Bloom and Bust

Sorry....had to make a corny pun with this title!

Remember the blue orchid my hubby gave me for Valentine's Day?

 

It had been dyed blue (my understanding is that you put blue food coloring in the water), and I knew it would re-bloom white. Today, I got my first glimpse of what it will look like! The blue blooms have been slowly dropping for the past week or so. There's a few of those left, but there's new buds in their places and one started opening today!

Isn't it lovely with just the tinge of blue around the edges of the petals? I can't wait to see the rest!

Update from the Container Garden

I know, I know.....I promised to finish the garden update, but in the interest of not creating the longest blog post ever, I decided to split it into three sections: flower garden, container garden, and vegetable garden.

SO.....without further ado, here is the latest on the container garden....

I can't remember if I've gotten to show this guy off before now. This was Jacob's (my husband) St. Patty's day pick: a shamrock. I wasn't sure how long it would last, but it seems to be thriving.

Since it was so warm for so long (most of March was in the 80's here), I took the ranunculus (the one in front) out of the greenhouse. There are a few more hanging out on my newly painted plant shelf. Behind that is something called an orchid lily, which I am really excited to see bloom. My voice teacher and his wife gave me this from a division of theirs. Apparently, it blooms in an arch like an orchid, only the flowers are lilies! How cool is that?!

Ok, let's talk about the one on the top of the shelf....I knew that nasturtium were effective as natural "bug traps", but I was really unprepared for just how effective they really are....see how the leaves are mostly chewed off? None of the other plants have been touched....not even the tulip in the same pot!

This one's a baby. I decided it would probably be ok to go ahead and transplant some of the dill seedlings that were in the greenhouse. I may have to bring it inside later this week though...they were talking about frost on the news today.

I was starting to get a little worried about this rosemary plant. I had overwintered it and it was looking pretty anemic for a while, but it seems to be greening up nicely with some sunshine and warmer temperatures.

And lastly, the strawberry plant is starting to make berries!

Valentine Orchid

My husband isn't the type who generally gives flowers. However, in honor of Valentine's Day, he made an exception! I came home from work to a lovely orchid plant! Blue dye had been added to the water to create the lovely bright blue flowers (I'm guessing this lovely is going to eventually revert to its original white coloring).