All I Wanna Do is Lay in the Sun

This is Jon Pickles enjoying some sunshine today, he is a large cat but he manages to get in behind plants to soak up the rays. The leaves in the picture belong to a large Clivia plant that I have had for almost 20 years, it blooms every spring, last year it bloomed twice, in the spring and later in the summer. I transplanted it to a larger pot after it bloomed, they do not like to be transplanted but the roots were beginning to show on top of the soil. I hope it blooms this spring.

Reiman Gardens Butterfly House

Visiting Reiman Gardens in the middle of an Iowa winter is a wonderful way to spend the day. The gardens are awesome in the summer without a doubt but visiting the Butterfly House on a day when the temperature is only 0 or so is exhilaring! The Butterfly House is warm and toasty and full of tropical plants and butterflys of course, it is a great place to take pictures as well. There is also a wonderful conservatory that always has a gorgeous display. These pictures were taken in December, I can not wait to visit again soon, the flower display has been changed in the conservatory and I am sure there are new butterflys to see and photograph. If you have the chance to visit Reiman Gardens, do not hesitate it is well worth it. It is located on the grounds of Iowa State University. The money for it was donated by the Reimans, anyone who regulary reads their magazines has probably heard of it, they published (the company is now owned by Reader's Digest) Birds and Blooms, Country, Country Woman, Taste of Home, and other magazines, all of which are great reading.

Reiman Gardens Butterfly House

Reiman Gardens Butterfly House

Lipstick Plant

My houseplants get me through the winter in Iowa, I mentioned in an earlier post how I found a lipstick plant and I had not had one in years, when I was repotting my original purchase one of the small branches broke off, I stuck it in a small pot, it has rewarded me by blooming!

Sunnys On My Mind

Sunflowers

After the snow we had in Iowa a couple of days ago, the bird feeders have been far more active than they have for most of the winter. Anyway, it reminded me of the volunteer sunflowers that grew under the bird feeder last summer and this pretty little black and white moth that visited one day so I wanted to share this slide show. I wish I knew the identity of the moth.

Monday Monday

In case you are wondering who is in the picture, that is Quasi Boy one of my constant gardening companions. He was adopted through Midwest Boxer Rescue. He did not have the greatest life before but is quite happy now. He has a large scar around his neck from someone letting a collar grow into his skin.

Well, we did get some snow but not much, 3 inches is the official total. Not nearly enough to give me a good excuse to stay home from work for a snow day.

I mentioned that I placed an order with Select Seeds this past weekend, I ordered some Martagon lily bulbs, lilies happen to be one of my favorite garden plants. I read an article in a magazine some time back singing the praises for this particular lily also mentioning that it does not mind partial shade and even thrives in the shade. I hesitated to order the bulbs for spring planting because fall planted lilies always do better for me but I could not pass them up.