Saturday, November 15, 2014

Garden Bloggers Bloom Day - November 2014 - Cactus Surprise

If Garden Bloggers Bloom Day had been on November 13, I still could have shown you some flowers in my zone 5b garden in the Johnson City area of upstate New York.

But yesterday, with the first snow that stuck (we had sleet and snow last Friday, but it didn't - here, anyway) and a hard freeze, I had to let go. 

Now starts the season of hoping some indoor flowers bloom each 15th of the month, so I am not totally embarrassed in front of the world.  Gulp.
Welcome to Garden Bloggers Bloom Day, where gardeners from all over the world show what is blooming.

For example, my Thanksgiving (more on that later) cactus are blooming.  Even this little cutting in a tiny pot is blooming for me. (Did you know that grammar geeks say that cactus, cactuses and cacti are all correct to use as the word to describe two or more cactus plants?  So please do not leave a comment about "cactus" as a plural.)

But before I show you more flowers, I want to show you that, as of about 7am this morning, I still had a couple of flowers left outside, in a hanging basket.
A petunia still bravely bloomed, a spot of pink in the brown all around it.  This plant has survived, twice, down to 25 degrees F (-3.8 C.)  I don't expect it to bloom much longer. 

So, what else do I have? Well, first, a confession.  Last Saturday I went to an open house at a local nursery/florist, Tioga Gardens, and replenished my supply of flowering plants.

I bought this African Violet while the African Violets I already own, roots trimmed and put back in pots with fresh soil, show their displeasure.
And, I could not resist a white Christmas cactus in bud, or so I thought. Now that it's opening up, lovely light pink blossom are emerging.  (sorry, no name tag in the plant). But I had a big surprise, reading today's post on the host blog for the GBBD meme.  I do not own any Christmas cactus - every last one of my Christmas cactus are actually Thanksgiving cactus - same genus, but different species.  The secret is in the leaves - if they have points on them, you have Thanksgiving cactus.

And maybe that explains why my plants bloom in November...

Finally, back to my flowers from this summer, here is a geranium I brought inside (one of several).  I have no idea why the picture looks like this - this is a reddish geranium.  But I loved my iPhone 4S's interpretation of this flower so much, I decided to post it anyway.

And now, I must start a hunt for a true Christmas cactus - maybe I'll have one to show you next GBBD.

Did you like what you saw? Please comment, and then please visit May Dreams Gardens, which hosts this meme every 15th of the month, and click on other links to see what is blooming all over the world.

12 comments:

  1. Love the cacti no matter when they bloom. Mine begin to bud as soon as I bring the pots indoors each Autumn (end of October). They begin blooming before Thanksgiving. I must look for the rounded leaf kind.
    Happy Garden Bloggers' Bloom Day
    Lea

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  2. I hope we both find Christmas Cactus soon. My Thanksgiving Cactuses have one or two buds almost open, always a thrill no matter how many I've seen.

    Your African Violet is a stunning color.

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  3. Here we have Christmas cactus, Schlumbergia bridgesii and then Easter cactus, Schlumbergia gaertneri. I have never heard of Thanksgiving Cactus, but then we don't have Thanksgiving. I' m off to see if mine have pointy leaves.

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  4. Living in a city deprives you of the closeness to plant life. Learning a lot from your posts.
    Dorit Sasson
    author of Accidental Soldier: What My Service in the Israel Defense Forces Taught Me about Faith, Courage and Love
    https://www.facebook.com/pages/Silence/544969778951513

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  5. I was just about to ask you where you found such an interestingly colored geranium. I like your iPhone's interpretation of it too!

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  6. Here in Nebraska, about the last flowers to get frozen off were also petunias--I had planted some very fetching hot pink and lime green striped ones in a pot, and I was sorely sad to see them get frozen! Pretty flowers Alana! Do you have any succulents? I find that mine bloom like crazy at the oddest times---like winter.

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  7. I lost my Christmas cactus to an unexpected freeze and your pictures just remind me that I need to purchase another. And I love that African violet. For many years, I kept several of those beauties going but now I don't own a single one. Maybe it's time for me to purchase one or two of them as well.

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  8. Very nice shots of such pretty flowers. My Christmas cactus is blooming like crazy, as it does every year. I hardly pay it any attention, yet it still does its best to show its beauty. Thanks for sharing

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  9. We have snow on the ground and temps in the teens right now in Maine, so these beautiful pictures of flowers are wonderful to see! Thanks for sharing!

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  10. Yep, my cactus are all of the Thanksgiving persuasion as well! Carol at May Dreams educated a lot of us bloggers this month, didn't she!

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  11. Hey there, I found you via the NaBloPoMo blogroll.

    What lovely blooms. I most love the cactus one, that is spectacular! ;)

    As part of NaBloPoMo I try to comment on as many participating blogs as I can, and I also add participating blogs to my feed reader.

    So I’m just dropping by to let you know I’ve added your blog to my feedreader, I’m reading you loud and clear, I have a link up going at my place so my readers can find participating blogs which you are more than welcome to add your blog link to.

    Looking forward to seeing your posts. You may see me drop by again during November, but it might be December before I finish my first drop by to blogs if I don't get faster at leaving comments. :)

    Happy NaBloPoMo to you!
    Snoskred
    http://www.snoskred.org

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  12. Yes they are lovely most specially the white Christmas cactus. But i love the color of that Saintpaulia too!

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