What's Blooming in December

Here at Cottage-in-the-Meadow Gardens we do have a few plants blooming indoors at the moment.

Among our tropicals in bloom is this beautiful moth orchid.

Anthurium, another tropical blooms on a kitchen windowsill.

Anthuriums have unique, colorful blossoms that last a long time.

This is one of our plant collections under lights in the basement.  At center left and right are rooted cuttings of my favorite coleus, 'Meandering Linda.' Behind the coleus on the right is a start from the sansevieria that Grant Wood used in his painting, Woman with Plants.  At bottom is a Ghost Plant and lurking in the background is the impatiens in the photo below.

This impatiens, that Victorian gardeners called "sultana," is somewhat rare in the modern world of gardening.  It grows to three feet tall and has interesting variegated leaves.

Blooms from Betsy (piksihk)

Walking Iris

Salpiglosis

Congratulations to our Mystery Blossom Contest winner for November, Tee (SongofJoy) from Tennessee. Coming in second and third, respectively, were piksihk and Moby.  Tee is a major contributor to the ATP plant database, having provided 3,547 plant images.  She is also one of our Gardening Ideas writers.  Here is how she responded to my gardening questions.

How did you come to be a gardener?

As a child, I spent a lot of time on my grandparents' farm. I think it was there that the seeds of the love of gardening were first planted in me. My mother also loved to work in the yard and was a garden club member and talented floral arranger. A little of that may have rubbed off.

How long have you been gardening?

I have been gardening for over 40 years now. Since we moved fairly frequently, there was always something to learn about gardening in a new location.

If you had a chance to give just one piece of advice to a beginning gardener, what would it be?

You'll find a lot of diverse (and frequently overwhelming) information and ideas when it comes to growing things. A lot of gardening is simply trial-and-error, so don't be discouraged if you try and fail. If you persevere, you'll discover what works best for you and develop your own best gardening techniques.

Creeping Phlox, Tee's favorite photo

Why did you choose this particular photo for publication?

My grandmother's pink and purple creeping Phlox subulata covered the bank to the upper vegetable garden on their farm. In bloom, it was a spectacular sight that I still see in my mind's eye to this day.

Do you have a favorite flower?

Wow, it's difficult to pick just one. I've always loved daffodils, but right now it's the pansy because they bring such cheerful and welcome cold-weather color to our zone. 'Arctic Blast', 'Icicle' and 'Cool Wave' pansies and their smaller viola cousins are some of the more cold-hardy varieties. My favorite wildflowers are the milkweeds and Queen Anne's Lace. I recently discovered a jelly recipe I'm eager to try. http://www.foragingfoodie.net/queen-annes-lace-jelly.html

Do you grow vegetables as well?

I do grow some vegetables (and lots of herbs), mostly in containers, but I'm hoping to have a new small garden bed for veggies this coming year. I grow tomatoes, sweet and hot banana peppers, leeks, onions, chard, and mesclun in containers. In preparation for the in-ground garden, I have seeds of cardoon, kale, curly kale, mustard greens and salsify. I am a fan of "Square Foot" and "Lasagna" gardening.

Do you have any other hobbies?

It's a well-kept secret, but I write bad poetry. I enjoy history and travel. I forage to collect flowers and any other interesting plant parts to dry for use in decorating and in various other ways. I am a seed and plant trader. I suppose one of my favorite hobbies is junkin' and repurposing those old cast-offs into yard art or something else useful. One person's junk truly is another person's treasure.

Betsy (see piksihk above) wrote to share photos of two of her favorite plants currently in bloom ("Blooms from Betsy" below left).