Garden Bloggers Bloom Day - January 2011

It's that time of month again around the blogospere....time to show off what we have blooming in our gardens.  Although this winter has been very strange.....Snow in October and 50/60 degree weather in December.  Now it's January and we are below freezing.  Nothing outside is blooming but inside...

 My African Violets are blooming up a storm.

This is my favorite as it looks like a mini rose.

 Any color other than the traditional dark purple is high on my need to have list.

 Then soon after the solid colors this type ranks right up there.  I just love the way the colors blend.

Or how they blend here but also have a different petal texture.....all wavy.

Although it's only one flower in different colors I can still say that I have flowers in the middle of winter.  My garden is outside and inside.

So if you want to see some more pictures of blooming plants then head over to May Dreams Gardens and see what Carol has blooming or one of the many other bloggers that participate in GBBD.

GBBD - March 2011

The 15th has rolled around again.  Although I was truly hoping to showcase some flowers outside of the house I can't.  See it is still winter here.  And I do mean that it is still winter. Yesterday I saw snow flakes falling from the sky and today it is in the low 20's outside.  The ground has a nice brown white color to it.  Ok not nice but you get the point.  Mother Nature continues to surprise me but then again my spring doesn't start till mid April.  The calendar may say March 20 but the average last frost date is April 22.

Anyways your here for the flowers........so onward I go to show you my beautiful flowers growing inside my house.

One of my newest editions to the house is this Angel Plant Rex Begonia.  Bad picture but pretty flowers

Not a flower but certainly looks like one my Bromeliad.

On to my new passion of African Violets.  I had fun today using the sun to get different angles of the flowers.  I love how one plant can have flowers that look all different.

Another African Violet.  The white one.  I think it is interesting how the pollen sacs are more white than yellow.

I love the crinkly look as well as the hint of purple just on the edges.

Another example of a African Violet having different types of blooms on one plant.  Mostly purple or mostly white.  Either way very pretty.

My newest African Violet to join the mix was this red one.  In the sun light they look so velvety.

And for the last of the African Violets currently blooming.  This one has a few blooms with what almost look like a second set of petals.

Playing around with the sun and plants again I got this shot today of my spider plant with a flower on the baby.  A new stem has even begun to grow out of the main mother plant so it looks like I will have more flowers soon.








Thanks go out again to Carol over at May Dreams Gardens for hosting this monthly event.  Head over there and check out some of the other garden bloggers and what they have blooming.

Blooming Friday - Feeling Blue

The theme this week is feeling blue.  Not having anything thing that is blue thats blooming I will have to use the alternate definition of feeling sad.  It is yet another rainy day here in NY.  Lots of rain actually.  So that in it's self is giving me feelings of blue.  But I have a few plants that due to my own lack of knowledge almost killed.

This African Violet used to have Dk Purple almost blue blooms.  I am now nursing her back to health after getting too much sun.

This one had Purple blooms with white in the middle. Another victim of lack of knowledge and too much sun.

White blooms with pink edging this one also suffered from the sun but is looking much better.

Pink with white edging although not round looking ok.

The Dk Purple almost blue blooms....aren't they pretty.

Although not blooming or even growing yet this is a picture of one of my iris.....pretty light blue.  It's my hope picture.  Hope that the weather continues to warm and the snow continues to melt so I can see this pretty flower grow.



Thanks to Catherine over at Roses and Stuff for hosting this weeks Blooming Friday.  Stop on over there and see who else is posting about something feeling blue.

Thriving Thursday

Today here in Hopewell Junction, NY it is raining.  46 and raining.  I couldn't get outside to do anything so what did I do all day?  Took pictures of my indoor garden.  Granted some are going to be going outside just as soon as they safely can but for those that get to stick around inside well they were subjected to camera torture. Ahh but what beautiful pictures I got.

So today being Thursday I am starting a Thriving Thursday post.  Show other what is thriving in your world on this Thursday. Be it pictures of the gardens thriving or wildlife taking over.  What is thriving? Post it, leave a link and a comment.  Check back and see who else has something thriving in their neck of the world.

This reverse spider plant-lett was found on the floor during a greenhouse trip I rescued it and 2 friends also found and they have now gotten to the point of needing re-potting.

This is a regular spider plant-lett.  With white on the outside.  This had been water rooting for over a week and was doing quite well so graduated to soil rooting.

Momma Spider is still blooming.  I loved the way this plant-lett has a bloom in the middle of it.

This is a new plant-lett branch on momma spider.  She is really thriving.  Loving her new home.

My Christmas Cactus is starting to show signs of new growth.  Hard to tell when everything is green but right in the center of the picture there are 2 segments that are a little lighter than the rest....thats new.

These pretty colorful leaves are part of my Hypoestes collection.  Also known as Polka Dot plants.  There are 4 different varieties in my collection now.  White, Red, Pink, and Dk Pink.

One of my African Violet blooms.  Such pretty coloring

Another African Violet bloom.  Beautifully pure white.  Even the pollen seems to be white.

Not a flower but thriving anyways this is my dwarf extra curled parsley.  Getting bigger every day.







So thats my Thriving Thursday photo's.  What do you have?  Leave a link, leave a comment if you wish, come back and see who else has posted.

Blooming Friday - Big and Small

Today's Blooming Friday theme over at Roses and Stuff is Big and Small.  I had to think hard about this one as it it is still winter outside.  How was I to find something big and small and yet still blooming, but then I realized something

My Spider plant is big with small plantlets and even...

........a really small flower, smaller than......

......my African Violet flowers, but these are small...............

.....when looking at the mini daffodil flowers.

My Aloe plant is big.......................

......and this one is small.








Turns out finding big and small for this blooming Friday wasn't that hard after all.  Why don't you stop on over to Roses and Stuff and see who else found big and small in their part of the world today.

Thanks to Catherine for hosting this.