Flower Free Clivia

I have been enchanted by Clivia miniata, which usually just goes by “clivia”, or sometimes “fire lily”, for a long time. A few years ago, I succumbed and bought a clivia from a vendor at the Philadelphia Flower show. I brought it home, put it in a choice location beside the other house plants on … Read more

Scented Adventure

Now that the holidays have passed, the scents of fir and pine are behind us and a long winter of indoor living is still ahead. If you are lucky, the winter smells in your house include the aromas of delicious things in the oven and wood burning in the fireplace. If you are less lucky, … Read more

Solstice Signs

The winter solstice has happened, which means that as each day passes, the western hemisphere gains about one minute of daylight. Of course it will take some time before those daily gains make a difference in daily life. In January and February, storms often obscure the increased daylight, making it harder to pluck hope from … Read more

Winter Brightness

The other day I was stuck in one of my home state’s infamous “jug handle” intersections, waiting for traffic to clear so that I could get on with annoying but pressing errands. While waiting, my eyes caught something red in the untended island in the middle of the “jug handle”. Amid a tangle of overgrown … Read more

Amaryllis Marches On

When I was growing up, poinsettias, especially red ones, reigned supreme in the holiday decorating sweepstakes. Big stores arranged hundreds of them in tiers to look like giant red Christmas trees. The crimson blooms adorned church altars and ornamented multiple rooms in large houses. People with a more modern aesthetic sometimes turned to white poinsettias … Read more