Simply Balisha

Simply Balisha

Saturday, October 11, 2014

I Love Color

Yesterday I ordered some things to brighten out house for the coming winter. I like to have blooming plants around me all through the year. Winter comes and it's time for Amaryllis bulbs, paper white narcissus, Christmas Cactus, and maybe a few forced bulbs. Books and flowers are the things that I buy most. I would take a new plant or book over a new piece of clothing any day.

One year we had a garden club project for each of us to take home a pot of tulips...to put in the cold and bring out in the early spring. We selected the tulip bulbs and planted them in shallow, clay, bulb forcing pots. Wrapped them in wet newspapers and put them somewhere cold, but not freezing. I had an extra fridge downstairs to hold mine. We kept moistening the newspaper until spring and then brought them up and in a week or so....they started growing. We all got on the phone to check with everyone and see if they were having the same results. It was a fun project that was highly successful. 

Yesterday, I ordered a couple of kits with crocus, paper whites and the amaryllis. Along with those, I ordered some daffodils that I hadn't seen locally. They will be here soon.....just in time for me to sink into the ground and plant. 

On the way home from dinner out.....yesterday, we stopped at Farm and Fleet and I bought a package of large daffodil bulbs. I guess that's about it for this year.  I hope that I haven't overdone it now....so that it's a chore for me. I always have these mighty plans and then reality sets in and I find that it is difficult to do. Oh, well....I'll just have to persevere. (now that's an old word that I haven't used in a while) I like to plant daffodils because critters seem to leave these bulbs alone......not like my orange tulips that disappeared in a year.

I chose a Red Lion amaryllis. I've had this one so many times, but when it's time to order another one....that red always takes my eye and I can't help myself. I like to have them bloom a little after Christmas, so that there is something pretty in the house when all the decorations come down.

I bought some suet blocks....many suet blocks. Joe is a big fan of our woodpeckers and he looks out for them. Loves to see them at the suet feeder. They fly between our feeders and the woods many times a day.

Looking out my window...I see three chickadees, two finches (wearing their winter drab) a male cardinal (wearing his new, bright coat of red), and here comes a blue jay. The birds seem to like the fruit and nut seed that we are trying. I feel like I'm selecting something for us to eat, when I am at the birdseed aisle :)

Well, as you can tell...I love color and it shows in my choice of blooms, and also in the birds I love to watch. They both decorate our home and will be here through the winter months to make things cheery.
Balisha

9 comments:

  1. I had to laugh about your "mighty plans"! I thought I was the only one to do that! I have 4 pots of perennials that I have to have hubby plant today! Sounds like a good idea, ordering the bulbs now. I planted paperwhites one year and didn't like the smell. Do you know of any that won't knock you over?

    Happy Weekend!

    Jane xx

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    1. That's a common thing....not liking the smell of paper whites. I put mine in a big room with lots of ventilation. I really don't know of any without the smell. There are lots of bulbs that you can force...some with hardly any fragrance.
      Hope you are continuing to feel better. Did you take my advice on pampering yourself? I hope so....you are such a hard worker.

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  2. Since you love color, Balisha, I am surprised you let your hair go white! (it is lovely so don't change it!)

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    1. I did once and only once....and it turned kind of orange....so back to the gray. I really love gray hair. Mine is mixed with white. It goes with everything LOL

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  3. I love color too, inside and out!

    Living down here in tropical weather I also have a LOT of green among all the flowers. The green keeps spreading as a lot of it is ferns, two different kinds. I thin them out sometimes, but they just keep coming back.

    Inside there are paintings, old shabby Oriental rugs, colored glass. I enjoy my little haven.

    Have a nice weekend ~ FlowerLady

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  4. I should get some bulbs to plant in the large planter on the porch that I use for the fairy garden in the summer ! :) Thanks for the bright idea, ha ha ! :)

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  5. I just saw something in a magazine on how to plant your large pots to bloom in the spring.
    I use to get paper whites but husband has lots of allergies after his transplant so I don't do them any more
    Cathy

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  6. I think the blooming of spring bulbs is my favorite time. It seems there are never enough and I find myself ordering them in the spring and then--burying them--like I did today. Such great plans, so easy to pick out so many from the catalog, so difficult to plant all of them when they arrive. :-)

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  7. Hi Balisha..
    The choice of clothing to plants/flowers is the same choice I would make. Exactly! :) I've never done the bulb thing..but mine stay outside in the flower bed all year round. Chance of freezing is nil. I'm looking forward to seeing your home dressed in winter florals again. Hugs,
    Mona

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