Bulb Results and Nature Journal, Scribble Journal

 

Happy Friday to you all. The sun is trying to peek out now, enticing me and Mo out for a longer walk.

The house is filled with my Trader Joe's bouquets.

 and the last of the winter bulbs--amaryllis in bloom.

I like to look back each year at the successes [and failures, those moldy tulips!] of my indoor winter gardening.

Last bulbs first, the amaryllis.

The gorgeous red velvet bulb is doing beautifully. Now in its approximately seventh year, it has less blooms but they are large and showy.

Then there is the ''blue'' amaryllis bought winter of 2022-23. It arrived squished in a tiny box, the bulbs the size of a meagre tulip bulb; amaryllis should be baseball sized to produce good flowering. This year after a summer on the deck and plenty of fertilizer, it did bloom. 

Small RED flowers that didn't last very long.

It was sold as a rare blue amaryllis. 

HaHa! The joy of Photoshop. [It came from China, which I didn't realize when ordering. What a scam.]

Blog friend Penny's amaryllis--in S Africa.

And blog friend Julierose has also had huge success with her spring amaryllis that came as ghostly white stems. "Picotee". HERE

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Then there was the second set of Trader Joe's Hyacinths in their cute glass pots. 

At $2.49 each including the reusable vase, it doesn't pay to buy iffy bulbs and attempt to cold them off myself. They were beautiful. 

They become top heavy in full bloom. I cut them and put them in a small pitcher instead. 

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The Paperwhite narcissus...hmmm. They were nice healthy bulbs, they grew well.

Fun to see, with the blooms appearing over several weeks. 

However. Ten bulbs produced only 7 heads of blooms and the individual blossoms were tiny, maybe 3/4" each.

The tulips, as mentioned were discarded. So far Amazon refuses to acknowledge the issue or refund my money.

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Scribble Journal: February.

Just for fun.

                                     

And Perpetual Nature Journal, February into March. It is very fun now to be doing year two, despite definite lack of artistic improvement.

I had to use a cheat sheet drawing for Mr Winter Robin.

More:

I fixed the foggy dunes thumbnail by wetting the too colorful additions and blotting. One of the hardest parts of watercolor painting is learning to quit while you're ahead!

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Off topic, I'm still drying gourds from the Fall. The yellow one is taking its time.

On the beach, the giant trucks have appeared to groom the sand pre-summer.  And the much dreaded Daylight Savings Time will appear tomorrow night. 

Have a great weekend!

love

lizzy

gone to the beach...