Little Flower Spike

I wrote a few weeks back about my one orchid that has not flowered in 4 years, and almost as if the orchid took offence to the post I put up about it, it started to send out a flower spike...

Its finally starting to look like a classic flower spike with the mitten shape as you can see below...

Flower Spike on the Right

So what did I do differently? I moved the orchid from the bathroom where it gets nice and humid, to the kitchen window, where it gets a bit more chilly. A friend of mine advised that a change in temperature or environment could cause it to flower. I did notice before this flower spike came out, that the orchid seemed to be growing new roots every week, so perhaps that is something I should watch for on this particular orchid...

Will post an update once the blooms have started to open. If memory serves me correctly, this orchid should be a beautiful purple/pink colour...

Little Lemon Trees

It was 2015, I was in the process of finishing up a really tough degree. I had been browsing Pinterest as all good students do and I came across a picture of lemon seeds sprouting in a mug and it intrigued me.

I set out to find how I could get some lemon seeds to grow and I found some very helpful tips.

Firstly, peel your lemon seeds... Take the seed out of the lemon, and peel off the layer that coats the seed, it tends to come off really easily, just try not to damage the seed in the process.

Secondly, place the peeled seeds into some damp paper towel and place that into a plastic container that you can seal. Within a few days your lemon seeds will start to sprout their rootlets.

At this point I got super excited, as I had managed to get a seed to sprout in what I thought was a less than perfect environment. I was living in a small flat, that got no sun inside at all, the place was always freezing, but these little lemon seeds were growing!

Once the roots were looking sturdy enough, I then placed them into some soil. I only covered the root and half of the seed, as I am super curious and wanted to see EXACTLY when the leaves started to appear. This took a couple of days but there they were.. 2 little starter leaves!

A week or so later, the true leaves started to form and soon after, this is the picture I took:

Month Old Lemon Trees

I have looked after these 2 little trees for the past 3 years, they will turn 4 years old this coming September. I have re-potted, re-soiled and even trimmed these 2 a number of times and this is how the one looks right now:

3 Year Old Lemon Tree

The have yet to flower and produce fruit, but they have at least put out thorns, so I am hoping next season will be flower season... I think their growth was quite stunted, as for 2 years of their life they were in an area where they did not get enough sunlight. Now they are thriving in our new home, loving all the sunlight they can soak up and they keep putting out more growth.

I will be sure to keep you updated when these 2 start to flower!

Little Changes

I must be strange when it comes to gardens, I have a strong dislike for over-crowded beds. We recently moved out of our dingy flat, that nothing would grow in, into a stand alone house with the most exquisite garden space, full of sunlight and fertile soil and plenty of room for all of my crazy plant/gardening adventures.

There was one small catch though, the previous owner loved to pack the beds FULL, and by full, I mean jungle-looking. The problem with this was that none of the plants would flower, as they had no space to absorb nutrients or water, as they were...OVERCROWDED!

I have started little by little, to thin these beds out and in the process have found hidden/forgotten plants, namely irises and roses and have started to re-located them to cleared out spots. Waiting patiently to see them all bloom in the coming spring... Then, I will share those glorious pictures!

What are your feelings on overcrowded garden beds?

How the bed started out...

Very Bare...

Pretty Little Flowers

I have never been hugely interested in flowering plants, I am much more into seedlings and their amazing ability to become a flowering plant, from something that resembles a little rock.

However, having said that, I am always blown away by the beauty of a plant that flowers in my presence. My husband always teases me that I have a greenery curse, as most of the flowering plants I own, flower very seldom. For example, I have a phalaenopsis orchid that arrived with flowers some 4 years ago and it has never flowered again. It regularly puts out new leaves and roots but it has NEVER flowered again.

With that being said I do at least have a few flowering plants in my presence, one of which is another orchid I own, and I have never been as excited as I was when this orchid put out a flower stalk, in-fact I took multiple pictures of it, to preserve the feeling.

Flower Stalk With Buds

A flower!

 I have a theory about these orchids, and that is that they will only re-flower if they have been grown in the same area that you are keeping them. My non-flowering orchid was bought in Pretoria and kept in Johannesburg, where as the beauty above was bought in Johannesburg and kept in Johannesburg. Not too sure if this theory holds any ground or not?

Now for some other beauties that I have managed to get to flower under my care... I hope you enjoy them!

Gorgeous Marigold- A Childhood favorite

Creeping Verbena

Gerbera Daisy that flowers REGULARLY!

Little Garlic that could...

This poor garlic bulb has had a very traumatic life this far.

I had rescued the sprouting bulb from the freezer at work and planted it in the veggie patch at home. A few weeks had gone by and the bulb had developed long thin leaves that were looking great!

My mom came to visit and thought the leaves were grass and plucked them off! This is why we don't allow her in the garden...

Again, I rescued the bulb, I dug it up, trying not to damage the roots it had worked so hard to grow, and I placed it in a jar on my kitchen window sill...

Little Garlic Bulb

I left this on the window sill for a couple of weeks, until I started to see the top turning a green colour, indicating there was some kind of growing happening. I then transplanted it into the herb bowl I have (hid it from my mom...) and it has finally started to sprout more leaves again!

Little Sprouting Garlic Plant

I am not too sure how long it will take before I can harvest, but I will keep you posted!