Simple outdoor farmhouse Christmas decoration that you can use from everyday items is called traditional farmhouse Christmas décor. Using an old sled or vintage crate with some greenery and bulbs will make your front door inviting.
An old wooden ladder with homemade garland strewn around it or a garland of juniper boughs with apples hung. So, this year give your “outside” a farmhouse Christmas.
Got room on a dresser or counter and the area needs some color? Try African violets. I used a 3-foot fluorescent light on a counter and grew over a dozen plants. My plants came from Marion Burtz the violet lady that sold milk west of town years ago.
They grow around 8 inches in diameter; however, some will grow up to 24 inches in diameter. There are miniature varieties getting around 2 inches in diameter. Also, there are trailing varieties for spreading in larger pots or hanging baskets.
Use room temperature water as you should for all houseplants, watering when dry. When grown they require a 4-to-5-inch pot. So, you can grow a lot of different varieties in a small area. Give artificial light or a partial sunny east windowsill for healthy plants.
To propagate, remove the leaf and stem and insert in moist sand or peat mix. In around a month a new plant (like the parent plant) will form to be transplanted. Violets will sucker a little when they do remove the sucker to maintain the parent plant.
They are native to the forests of Tanzania (Africa) and Kenya and are at risk of being endangered by deforestation. They were found by a German botanist and brought to Europe in 1884. The original violets had purple flowers. This plant has a habit of mutation which produced different flower colors, leaf colors and textures, and size differences.
What is bonsai? First, many people think that only certain plants can be used in bonsai. No, any tree or shrub can be made to grow bonsai. You can also buy dwarf trees and shrubs that were grown for bonsai culture. Trees like junipers are the easiest to start out with. Jade plants make excellent candidates.
You can get a small tree or shrub and let it grow in a large container for a few years or dig up a growing specimen for the ground. Now prep the plant by washing the soil off the roots and prune the roots. Take a wire and wire the roots to the new bonsai pot so the plant will not push up when it grows. You can also wire around the stem to create a “crooked growth trunk” if you choose. This also allows you to train the branches creating a windswept effect. Remove the wire when the effect is accomplished, or the wire starts to dig in the tissue.
Fill your bonsai with potting soil with some actual soil mixed in and keep watered. Do not fertilize for a while. After the tree or shrub starts to grow you can begin fertilizing.
Most of the pruning will be to keep the plant in check. You will pinch off the new growth to keep the tree in check. For blooming plants, pruning in the spring will create more flowers in the following year.
You need to repot your bonsai every 3 to 5 years. Lift the root ball and remove 1/3 of the root area to keep your plant “dwarf”.Give you bonsai plenty of light and humidity. Keep away from cold drafts or heat vents.
The bonsai way came from China which created miniature landscapes over 2000 years ago. It was copied by the Japanese and the term bonsai came into effect meaning “planted in a container”.
