the Garden for her Monday meme, where we are invited to share a vase of materials found in or around our gardens. I love taking part as often as possible, but today I was not tempted to go out and search for something ‘fresh’! 😉

In a Vase on Monday: Slim Pickings in January

by

While the weather is cold and frosty I make the most of the time I have indoors for other activities. And being a gardener, naturally one of those is perusing websites and catalogues and dreaming up new projects for the gardening year ahead.

The catalogue on top of the pile is one that is fuelling an idea I have had for a new flower bed in the spring… scented plants and a new area for sitting directly in the centre of the garden. (Kräuter und Duftpflanzen = Herbs and scented plants).

How this idea will develop is still all up in the air, as the drawings I have made keep changing. That is the beauty of winter…  plenty of time to chew things over, look back at photos, look through catalogues and books, and find the perfect plan!

My vase today may be sparse, but is still making me smile. Some of the Narcissi (Tête à Tête) from my supermarket pot I bought last week were cut, as they were growing so tall and willowy. The other vase contains some Cornus stems from the garden that I used in past vases, which have now sprouted fresh new leaves – a promising sight! And the flower was a present from a friend I met at the weekend. 😃

The store-bought tulips I used last week turned out to be the perfect shade for my Hippeastrum… here they are a day after I shared them last Monday.

Many thanks to Cathy at Rambling in the Garden for keeping this meme going through the winter months as well. I am sure some of the vases shared today will also be uplifting and inspiring as always!

Have a good week!

 

In a Vase on Monday: Desperate Measures

by

The inevitable gloom I feel after removing all the Christmas decorations (well, I still haven’t taken down ALL the outdoor lights 😉) made me resort to desperate measures today. Nothing vase-worthy is in the frozen garden, so I bought myself a bunch of tulips (barely open yet) and a pot of mini Narcissi and cut a flowering stem of my Hippeastrum ‘La Paz’.

I think it worked, and the gloom has been dispelled for now!

Hard to imagine that Kris at Late to the Garden Party had this Hippeastrum growing and flowering in her garden last week. My single indoor bulb has produced three stems of flowers so far, with another bud on the way, so I am very pleased with it!

By next week we might notice a few more minutes of daylight, but it looks as if the temperatures will remain below zero for the next fortnight. So the garden will slumber on. Even our garden centres are closed! I will no doubt find myself buying more tulips from the supermarket in the coming weeks; despite the pleasure dried seedheads and grasses can bring, I crave colour in winter… like this lovely Narcissus – the only one in the pot flowering so far and what a wonderful burst of sunshine yellow it is!

Contributing to the weekly vase meme that Cathy at Rambling in the Garden hosts is a good way to remain in touch with plant life during my hibernation. Why not visit her lovely blog and see what she and others are sharing their vases today.

Have a good week!

European Mistletoe

by

While looking around the garden for materials for a wreath recently, I picked up a large pine twig that I thought I could perhaps use, and found this….

Mistletoe is visible in the crowns of the pine trees in our woods…. right at the tops where nobody can reach or see it properly. And I had never seen how it actually attaches itself to the tree.
Well, now I can inspect it up close. What a revelation!

This mistletoe growing on the pine trees is Viscum album subsp. austriacum. It really does seem to be a part of its host tree, growing out of the wood of the pine and not simply attaching itself like ivy does.

I wonder if you have seen this before? Or perhaps with some other kind of parasitic plant?

I found it fascinating. Nature never ceases to amaze me.