...seasonal foliage

the poinsettia I'm trying to revive seems to be doing well...

unless you look at the back of it, that is...
so I'll take it to church on Friday, just in case...
they need a "filler" on the altar...
and just like that lop-sided tree that looks fine from one side...
it may still be able to "serve" with its bad side to the wall...
where no one will notice its deficiencies...

there's probably a life lesson in that, somewhere...

this is the survivor from the ones I took home last year...
but that was after Christmas,when they were almost gone...
this one made it through the summer on my front porch...
and with no special treatment, managed at least a couple of red bracks...

the Christmas cactii are blooming...
here you see the "salmon"one...
there are also dark red, traditional rose and a pale pink...

these begonias sat in 6 packs for quite a while...

finally, I planted them... they could have also been "tossed"...
they were that far gone...

after sulking for a month or so...
they have really grown and flourished...
providing another life lesson...

beyond not procrastinating, that is...

months ago, I saw these baby stag horn ferns at OSH...
but resisted temptation then...
when I was there the other day, I decided that if there was one left..
it was going home with me... and there was just one...
buried in with a bunch of more generic ferns...

my plan is to find a thick piece of cedar, about 6"x 8"...
make a pouch of some fiberglass screen I have...
line it with sphagnum moss to hold in the soil and roots...
and hang it on my front porch under the canvas awning...

they grow in the wild on the sides of trees...
and I once had one that was set-up on a piece of wood like that...

it's now mature and several years ago, I transplanted it into a basket...
it has had "pups" and there are now several in that group...
it loves the back yard, on the garage, shaded by an oak tree...

I went to OSH hoping to find a half flat of "johnny jump-ups"...
but though there were no half flats, the 6-packs were on sale...
so I bought 6 of them at about the same cost[$12.00]...
these are technically,"penny yellow jump-ups"...
and have 2 color variations...

this one that is more intense, like the "johnnies"...

and this one that is more pale...

in any case, they will flourish from now on...
having a growth spurt with the warmer weather...
blooming heavily all spring...
and as the heat starts to get to them in late spring...
I just move them back into more shadows...

until the extended heat of the summer finally gets them...
to be replaced by the portulacas that I just took out...
because the cold and damp got them...

Happy Winter Solstice everyone...