Indoor Gardening

The February sun feels warmer than the January sun, but step out the door and the chill of winter still grips the air. Our sunroom is the place to be early each morning with a cup of coffee. We make an effort to have flowers in the house year round. James and I are very capable outdoor gardeners, so during the warm months, bouquets of peonies, roses,delphiniums and hydrangeas can be cut and put in vases throughout the house. As an indoor gardener, my skills are limited to forcing bulbs and branches. I am very happy with that, after all I adore paperwhites. I love the simplicity of their form, the stems that go from a pale green up to a dark green, against the bright white of the flower. It is a flower that I have drawn several times. Amaryllis are just so magnificent. James has used these bold beauties in several paintings, and why not, they are dazzling! So now it is time to think about forcing some forsythia branches, and I know that there are still a few paperwhite bulbs in a box, somewhere.