This Wednesday, December 21st, is the Winter Solstice—the shortest day of the year; the first official day of Winter—Yule. The days, which have been getting shorter and shorter each day since the Summer Solstice, now will begin getting longer by a minute or two each day (YAY!). South of the Equator, you understand, it is … Read more
LAST-MINUTE GIFT IDEAS Here we are approaching Hanukkah and Christmas. If you are a procrastinator like me then you are just getting started with holiday shopping. See us at The Great Big Greenhouse and we can assist you with making some great, unique gift choices. Here are just a few ideas for gifts: PLANTS We … Read more
Paperwhites are members of the daffodil family, believe it or not. They’re native to the Mediterranean, however, so we can’t grow them in our yards. They do force easily and quickly inside, though. All you need are a few pebbles and a watertight container. You can get inventive and use almost any container that will … Read more
LAST MONTH OF THE YEAR Mother Nature sure has been kind to us gardeners as we enter December. In the last half of November, we got some much-needed rainfall that helped our water table and helped water all of our plants. We also had some above-average temperatures to go along with the rain. All I … Read more
Have you gotten a poinsettia for your mantle? Maybe someone has given you a beautiful amaryllis to enjoy? So what do you do with them when they finish blooming? Throw them away? Not so fast! Here’s a quick guide on how to care for these Holiday beauties. How to Care For Your Holiday Plants Poinsettias … Read more
USING YOUR EVERGREEN CLIPPINGS FOR DECORATIONS Here we are heading into December. This year we have stayed frost-free up until the week before Thanksgiving. With this colder weather, our plants are now more dormant for the season. With this dormancy comes an excellent time to do some “selective” pruning to use these clippings for holiday … Read more
One of the plants you’ll see almost everywhere this time of year is Christmas/Thanksgiving/Holiday cactus. So here is what you need to know about these beautiful seasonal bloomers. Did You Know…. Holiday cacti are a small genus of plants called Schlumbergera. They are native to a small area in the coastal mountains of south-eastern Brazil, … Read more
THE HOLIDAY SEASON DOESN’T NEED TO BE A BURDEN ON OUR PLANET Here we are at a time when so many of us are on the verge of decorating our home for the holidays. I think this blog idea stems from the fact that all of us are affected by our economy and inflation. We … Read more
The Amaryllis family—the Amaryllidaceae—is a wide and varied group, including the wild Amaryllis (Amaryllis Belladonna), our Christmas amaryllis (reclassified as Hippeastrum), as well as Narcissus (yes, daffodils!), tiny little snowdrops, agapanthus (Lily-of-the-Nile), alliums (onions, garlic, and ornamental onions), clivia, crinum (Cape Lilies) among others. Most of these are bulbs needing a dormant period at some … Read more
HOLD ON NOW – NOT SO FAST – THIS BLOG IS ABOUT THE LENTEN ROSE Gertrude Stein used “a rose is a rose is a rose is a rose” in 1913 in one of her poems. It means “something is beautiful for what it is” and “beauty has many different ways to display itself in … Read more
