The Far away Family in Florida (in February), Fabled Four-Foot Foreign Foliage, Fantastic Friends, Financial Freak Out, Final Fucking Floral Friday Edition. I think sixteen’s a record for me!
Today is the 52nd weekly installment of Saintseester’s brainchild theme, Fucking Floral Fridays. Though I think I missed a week or two during the doldrums of winter a few weeks back, I’ve been pretty faithful in posting flowers on Friday and, even though we’ve reached the year mark, I might continue the theme now and again for the sake of nostalgia (and when I take a really great picture). Anyway, here we go:
Starting with the far away family, here’s what I think are probably the best pictures I took while visiting Gerry and Honey in Florida during our February break:
Gerry’s got some of his pictures in a faire this week; go on over to his place for updates on how he did.
Next, we have the four-foot fabled foreign foliage. Seriously; the thing has a four foot wing span, easy. It’s got kind of a long story, and it started long before I got in on it. O’Mama brought this home for me from her last visit to her parents in Canada.
It’s a baby from a plant that her mother’s had for years, so I emailed O’Mama’s Mama to thank her and to ask exactly what the thing is and how I should care for it – and how she came to have it in the first place. Here’s what she replied:
You are so welcome, I am pleased the cutting found a good home. The plant is so tall that it regularly literally touches the ceiling and I have cut it numerous times.
I would advise you keep it in water till there are a number of long white roots, I have been successful with it that way. And it gives the plant a head start if you allow it to grow roots in water. If you put it in a pot it has to work harder to grow roots.
For the rest, in my home the plant stands in front of a window that has sun most of the day. As for watering, I find benign neglect works just fine. Water every second day or so and don’t overwater. On the first of the month I add some plant food to the water of every plant in my house and that seems to please them just fine.
What you have there is a Yucca. R, O’Mama’s twin, went to visit her Oma in Amsterdam about 28 years ago. In Amsterdam there is a Bloemmarkt, a flower market, mostly on barges moored at a canal. They sell various things we rarely see in North America and R brought home a stick. Brown, wood, unremarkable. As advised, I put it in a pot. And there it sat for over 18 months. I kept watering it on a regular basis and nothing happened. I had a lot of plants and it was just one of the throng, a bit of a disappointment, but mine. At one point I worried I had the stick upside down and turned it over. And it sat there. (My husband and the kids kept telling me to throw it out, but I argued that it was not eating bread, and I had plenty of water.) I think at that point I was just seeing who could outwait what.
And then, one day, there was a little green bud. And then the leaves. And like Topsy, it kept growing. At one point a housesitter broke it in two, and I stuck the broken top half in water and the rest kept going too. R has a “baby”, as do my cleaning ladies and various friends.
So, have fun with it. The stem will keep growing and if you keep it long enough, it will thicken. My plant has a thickened bottom and looks quite a bit like a tree. When it grows up more, and is firmly established, you can cut off the top, and create offspring. The bottom will sprout new beginnings.
It seems that my adoption of this thing constitutes my honorary membership in the family, according to Mama. I love it.
Next, we have fantastic friends. Sooza came and spent a night with us last week, and as a token of her gratitude for our keeping her children while she wrestled with construction debris at her parents’ house, she brought back these pretty things.
They’re still lovely, almost a full week later!
Next, O’Mama and her husband are experiencing, first hand, some of the suckage of the current economic down turn. These are alstroemeria and they symbolize prosperity.
Finally, I’m putting my favorite bit of floral as a close to the official run of FFFridays. This is my symbol:
I found it online years ago, and I adore it. It’s the background to my computer screen, it’s my avatar on my blog, and it’s the wallpaper on my phone. I love irises, and this image is graceful, stunning, and understated (all things I aspire to be).
Happy Friday, Everyone!
Happy birthday, FFF! Great way to commemorate the date with sixteen!
I’m DEFINITELY ready for spring now!
I love that you have one, too. Mine is about 5 feet tall and when it reaches ceiling height – I give it another 2 years – I’ll be doing some decapitation for someone else.
Beautiful flowers, my friend. Thanks for the pretty prosperity petals – clearly I need to have some. Will they grow in my garden?
I love your avatar. I am very fond of irises, too and I have the tips of stem poking through the ground as I type this. Come on Spring, less rain, more sun, get on with it.
Quite an anniversary for Floral Friday.
As you know, the TBD household goes with a zero count on indoor plants. This is partially due to our split year between Fla. and Ma. Also partially due to laziness.