Indoor Bulb Beauty

One of the joys of winter indoor gardening is watching forced bulbs bloom. I love all the different unique containers that can be used and how beautifully you can decorate with them. While I'm still waiting for my amaryllis to bloom I did some poking around cyberspace to get some inspiration. I hope you enjoy these beautiful pictures and get some ideas too.

Photo credit: Country Living

Photo credit: Country Living

Photo credit: Jackson and Perkins

Photo credit: Good Housekeeping

Photo credit: Country Living

Let the Season Begin!

With Thanksgiving being over with I can finally get into the Christmas spirit. I'm not one to listen to Christmas music or to decorate my house for Christmas before Thanksgiving. Since I think it's important to savor and appreciate the moment, the golden rule in my house is no Christmas stuff before we've had our turkey feast.

To start things off, I've set out my amaryllis bulbs in pretty red metal containers.



Usually I force my bulbs by setting them in a glass container filled with water and rocks, but when I found these vibrant red containers for $2.00 at the Christmas Tree Shop I thought I'd use the plastic pots the bulbs came with and just place them inside the decorative holder.


To cover up the planting medium I used some dried Spanish moss I had laying around.


Amaryllis bulbs usually take 6 weeks to bloom so I may not have these opened for Christmas but I will have some lovely foliage in the meantime.

Over the next week I'll be slowly pulling out my other decorations as well as putting the tree up. Andy and I have a very real looking fake tree that we usually put up, but this year we may get a real one. Although I prefer a real tree, I like to keep my tree up until a week after New Year's and by then a real tree starts to look pretty shabby. What do you prefer real or fake and why?

Our calendar is very packed this month with several Christmas parties to attend as well as both Andy's and mine's birthdays. I'm sure all of your calendars are full as well. I'd love to hear what sorts of things you do to fend off the stress of the season. Post a comment and let me know. I'd love to hear your advice.