OK Susan, you asked a very specific question. Most of my gardening is always veggies and an occasional flower of sorts. I don’t do tropical house plants personally. BUT I spent a lot of the night researching for you and from what I can tell the Kaffir Lily and the Ponytail Palm would be good seeds to start. I also ran across cactus, bonsai, spider plants, aloe vera, and bamboo as being very good seeds to sow for indoor plants.
The Kaffir lily, miniata, is a tropical houseplant that thrives in the shade. Native to South Africa, it grows under the protection of trees and bushes in its natural habitat. As a houseplant, it prefers partial shade and well drained, slightly acidic soil. Kaffir lily plants can grow up to 18 inches tall and up to 25 inches wide, so a large pot is recommended. The plant takes about four years to fully mature, at which point it will flower in the spring and summer months.
Ponytail Palm: While flowers and hanging vines are fun, some indoor gardeners are more ambitious. If you'd like the joy of watching a tree grow in your living room, starting a ponytail palm tree, Nolina recurvata, from seed may be for you. This plant is not a true palm tree, but is a succulent, native to Mexico. At maturity, which can take up to 15 years in a pot, the ponytail palm reaches heights of 6 feet or more. This plant has a great amount of potential for people who occasionally forget to water their plants--over watering this plant is more harmful than under watering it. Requiring full sun and well-drained soil, starting this stunning plant from seed takes little effort.
As for plants to plant with the daycare children, to keep the interest of the little ones you might consider seeds that germinate and sprout fairly quickly. Some flower seeds that are quick to germinate include Centaurea (bachelor's buttons) -- 7 to 10 days; Dianthus (sweet William) -- 5 to 10 days; Rudbeckia (gloriosa daisy) -- 5 to 10 days; ageratum -- 6 to 10 days; cosmos -- 5 to 7 days; sweet alyssum -- 8 to 15 days; zinnia -- 5 to 7 days; and Mexican marigold -- 5 to 7 days. Vegetable seeds worth trying include corn -- 5 to 7 days; cucumber -- 7 to 10 days; lettuce -- 7 to 10 days; sweet peas- 7-10 days; and watermelon -- 5 to 7 days. To ensure success, plant your seeds in moistened seed-starting mix and keep them in a warm location. Also check out this website called Eartheasy and their article Gardening with Children for some more ideas! I hope some of this information has been helpful.
OK, since yesterday was Garden Comment day, I got to thinking…a lot of you are talking about it still snowing where you are… so why don’t you make a rain barrel or 2? Shovel some of that snow (which is full of nutrients BTW) into the barrel and then when it melts, you will have good water for your plants! Not to mention, that it saves on your water bill when you have it in reserve! You can also bring some of that snow inside and when it melts, you can water your houseplants with it as well! You can make a rain barrel out of food grade 55 gallon drums or even trash cans. You will need a spigot and a few other things. There are a ton of websites with instructions to make a rain barrel, but two of the best ones I looked at were How to make a Rain Barrel Cheaply and Recycle the Rain.
Now some of you have laughed at the fact that I said I wanted to grow giant pumpkins! And as of right now, it does not look like my seeds are going to sprout BUT I found a great article that might help me… so I plan on getting more seeds IF I can find them and trying again! I WILL have me a 500 pound pumpkin! LOL can you see my landlord’s face when it starts to grow?!? OMG if I can actually get one to grow, I will be LMAO. The world's largest pumpkin isn't just giant--it's gargantuan! The current record holder is Christy Harp's 1,725 pound Atlantic Giant pumpkin, which won the Ohio Valley Giant Pumpkin Grower's annual weigh-off in October 2009. Could you imagine if I could grow one BIGGER? Maybe THAT would be the World record breaker on my bucket list LMAO!
Oh I have to show you… I am so proud of the seeds for sweet peas I started! Look how big they have grown in just a few days?! The tallest one is over 4 inches now! I just smile when I go in the kitchen and see these little darlings shooting up! I planted 2 seeds per peat pot (total of 20 seeds) and only 4 did not sprout. Not bad huh? BUT I am gonna keep waiting on them, because one of the pots had a late bloomer… he’s just about an inch tall now. He’s a baby LOL!
And speaking of seeds, I found this site that has lots of good information about sowing seeds inside during the winter. Its called WinterSown.Org and they even have a link on their site for FREE seeds! Make sure to check it out! You have to print out the page and include it with your SASE and mail it within 7 days to get the free seeds. And if you donate $5, they will double your order, bringing the total to 12 free packs instead of 6. They are a 501c3 organization and you will receive a receipt for your donation. I sent mine off and I will let you know how that offer goes!
And I wanted to let everyone know that I DID receive my Free Houston Garden Centers Gift Card on Tuesday in the mail, so if you got it to get yours, congrads! If not, rest assured, I’ll be keeping my eyes wide open for more great deals like this! Now the hard part is deciding what to get with the card! LOL… DD15 wants berries, I want fruit trees, oh and some roses! And I could ALWAYS go for more veggies too! Now you see why its so hard? LMAO!
Ok, so as you have read my daughter leaves on her band trip tomorrow. (I want to thank everyone for their comments regarding how I was feeling BTW.) They are going to Orlando, FL. Well I made some luggage tags for her yesterday. As you can see, I had 3 different music note fabric, so that’s what I made and she could pick what she wanted. She came home from school and chose the black and the white ones… she liked the yellow one too, but opted for the darker 2. That’s fine… I now have the first one for putting in my crafts to sell! YAY! Go me! I originally posted this idea on Feb. 14th, so go check it out as it is a quick easy craft to make for the traveler in your life. I plan on making a ton of them to put in my craft booths for sale!
Now back to Easter crafting… how are you liking the ideas so far? Great… I’m glad you like them. I like doing all kinds of crafts- from sewing to cross-stitching and I like that each day I can come and share craft ideas that I both find online and/or come up with of my own that fits crafters of all skill levels! Here’s one I found on my Thrifty Fun website that I thought you might enjoy!
Craft Idea for the Day: Yarn Bunnies
Supplies:
1 3 oz. skein of white craft yarn
8x8 inch squares of felt, in pink, and white.
1 small spool of 1/2 inch pink satin ribbon
1 styrofoam egg shape 3" ball
1 small pkg. of movable eyes, 1/2"
1 small pkg. of white pom poms 1"
1 small pkg. of pink pom poms 1/2"
black wire, That can be cut into 2" pieces for whiskers
a decoration, for the bunny's hands, I used a small miniature plastic square basket and filled it with mini plastic eggs.
Directions:
Take the skein of yarn, Cut off wrapper, It should unfold in 1/2. Cut the skein of yarn in 1/2, Keeping it still together, Like in a long strips of yarn. Take the Egg for the head, Holding it, Place half the skein over the head evenly, So that each side hangs even. Now, Take the second half skein of yarn and fold it in the opposite way over the head. So now you will have four parts of yarn, hanging over the head. Take an elastic band and tightly hold all four parts of yarn together in your hand and wrap the elastic around until tightly wrapped. Now, You should have made the head and it should look like a mop head. With a 12" piece of pink ribbon, Gather a good amount of yarn from the top of the head and feed the yarn through. and tie in a knot at the end. This makes a pretty hanger for your bunny.
Take another 12" piece of pink ribbon, And just tie it around the neck to hide the elastic, And make a bow tie.
To make arms to hold any object you choose, Just take about 6 strands of the white yarn from each side of the dangling yarn, give each arm a twist, and place the arms together in the front, Tied with a 6" inch piece of pink ribbon. Now you can attach to the arms the basket with eggs, or just leave it with the ribbon tied in a bow.
Now, For the ears, Take one piece of white felt square, Fold it in half, Draw with a pencil, long oval pointed ears, Cut both at the same time, So the ears will be the same size. Now, Do the same thing with the pink square felt, Fold in half, But cut just a bit smaller pointed ovals, These will be hot glued in the center of the white ears. Now, After you are finished making the pink and white ears, Take your hot glue gun and just put two lines of glue accross the top sides of the head, Hold tightly until dry, They should stand up just fine. And last, The face, Glue on two eyes, The nose is made of one pink pom pom, And right below place two white ones. These will be hot glued on, And last, take each whisker, put a dab of hot glue on the end and stick it in between the nose and mouth. I use three on each side!
Ahh Easter… nothing says Easter bunny like a good old carrot. Wait a minute, yes there IS something better! CHOCOLATE! LMAO… Yes my friends I challenge you to tell me one person who doesn’t like a chocolate bunny waiting for them on that Sunday morning. The one with the hollow ears crying for you to rip them off with one big bite LOL! Yea… he is my friend. So let’s have a recipe involving delicious chocolate today shall we? How about...
Too Much Chocolate Cake
Ingredients
1 (18.25 ounce) package devil's food cake mix
1 (5.9 ounce) package instant chocolate pudding mix
1 cup sour cream
1 cup vegetable oil
4 eggs
1/2 cup warm water
2 cups semisweet chocolate chips
Directions
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).
In a large bowl, mix together the cake and pudding mixes, sour cream, oil, beaten eggs and water. Stir in the chocolate chips and pour batter into a well greased 12 cup bundt pan.
Bake for 50 to 55 minutes, or until top is springy to the touch and a wooden toothpick inserted comes out clean. Cool cake thoroughly in pan at least an hour and a half before inverting onto a plate If desired, dust the cake with powdered sugar.
OK gang, that’s it for today! I gotta get a shower and get my self to the doctor this morning. Plus I have tons of stuff to do and get ready for my daughter before the end of the night. So ya’ll take care and I will meet you back here tomorrow! HUGS!
How could you do that to me? Now I am craving chocolate! And strawberries covered with chocolate!
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