creative jewish mom

Bower Vine Blooms In A Northern Israel Container Garden

As a somewhat experienced container gardener, I always advise my readers, and friends to take a look around their neighborhood, see what plants are flourishing, and go for that! And of course do take note of the location, like shade, direct sun, partial sun, a protective wall etc. At it turns out, Bower Vine, Pandorea jasminoides, happens to do very well in my little corner of the world, and while my plant isn't exactly the best example as it would probably prefer a larger pot, it is blooming more than ever this year, and because it is woody, it is hardy enough to withstand our sometimes almost freezing winters. The flowers are lovely, and since other vines like clematis aren't really an option, as they are not hardy enough, this one is! So if you are looking for a climber, even to cover a trellis, this may be it! Keep on reading for some more photos, and give this minimal care beauty some consideration, I think I need another one!

Bougainvillea In Bloom Once Again In My Northern Israel Container Garden

Yippee, my stunning magenta Bougainvillea is back in bloom after loosing all its leaves and sleeping during the coldest winter months. While Bougainvillea is a tropical plant it does do well in climates that have cool nights, like even San Francisco and my Northern Israel mountain location that is colder than San Francisco by quite a bit but somewhat similar. It turns out, that the only color of Bougainvillea that actually can live in pots generally around here, is this color, but not complaining! I have seen white and orange thrive as trees in the ground however, but that is not the general rule. So if you are planning to give bougainvillea a try, and you absolutely should, do ask which color is the hardiest in your location. And for those of you with snowy winters, you can grow bougainvillea as a houseplant, or get yourself a little greenhouse, my dream actually!

The great thing about Bougainvillea is that it literally blooms for months and months. Right now the entire plant are the blooms, or bracts, so the color is especially dense. At some point these blooms will fall off and the plant will then grow green leaves and another cycle of blooms. I think I'll just have to keep track this year!

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!

Sedum Adolphi Succulent Blooms In Northern Israel

We've just done some much needed painting and re-plastering on some of the exterior property walls of our home, which involved me moving a collection of succulents in window box planters. And since those said planters actually made a huge mess on the wall where they were perched I will not be returning them to that spot, rather they have moved to my upstairs porch, where truthfully I'll get to enjoy them so much more, as they are just outside my bedroom window, and on the porch where we sit to enjoy the view, have an occassional barbeque and hang laundry.

In previous years when the succulents bloomed I did notice, but didn't really get to enjoy the process as the plants were in an area that is a set up stairs up from the rest of my container garden, meaning I only see it when I leave the house and go in that direction by foot.  Truthfully I was trying to beautify that area, but now I'll be doing it with several large pots of Yucca and Oleander instead which won't harm the newly painted walls, and actually looks even better. So that said, now that the succulents are close by, I'm enjoying their spring flowering, and especially the lovely white flowers of my Sedum Adolphi plant. There is just something so wonderful about blooming succulents (and cacti, of course) so enjoy my photos and think about including some succulents in your life, they are so easy to care for, and can be started from cuttings from friends and family, and with some patience they can grow to be quite large! This sedum adolphi is actually the result of cuttings I took from the garden of a dear friend who passed away about ten years ago, and look at it now!

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!

Bougainvillea Now In Bloom In My Northern Israel Container Garden

One of my favorite plants, and one that makes a huge statement in my Northern Israel container garden is the Bougainvillea vine, which always pleases! Because we can get quite cold winters, the only Bougainvillea that really is hardy, especially in a container, without a doubt, is the magenta pink one, and that is just fine, because it is truly gorgeous! Here I've photographed for you the very first bloom of the year, which happens after a leafless winter of dormancy, and while these flowers will just keep on blooming for the next 6 months or so it is exciting to see them come back to life.

For those who live in snowy locations, Bougainvillea can be grown as a houseplant, or wintered in a greenhouse, or maybe just plan lots of trips to the Mediterranean, or Northern California (funny enough, where I'm from.....) where bougainvillea also does quite well. Ah yes, and Southern California as well and I'm guessing Arizona and New Mexico. What ever you decide to do, I do recommend including some Bougainvillea in your life, maybe in the form of a future painting of mine, hmmm?

Harvest Your Own Rose Hips And Benefit From Their Amazing Qualities!

I have large white rose standards (a rose bush grafted onto a trunk to give a certain formal look that roses don't generally have) planted in a large built in container at the entrance to our home, and since I am generally very diligent about trimming off spent blooms, I almost never see rose hips in my garden. This year however, I decided to experiment with getting more height by not trimming the spent blooms (plus it was a very wet winter, and who wants to go out and trim rose bushes?) and so today when I at long last went out to give my large container garden some attention I decided to harvest all the orange rose hips that had grown, as I knew they were good for something, but not what exactly! So I kept them on their stems to photograph them, and then started learning about all the uses of rose hips, and boy was I happy that I learned something new as a product of my possible laziness or container garden neglect! Speaking of learning something new, my daughter just got some new school books in the mail, and upon taking a look at the college Chemistry course she said, "I think I might need a tutor for this one." Fortunately, I just discovered that there is an amazing sight of online tutors called tutorhunt.com which is a great resource for so many students of all ages, with all the credentials of the tutors listed, as well as their hourly wages.

Okay, lets learn more about rose hips! 

Grow Your Own Gorgeous Beet Greens From Beet Tops

Beets are so very good for you, and especially when oven roasted so that all the nutrients stay in the beet! Here in the Mediterranean beets are actually a staple in our diet, used primarily in cold salads. And growing your own beet greens is so very wonderful and so very very simple! Recently some beets we'd purchased began to sprout on their own, so after cutting off the tops I simply placed them in water, knowing that they'd grow new leaves. What I had forgotten is just how gorgeous those beet leaves are, wow! Truthfully one could grow them to use as part of a spring centerpiece, and then eat the leaves afterwards! Once upon a time I did explore what is called "kitchen scraps gardening" and grew beet leaves in this way, though I also tried sprouting carrot tops as well. This is a fun activity for all ages, and truly couldn't be more simple, so get to it!

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.......