Well right after I published that post, Bob visited our nearest big city and brought back a beautiful red flowering plant for me. It is a cyclamen. I've never had one of those before. Look how beautiful and bright red it is!
Bright Red Cyclamen
Since receiving this cyclamen it has really blossomed out. It has 3 times as many flowers on it right now than it had when it first got here.
Then, a few days later, I was over at Jack's and was admiring his potted rose bush by the front door. So he gave me a full deep pink bloom to take home with me. It is so deep pink that it's almost red. See it there next to my pink wine:
Beautiful Rose Bloom
This cut rose bloom still looks just like this and it is almost 1 week old today. It's really lasted a long time for a rose.
Both of these flower gifts have made my life and my home a little cheerier. I am grateful to have such wonderful partners who love me and give me little reminders of their love all the time.
I love flowers. I love to receive them, and I love to grow them, but I have been so busy growing vegetables & fruit for the past 10 years, that I really haven't grown many flowers. Sure my red petunias lasted in a pot on my porch for awhile, until they died recently. My roses struggle along never quite blooming enough to suit me. Something ate my daisies. The gophers eat my tulip bulbs and the deer scarf down the blooms. My irises grow, but don't bloom that much anymore. I guess my lavender plants flower pretty well all year. They have sort of taken over my herb garden. And the amaryllis bulbs that my Mom gave me years and years ago, called Naked Ladies, a light pink showy blossom, do pretty well each summer, although I think the gophers may get to them too. The only flowers that do really well each year are my spring daffodils. Nothing eats them and they poke their bright yellow heads up to face the warm spring sun only to get rained and snowed on for their bravery. I love how brave they are. I want to be like them. Sunny, bright, delicate, yet strong and brave.
Be a flower. Brighten someone's day.
Thanks Bob and Jack for my beautiful red flowers. I love them, and I love you.
© Copyright 2008 Mountain Harvest Basket
10 comments:
I love Cyclamens and they do quite well and bloom all year round. Just find the right spot and they'll bless you with lots of flowers. And they come in such luscious colors . . . from whites to dark reds. In So. California they even did well in the shade planted in the ground. But I'm thinking our cold winters wouldn't do them well here in the mountains!
Very pretty. I can see why they make you feel happy and bright.
Please see my blog for a feel better card for Lisa... Shhhhhhh!!! Don't tell!!!
Lydia
www.stewylydia.blogspot.com
I am happy that you are enjoying the red Cyclamen. I felt as saddened as you when your pretty red petunia departed us.
The nursery I visited had very few flowering plants in stock that would survive our somewhat harsh Winters here in the mountains. And, Petunias were definitely out of season as evidenced by the raised eyebrows of the attendant when I asked her for one.
I knew whichever plant that I purchased must have a red flower for my Jen. Anyway, I then spied the red Cyclamen, and Hopefully it will make you smile each time it is watered.
I love you too.♥♥♥
Farmer Jen,
Your flowers are just lovely and I can see how they'd cheer you every time you walk past them.
I don't have much luck with outside flowers either. This was my first year growing daffodils and I, too was surprised at how brave they were to weather out the hail and snow storm that tried to freeze them out.
I hope they will come back even stronger this next Spring. Do you think they will?
By the way, I want to give you a little bouquet of flowers to make you smile everytime you sign into your blog.
Click the link below to go to my blog award page and claim these flowers just for you, ok?
Flowers for You
Have a beautiful day :)
~Lisa
New Mexico
Hi CA Grammy,
Thanks for the info on the cyclamens. Mine is beautiful and has a lovely scent. Now I need to figure out if I am going to plant it in the ground or not.
Hi Frugalmom,
Flowers do perk me up!
Hi Lydia,
I read your blog. Nice of you to do that for Lisa.
Hi Bob,
I can just picture you asking for a spring petunia in the nursery and getting "the eye" from the clerk. I am surprised that they even knew that petunias were out of season. I smile and I talk to the cyclamen when I water her. (yes, it's a she)
Hi Lisa,
My daffodils are mostly yellow King Alfreds. They are quite hearty and do naturalize (multiply) each year to make more blooms. So each bulb I planted a few years ago has an additional bloom on it each year. We have clay soil that is slightly acid here in the foothills. I hardly ever feed my bulbs but I did put some natural bone meal in the hole when I planted them. Yours will likely return in the spring and surprise you with more blooms each year.
Thank you so much for the flower award! I will be pleased to add that bouquet to my blog. I will add it tomorrow when I am more awake than I am right now. Time for bed for me.
One of my favorite flowers...the cyclamen....the blooms lasts so long. I have never planted them outdoors so I don't know how they would do but they have great smiling faces......Loretta
Hi Loretta,
So nice to have a blog comment from you, and it was great talking with you on the phone tonight. My bright red cyclamen is doing well indoors, but I think I should figure out where to plant it outside. Perhaps in a large pot in a protected area on my porch.
Your flowers are just beautiful! I like your blog, now if I can just find some time to read more of it! I don't have alot of luck growing anything, so I will come here for my fix!
Thanks for stopping by, I love having new people take a look and take the time to leave a comment! Hope you visit again soon and take care!
Hugs!
Cyclamens are one of my two favorite flowers. (Azaleas are the other.) Apparently there's at least one species native to Greece, where (as you probably already know) they're called "kyklaminos."
As far as growing them outdoors, down here in the Central Valley they do great in moist, shady spots. Up there in the hills, maybe their hardiness would depend on the variety?
I struggle to get bougainvilleas through frosty winters, yet parts of Greece that are covered in snow every single winter are likewise covered in bougainvillea blossoms all summer. Maybe they are locally adapted varieties. Maybe it's the same with cyclamens. I say, try them outside. Nothing prettier!
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