Indoor garden for Hedges kitties

Hi Bozo and Mum's blog readers; this is Ambrose and I have news about a COOL new thing Mum has for us. She has grown seeds outside in a container and when they were nice green shoots, she brought them inside the bedroom! Now we kitties can nibble on the grass when we feel icky! Or even just nibble on it for fun! We still get outdoors every day so this is a real treat for the evenings when we're inside and Tipsy has his runabout in the garden. 

Unca Shadow nibbles at the newly grown grass which Mum brought in for us

Unca Shadow loves the mouse scratching post which our yoomen dad made for us

Dad Ginger and I share the cushioned bench in the large lounge

Later, I cuddled with Unca Shadow on Mum's bed

Aunty Chappy sitting in the office window

Mum took this photo of Aunty Chappie from the outside

For more cute pets like we are, please click here

Critters, plants and children

This week I have a real mix of plants, critters and children for this post. 

I've had an indoor plant which flowers during the winter. Rina moved the plant stand slightly but it's still blooming on time and beautifully.

 

Schlumbergera truncata

Common name: Thanksgiving Cactus or Claw Cactus

Black-collared Barbets in a tree in Amanda's garden

This one fed on fruits found on a shrub

And of course, our grands from next door playing with the puppy! 

I'm linking to Saturday Critters with Eileen here

Have a wonderful weekend, everyone!

Mystery Plant

Our "Emily plant" flowered for the first time in December 2006

Emily originally had the plant in my office -
this is what it looks like in its entirety

While the weather is so hot and dry, the odd exotic bloom in my garden is under a bit of stress. My indigenous plants in flower, Agapanthus (A. africanus), Aloes, (Aloe spp) Falling Stars, (Crocosmia aurea), Wild Garlic (Tulbaghia violacea) are thriving provided they receive a sprinkling once a week. However, every year at this time, I am blessed with an indoor plant which yields the most beautiful bloom. I’m sure it’s an exotic but then again, I may be wrong. I cannot for the life of me, find anything in my gardening books which is remotely like this bloom. For want of a name, our family calls it the Emily plant because she first planted it in a container and brought it into my house in 2005. (Those were the days when I lived in West Africa and there were no gardeners here at home)

My house is full of plants which Emily tends. Last spring she called me and pointed out that the Emily plant was root bound and needed repotting. She and John carried the pot out onto the patio. (The extent of Emily’s gardening stretches only to tending the house plants, the harder jobs are for me and John! :)

John and I then tipped the pot over and carefully dislodged the plant. Once it was out, we saw that there were TWO plants. John fetched another pot from the garden room. He rinsed both pots, placed some flat stones over the holes at the bottom. Then we added a cupful of gravel, filled the pot halfway with ground from the garden and placed a single plant in each. We topped this with a healthy level of potting soil, tamped it down gently and watered it. John placed the pots against the cathouse in the shade to allow the soil, water to settle and the plants to re-acclimatise to their new home.

As always, the mystery plant -

AKA our "Emily plant"

flowers at Christmas again.

This year was no exception

Later that afternoon he carried the pots into the entertainment lounge which is also an enclosed sun porch. Just before Christmas I noticed the first plant’s closed flower; steadily it opened and as always, on Christmas Day, we are rewarded with a fully opened bloom. The other plant has not flowered and I’m not sure whether it will this year.


If there is anyone out there reading this post who knows what my mystery plant is called, please let me know.

Our very own indigenous beauty

Above and below: my own potplant nursery


I am rewarded with African Violets flowering for months

Today I decided to post about one of the most popular house plants in South Africa; one that gives the householder so much pleasure with its beauty and one that often gives the most problems. (Like flowering prolifically from the time of purchase and soon after the first flowers wither, the plant also wilts and dies!) I'm speaking about the African Violet.

1. The African Violet was first discovered in East Africa in 1892 by Baron Walter von St. Paul.
2. Over 20 wild species and variants have been found to date.
3. All wild species have blossoms in the blue-violet range, but other characteristics vary.
4. African Violets first made their way to North America via Europe in 1926.
5. The highly varied modern varieties are the result of hybridization.

The African Violet really is an African plant. As far as we knew it grew uncelebrated by botanists and plant-lovers for countless millennia. It had to wait until 1892 to be officially discovered by the Baron Walter von Saint Paul, the German governor of a north-eastern province in Tanganyika, now part of Tanzania. Von Saint Paul found the plant growing among shaded rocky ledges in the Usambara Mountains. He immediately sent seeds of his "Usambara violet" to his father in Germany. In Germany the plant acquired a botanical name which it still bears today: Saintpaulia. Other species closely related to this first were soon discovered. They all bear the genus name Saintpaulia plus an adjective describing the individual species. The original plant discovered by Walter von Saint Paul is Saintpaulia ionantha. There are more than twenty other similar but certainly not identical species in the genus. They have memorable names betraying what those naming them thought of them such as: Saintpaulia difficilis, S. confusa, S. inconspicua. Others have adjectival names indicating place of origin: S. magungensis, S. teitensis, S. tongwensis. Magunga, Teita, and Tongwe are all place names associated with Tanzania.

(Note: if you’d like to learn more about the beautiful Usambara Mountains and Tanzania, click here )

As I’ve mentioned before, my house lady Emily, loves indoor plants. A while ago I bought two African Violets for her to enjoy here in my home. At the beginning of this year, I came across an article in a South African gardening magazine which posed the question: “So, which house plants are you going to kill this year?” As I normally am not too careful with the indoor plants (according to Emily that is!), I have caused the demise of a few African Violets in my time. The article explained how to care for this delightful and rewarding little plant so that you have many years of pleasure out of it.

Here are a few tips gleaned from the article as well as a some of my own (the planting – part!) which I share with you:

Firstly, never wet an African Violets leaves. Water the saucer in which the pot plant is standing. An African violet likes to drink up the water through its roots. It also enjoys being root bound (huh?!?) and should be left undisturbed in its original pot for as long as possible. When the flowers begin to fade and die, remove them with your fingers by gently tugging them from the plant. An African Violet also likes to stand in a sunny position but not in direct sunlight. I have found that filtered sunlight is perfect for this plant.

When a leaf breaks off accidently, (which does happen) place it in a small glass of water over which you’ve spanned tin foil and pierced a hole into. Keep the water topped up, replacing completely once a week. Within a few weeks, the stalk begins to grow roots. When these are strong, you can plant the leave in potting soil. Soon you will be rewarded with “babies” (See photograph) When the mother leaf withers and dies, remove it gently and nurture the baby plants until they are fully fledged African Violet plants in their own right.

Happy potting!

Symphony Amaryllis

Amaryllis' (spp) long stalk
Amaryllis' (spp) first bud
Amaryllis (spp) double bud

Amaryllis (spp) double bloom

Amaryllis (spp) close up

According to my gardening manual, A South African Garden for all Seasons by Readers Digest, the Amryllis Lily (Hippeastrum spp), pictured above, can be grown out in the garden. I’ve decided not to chance it with our frosty winters. In any case, I have more than enough [to do] in my garden and also because my beloved house-lady, Emily loves indoor plants, I have a selection of potted plants throughout my home.

The beautiful bloom above should have flowered by the twentieth of September but didn't. On closer inspection of the plant two weeks ago, I realised why it hadn’t. It had two stalks growing out of the soil, it had become pot bound and the leaves were limp and yellowing.

Emily and I carried the huge pot outside and placed it on the patio. While Emily returned indoors to continue her work, I called one of my gardeners to come and help me. We carefully loosened the stalks from the soil and then, tipping the pot on its side, gently tugged and eased the plants out. Once out on the ground, we separated the stalks and cut off all the old leaves. Then in newly-prepared pots, we potted the two “new” bulbs. We watered both plants and placed them against the wall of the house to rest.

A few hours later, when the excess water had drained off, my gardener and I carried the pots back into the house. We placed them on a counter in my office where they would get enough light but no direct sunlight.

Within two days my husband pointed out that one of the plants had begun to sprout. A week later it had grown to 30cm (12 inches). Two weeks later it had risen 60cm (25 inches) and had two buds on it. Last night the buds began to unfurl. This morning when I arrived in my office, the beautiful blooms had burst open with the promise of two more flowers in the next two days.

Imagine Emily's delight as she walked into the house on Wednesday morning and saw her plant flowering. She was elated and said it had made her day...