Indoor Blooms, Anyone?

Don't feel bad, Allison. Both of my teeny-tiny hydrangeas seem to have died.

I've killed every African Violet I ever had, which wasn't many. One I have managed to keep alive is the peace lily.

I really like the one Allison recommended, and I do have room for it to grow large.

you guys are going to laugh... but believe it or not I ordered that plant from publishers clearing house... along with two others (don't know what the other two were... and killed them) .... claiming they were "smoke eater" plants..... if you smoke they clean the air... it was only about an inch big.... and I bought that well over 10 years ago and made several others out of it.... kept a few and gave a bunch away

see..now my peace lily always has dry leaf tips and looks pathetic.

That's amazing Alllison. And does it get rid of the smoke? Maybe I'll get one for the garage too.

My peace lily is in a north facing window, and I water it a lot. It blooms sparingly. But the foliage is nice on it. And anything green in the winter is nice.

I've almost killed my lucky bamboo, and am wondering what the dire results will be when it finally goes.

Polly I am not so sure about the smoke eating part.... I am sure it helps... but I have had it so long can't really tell

:)

I was doing well with my tiny peace lily.... now not so sure.... it's also in a north window..... I think I need to water more now that the heat is on in the house... maybe drying out faster

Does anyone use a store-bought humidifier for their houseplants? Do those little ones work? I see a lot of them sold in drug stores (mostly for kids with colds/coughs, it seems like.) My indoor air is very dry now that the heat is turned on. I have a little hygrometer that I stuck up near my plant stands, and it gets down pretty low (30%) during the day. I read that humidity levels of between 50-60% are good for plants and people living together.
Sorry, Candyce. Don't mean to hijack the thread on houseplant blooms!

Yes - I have used them for my overwintering plants.

Candyce, I have your usual Christmas and Thanksgiving cacti blooming, a fantastic amaryllis 'white peacock' and a heartleaf Hoya just opened up 2 huge umbels this evening.... that's it, I think.

I should get an hygrometer. I have forced air heat, so I am sure the humidity is low. My plant setup in the basement has a plastic zippered cover. I know the humidity is higher in there as there will sometimes be condensation on the plastic. I have my basil and starts in there.

Harper ~ I still am anticipating the opening of the buds on my Christmas Cactus. I look at it every day to see if it will develop a few more buds. So far, just three.

Have you taken any photos of your blooms? I'd love to see them!

Anita, one can never have too many hygrometers! You should be fine, though if you're getting condensation on the plastic of your cover.

Candyce, the Christmas cactus likes cold to get it's buds started. Those are usually the last ones I bring in from the summer. Try using bloom booster. That's what my MIL does.

Here's my Hoya kerri in bloom.

Turns out I've got more in bloom than I thought. I also have a desert rose blooming, a phalenopsis orchid budding (no blooms yet), an echiveria still blooming from happy days outside in the early fall, a crown of thorns... a couple more things downstairs that I haven't checked yet.

Here's the crown of thorns... oops, sorry I didn't pluck off the dead bloom.

White Peacock Amaryllis

Phalenopsis in bud. I'm keeping my fingers crossed with this one. Never got an orchid to bloom before, even though this is an easy one.

Desert Rose. Sorry it's blurry...

Christmas cacti. More pictures later.

Very nice, Harp!! That Phal should give you months of blooms once it starts. That's the type my friend specialized in. I always had blooming orchids in my office.

All beautiful Harper but the desert Rose is just gorgeous!!!!

Thanks Celeste. yeah, that desert rose is a beaut. I did something wrong to it last year and it's still recovering... the leaves were really tiny. I still don't get it, but I'm experimenting. Hey, I'm just happy it bloomed.

Thanks Victor. I'm looking forward to the bloom on the orchid. I almost trashed this plant because I thought it just would never bloom again, so I stuck it under a tree this summer and ignored it. When I went to bring all of them back in, this guy was eeking out a bud stem. WooHoo! Now he's getting the royal treatment with daily misting and all.

Don't go overboard with the tlc. My office was bone dry and they still did fine. The room was very bright.

Good to know. Thanks.

Here's my echiveria blooms.

The ceropegia woodii (rosary vine) bloomed like crazy all summer, it set seeds.

Someone does really well with houseplants! How many do you have Harper?

One hundred and twenty one!! That's counting my combo pots as one, and not including my six amaryllis.

Wow - that's 120 more than me! Those seeds look cool.

Oh my!

Most are in the kitchen and the basement. The kitchen because it's south facing and has the most windows. The basement because I have some shelves set up with shop lights for most of my cacti and succulents. I need more shelving for the bigger plants, though. When I set up the grow lights, I didn't realize how little space there would be for the plants.

Here's a shot of one of the shelves.

very nice shots Sofonisba desert rose is very pretty

About 2 months ago I signed up for Home Depo Gardeners Club online. Yesterday in the mail I got a coupon that says: Buy one Tropical House Plant and get the Second One Free. So for anyone that is into house plants, this is FYI

(The coupon is good till Jan. 30th).

Awesome blooms! Now, there's a lady with lots of plants!! Thank you so much for sharing all of the lovely photos. More! More!

Very nice Harper. I'm still hoping for my jade plant to flower some day. The last time I went to the Orchid Show and the NY Botanical garden, it was blooming. There was a gentleman there that said I should leave it outside until the last possible moment and then bring it in. Nothing. It may be too young yet.

I have wanted a 'Apple Blossom' Amaryllis and I finally got one a few weeks ago from my DGD. I planted the bulb as soon as she gave it to me and this is what I saw on Monday.

Then on Tuesday I woke up to find this.....

This message was edited Dec 13, 2007 7:49 AM

Last night when I went to bed I noticed it had a second bud getting ready.

This morning that bud had started to open. I think there are 3 more buds on it too!!!!!

How pretty!

Very nice, Celeste.

Celeste:
That's so beautiful!

That's gorgeous Celeste!

Anita, I've never seen a jade bloom in captivity. I've heard it can be done, but not easily. I don't have hopes for any of my jades to bloom. If they do, I think I'd faint.

Candyce, I don't have anything else blooming. My 'Lady Jane' amaryllis will open up soon. When it does, I'll post pics.