The Color Of Summer Staying away from social media for almost two months proved very productive. I don’t mean to offend anyone who has been reading my blog or bloggers I’ve been following but I needed time to reflect, get things done and read books. I did get a lot of things done, have read more books and even started baking again. Now I’m back, … Continue reading Hibiscus
In A Cold Climate There are many types of jasmine and most of them prefer warm weather. I love jasmine and refuse to be deterred by cold weather. When I lived in an apartment I grew a couple of Arabian jasmine (Jasminum sambac) on the windowsill as there was plenty of sun on that side. Now I’ve moved further north and have a garden, I … Continue reading Growing Jasmine
It’s ‘Officially’ Here Today is ‘officially’ the first day of spring. That’s what it says on the calendar but in reality our garden is still snowed in. The temperature is hovering a little bit above 30°F and there will be more snow coming down tonight and continuing until Wednesday night. We expect a foot of wet snow accumulation added to what we already have on … Continue reading Spring
Colorful Display It was nice to go from bone-chilling cold to warm and humid weather and be among a variety of very bright, colorful and beautiful tropical flowers. Now, back to the cold climate and inches of snow on the ground, the longing for the site and the scent still lingers. Working on photographs I took during the trip helps a little. Here are a … Continue reading In The Tropic
Really A Fragrant Bouquet I love fragrant flowers and try my best to collect them in our garden. Many of them have to stay in pots as they are tropical plants. As we are running out of space in the basement, I try not to get a new tropical plant. I also try not to propagate plants I have. It’s hard to do since I regularly … Continue reading Cashmere Bouquet
A Tiny Fragrant Star Winter is my time for basement gardening. Where we live we have to put our tropical plants in the basement for the winter. It’s a lot of labor to go through twice a year. We take them in when we know that the night temperature will drop and stay below 45°F, usually around late September or early October. Then take them back … Continue reading Water Jasmine
Blooming Jasmine I try to grow a couple of new plants every year. One of the plants I added to our tropical collection last year was Yellow Jasmine ‘Revolutum’ (Jasminum humile). I didn’t expect it to bloom this year especially during the winter. All the tropical plants reside in our basement under daylight fluorescents that stay lit for 12 hours each day. The furnace provides just enough heat for … Continue reading Winter Treats
With the Memory of Colorful Flowers I have taken leave to the other side of the world for a couple of weeks. Though I didn’t have much time to look around as I usually do, still common tropical flowers were the cheerful sight to be seen. Nothing much in North America but bare branches and snow. So, sharing some colorful images of these common tropical … Continue reading Back From The Tropics
The Poet Yes, someone named this jasmine ‘Poet’ or ‘French Perfume’ (Jasminum grandiflorum). I’m not sure I like the name or the scent best. I can see why it get this name. One whiff of its scent and you can write a few lovely lines of poetry. If you keep sniffing it, you may be able to pull a Robert Frost act. It’s a lovely vine with … Continue reading Poet Jasmine
Never Have Enough After a flood of “Maid of Orleans” jasmine (Jasminum sambac) a couple of weeks ago, there are still some flowers to pick for the house everyday but not as many, not until the second wave of flowers bloom. They are forming new flower buds again and won’t slow down until they are back in the basement wintering over. Now it’s the time … Continue reading More Jasmine
Petals and Wings 