There are signs of Spring everywhere! There is Spring in the trees!
Inside and out.....
This little tree on my windowsill (center) is a tropical pre bonsai (not trained to a bonsai pot yet...) and it is blooming.
It's called a Vietnamese Water Jasmine tree, and the flowers are very tiny, but very fragrant. These little star like flowers hang from their stems in a pendulous way and every tiny movement of air, causes them to sway a bit. It was very hard to get this picture, as any little movement by me or the plant due to a breeze, caused the picture to blur. I'll try to set up my tripod to see if i can take a better shot later....
And here is an old friend of mine, just starting to bloom. This plant is older than my oldest daughter. I remember going to Boston on a bus trip to see the huge annual flower show with my grandmother Mary, when i was 18 years old. That is when we first laid eyes on her favorite, the Martha Washington geranium, and this little gem, an Easter cactus. Up until then we had only seen and heard of the Christmas cactus. This plant is almost 37 years old! It is the original cactus, but there are many many cuttings all over the place, as all you do is take a branch of it and pop it into the soil in another pot and let it take root.
It's flower is flatter than the Christmas cactus bloom, and actually looks like a St. Michaelmas daisy to me....
This little plant is just one of the things that keeps my memories of my Grandmother alive and with me every day. I remember us coming back on the bus with our plants, happy as clams! I hope to share so many experiences with Lola and Seth so they will remember their grandmother too....
Walking by my kitchen window this morning, a little hint of pink caught my eye down in the left hand corner of the picture....
For the first time this year, my Easter (Spring) cactus is blooming...Not much, but every little bit counts with this particular plant. These simple flowers bring back such good memories...
The original plant was bought on a bus trip to Boston to a big plant and garden show with my Grandmother Mary, some 30 plus years ago. It was the first time she and i went on a trip together. I bought the original plant and Gram bought one of the first Martha Washington geraniums to come out on the market .(This plant above is actually cuttings taken and repotted from the original plant which did actually pass on recently. It just got too old and "woody" to survive. I guess no matter how you care for things, nothing lasts forever...) I remember Gram and i each brought home a few other plants, as many as we could carry. I can remember me buying a "Crown of Thorns" plant that is no longer living, and Gram buying a few more African violets.. I remember that bus ride home, getting pricked by the crown of thorn plant all the way home, and laughing! Just like it was yesterday...
