Sunday, January 20, 2008

A Trio Of Kalanchoes


Kalanchoe blossfeldiana 'Meru'

When Romie and I got married in 1975, we bought a small house that had a few little flower beds surrounding it and spent the next two years there. I don't remember everything I had planted in them, but I know there were caladiums one year and orange kalanchoes another time. These of course were not winter hardy and I don't recall whether I brought any of the kalanchoes in or not. I know the caladiums were left to die. :-(

I haven't had kalanchoes since that time (wow - over thirty years ago!) until two years ago when I bought a yellow one at Walmart. It bloomed inside last winter and when summer came, I planted it outside. It didn't bloom once the entire summer, but in doing research, I found that its normal bloom time is late fall through early winter.

Once again, I brought it in for the winter and shortly after doing that, it started forming flower buds. It's been stagnating with those buds for going on two months now so I brought it up from the basement greenhouse and it now sits next to a south window. Hopefully, the change and the sunlight will boost it along to bloom.


Last Thursday, when Romie and I took our weekly trip to Van Wert for his allergy injection, we made our usual stop at Walmart. I'd been pretty good about avoiding the garden section the last several times we'd been there, but I succumbed to the new kalanchoes they'd gotten in. (It's right next to the pet section and we had to buy cat food.) They were in such luscious shades and it was hard for me to not buy one of each. But I managed to escape with just two of them - both were sort of bicolored, with a common color of yellow. I thought they'd look nice with my solid yellow one, once it's bloomed.


Kalanchoe or Flaming Katy
Kalanchoe blossfeldiana

Succulent
Zone: 10-12
Bloom time: Late fall, Early winter
Sun: Full sun to part shade
Water: Dry to medium
Maintenance: Low
Native to Madagascar


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12 comments:

Unknown said...

These are lovely...I have one that's rosy with shades of orange in it, and it's still flowering since October, I think. Like you, I've resisted the plant departments of most stores, but yesterday I was mugged by a small house-azalea just covered in deep fuchsia blooms. It insisted it needed to come live with me. What could I do?
Thanks to you, ma'am, I have succeeded mostly in my blog renovations. The only problem I haven't solved yet is getting my cat-childrens images back up on the sidebar. But I'll figure it out in time. Thanks, Kylee, for sharing that wisdom with us all!

Anonymous said...

I'm a bit jealous that the garden section of your wal-mart is running this time of year. I am just getting into gardening and have had a terribly difficult time finding supplies to get my tree seeds going. The kalanchoes look like a nice splurge to me, good luck with them.

Meg said...

Wow, those are pretty.

And I don't blame you a bit for that show of weakness in the garden section. I can't even go to places that sell plants or I'll bankrupt us.

Cindy Garber Iverson said...

So so pretty. They are soooo hard to resist, aren't they? I actually prefer going in the garden entrance at our WalMart so I really have to have great will power.

Cindy at Rosehaven Cottage

Lisa at Greenbow said...

I do like those Kalanchoes. How could you resist the new colors?? It is good that you didn't.

Mamma Sarah said...

Those flowers are just beautiful. :-) I love your new layout.

Tira said...

If I saw those shades of kalonchoes I am sure I wouldn't be able to resist, either!

kate said...

Flaming Katy is really pretty ... I love the colour.

Thanks for your blog template posts. One of these days, I might just revamp my blog. I am thinking of switching over to Wordpress though - not an easy decision, but one I might do if I continue to have problems uploading photographs to Blogger.

Kylee Baumle said...

Jodi ~ Don't you just hate it when you get attacked by a plant? I mean, you've got to figure out where to put it and rationalize the purchase and all that. Right, it's a tough gig, eh? LOL.

I'm glad my blog posts have helped you with your blog makeover. It looks beautiful, and I'm sure you'll get the photo thing worked out soon.

Kenny C ~ Welcome to Our Little Acre! Our local Walmart has just the bare minimum of plant inventory - a few orchids, the kalanchoes, sanseveria, dieffenbachia, some mums, and some hanging houseplants. Just enough to get a gardener who is pining for spring in a little bit of trouble.

Meg ~ I hear you, loud and clear! Why is that yhe issue of money always puts a stop to our grandiose dreams?

Lisa ~ Well, I obviously couldn't resist them. You should see the brighter colored ones they have. There's one that's fuschia colored that's really pretty, too.

Nancy ~ Aren't those just the most scrumptious colors? :-)

Mamma Sarah ~ Thank you!

Nicole ~ It's just best if I stay away from anyplace that sells plants at this time of the year, because with next to nothing blooming inside or out, they are all the more tempting to take home!

Kate ~ I'm sorry you're having problem with Blogger. I've had my share with them, but it's so sporadic. It would take a lot to get me to switch to some other host, but if I start having lots of problems, I would sure consider it as you have.

Muum said...

Those colors are beautiful! I love them! Thanks for the fun closeups on a cold, snowy day.

Kerri said...

I wonder if our Walmart has them. They're gorgeous! What a beautiful burst of color on this frigid day!
I like your new 'look' and thanks for posting the tutorial. I may try that one of these days.

Anonymous said...

I had kalanchoes planted outside in my zone 8 garden in South Carolina. They were in pots on the porch for a year and then planted in the ground for 2 years and never once did i bring them inside and they did great. they also bloomed intermitently throughout the year and at different times from each other, not sure why though. to top it all off, they were plants that i took home for free from the florist where i worked and were almost dead when i brought them home, left them on the porch and did absolouteley nothing special to rehabilitate them, i don't live there anymore but i'm sure they're still doing fine.

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