creative jewish mom

Container Gardening: Growing Lemons

Yes, you can grow lemons in a pot! Of course what I mean is that you can grow a lemon tree in a pot, and you can get some fruit from that tree. While most trees really won't thrive in a pot for more than a few years, a lemon tree can apparently do just fine as long as you give it the loving care it needs, meaning basically a big pot and of course lots of sun. 

I'm quite happy with the ten lemons that just ripened on my lemon tree, (a good yield I believe for a tree in a container) and now I'm thinking maybe I ought to fill my container garden with more lemon trees. On second thought I'd rather have flowering vines, so scratch that idea.  It sure was a great feeling to wander down the steps to my little tree, on a cold winter day, and harvest these fruits, quietly of course, because except for the Hedenbergia who is about to bloom, the rest of the garden is sleeping....shhhhhh. 

Growing Succulents

I love succulents. So given my recent score of some new succulent cuttings it's no wonder that I couldn't even begin to clean the house when my window sill garden was looking far from delightful. And since this little spot is probably one of the spots my gaze falls upon most (as it's next to one of the kitchen sinks), well I just had to do a little container gardening despite the rainy weather. Ahhhhh, now the garden is looking much better, off to cook and clean, no more excuses. Oh wait, my other containers need some attention too. Naw, that'll have to wait, the mountain of laundry (clean I might add) is calling! 

And in case you didn't know this fun fact, succulent cuttings of all kinds root by themselves in water or moist soil, so ask a gardening friend to give you a few snips here and there and start your own succulent garden! Of course if you live somewhere where it snows, so you'll have to start your succulent garden indoors now, but come Spring out it goes. And soon enough you'll be able to share some cuttings with your friends. 

For The Love Of Bougainvillea.......

I arrived home today just as the sun was starting to set, and realizing that I hadn't had a chance to photograph any crafty projects today, I figured I'd share with you something equally wonderful and life enhancing: blooming bougainvillea in November! A feast for the eyes that I enjoy first thing in the morning as I step outside to send the kids off to school! 

Gorgeous blooms that are also great for dried flower art.....or even incorporating into handmade paper. But for now I'm just enjoying their vivid color at a time when all the flowers of summer are long gone, and many of the plants are starting to get just a bit sleepy.

Bougainvillea is a bit finicky, and not always a great performer growth-wise, but certainly worth the patience! Really a tropical bush, or even tree, bougainvillea comes in many gorgeous colors like white and orange and purple, along with the colors you see here. Due to our coldish winters here on a mountaintop in Northern Israel, there are only a few colors that are hearty enough to survive, and all the more so in pots. 

Bougainvillea sometimes just takes my breath away, growing rampantly amongst other large trees and bushes, like in this example a few minutes from my house, wow! Got it? Blooming flowers = joy! Well worth every minute.

That's all for now, crafting coming soon. You know me!

The Mystery Succulent Has Been Identified!

A few months ago a wonderful plant loving neighbor and I went on a little trip to a little nursery in a neighboring town. We both bought an interesting succulent that I was unable to identify even after extensive research! I'm like that....I like to know the names of my plants so I can check to make sure I'm caring for them properly. One source told me "wait until it blooms" and then you'll have a better idea. Well my friends, the succulents have bloomed fabulously, couldn't get any better than this! 

And the name of our mystery succulent? Sennicio oribe gorge. Where is oribe gorge? Well I"ll tell you, it's in South Africa in a gorgeous mountain range. Isn't that exciting?  I have a little bit of South Africa growing right here in my container garden!

As you may or may not know, even more exciting is that succulents are so easy to reproduce from cuttings, you just stick the cuttings in the soil and they root. So next year I plan to have a whole lot more blooming succulents just like these. Yippee!

And just for fun, courtesy of Wikipedia, (source here) I thought I'd show you a photo of Oribi Gorge, known to some as the Grand Canyon of South Africa.

My mystery succulent originates here? Wow. South Africa looks like a gorgeous country, and I have some very lovely readers from South Africa, so I do feel just a little bit connected to this far away place! And now we know that one can also do armchair traveling through container gardening! Love it.

Container Gardening in Holland

The Netherlands is the largest exporter of cut flowers in the world, which is no surprise since the Dutch people love flowers! Though I made my trip in the fall when the floral displays aren't at their peak, I enjoyed seeing flowers boxes and little gardens everywhere.

Gorgeous geranium window boxes complete the look!

A few begonias complement the window display of antique glass....

Love house boat gardens!

And these wonderful wooden planters near the sea look perfect.

An old decorative iron chair turned into a floral display.

A little garden on the sidewalk! That's all for now, hope you're all enjoying my photos of The Netherlands while I've been celebrating the Jewish holidays! 

Container Gardening: Vinca In Bloom

  

When you find a plant that grows really well in your garden or on your patio or windowsill or even your fire escape, so don't be afraid to go all out with just that one species, especially when it comes in a few colors like this Vinca, otherwise known as Periwinkle. No one ever said that gardening has to be difficult or time consuming, and playing it safe with something you know will be successful is certainly a good idea if you're busy like I am, and happen to have more than just a few interests to fill your free time!

One of the things I happen to love about Vinca is that blooms seem to fall off every day, which means that you can float them in some water for some instant loveliness on your counter or just about anywhere. Somehow when I gaze at floating blooms like these I feel transported to some tropical island, for just a moment, ahhhhhh. Depending on where you live, it may be just a bit on the late side to start with Vinca now, so do keep it in mind for next year!

For some more information on Vinca, continue reading below.

An Update From The Container Garden

A new succulent plant that I have yet to identify, but I love it!

I don't know what happened exactly, but along with the intense summer heat I suddenly took a renewed interest in my container garden, which is a good thing, since all my plants which have been quite forgiving up until now, certainly need my care now! And I must say, I'm in love with my container garden again, and so happy to step outside in the cool morning or evening air to care for all of my green friends who bring joy to all that pass by.

My renewed interest happened just when a neighbor started asking for some plant advice, and we also made a trip together to a local nursery. I blew most of my budget on a gorgeous new pot for a small indoor tree, but managed to also buy a few new things.

A bought a Scheflerra to fill an empty corner — a plant that I highly recommend for novice container gardeners. And this little pink and green fellow? Well I just couldn't resist, and it's called polka dot plant. It tends to be the annoying type of plant that gets leggy quickly so one needs to pinch it back frequently and if long shoots with little flowers appear, well cut them off as quickly as you can, which is what I did after I took the photo! The nice part about the polka dot plant is that its cuttings root easily to make more plants, which is always lots of fun! Though beware gardeners, this is apparently an invasive plant that will be happy to take over your garden if you let it.

 
This Lantana isn't new, but I just love it when it's in bloom! While a great drought resistant plant for the ground, Lantana does well in my window box type planters when I don't let it get too dried out. Lantana comes in several forms, a trailing plant and a bush, and a few lovely colors, including one that's multicolored and gorgeous. Also a very hardy plant that's great for novice gardeners.

That's all for now, I do highly recommend bringing some plants into your life, they bring so much joy. The main thing is to make purchases with knowledge such that your green venture will be a success! As always, I'm more than happy to offer advice, just drop me a line, or leave a comment here.

 

Simple DIY Plant Plates

Here's a fun little scenario with a red impatiens plant and a little crafty doodled-on plate that's making me very happy right now, and it all happened quite by accident. Of course it's no accident that I saved this chipped plate to use under plants, just when I doodled the red design on the plate with a paint marker and baked it in the oven to see if that would help it be more permanent, (It helped a bit, but not entirely) well, I didn't have in mind pairing it with this plant. 

I was cleaning up for Shabbos and wondering around with this plate in hand trying to find a place for it, when quite by accident I placed it under this little pot and voila, a great combination was born! So my friends, do save chipped plates to use under plants, and do apply some simple designs to them with permanent markers or paint pens, or if you want to go the whole route, you can do something really permanent with Pebeo pens. There really isn't anything much simpler that can give you so much visual pleasure and add a little personal touch to your container garden! And you can trust me by now, right?

 

Deadheading Spent Summer Blooms Encourages Growth

Nothing compares to the simple joy of blooming flowers in the summer, especially when they're close at hand in pots, and in a spot where you can enjoy them. Besides of course remembering to water your flowers, and to check them for infestation, there is one important tip that will help insure blooms for months on end. It's called deadheading. Yes, that's right, deadheading encourages growth since it essentially removes the seed bearing portions of the plant, which encourages the plant to keep flowering in order to produce more seed. 

Now, not every flowering plant can be deadheaded, and I'm talking about flowers, not shrubs or anything woody, but certainly flowers like geraniums and petunias (above) do benefit greatly from deadheading.

Deadheading is basically removing the spent flower and it's stem from the plant, by pinching it off with your fingers. That's it! So give your flowers a little extra attention by removing spent blooms and they will return the favor with a colorful show, that no matter how small, will bring joy to your life! Go for it!

And if you'd like to make some simple mosaic pots, (summer is the perfect time for this somewhat messy craft which is best done outdoors) see my post here. Add a few flowers to your life, whether in something fabulous that you've crafted, or at this point more realistically, in simple pots, and enjoy!

Window Sill Gardening Pleasure

This photo of the window sill right outside my kitchen window was taken looking down at my lovely little garden. No regular garden, but rather a window sill garden, that's easy to care for and gives me non-stop pleasure all day long. You don't need a garden or even a patio to enjoy growing some simple summer blooms, all you need is a window.....and you can even hang window boxes outside your window if need be. 

There's still time this summer to enjoy some simple blooms, like the Impatiens, Petunias and Geraniums seen here, and if you're lucky enough to have actual window sills outside your windows, or even a fire escape, so you can certainly use pots that you may already have on hand rather than actual oblong window boxes. And if you'll be out of town, you can buy drip nozzles to attach to regular bottles, which you place in the soil to water your plants while you're gone. So really, there's just no excuse to deprive yourself of the simple pleasure of gardening, even if it's in your window!

And to give credit where credit is due, this lovely little garden was actually planted by Mr. Creative Jewish Mom while I was away last month, and I'm so very grateful to him for giving us this wonderful gift which we hope to enjoy for months to come.