Bracts, Bugs and Blooms

I’ve mentioned before how amazed I am that I’ve managed to keep a poinsettia alive for over a year – it lost the last of its red bracts recently but the leaves are looking exceedingly healthy. In a moment of feeling less bah humbug than usual, I decided to look up how to encourage more red bracts to grow, so it would look festive for Christmas. It seems I’ve done it all wrong. I should have pruned it hard in February and then put it in a mild, shady spot and deprived it of water until May. Then I should have started to water it and repotted it (oh dear, I did that in October), at the same time keeping it as warm and humid as possible. At the end of September I should have plunged it into darkness for 14 hours a day for 8 weeks, before bringing it back into the light and watering it. Crikey, I feel exhausted – I think I need to set up a Gantt chart for next year – I might just buy a new plant!

I’ve been tidying in the garden again, trying to make best use of the last two garden rubbish collections of the year. I’ve mown the lawn for what I hope is the last time this year and pulled out faded annuals from my numerous pots. We’re having a new fence in our back garden in spring so I thought I’d also move pots away from it. This meant making many woodlice temporarily homeless as they scurried away when each pot was lifted. I was reading about woodlice this week. I didn’t know they are crustaceans, related to shrimps and crabs. I suppose when you think about their armour-like bodies, I shouldn’t have been surprised. I’m rather partial to seafood but woodlice look decidedly unappetising! Apparently if you have an abundance of them in your garden it means it’s in good health, so I must be doing something right. I’m not keen on their fondness for my downstairs bathroom though. They find their way up the outside wall, through the extractor fan vent and then traverse the ceiling before dropping into the light fitting, where they inconveniently give up the ghost. It’s a 2 person job to get that light fitting off and back on again – GR does the ladder bit and I deal with the deceased.

I missed storm Debi when it hit Yorkshire – I was having a few days in ‘the smoke’. I hope you didn’t suffer any damage. Victoria lost some fence panels but, while I was out of the county, she was able to reassure me that my plastic greenhouses were still standing. I was worried because I’d left the flaps partially open to allow some ventilation. Unbeknown to me GR zipped them up before we left home – he does have his uses! 

Oh, and I can’t finish without imparting the exciting news that my Café au Lait dahlia has beaten Jack Frost and burst into flamboyant bloom!