With the longest days of the year I usually turn to my houseplants to fulfill my gardening bug. (Although don’t get me going on vegetables to answer this question.) In early December I went looking for two old favorites to fill some cute wall planters I found at a local dollar store. I was looking for what I called a rosary vine, and another called purple velvet plant. What were once common in local nurseries and even in grocery stores were not to be found. I do a great deal of shopping online so decided to do a search. Found the plants for sale alright, one on EBay and another on Etsy. Extravagant purchases for starts, but you can’t take it with you My wants are cheaper and more enjoyed than jewelry so why not? Well, it is winter. They were shipping out of the cold Northeastern US to the Pacific Northwestern US, 3000 miles of possible freezing temperatures between... Who cares, certainly not me, they are coming and they will be fantastic! And yes they are Although small they all had great roots and I am sure I will have robust plants to take starts from in no time at all. Now there was also this weird little plant we called a strawberry plant that wasn’t even vaguely related to strawberries.....
Some of the plants I used to put in the garden are seldom seen here nowadays. Sweet William and Lily of the Valley were among my favourites.
Eileen, I do so love sweet Williams. The fragrance is divine. Unfortunately they don’t self sow and are biennial here and haven’t bothered with them in years. Lilly of the valley never did well for me, but their fragrance was also very nice.
Years ago I used to have a huge strawberry begoina plant. Had so many babies and always looked lovely then it just kinda disappeared after a bout with those little fluffy white mitey thingies. Haven't seen one in stores for years but they used to be around everywhere. Had the red velvet plant too but now they're gone.
