Gertrude's Flower Garden Weekly Diary
12/17/99 - The "Diary" of 12/3 with the picture of the "glass-room" mentions the Christmas cacti. Right on schedule, these are now blooming. They produce very colorful and unusual flowers in shades of red and orange. I have takes some photographs and will include a picture in a future "Diary." These cacti must be watered carefully; I lost one this year that had rotted where the stem met the soil. I feel certain the rot was the result of over-watering. I try to give them about half the water I give other plants. Some of the Wings begonias in the glass-room have gotten "leggy," producing their flowers at the end of a long stem. I have cut these back even though I lose their blooms, so that they become more "bushy" and bloom on shorter stems.
The "basement garden" is doing fine. The Wings begonias and Star zinnia seedlings are growing well. The zinnias have second leaves and will be ready to transplant in a week or two. The begonias, although planted first, are still tiny; it will be a month or six weeks before I can begin the tedious task of transplanting them. The newest additions to our winter "garden" are two boxes of impatiens that have germinated well and are still on the warming pad. I will leave them there until I feel that all or almost all of the seeds have germinated and then move them to one of the "shop-light" tables.
I have done so much complaining here in recent weeks about raking their fallen leaves, that you may have begun to believe that I don't appreciate the beauty of trees, and particularly of the glorious display that they put on in the autumn before their leaves begin to fall. The lovely Pin oak (Quercus palustris) in the center of our picture for this week has on its immediate right an almost bare dogwood, and further to the right a giant Holly that has supplied the neighborhood with Christmas greens for many years, and whose berries have supplied migrating birds with a feast as they journey south and north. Other taller oaks surrounding the Pin oak are in various stages of changing color. Redman's Woods, when our home was first built here, consisted of mostly Red, Black, and White oak trees--some close to or past the century mark in age. Many of these still remain, but many, including three giants on our land, have succumbed to old age and fallen in hurricanes or other violent wind storms. Most of us living here replaced lost trees with Pin oaks, which are nicely shaped with attractive finely scalloped leaves. Unfortunately, Pin oaks do not have the longevity of other oaks, and I have seen three planted, grow to good heights, and be blown over by storms. If you hope to enjoy their beauty for a lifetime, consider planting the longer lived oak trees which should survive you.
12/24/99 - Gertrude's Flower Garden Weekly Diary
12/10/99 - Gertrude's Flower Garden Weekly Diary
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