creative jewish mom

Cyclamen In Bloom For Over Five Months, Wow!

Cyclamen are native to Israel, and a seasonal favorite that is so easy to care for and gives so much more in return! I purchased two cyclamen plants from nursery in Maalot at the end of October, and now five MONTHS later they are still in full bloom with many buds still to open! That is truly amazing, and I wish I had purchased four plants......maybe next year? This year it doesn't look like we'll be doing much summer traveling, if at all, so once the plants stop blooming I will put them in a larger pot and continue to water them and hope to see them re-bloom next year. I'll keep you posted!

A few weeks ago I shared with you photos of all the cyclamen plants in bloom around town, but i didn't get around to sharing the two cyclamen gracing the table next to my front door! Most of those that I shared with you receive sun, so I'm assuming those will not last as long as mine which are in total shade. I do have a few more tips, so keep on reading!

Mother In Law's Tongue About To Bloom!

I grew up with a huge pot on mother in law's tongue, Sanseveria, in our home, and I had no idea that this plant blooms and quite ilkely does so every year in its native environment in West Africa. i have read about folk burying an apple in their pot of Sansevieria to get it to bloom with the help of the ethanol released by the apple, but other than that my knowledge of its blooms was quite limited. Two years ago after arriving home from a 6 week summer trip I saw stalks of dried blooms on the plant, to my great surprise, and last year the same thing happened. This year, because it is leap year and we have added a month to the calendar, our vacation is taking place a bit later on the gregorian calendar, and I am home to witness my mother in law's tongue produces stalks of little white blooms! So very exciting and while the flowers have yet to open I thought I'd share this with you!

Just by the way, mother in law's tongue is one of the those plants that is very difficult to kill (though I've seen plenty of them at wit's end because people think it doesn't need any water apparently) and my huge pot can literally go for several months with no water, especially in the winter. Also good to know that the plant multiplies itself nicely spreading via underground runners, and you'll end up with a pot packed with the plant, which looks great. If a frond breaks off, you can put any piece of it in water or in moist soil, and it will grow a rhizome (its root formation) from the frond, really special! Those are just two amaing aspects of this plant, keep on reading to learn another!

Four Easy Care Flowering Plants For Your Sub-Tropical or Zone 5/6/7 Container Garden!

After a long winter in Northern Israel, and a bit of a slow start in the Spring due to more rainfall than usual, my somewhat neglected (or shall we say low-maintenance?) container garden is now coming alive with gorgeous blooms! Somewhat of a miracle though likely thanks to husband's recent interest in watering our botanical friends, thankfully. Here are four tried and true plants that bloom year after year here in my sub-tropical/zone 6 climate of Northern Israel, which includes frost and some freezes now and again. Container gardening is such a pleasure and a lovely way to
bring greenery into your life even if, like me, you don't have any earth. Trees can be grown in large containers, and while many plants don't thrive in containers, many do and with some patience you can turn any patio or outdoor space into a lovely garden. So, lets take a look at four plants how in bloom in my garden, and maybe you'll consider some of them for your own space.

Oribe Gorge Succulent In Bloom Once Again!

One of my favorite plants, and one of the many succulents that you'll find growing in my container garden is now in bloom! And it is quite exciting for me as the two pots containing this succulent native to South Africa's Oribe Gorge did not bloom at all last year. I was thinking that possibly I babied them too much by bringing them indoors for part of the winter, or that they preferred the hotter location that they once occupied. In any case, I now know that they have acclimated to their newish spot on the little Romeo and Juliet style balcony in my kitchen, and for some reason decided to bloom much earlier than usual, so go figure!

Geranium Cuttings Will Bloom When Grown In Water!

While I do realize that this photograph is a bit vague, I took it quickly to share with you the amazing discovery that geranium cuttings grown in water produce flowers. Amazing, right? This cutting is actually a pillar geranium so it has a not only a very long stem, but its flowers form on long stems as well, which is truly lovely. So, if you travel a lot or tind that watering plants just doesn't suit you, consider growing some plants in water, and add geraniums to that list.

What other plants can one grow in water?

PLEASE NOTE: I just realized that I wrote hydrangea instead of geranium on the photo, my mistake, sorry for any confusion!

Kitchen Scraps Gardening: Grow Your Own Beet Greens

Aren't these beet greens just gorgeous? I grew them myself, on my kitchen table, from scraps that would ordinarily be tossed....gotta love it! You can grow your own beet greens to make a lovely Spring centerpiece, or to actually eat, when they get a bit bigger that is. Either way, kitchen scrap gardening is so much fun and certainly a great activity to do with the kids.

Enjoy some beets, I recommend oven roasted for the best taste, and save the tops for this project that will have you smiling from ear to ear.......and this sure beats moving to someplace with an actual garden to satisfy that desire to grow your own food, right?

Accidental Daisies Add A Stunning Touch To A Sleeping Container Garden

Isn't this pot full of pink daisies just lovely? I can't take credit for it as it truly happened all by itself, and I'm still in shock that a container this gorgeous is actaully part of my container garden.It is true, I had dreamed of daisies filling the empty space beneath my lemon tree, and one year I did buy some tiny daisy plants, but they succumbed to the summer heat and not enough care. Fast forward, I guess a few seeds got lots of energy and decided to make their mark on the world, and in the middle of winter started to grow, like really grow! And now here we are at the beginning of march with beautiful daisies that have actually been blooming like this for a few weeks.

Lesson to be learned? Sometimes when you let nature take over the results are better than anything you could ever have dreamed of!

Hardenbergia Vine In Bloom

One of the things I love to celebrate here on creative jewish mom is the change of seasons and all the wonderful that happen in nature and in my container garden, each and every year! This week I have already shared with you the yearly blooming of the almond trees, and I just ran outside wity my 50mm lens in order to share with you the yearly blooming of my hardenbergia vines, so very very lovely indeed!

i'll admit this plant has been looking very scraggly, and is in dire need of some food and attention as well, which is possibly why it has bloomed very nicely this year, meaning many more flowers than last year, interesingly enough!

When well tended to this is a gorgeous green vine all year that bloom with delicate purple flowers in the heart of winter when all the other bloomers are fast asleep. So if you live in a zone that can tolerate this vine, go for it!

Brighten Up Winter With Kalanchoe In Bloom!

Ahhhhh, gorgeous kalanchoe in pink, red and coral are just the thing to brighten up winter right about now! Thanks to Ikea, where these little pots were just 9 shekels each (plants are expensive here in Israel, very annoying since they are grown here and Israel is a world expert is such things) so I couldn't resist. Outside on our blue tile Moroccan table (more about that another day) they look just as cheerful as can be, and at some point I will have to actually plant them in a larger pot, but for now I have them sitting in a bonsai pot, and the plants are full enough to hide the white plastic nursery pots.

The wonderful thing about kalanchoe is that for those of you with freezing tempertures, it can be grown indoors as a houseplant. For me, I just watch the temps and will bring them indoors if the temperatures dip to freezing.The other wonderful thing about Kalanchoe is that it is one of those plants, like geraniums, whose cuttings can be easily rooted. So once your plant gets leggy, which it will, trim it and use the cuttings to make more plants!

A Fabulous Succulent Globe In Montreal At The BioSphere

Despite great hopes for continuing my crafting spree this week, that just isn't possible on account of a bunch of graphic design and brand development work that floated by and got stuck in my radar, so this week I'm going to continue sharing with you more photos from our adventures this past August in Canada and New York State. And since my mother especially appreciates these posts, hi mom, enjoy!

Hands down, one of my favorite spots in Montreal is the Biosphere designed by Buckminster Fuller for the 1967 World's Fair, and while I did share a few photos with you, I saved these photos of this fantastic succulent globe sculpture for a post dedicated just to that, as it really is inspiring and especially for all my fellow succulent hoarders out there! So feast your eyes and dream of making your own succulent sculptures or wall art!