Thanks for the reminder, I haven't checked to see if the Daffodils in the yard have sprouted.

I hope ours haven't! It's way too early!

Martha, I love your pictures! Your home looks so cozy and inviting. What a great idea to have flowers around in the cold months! I have many, many houseplants so I do love having the greenery around but adding flowers is a great idea for color!

So nice, Martha.

Oh nice. Now I need flowers before the frigid temperatures set in.

Martha Scott, I agree, January-February would be the perfect time-frame for indoor blooms! Christmas usually has such an abundance of decor, in addition to the tree and other greenery. Your paper whites are so lovely and delicate, they really get to shine without all the holiday "distractions" surrounding them. And in such an inviting setting!

DH got me a bouquet of roses for Christmas, with a bunch of these long, reddish branches sticking out of the middle They were completely bare at the time, but days later, they began to bud, and then leaf out (and grew roots as well). I'd love to know what they are, if anyone might know, and, if we can plant them in the ground in the spring.

As for now, during this very dreary time of year, it's been a treat having this breath of spring sitting on our kitchen windowsill. :)

cat_mom, those are curly willow stems and yes, you can certainly plant them outside in spring! They are terrifically easy to grow and will grow rapidly! And you can harvest again next winter for indoor decor :-)

Curly or twisted willows also come with gold colored bark/stems and regular greenish stems. All equally easy to grow.

Gardengal -- me too -- in the summer thankfully I have garden flowers but I buy them as regularly during the winter as I do bread, milk, and coffee!

I will need to get a photo, but we have strawberry plants in containers that have blooms, so we brought them in.

LOL! I actually hate to pick flowers from the garden - it is too small to have a huge selection and I always think they look better in place than inside :) The exception is sweet peas, which I grow specifically to cut and bring inside as I love them and they are difficult to find for sale as cut flowers.

I can't do paperwhites or oriental lilies indoors - the smell is too strong and cloying for me but I do love other scented cut flowers....the sweet peas, lily of the valley, hyacinths, freesias. I get a little stressed if no fresh flowers indoor!!

gardengal48 (PNW Z8/9) thank you so much! We've been wondering what they were since he brought home the bouquet!

What type of conditions do they like? We are very close to the water table (1/3 or more of our backyard/wooded area has been under water since fall--ugh), and our yard is quite shaded. I hope I just described ideal conditions for them! I also hope deer don't like them. We planted dappled willow shrubs and golden willow shrubs in our wet area, thinking they'd be perfect; willows soak up a lot of water, and deer don't like them. Ha! Apparently the deer around here didn't get that memo....

That sounds about perfect although heavy shade may be a bit too much. Most willows love wet soils and will actively extend their roots in the direction of any water source.

And you can never be certain about what deer will or will not munch on :-) We have dozens of different native willows locally but the deer never seem to bother them. I'm not sure it makes any difference with willows anyway....any "trimming" by deer will just encourage more growth. Most willows will regenerate rapidly from very low, basal cuts or coppicing to harvest their branches for various uses.

btw, this is a tree form willow, growing upto 30' or so tall.

Thank you for the flower pictures, Martha! It's -14 F (-33 F wind chill) at the moment. Should get to -28 F overnight. I love winter, but this is too much even for me. Your flowers cheered me up!

Lovely paper whites....and...lovely bowl!

My "forcing bowls" are full of spotted squill. My Den orchid is blooming tho. It's scented.

I agree that flowers are a must. Snapped this last night of our sitting room between the kitchen and dining room (other side of center fireplace on left of pic which used to be the living room). Bling draped on candelier was for my granddaughter and left it after the holidays!

I have several amaryllis bulbs in full blooms. Such a welcome sight this time of year.

Very nice Martha. I must get some paperwhites if they are still available.

So pretty.

So beautiful Martha!

I needed to hear about gardens . We had 8" of snow and the temp is minus 26 !!!!

Wisconsin has turned into a tundra ! Your flowers are gorgeous , ladies !! Thank you for the pics .

Thanks again gardengal!

If they survive until spring, there are a few different spots we could plant them. Can I keep them in water until then, or do we need to plant them in soil soon?

Paperwhite aroma chases me from a room.....am I the only one? Way too strong for me inside but I enjoy them in my neighbor's yard, lol.

Paperwhites kind of smell like dog pee.

A caution on the willows and advice. They will form a tall tree. 30 feet, so plant with that in mind. I stuck several branches from an arrangement into the soil but much too close to the fence. When it was about ten inches across and over twenty feet tall I had to have it removed because the trunk was growing into the fence. Previously the only one I had seen had been only about ten feet tall. Most of the branches will not develop the bends and twists until the tree is older. There will be some waving of the lower branches but the really twisty stuff will be near the top. My tree may have been unusual but one ice storm bent the trunk about 12 feet above the ground at a 90 degree angle. It straightened but there was always a small wave where it had bent. A tree well worth growing if you have the space and I have often wondered if it could be grown in a large container to control the size and shape. I have not had time to try this.

From experience I think there must be several types of paperwhites that are on the market as some have a light floral scent that is very pleasant. Others have a very strong acrid smell. Some are just strongly floral. One year I took a couple of plants to work. I warned everyone that if they had problems I could take them to the car. When I came back from lunch they were in my coat closet because they had become overpowering even to the people across the building. They spent the rest of the day in my trunk.

Outside bulbs don't do well here so I haven't tried any for a few years.. The winters aren't anything like the rest of you have so I still have a lot of flowers blooming. I currently have roses, lantana, salvia plumbago and, geraniums blooming. My yard is green because I have a lot of those spring weeds proliferating. I've seen some redbuds blooming too, but not at my house yet.

Here is a hibiscus bud from earlier this week.