When You Can’t Get to Nature…

 

Anyone recognize this line from my favorite movie? In Sense and Sensibility, Eleanor, our heroine, was nursing a twisted ankle, so her gallant admirer picked a field of wildflowers to bring to her rather than a 'hot house' bouquet. With a flourish he presented his bouquet declaring, "Since you can't go to nature, nature must come to you!" Sigh..how romantic!

I have this funny feeling that I'm not the only one wishing for a little bit of nature. But sometimes…you just can’t get to nature. It’s simply too cold…wet..or snowy. However, that doesn’t mean we can’t enjoy the thrill of growing things. For years, my mother, who loves gardening, has forced bulbs indoors and for some reason, I just never got around to trying it. This is so easy that I can’t believe I didn’t attempt it sooner.

I used a brandy snifter, large water glass, and a deep vase (from a local thrift store) to plant these bulbs in. All I did was put some fish tank gravel in the bottom of each container, scoop out some tank water (super fertilizer!) and pour up to the ‘ground’ level in each one, and then I sat three Freesia bulbs per ‘vase’ with the sprout side up and the root side down. 

In only three days, they had begun to sprout. By the end of the week, all of them were growing rapidly. There’s something so exhilarating about seeing bulb shoots peeking from the ground isn’t  there?  Tim got these for me instead of my usual weekly ‘bouquet’ by my request. 

Lena, my granddaughter wasn’t terribly interested yet, but I think she will love the flowers once they start to bloom.

Of course there are a few hardy flowers that manage to bloom even in the middle of winter like our tulip tree plant. We will be having snow for the next two days, so Rebekah, suggested we rescue the blooms from the tree before the 30mph gusts started up as predicted. No point letting the freeze get them. And these were just in time for my birthday! Perfect....

Dear Hubby bought these Narcissus bulbs for $8.00 from Wal-mart for my birthday since he knows how much I will enjoy watching them grow indoors. We have quite a little garden going now. :o)

And if you just can’t wait, well, there’s nothing like an orchid or potted plant to add some color to your window

Sometimes, the best way to add some beauty to your home..is to simply bring nature..inside!  

      Linking to Fishtail Cottage’s Cottage Flora Thursday

and the most inspiring blog in the WHOLE WORLD...Raising Homemakers. You simply MUST check out this blog if you are raising girls or want to share your love of Homemaking with others. Thanks so much, Christi, for telling me about this life changing blog. :o)

Have a lovely day and stay warm!