Holiday Bloomer

I tried planting mini-amaryllis bulbs last year.  Don't know if they were too old or I didn't plant them right or something, but they sprouted nicely but never bloomed.  A couple of weeks ago (November 10), I was at Menard's and they had boxed amaryllis with the bucket and soil for under $5.00 so I decided to try again.  I took it home and planted it that day, watered it regularly and put it in my front window so it would get plenty of sun.  Now, only two weeks later, this is my result and I'm pretty happy.

Another week or so and it should be a big beautiful red and white flower (a bit before Christmas but still within the Holiday period).  This time, I'll take care of it properly and store the bulbs like I'm supposed to and I'm hoping to get another beautiful bloom every year.

[Note the lovely English Ivy cascading next to it.  That's one of my real triumphs from the outdoor garden this year.  Since bringing it in, it has grown even more!

Warm Weather

It's truly unbelievable how warm the weather still is.  Yes, we've had a few cold days so far, but the last couple of weeks have been averaging 40s and 50s in the daytime with barely freezing temps at night.  As a result, the soil is not frozen (not even slightly) and I was able to plant more daffodil bulbs today.  Those that I planted a month ago may be casualties as a couple of them actually started to grow in the warm soil -- especially after we got a lot of rain.  I hope they all survive.

Given this warm weather (highs in the 50s all of this next week until Friday), I think I'll go get more bulbs and continue to put them in the ground.  I also have a big whiskey barrel planter in the back that could be planted with hyacinth and tulips (or something similar) -- up a bit to keep them away from the rabbits.

I have quite a lot of large containers that I'm overwintering in the garage, and I sure hope this warmer weather doesn't cause a problem there.  I'll need to make sure they stay watered until they can freeze solid.

I've been getting catalogs over the past couple of weeks and I think I'm going to buy a grow light for this next Spring.  I'm not going to start anywhere near as many from seed as I did last year so the light will make healthier seedlings (that I'll be able to start a bit later and, then, transfer to my greenhouses), and I can maybe continue to start seedlings throughout the growing season.  I've never done that before.  Generally, I do my seeds in the Spring, get the plants into the ground and don't start other plants.  However, I'm thinking that I might do a little more layering of my seed-starting next year.  Just some thoughts.  Can't believe I'm already well into planning for next year when it's only November!