Tuesday, April 7, 2009

Window Plants

This is what I have sitting in the bow window of my sewing room. From the left, a Gloxinia that is just starting to grow after it's dormancy period, two Amaryllis plants and a Violet.

I have had the Gloxinia for several years now and it blooms so nicely every year for me. If you have ever had one and wondered how to make it bloom again here is what I do - learned it from my mother many years ago. After it is finished blooming I let it grow for a while with no flowers. After a while - don't have a specific time but usually when I get tired of looking at it I cut the stem off at the base next to the dirt and put it in a dark closet for several months. I do water it once in a while, maybe every 6 weeks or so and then just a little. When I want it to start leafing out again I take it out of the closet and start watering and fertilizing it on a regular basis and sit it in a bright window. Seems like a miracle but pretty soon it shoots up a new stem and it will eventually have flowers on it. They are so beautiful and the plant is usually covered with the bright pink flowers.

You can start new plants very easily to share with your friends too. After flowering just pinch off a leaf and suspend it in a glass of water. The end of the leaf stem becomes enlarged and roots will grow out of it. Plant the entire thing, leaf, stem, tuber and roots and treat it just like you do the other plant. The leaf will eventually rot away and you won't see much for a while but a plant will emerge from the soil eventually.

Just found this web page that tells how to get lots of blooms and healthy plants. I am not quite as specific as these instructions but get good results too. Scroll down to find the instructions on the web page.
Did you notice the one Amaryllis has a long flower spike? I put both of these bulbs in my garden last summer and hoped I could get them both to bloom this year. The one with out the flower spike didn't bloom last year either, boo hoo!

I didn't get them fertilized as much as I should out in the garden and wonder if that is why I only have one flower spike on one and none on the other. Last year I had two flower spikes on it. I dug them up last fall before it froze and kept them in my insulated garage so they didn't freeze.

Since I knew we were going on this trip in Feb. I didn't plant the bulbs and start watering them until the week before we left. I sure didn't want it to bloom while we were gone. My hope is that this bud will open and bloom by this weekend when we are having so much company. Not sure it is far enough along but am watching it closely. I posted a photo of it blooming in my very first blog last March.

Guess I had better get back to preparing for my company. S. and the boys are coming on Friday so know after they come I will get nothing done. I just like to play with the boys and not work when they are here.

Lynn

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