Potted cyclamen plants with elaborately marked ivy-like foliage and bright red, purple, pink or white flowers are easy to grow, making long-lasting ornamentals for the winter holiday season. The parent species of these hybrids grow wild throughout frost-free Mediterranean regions. They can be found in dry, rocky scrub in southern France and Spain, and abandoned olive groves in … [Read more...] about Caring for cyclamen indoors
cyclamen
Flowers in a cold season
A few years ago I had a small bay window installed in a living room wall, and it was a smart gardening decision. Now I have a cool, bright northwest exposure for flowering winter plants that provides light on three sides. Pots of forced tulips and hyacinths are happy here and their blooms last significantly longer in the cool window, with a daytime temperature of 18°C, going … [Read more...] about Flowers in a cold season
Understanding blue hydrangea
Now in the fullness of summer, my neighbourhood is burgeoning with bright pink hydrangeas, but not a blue one is to be found. They have handsome foliage and hortensia-style flowers, broad corymbs of large showy clusters, and also some of the lacecap forms with masses of tiny fertile flowers on the inside of the blossom and larger infertile flowers ringing the outer edges. These … [Read more...] about Understanding blue hydrangea
