Look what’s blooming in my house this week.

I promised to let you know when the other Amaryllis bloomed and bloom it most certainly has. It was labeled correctly and it has turned out to be Gervase. 

 

I wanted to show off a few of my other plants that are blooming right now.  The first is a particularly fine example of the humble African Violet, or Saintpaulia.  African Violets are easy to propagate and fairly easy to grow (once you figure out that they don’t like getting their leaves wet, and so they should be watered from below).  African Violets  are commonly available and inexpensive, so are often thrown away when they’ve finished blooming.  Although common, it isn’t easy to find named varieties of African Violets unless you buy from collectors.

We bought this African Violet from a specialty vendor at Canada Blooms one year. I actually bought it as a present for a friend and stole a leaf so I could grow one for myself.  I remember waiting for the bus after the show and a lady in the line-up asked me why I was wasting my money buying expensive African Violets from the show, when I could get them more cheaply at the grocery store. I didn’t want to waste my time arguing with the woman, she had obviously made up her mind, but the reason why I bought this (and other African Violets) from specialty vendors is because they are special. They seem to flower for much longer periods and the flowers are outstanding. This one has huge purple flowers with white frilly edges. What do I mean by huge?  Look at this.

Two and a half inch flowers!

 

And finally orchids.  Who can resist the lure of the Phalaenopsis or moth orchid. They are now so common and so cheap that they’ve become throw away plants too.  It is tricky to get them to bloom again and over the years I have resisted the temptation to buy orchids because I  just couldn't seem make them re-bloom.  Last year my best friend gave me a lovely little orchid and this time I was determined to try to make it re-flower.  I took the advice of Ed Lawrence, who does the gardening phone-in show every Monday at 12:30 p.m. on CBC Radio 1, who explained how to make the moth orchid re-bloom.  It has a lot to do with light levels, but more importantly you need to give a period (I think about a month will do it) where there is a 10 degree difference in temperature between day and night. I guess that is to simulate what happens in the jungle where they are native.  Ed then explained that one trick to achieving this is to water the orchid by placing ice cubes on their roots. Apparently the icy water is enough to create the temperature difference.

And it worked!  Look at this. 

 Apparently, this only applies to the moth orchid. I hope this wasn't a fluke as I bought myself another orchid last week! I'll let you know how it goes.