Friday Drawing: Signs of the season (to a gardener...)

People are addicted to tomatoes

I joined the Seed Savers Exchange a few months ago, and was excited to get the annual Yearbook in the mail a couple days ago. It is big -- 482 pages of rather fine print descriptions of plant varieties people have available.

I was rather curious to see what sorts of things it has, and have enjoyed it a lot. It is all fruits and vegetables,with a wide range of family heirlooms, and even more exciting to me, a surprising number people's personal breeding projects. I instantly gravitated to options like Kale 'Gulag Stars' which is described as: "Incredibly diversity unlike anything else, a mix of napus kales that have been crossed with B. rapa, bud pollinated by Tim Peters of Oregon to bypass species incompatibility mechanisms, crazy diversity of colors and shapes." (if you are not a SSE member, it is also available here) Be still my beating heart. How can I resist ANYTHING described as having "crazy diversity of colors and shapes" especially if it is the result of a cool and difficult to make interspecific cross? I'm such a plant breeding nerd...

I was a little surprised, though, when I got to the tomato section. I love a good tomato, but seriously? There is some insanely tomato love going on here. This is me holding the section of the book devoted to just listings of tomato varieties:

Fully 200 of the 482 pages with nothing but tomatoes. It is almost enough to make me stop breeding tomatoes and start focusing on everything else... tomatoes are good, but spread the love, people!

Magnificent Mums

Okay, I know what you are thinking. 'Magnificent' and 'Mum' are not two words that usually go together. Those little round blob mums you see for sale every fall tend to inspire, at best, words like 'reliable' and usually something along the lines of 'boring.' That's how I thought of mums, until my first trip to Japan, where I took this picture:

You know you are in Japan when the mums are bigger than the trees...

As an aside, I didn't see this in a botanic garden or something. This was just the display on someone's front porch I saw wandering around Nagoya. Grabbing a pot of mums at the supermarket to spruce up the front of the house takes on a little different meaning in Japan. 

Seeing mums like these made me think completely differently about them, made me realize that those little lumps of color you see here are just a tiny, tiny bit of the incredible variation in this group of plants.

Since I took that photo, almost a decade ago now, I've been keeping my eyes open for more interesting varieties, with little luck. Until recently, when I found some. Well, not some, a LOT. A whole treasure trove. Turns out a Faribault Growers has a whole line of varieties that are not only gorgeous and voluptuous but also fully winter hardy in Minnesota. Here are a few photos taken from their website:

Luscious. Just luscious. I'm going to stock up my garden with them this year and celebrate fall with a little drama.

The 2011 Veg Plan

I have already (I'm so organized this year!) put in almost all my vegetable seed orders, gone through my boxes of old seeds, and figured out what I am going to be growing. Here's what my current "To Grow" list looks like in the form of a mind map: (click to enlarge if you want to actually read it) (and don't make geek comments about me planning the garden this way... you know you are all just jealous with your lame spread sheets.)

SOOOO much fun! I'm going to have a truly outrageous amounts of green beans and peppers. Not to mention tomatoes. Yes, I only have 5 tomatoes listed, but 4 of those are breeding populations in progress, and I'd like to have at least 20 plants of each... Other fun things include trying to grow quinoa, my search for the prefect broccoli, and my various on-going corn breeding projects!
Next I have to figure out where I'm going to plant them all, and I start shopping for flowers and other pretty plants. Yay for planning season!

The Great Catalog list!

It is official. Plant catalog season is underway! Time to make some tea, get a blanket, and do some serious dreaming about next year's garden. To celebrate, I'm writing this post, which is an annotated list of all my favorite, can't-live-without-'em catalogs. I thought about pretending that this was for the purposes of sharing good information with you, my readers, but in reality, that is just a ploy. I always worry that I'm missing out on great catalogs, so this is my chance to pick all your brains on the best sources I don't yet know about. So PLEASE, if you love a company that isn't on my list mention in it in the comments, or better yet, talk about them on your blog (if you have one) and leave a link to it here.

I should add that this list is almost all seed catalogs. I am a huge fan of buying seeds through the mail. Mail order plants are tiny, expensive, and generally very stressed by the whole shipping process. Mail order seeds, on the other hand, are cheap (critically important to a grad student like myself) and utterly unfazed by shipping. They also cross country lines easily, unlike growing plants, which means you can happily shop from around the world. Seeds also solve the great problem of balancing the collecting urge to have one of everything with the good design imperative to plant in drifts since a single packet of seed easily produces a dozen or more plants. In short, seeds are the best -- within reason, of course. Some things are a pain to germinate, or don't come true from seed, but for everything else, there are seeds.

Oh, and I should say: I've never gotten any sort of kick-back or blogger swag from any of these companies. I just love 'em.

So, with no further ado, my very favorite catalogs, in no particular order:

Seed Savers Exchange
An exciting, diverse range of very cool heirloom vegetables. Nonmembers can shop the catalog, members get access to the entire seed exchange. I finally joined up this year and can't WAIT to see all the amazing stuff I'm going to have access to.

Johnny's Selected Seeds
If you grow vegetables in the north, you've got to check out Johnny's. Their catalog is more informative than most gardening books, you can rely on their varieties to perform,  and they do great breeding work. I go to other catalogs for crazy experiments. I go to Johnny's for solid varieties and information I can count on.

Pinetree Garden Seeds
I always order a lot from Pinetree because they've got a winning formula: Small seed packets, and very low prices. Who really needs 200 tomato seeds anyway? They have a very diverse selection of vegetables, many of them quite hard to find anywhere else. My only complaint is that their catalog is always horribly confusingly organized (why on earth aren't all the tomato varieties together in the same section?) but that is a minor quibble. Pinetree can't be beat when it comes to value for your money.

Territorial Seeds
I don't order much from Territorial, but I really like them. They do vegetables. Essentially they are a Johnny's for the Northwest, and since I don't live in the Northwest, their stuff is less applicable to me. But the catalog is a great, information packed read, and they always have a some quirky, cool things I want to try and can't find anywhere else.

Chiltern Seeds
Chiltern... love, love, love, adore this catalog. They're in the UK, but ship to the US without any fuss or bother, and oh, what a catalog. Their focus is ornamentals, and what a selection it is... page after page after page of amazing things I've never heard of. The catalog is also a lot of fun to read with funny, silly descriptions. On the down side, Chiltern is very expensive, especially with the exchange rate, and since they are in England their descriptions of how hardy or easy to grow something is essentially mean nothing here in my climate. That being said, even very expensive seeds are incredibly cheap compared to buying plants at the nursery, so why not experiment? This catalog is a high point. I read it cover to cover several times every winter with google and stacks of reference books around me. Chiltern will give you a wildly interesting botanical education, and a LOT of plant lust to deal with.

Gardens North
Another insanely terrific seed company for rare and unusual ornamentals. The selection is at least as varied and fascinating as any of the British companies I recommend here, but they are in Canada which means that I can actually GROW all the cool stuff they have on offer. They don't publish a paper catalog, which is kind of sad, but the website is wonderful. It also changes frequently throughout the year, meaning I have to go check out what they are up to every few months... and order a few things.

B and T World Seeds
B and T does seeds of ornamentals. This isn't really a browse-able catalog, because there are essentially no descriptions, but the selection is mind-boggling. If there is a specific thing I'm looking for, and no one else has it, they usually do. Based in France, ships to the US effortlessly.

ebay
Who would have thunk? Like B and T, ebay is hard to browse, but recently I've discovered that the range of rare (and not so rare) seeds and plants you can pick up there is pretty surprising. Quality is, of course, hit or miss, but I've actually always had good experiences. I always check there when I want something specific and can't find it anywhere else.

McClure and Zimmerman
My personal favorite bulb sellers. The selection is good, the catalog is very pleasant reading, and service is great. My default source for fall and spring planted bulbs.

Old House Gardens
This is a new one for me this year -- which is shocking since they are right here in Michigan! They are bulb sellers, with a solid, interesting selection. They might just be rivaling McClure and Zimmerman for my business this year.

Rosy Dawn Gardens
I just surfed into this company the other day, but I'm super excited about it! I love a company that REALLY specializes. These people just do coleus. Lots and lots of uber-cool coleus, some of their own breeding. Now I feel like I can stop by their site and know I've got access to everything coleus have to offer.

Specialty Perennials
I hesitate to recommend this company, but since I end up ordering from them every year I feel I can hardly leave them out. They do seed for a wide range of hardy perennials. I like them because they have a great listing of rare and unusual stuff, and also seeds of things that you can usually only buy as plants (last year, for example, I got heuchera, bergenia, and astilbe seed from them) which is great for someone like me who is gardening on a tight budget. The downside is their customer service or, rather, the lack thereof. Place an order, and your credit card gets charged right away and then it can take literally months for an order to get shipped. To add insult to injury, in the mean time they won't respond to e-mails or calls trying to find out what is going on. However, the seeds always do eventually arrive with fun free extras, prices are quite low, and the selection is good. So every year I bite my tongue, order early, and am patient.

Plant Delights Nursery
Does anyone NOT know this one? Just in case you don't, they sell a mind-boggling range of ornamental perennials. PDN is pricy, but also worth it. Like all really great nurseries, PDN focuses on their local climate, namely hot and humid North Carolina, so their selection is less applicable for me here in chilly Michigan, but I seem to end up ordering something from them every year. Whether you order anything or not, the catalog is a must read. Nobody writes a plant description quite like Tony Avent...

Annie's Annuals (and perennials)
If you've ever googled an unusual plant name, you've probably had Annie's Annuals pop up as a hit, complete with a lovely photograph and lots of good info. Annie's is a truly amazing nursery, with a stunning and eclectic array of both ornamentals and vegetables. Since they are in California and I'm in Michigan, a browse through their catalog leaves me with a severe case of zone envy more often than an actual list of plants to buy, but still, I wouldn't give up looking through for anything. Someday I'll build a greenhouse just so I can grow everything Annie sells.

Plant World Seeds
I just learned about this one last year, and oh MY. They are now rivaling Chiltern and Gardens North as my absolute favorite source of seed for ornamentals. Just typing their address into my browser sends a little shiver of joy down my spine. They're in England, so all the usual comments about climate and the expense due to the exchange rate, but what a catalog! What a selection! Plant World does a lot of their own breeding, so their catalog is full of hot-off-the-press, completely unique, new varieties. If nothing else, you've GOT to check out their selection of fragrant columbine. Now that I've grown them, I absolutely refuse to grow anything else. That is the sort of catalog this is: one that will change how you think about whole groups of plants.

Baker Creek
Rapidly becoming THE heirloom vegetable seed company, Baker Creek has a stunningly diverse, fascinating selection of varieties from around the world. Where so many companies take the "heirloom" concept only as far as the old standards like 'Brandywine' tomatoes, Baker Creek goes literally all over the world with things like a red-and-purple striped tomato from China or a watermelon from Iraq. The catalog for seriously crazy vegetable fun.

J.L. Hudson
This is perhaps the quirkiest seed catalog I've ever read. Vegetables, ornamentals, odd "ethnobotanicals", you name it. The selections are always intriguing (want to grow a bitter-but-edible wild relative of lettuce?) and I always have a great deal of fun reading it. Since they are seeds, experimentation is cheap, and experiment I always do.

A.M. Leonard
No plants here, but every tool, stake, or widget you could possibly want for your garden. Frustrated with my local garden center's vast selection of hideous garden sculpture and tiny selection of overpriced hand tools that break, I've shifted my gardening hardware needs 100% to AM Leonard. The quality is high with solid, dependable tools rather than gimicky gadgets, prices are low, and shipping is practically instantaneous. 

Glasshouse Works
This is my source of choice for unusual house plants and tropical plants for the garden. Their list of varieties is long and incredibly diverse, but their website a giant confusing mess of links and images, and it can be quite difficult to find your way around (a friend who visited the nursery in person said it was just as confused and dis-orderly there). Once you do get to the list of plants, however, be prepared for some fun. The coleus go on for pages, as do the begonias (many from their own breeding program). Shipping can be very slow, as sometimes they have to root a cutting before they can send a plant to you, and I've gotten a few dreadfully pot-bound, overgrown things from them, but everything has been disease and pest free, and they always seem to throw in a few free plants with the order. When I ordered a few begonias this spring, they included three extra ones, along with a note saying they were nice varieties, and a little more reliable than the ones I had ordered. I'd love these people just for the wide selection, but that generous, personal touch really keeps me coming back.

Arrowhead Alpines
Despite the name, Arrowhead doesn't just do alpines -- they do just about any ornamental plant you can think of, and many you can't think of because you've not heard of them yet. They are one of the great specialty nurseries in the country, with an enormous sprawling catalog packed with delightful gems. Better yet, at least from my perspective, they are right here in Michigan, which means when they say "hardy" I know that actually means it will survive my winter. For anyone in zone 5 interested in pushing boundaries, theirs is the catalog to get your hands on. Even better, the catalog is a joy to read, full of puns and silly jokes, and if you get to visit the nursery itself (highly recommended), you'll find they are delightful in person as well. I would say a good 80% of the growing plants (as opposed to seeds or bulbs) I buy every year come from Arrowhead.

So that is my list. Now, please let me know what I'm missing! I eagerly await new discoveries.

Black Friday

While you are thinking about shopping, why not go buy my cartoon calendar? It makes a perfect gift for that gardener in your life (even if that gardener is yourself...)

Why have I lived so long without fall crocuses?

After years of looking at the fall blooming crocus options in bulb catalogs, this year I finally bought a few.

Oh. My. God.

I am in love. Why on earth have I lived so long without these marvelous things? This is Crocus speciosus, and as you can see, if is insanely beautiful. Elegant. Graceful. Intricate. I think it may be even better than the spring flowering species I have been nuts about forever. Why did I buy so FEW? Next year they're going in by the hundred.

Friday Cartoon: How to design a garden

Another reason to mail order your bulbs?

I got a flower bulb catalog the other day from Colorblends. It was a bit late for me as I always put in my bulb orders back in June to take advantage of early-bird sales from my prefered source, McClure and Zimmerman, but I never turn down a chance to browse a catalog. One thing caught my eye: They had a little essay explaining that most daffodils sold in stores in the US are harvest and shipped too early, before they've had a chance to mature and dry properly, because big box stores demand early shipment to get their displays up early, and most independant garden centers feel forced to follow suit in order to compete. They say this makes the bulbs significantly more succeptable to fungal damage in shipment.

I always mail order my bulbs anyway (aside from a few impulse purchases) for the better selection and better prices. Guess you can add "not harvested too early" to that list as well.

Where are the violas?

I used to say pansies and violas just weren't worth growing. Here in the midwest winter slips pretty quickly into summer, with only a brief bit of spring in between, giving a spring planted pansy only has a few weeks to get growing and flowering before it lives up to its name and wimps out in the summer heat. My opinion changed one year when I saw a neighbor plant one -- just one, for some reason -- yellow pansy in the fall. It gave a decent show for a few weeks, then disappeared under the snow. I though that was the end and had forgotten about it until the snow finally melted and almost instantly, while the rest of the world was still half-frozen mud, that lone pansy started stopping traffic with a solid mass of flowers.
I learned my lesson. Pansies and violas, like tulips and daffodils, really ought to be planted in the fall so they can get established, overwinter, and start pumping out blooms while everything else is still underground. So why, of why, doesn't anyone have them for sale? I stopped at a local independent garden center last week. It had been overrun with pansies and violas in the spring, so I expected to find a good selection -- but no such luck... not a single one to be seen. I stopped at a big box store for another errand and found a measly selection of pansies. I bought a few even though I prefer the smaller flowers of violas better, and even though they were a mix of colors half of which I didn't want, because something is better than nothing. Once in they were in the ground, I knew I needed something better, so I trekked out to the good garden center, the one that is a good 30 minute drive away and has all sorts of cool stuff, confident they would have the cute, tough, smaller flowered violas I want in a wide range of colors. Ha. They had just a few pansies too, even less selection than the big box store. I was devastated and had to comfort myself by browsing through the discounted perennials and buying a dozen Digitalis thapsi for only a $1.50 each. This put me in a better mood, and I did end up buying a few trays of their pansies.

So I had to settle for pansies. Pansies which are pretty, of course, but I wanted violas. I was ready to spend vast amounts of money on violas to ensure that I would have a knock-out show next spring and... no luck. Independant garden center owners, if you are listening, this is why I end up spending less and less money every year at your stores, and more and more on mail order seeds. Now I know that if I want violas in the fall, I'm going to have to order seeds and grow them myself. Unless anyone knows of somewhere selling violas right now in Michigan?

Friday Cartoon: Buying Bulbs

I was at the grocery store, and they had a big display of bulbs for sale. I already put in a huge order for bulbs, but....

Bearded irises: not so boring afterall?

Bearded irises. I've always thought of them as being pretty in a generic, over-planted way, when they flower, but inclined to require staking (I hate staking), with foliage that starts off nice but quickly gets all disease ridden and yeck (one of the side effects of living somewhere it rains all the time, I suppose).

But, recently I've been talking to the one and only Kelly D. Norris, who (in addition to a lot of other stuff. He's kind of insane. In a good way) runs Rainbow Iris Farms.  He's starting to change my mind -- or at least, getting me to give irises a second chance. Basically, he's doing this by tempting me on his nursery's on-line catalog with photos like this (all photos stolen borrowed with permission from Kelly):

'Giggles and Grins'

I mean, SERIOUSLY?

'Consummation'

These ain't your Grandma's bearded irises...

'Jive'

'African Wine'

When I asked him about staking, he said "medians" don't need it. Bearded irises, like so many groups of plants that have been grown and bred and exhibited and obsessed over for a long time, have their own wacked-out language to describe themselves. The plants are broken down into categories like "Plicata," "Neglecta" and (my favorite) "Miniature Tall" (It used to be called "big small" but they decided that was too confusing). All these terms apparently mean things to Iris People. Kelly spent a while explaining it to me... still don't make much sense, but hey, who cares. They have flowers that look like this:

'Just a Croc'

When I asked him about foliage diseases... well, he said "they can do that." Which isn't exactly comforting, but with incredibly flowers like that, I think I'll be willing to put up with foliage that doesn't look perfect all year.

So... I ordered a few. Just a few. Okay, I ordered a dozen. But no more... except Kelly promised to throw in a few extras... Better start digging new beds for them all to live in!

Drawing: The mysteries of gardeners shopping

I try to avoid taking my partner when I go plant shopping. Mostly because I usually plan on piling plants in the space where he would be sitting in the car -- but also because he gets so confused as I walk past apparently lovely plants without even glancing and then go into hysterics over some strange little spiny thing.

Gardeners are very strange people.

(Also: A big thank you do Dobbies for naming Greensparrow Gardens blog of the week! I'm bursting with pride.)

I think I have a problem

This year, I started keeping a spreadsheet of all the new plant varieties and species I acquire in my garden so when I forget a name, I can easily look it up.

This weekend I entered plant number 158 into that spreadsheet.

Which seems a little excessive, but not really. After all, most of those plants I grew from seed, which is dirt cheap.

It also looks like that number is going to go higher, because the other day this came in the mail:

Guess I'm going to have to go back...

Annual Arrowhead Alpines Assignation

I took what I try very hard to make my annual trip to Arrowhead Alpines recently. By which I mean that I try very hard to go ONLY once a year, because I have yet to go without my bill somehow mounting into three figures. And that isn't because they are expensive -- prices are quite reasonable, they just have SUCH amazing stuff I can't resist.

If you don't know Arrowhead, you should. They are one of the great specialty rare plants nurseries in the US. They do mail order, so no matter where you live, you've no excuse not to browse their wonderful catalog, especially if you live in a cold climate. Unlike the tempting (but rarely hardy in Michigan) Plant Delights Nursery, Arrowhead is smack in the middle of zone 5, and their selection of plants for this climate is amazing. They have hardy versions of typically tender plants like agave, agapanthus, and gazania, and all kinds of other cool stuff.

This year I sampled some of their amazing primrose selection. Below are two of the Primula xpubescens 'Gigantea Select' I picked out. Their catalog says "Perhaps the best primula for Midwestern gardens, they laugh at summer heat, flowers are huge in a wide range of colors." With that recommendation, and these colors, how could I pass them up? If these perform as hoped, I'll be getting many more.

 

I also discovered a hosta I actually like! Like so much I couldn't pass it up. This little charmer is 'Pandora's Box' I bought a little pot, and easily pulled it apart into 20 (yes 20!) little divisions, which I spaced out to form a low mass in the front of the shade garden. They look a little sparse this year, but they should fill in next year.

On the subject of foliage for shade, I also couldn't resist getting another couple of their gorgeous Cyclamen hederifolium. They have a wide range of leaf types -- from mostly green to almost pure silver, but I like these intricately patterned ones best:

The plants I got are small, but the one I got from them last year has already grown into this spectacular clump. I'd grow it for the leaves alone, but they also are topped with a mass of fragrant pink or white flowers in the fall. Sure beats hostas!

They have a mind-boggling array of Sempervivum (I've never counted, but I think there must be over a hundred varieties listed in their catalog, and more at the nursery itself) which are so charming and so easy I never leave without picking up a new one. This time it was this bright red variety called 'Mona Lisa.' I can't quite believe the color! I wonder if it will hold all summer?

I got oodles of other things... a hardy cymbidium (yes! I'm not kidding!), lots of campanula (I've finally promised myself I will stop ignoring that genus) and so much else -- but none of them are flowering or looking pretty at the moment, so I'll save them for another day. I'm also trying to talk myself into going back... there are geraniums I wanted, and... well, we'll see.

Are specialty nurseries dying?

I got my copy of Asiatica's spring catalog the other day, which opens with a chatty letter from the owner. This year, a fairly depressing one, starting with "For most merchants in the specialty nursery business, [2009] was a difficult year." and going on to say: "If it wasn't clear before, it is clear now that there is no sound economic basis for introducing and selling new and rare plants."

Arrowhead Alpines' catalog doesn't start out much more cheerfully: The headline on their first page is "Still Alive" and includes this: "All the better specialty nurseries are struggling and we hope that out customers and friends will continue to support our efforts to provide cool new plant material. For that matter support our competition as well. It is depressing how many great nurseries have gone in the last couple of years."

Even the perpetually upbeat Tony Avent of Plant Delights writes in his nursery's current newsletter:
"The economy continues to devastate the nursery industry, and the latest casualty is Green Valley Growers of Willis Texas. Green Valley Growers was the 59th largest nursery in the country with 300 acres and one million square feet of greenhouse production. There are many other large growers who are still hanging on while operating in Chapter 11 or Chapter 12 bankruptcy ... we wish them the best in trying to save their businesses."

I wonder -- and worry -- if these nursery struggles are just one more side effect of the hard economic times, or a sign of a longer term trend. I hope not. I can't imagine a world without catalogs packed with amazing plants I've never heard of and long to grow... I hope all my beloved suppliers make it through the hard times, and thrive for years to come. I'll even add a little bit to my orders, just to do my part.

But I think -- and hope -- that brighter times are ahead. Gardening is becoming trendy! I know right now it is just vegetable gardening -- but surely those people lured into the garden by vegetables will be drawn ever deeper into plant addiction, and soon finding themselves ordering rare Japanese Asarum. The rise of the internet, which is not only the ultimate gardening reference book, but also a source for plant-lust inducing blogs, and virtual gardening communities, will surely help fuel the rise and passion of gardeners across the country and the world. I think gardening is poised to follow the path of the "foodie" scene, and explode into mainstream America.

What do you think? Is gardening on the rise? Are specialty nurseries doomed?

No, I don't need MORE copies of your catalog!

I opened my mail box yesterday to find catalogs from High Country Gardens, Johnny's Selected Seeds, and Bluestone Perennials. All companies I like -- but I already have a catalog from each of them. I've already gotten TWO from High Country, and I've already even put in my order to Johnny. I love catalogs -- but one is enough, people! Every extra catalog I get from you just makes me annoyed and less likely to order from you!

Addendum: DO look at the comments. A representative from High Country Gardens commented to explain that the multiple catalogs are actually different. So I take back all the annoyance I just expressed.

Seeds: A reality check.

My drawing yesterday was a happy image of how getting packages of seeds is like having a mailbox full of plants in the middle of winter.

This is the reality of my current seed situation:

Yes, this is a real, non-staged shot of my dining room table as I tried to sort through what seeds to direct sow, which to start early inside... this is AFTER I removed a dozen or so packets I decided I wasn't going to have room for. I started counting them up... and gave up when I reached 100. I think I overdid it a bit. Just a bit.

Gardening indoors: A much improved window

I'm all keen to get more house plants (even if, as my brother mentioned, this is more of a return to a former interest than anything entirely new) as you recall. So: I went to Van Atta's, our local good, basic (but not really inspired: They have nice, high quality plants but rarely any "I never knew that existed, but now I NEED it" plants) garden center, and looked at house plants. I came home with three: An unknown begonia, a Dracaena with freakishly awesome variegation ('Lemon Surprise' I am thinking, but possibly 'Lemon Lime') and Chlorophytum 'Fire Flash'

Here is the window before:

And After:

(I'm basing my before and after shots for this project on weight-loss advertisements. Before shots taken so as to maximize ugliness (at night, with the flash) and after shots taken to maximize prettiness (all back lit and glow-y).)

While I was trying to photograph it, Smudge decided to come "help"

He later knocked the chlorophytum over.  Hopefully it is tough enough to take it, because I am utterly enamored by it. What a great shade of orange. I think I'll remove a lower leaf or two to show it off better. The only thing I have doubts about is the begonia -- most begonias are fussy, though some are also virtually impossible to kill. We'll see what class this one falls into. I also wonder if it will get enough light there, in front of the other two. If it starts looking miserable I'll have to track down a better dark-leaved plant for that spot.

Therapy for winter: Meijer Gardens

So this weekend I went to Meijer Gardens -- a huge public greenhouse about an hours drive away in Grand Rapids. They were having their annual orchid show this weekend, which was additional reason to go.

They had LOTS of orchids. And lots of people selling orchids. My new Indoor Gardening resolution was burning in my mind, tempting me to buy, buy, buy... But I restrained myself. I simply looked, noticed what I liked, and asked the one orchid freak (and when I say orchid freak, I mean freak I asked him about slipper orchids and he launched into an explanation of how they're not REALLY orchids because their fertile anthers are derived from the wrong whirl. Right. Though I could, if prompted, launch into rant about how rosemary is actually a salvia due to THEIR anthers, so I guess I can't make fun of him) of my aquaintance what he would recommend for my house, which I keep very very cool.

Luckily, the first genus he mentioned is ALSO the genus I had been admiring most in the show: Masdevallia.

(Sorry about the bad photos -- it was dim, and the crowds made it hard to get good pictures -- check out google images for a better idea of how cool these orchids are)

But there weren't many for sale -- because, I guess, most people don't keep their house in the 50s and 60s all winter. So I'm going to read more, and then maybe order some from somewhere.

After the orchid show, we enjoyed the consevatories, as you can see in these photos. Starting with a shot of the arid room for the sake of Germi who is suffering from too much rain.

Warning: Slightly inapproriate behavior with an amorphophallus ahead:

A tillandsia of some sort: