creative jewish mom

Sunrise Salmon Pink Phalaenopsis Orchid Blooms!

My orchid sanctuary, filled with more than 20 previously orphaned and almost dead orchids that I've managed to bring to life, is filled with lovely blooming orchids and for the first time ever I now have phalaenopsis orchids that are referred to as red, salmon, sunrise or pink, you name it! This particular plant has huge leaves so I'm not surprised that it has produced a double stem of stunning blooms, and I could tell by the color of the leaves that the flowers would be red/pink but what exactly was a mystery until now.

I do love the elegance of white phalaenopsis blooms, but a mix of colors (I now have 3/4 color varieties) is truly special and I'm starting to feel like an orchid whisperer, though I'll admit I have not been successful with all the poor plants brought to me by a family friend who does landscaping and rescues discarded orchids. In return we send him photos/video updates when the plants bloom, and it makes him happy too! When guests come to our home, I generally point out that the blooming orchids are real, and anyone interested gets a little lesson in how to get an orchid to re-bloom. 

The only secret I have, other than weekly ice cubes or watering in the sink, is that as the water boils for my morning coffee I give each plant a spritz of water, and plants that have finished blooming are placed in the shade outdoors during the summer. I have not used any fertilizer though I do have some somewhere and would like to give it a try after this blooming period.

How To Get Your Lipstick Plant To Bloom!

In May of 2024 I was given a gift certificate to our local nursery, and in June, just in time for Shavuot I purchased, among other things, a lovely lipstick plant, not in bloom. Blooming houseplants are generally sold when in bloom or with buds, since most folks don't know all that much about plants, but this one was apparently left over from that period, and waiting for me!  I was looking for something to hang in the shade of our front entry porch, and this fit the bill. I did realize that I would have to bring the plant indoors once the temperatures dipped, but little did I know that we'd be treated to a very stunning winter bloom, with tiny buds forming at the beginning of what is now a four month period, with more buds left to develop while the initial blooms have dropped. And I am surely not complaining about the lovely burst of color in my living room!

The Lipstick Pant, Aeschynanthus radicans originates from the southeast Asia tropics, where it grows as an epiphytic plant, growing in trees and on other plants as part of a symbiotic relationship. Because of this, the plant thrives when planted in an airy mix of potting soil and sphagnum moss or in a very coarse potting mix, like one made for orchids. That said, my plant arrived from the nursery in regular houseplant potting soil, but if I repot it, I will surely keep this in mind. Also another wonderful thing about lipstick plant is propogation from stem cuttings, which one takes after the bloom and which also keeps the plant from getting too leggy, stay tuned for that! But first lets learn how to take care of this glorious plant!

Stunning Coleus In A Lovely Mixed Garden Bed With Elephant's Ear!

This week I was walking in one of the old stone alleys in my neighborhood, and a slightly neglected one at that, and came across this stunning garden bed with Coleus, wow! It is positioned perfectly to detract from the electric box, and I guess there was a hole of some kind in the ground that called out to be a garden bed filled with shade loving plants, and look how happy those plants are! Part of the success of this grouping is that there are four different kinds of leafy plants with 4 drastically different sizes, something to keep in mind friends and I certainly will, as this combo is so very very pleasing to the eye! The largest leaves are elephant's ear, a personal favorite, then the coleus, then a smallish plant that I can't identify, and then a tiny ground cover/wandering Jew of sorts. Depending on what kind of winter we'll have this year, I doubt that the coleus can survive, so I hope the gardener will take cutting and make new plants indoors to re-plant here in the spring. The elephant's ear won't survive snow or prolonged frost either, but it is somewhat hardy, as I've seen it in another nearby container garden and it appears to be surviving from year to year. Okay, lets take another look.....

The Haworth's Aeonium Succulent Blooms In Northern Israel

One of my prized succulents is in bloom and it is so wonderful! Ten years or so ago a dear friend passed away unexpectedly, and alone, leaving the community to go through her things. I decided to make sure that her plants didn't end up in the dumpster, so I took both plants and cuttings from her succulents, and gave plants to neighbors. I'll admit, one of the philodendron houseplants was just not worth caring for anymore, which is sometimes the case with houseplants, but the succulents that I've cared for over the years are thriving. One such case is this pot of aeonium haworthii that is now gorgeous and densely packed, despite being quite unattractive and woody when I first brought it home. And to boot, I've now moved my succulents to an interior porch rather than on the exterior of our home, so I have much more opportunity to actually enjoy them, and these blooms, wow! So friends, if you live somewhere where succulents can survive year round, or you don't mind taking them indoors or into a green house come winter, they are truly amazing, and when they flower it is such a delight!

Great Looking Copper Colored Succulent Called Sedum Adolphi

While I just love this succulent pot of mine, I'll admit until just now I did not know what it was called! And friends, simply upload a photo of a plant to google images, which then finds similar images enabling you to identify the plant, so simple and such a time saver! Okay, now that i know that this beauty of a succulent is called Sedum Adolphi, I can sing its praises! What do I love about it? First of all the unique color and second of all because its growth, at least in my case is very compact and stays looking amazing with virtually no care!

Try A Potted Cyclamen Rather Than Cut Flowers!

Yes indeed my friends, here in Israel is it officially cyclamen season! And truthfully we especially love this stunning winter flowering plant because it is also a beloved native plant to Israel, and a part of childhood songs that teach about the seasons. I have to admit it was quite a surprise the first time I saw them growing in the wild, though the native cyclamen are generally white and light pinkish, not bright magenta as far as I know. Check out my wild cyclamen in the Golan Heights post, to see the real deal!

While I am enjoying this cyclamen that my kids bought for me, indoors at the moment, as soon as the flowering period is over, the plant will live in the shade somewhere outdoors, and I'll try to coax it into blooming again next year. If you decide to purchase a cyclamen, go for the larger plants that are grown from bulbs, as those will last, as opposed to the smaller plants grown sometimes from seeds, which are more problematic, I've found. In any case, purchasing a cyclamen or several to add some cheerful color in the winter is a great idea, regardless of what you decide to do with the plants afterwards, and much more budget friendly than cut flowers! Keep on reading for some valuable tips.......

Kangaroo Paws, Anigozanthus, Blooms In August In Oakland, CA

Whenever I go back to Northern California, my childhood stomping grounds, I'm always so very inspired by the gardens almost always with a focus on drought resistant species. Our stay in the historic neighborhood of Hadden Hill in Oakland was especially inspiring, and I had a chance to get to know some plants that I hadn't previously seen. One in particular is Kangaroo Paws, anigozanthus, which is so truly wonderful and different from anything else! I am pressed for time so if you are interested you'll have to look the plant up, but I think my photos will certainly be something to enjoy if you are a garden enthusiast!

Agapanthus Blooms In August In Oakland, CA

Growing up in Berkeley, California, we had a few clusters of Agapanthus on the side of the house that just bloomed year after year with seemingly very little care. Today, as a garden and flower lover I appreciate agapanthus even more, and was so thrilled to see it in bloom at the beginning of August in Oakland, California, and specifically the Cleveland Heights/Haddon Hill area. Like many of my favorite plants, Agapanthus is a native of South Africa,  and thus sometimes called lily of the Nile, or African lily in the UK. However, they are not lilies and all of the species are native to Southern Africa (South Africa, Lesotho, Eswatini, Mozambique), though some have become naturalized in scattered places around the world such as Australia, Great Britain, Mexico, Ethiopia, and Jamaica

The Stunning Glory Bush, Pleroma Heteromallum, Blooms In Northern California

Glory Bush also called silver leaved princess flower with the botanical name of Pleroma Heteromallum (though it has a few botanical names as well, strangely enough!) is a stunning purple flower with velvety leaves that is quite unique and happends to grow very well in Northern California, specifically, the historic Haddon HIll neighborhood in Oakland, CA.

I am rushing to cook for shabbat, so will write more soon, in the mean time, enjoy the photos!

Stunning Amaryllis Belladonna Blooms In Oakland, California

One of the many treats of visiting my mother for a few weeks, this August, in Oakland California, as all the amazing gardens I enjoyed in the neighborhood where we stayed, historic Haddon Hill, just above Lake Merrit. Northern Californians love drought resistant and dramatic front yards these days, that front lawn is long gone, replaced by a wonderful variety of plants that require much water, as water is scarce and residents do their best not to waste it! What I have noticed in Northern California in general, is that if there are certain plants that do well in any given neighborhood, many jump on the same bandwagon and plant the same thing, which actually is quite lovely and gives a nice consistency. One such plant, that happened to be in full bloom during our visit is called Amaryllis Belladonna, and wow is it ever spectacular! The flower blooms on long stalks with no leaves and the fact that it is a bulb that blooms in August is altogether quite interesting! I was also intrigued to learn that this flower is an amaryllis, as I'm only familiar with the big red ones that bloom in the spring, or even better are forced for enjoyment in December!

I was very happy to see that bulbs for amaryllis belladonna are for sale locally here in Israel, so I may just have to give it a try, though I highly doubt it would bloom here in August, the hottest month of the year, hmmmm, so when then? Okay, I'm going to look into that, keep on reading for more lovely photos and info!