Signs of spring

A birthday bouquet whispers “Spring.”

Temperatures here on the Mississippi Gulf Coast continue to vacillate between spring and winter. Indoors, though, I am enjoying cut flowers, blooms growing, and seeds sprouting.

White amaryllis

An amaryllis bulb, one of two our Georgia tribe gave me for Christmas has bloomed—two blooms on Monday, a third on Wednesday and a fourth on the same stalk Saturday. It is my first pure white, a happy addition to the solid reds, reds with white streaks and white with red streaks that my late mother and aunt passed along to me through the years.

We also have seeds sprouting inside, thanks to Husband Walter. He rigged up a couple shop lights and an easy way to raise them higher as seedlings grow. He also planted some of the seeds that I had ordered earlier online.

Hubby dishes dirt.

My part was labeling little paper cups so we could identify the different veggie plants at transplanting time. I already had the cups. A relative has had success with them; plus they were less expensive than peat pots. 

Future okra plants

We are still learning. And one thing I have learned is that seedlings are like pets. You can’t just up and leave home without making provisions for them. Ours were sprouting and unfurling those first little leaves. 

The baby plants were bright green, sturdy and straight. That was the night before we took off on a jaunt to visit our Georgia grands and their parents.

We left them on our porch where they would be protected and receive at least some sunlight. When we returned five days later, they were a bit leggy and not as happy looking. If we choose to start our own seeds in the future, we will need to fine tune the scheduling of our travels.

 Baby tomato plants