Revel in Your Plants This Year

Even though I like winter, especially when I can stay inside, sometimes it’s difficult to keep a positive outlook during these dreary days.

One thing that brightens my day is my Christmas cactus in bloom. I’ve had this plant for a number of years. When I first got it, the stems were full of tiny buds, but then they all fell off and never bloomed that year.

The next year a few blooms opened up shortly before Christmas, but then they soon disappeared. Then for a period of several years, the blooms were prolific during the holidays, often opening prior to Thanksgiving and continuing into the New Year.

Finally, I decided to prune this cactus as it seemed to be too ragged. I suppose I overdid it, because the cactus did not bloom again for about four years.

This year it’s come back with many blooms and is beautiful in my bedroom in an east window. So, in the future I will be very careful regarding the pruning of this colorful cactus.

I have accepted the fact that I do not have the proverbial “green thumb.” I’ve known people who could just stick a stem in the soil with no preparation and little care, and the growth of that plant, whether vegetable or flower, would be phenomenal. Having grown up in the city, we did not have a lot of area for planting anything, although during World War II many people made room for Victory Gardens.

My grandparents and other relatives who lived in small towns or in the country, always had gardens that provided food for the family and many times food to share with the neighbors.

Recently, a dear friend gave me an African violet with a couple of blooms on it. Within a few days, more blooms appeared, as well as more tiny buds ready to open. This violet is full of blooms now and is beautiful.

Certain flowers or plants have come to be associated with certain seasonal holidays. We see many poinsettias during the Christmas season; lilies are the flowers we see most during the Easter season. Daffodils in bloom, are an early sign of spring. At one time an organization here in Oklahoma would deliver cut blossoms to churches in town to be displayed on a certain Sunday in February. This money went to one of the charitable groups, possibly the heart foundation. In the middle of winter, those gorgeous yellow blooms on the altars of our local churches were truly an inspiration.

I’ve always loved the scent of lilacs and the beauty of their purple blooms. They are so fragrant, especially after a spring rain. Ray’s brother and his wife gave us several lilac bushes some years ago and they were a sensual indication that spring had arrived, or as my kids would say, “Spring had sprung.”

Whatever your preference is, I hope that you will be privileged to enjoy your favorite flower or plant sometime during this New Year.

1-7-2009
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