Home and Gardening With Liz: Merry Christmas

Showing posts with label Merry Christmas. Show all posts

December 5, 2012

Paperwhites and Christmas

Narcisuss Papyraceus-

a/k/a Paperwhites
They seem to be a favorite flower to
plant and have bloom at Christmas time!
Mixed with red they are spectacular!

This photo is from January 2011 when

my Paperwhites were blooming.

It seemed as though the tall stems

had found each other and

were gracefully hugging.

This year I tried a new idea.

I have this handled box that was sitting around with

three glass jars in it.

While staring at the bulbs at the

store it came to me to use the jars for them.

I put a dressing of some artificial greens around the jars

to give it a little more body.

I layered moss and stones around the bulbs

They're growing but it will be a few weeks before I see flowers.

In the corner by my sink I've relocated the Christmas Cactus and wrapped the pot with some burlap and satin ribbons.

The flowers are pretty and I'm pleased to see more buds coming!

I've dressed my window with this Church

and a small village like piece that lights up too. The Church has little lights and the tree spins. It has a manger on the left, carolers and the Christmas tree. It's fun to watch while it's on.

I want to thank-you for following me

these past 2+ years that I've

been doing this garden blog.

I'll come back and show you the

flowers in my handled

box once they are blooming!

In the meantime I want to wish you a

Merry Christmas to all!

Liz

I will be joining

Rose Vignettes blog for

Fresh Cut Fridays

December 24, 2011

December 20, 2011

Poinsettias and Christmas

Feliz Navidad!

I was curious about why the Poinsettia

has become so customary to have at

Christmas time (at least in the U.S. it is).

I don't know what other countries

do for their holiday decorating but the

Poinsettia is definitely a favorite around

Christmas here in the U.S.

This year I picked out three small

plants and put them in the basket so

it would look like one larger one!

This one is called Jingle Bells-

a particular favorite of mine!

As I said before I was curious about the

reason for the poinsettia becoming a

tradition and so I looked it up and

this is what I found:

"The holiday's connection to the poinsettia originated with a Mexican legend. With nothing to give to the Christ Child, a youngster picked a bouquet of weeds as an offering. As the gift was presented, the weeds transformed into brilliant red blooms. Since then, the plant is known in Mexico as Flores de Noche Buena (Flowers of the Holy Night), or just nochebuena for short. The poinsettia's red "flowers" aren't actual flowers. They're bracts (modified leaves), and the little yellow centers are the flowers."

They don't like to get too cold and

they are definitely not hardy to the

freezing temperatures.

I'm pleased to show you that my

Amaryllis really grew and it looks

like I am going to have a bloom

for Christmas!