Bulb vase

The composition of these photos isn't great but you can see what I am trying to do. This is my best thalia bloom this winter. I really like this vase and though I have had it for 2 years this is the 1st time a bulb I attempted to force in it has graced me with a bloom. This time I get 3! Thalia tend to have multiple blooms but this winter all of mine have had just 2 per bulb. So right now this one is at its peak.

Spring is coming soon. I will have natural blooms soon.

Houseplants

It is snowy out. I have changed to a mac instead of PC and everything looks different. I wonder if my old computer was dim. Anyway, this is the green in my life right now.

This goblet has Thalia narcissus. I forced these last year too. I actually forced a lot of them last year. This winter I didn't go as crazy with it.

Here's one of the garden plants, lemongrass, I am wintering indoors. Some are out while others are in the basement in the cold room.

This is a narcissus, unknown variety and a hyacinth. I really like this hyacinth vase. And this bulb has cooperated by rooting nicely. We'll see how well it blooms. I'm always on the look out for hyacinth vases at thrift stores. This one is unusual.

My Terrace

This is the aftermath of dealing with the hedge, a muddy little bare slope. My sensibilities are pretty simple and primitive but this was ugly. Plus I always liked terraces.


The hedge ended where the railroad tie wall begins which left a weird gap between the wall and the slope. The shrub I removed there was so large and overgrown, it was like ripping out a tree. I thought about putting in a more standard sort of wall but considering my neighborhood, and the general look of my yard to begin with, I went with found material.
I have decided to plant some nice perennials in each terrace. The bottom one has siberian iris which should grow pretty tall and cover a lot ot the railroad ties. The 2nd terraces has bee balm, also called monarda, something I had kept in a pot last year because I had not broken enough ground for it. Beebalm is beenip to bees. I really think they get stoned when they re around it. Hummingbirds love it too.

One thing I thought might be nice is to plant my spent thalia bulbs. I planted them below the bee balm. Thalia is apparently the oldest (1610) known hybrid narcissus. I don't know if they'll do well considering that I forced them in water rather than soil and that I did not let them stay green for the 6 weeks post-bloom recommended, but it was plant them or throw them away. In planting them I have cultivated the soil to a deeper depth than I would have otherwise.

They were lovely in my house. I forced them in various vases and these gigantic sherry glasses in clear glass marbles, hydroton, and white glass disks.


Here's the finished (for now) wall. It is sturdy enough to hold a cat. I hope humans will not try to stand on top of it. Anyway it isn't so much of an eyesore and will be less so as the plants grow in.

Wintry Things

1. Cat with freshly spun true black alpaca.

2. Faded hyacinth blooms in flourescent light packaging

3. Frozen soap bubble; hard to make in this climate

4. Forced bulbs; hyacinths and thalia narcissus, image slightly doctored by oversaturation.