Sunday, January 3, 2010

Welcoming in the New Year


I hope the New Year finds you well and rested from the holiday season. I took a bit of a blogging break to spend time with my family and celebrate the season. It was a fun and exhausting time of year and I'm more than ready to get things back to normal.

The tree is still up - we keep it up until the Epiphany on January 6th. At this point, I'm ready to take it down, but dreading the task of un-decorating the house.

The seed magazines are starting to slowly come in and soon I'll begin prepping for indoor seed sowing. In the meantime, the amaryllis are blooming and providing a much needed bit of winter color.



It's amazing how these two amaryllis are so different. The one on the right is called "Red Lion" and has since bloomed with 3 bright red trumpet-like flowers. The one on the left I'm unsure of the name, but now has 5 blooms on it. They were both purchased at Lowes - real cheap. I'm thrilled with the results.

The paperwhites have not yet been potted up but will be soon. I always enjoy the sweet scent they bring when their blooms burst open. It's the smell of spring lurking right around the corner.

I'm also reviewing my garden and deciding what I'll plant in the vegetable raised beds as well as what needs to be divided, moved, ripped up, or planted in the perennial beds. Soon I'll share those plans with you - when I figure out what the heck I'm doing.... If I can ever figure it out that is!

13 comments:

Unknown said...

The Amaryllis is beautiful. Mine is still 'thinking' about growing. I guess it's grown a half inch orso. ;-)
Everyone is so ambitious with planning the gardens and all. Guess I'm a lazy gardener. I have a hard time with winter. All of my energy really bursts out in spring - my favorite time of year.

Charlotte said...

Lovely pictures and like the new header on the blog too. Happy New Year.

Anonymous said...

The paper whites' fragrance gets me in the mood for Spring time too. I'm enjoying looking at all the new variety of flowers in the catalogs. I wish you a happy new year.

Darla said...

Beautiful amaryllis...when you figure out what the heck you are doing, please feel free to drop by and help me! lol

sweetbay said...

I'm a lover of the fragrance of paperwhites too. My husband, on the other hand, hates it.

Ah yes, the seed catalogs have started rolling in here too. :)

Beautiful Amaryllis.

Catherine@AGardenerinProgress said...

What a pretty bloom. I have my first one getting ready to open.
Aren't the seed catalogs fun? I've circled so many, I need to scale it back so I have places to plant them.

Northern Beauty Seeker said...

It's certainly a time to think forward and start dreaming of next summer's garden - not the work part of it, you understand, just the pleasure part :-)

Your Amaryllis is gorgeous!

lynn'sgarden said...

Happy Belated Jackie!
Your amaryllis bloom is spectacular! I love the different striped ones like these! My solid red is just opening and my paperwhites are behind schedule, too! Only 73 more days til SPRING!!
Lynn

Victoria said...

These are so gorgeous...great shots!! Super post!

Kelly (the sorry gardener) said...

Just wanted to wish you happy new year, Jackie.

WhisperWood Cottage said...

Beautiful photos! I wish I had a green thumb!!

Duchess of Tea said...

Darling, you have a lovely blog and a new follower….me. I will return often.

Love & Hugs
Duchess

admin said...

I already bought my seeds for my vegetable garden, I can't wait for the growing season to begin!