Mother's Day

Happy Mother’s Day for all you mothers. It’s a bitter-sweet day for many people— for those who’ve lost their mothers (or become estranged from them) and even more so for those mothers who’ve lost a child. But I hope you all had a nice day anyway.

Clyclamens

I lost my mum some years ago, but I still miss her. She wasn’t the kind of mum who loved getting presents — “Oh I don’t need anything” she’d say, but she did love plants and gardening. So every mother’s day I’d give her a flowering plant — often a cyclamen or a begonia, as they’re in flower here at this time of year.

She used to plant out the cyclamen when they’d finished flowering, and when the begonias (which were usually cane begonias) got straggly she’d prune them back and propagate the cuttings. Her favorite and the most successfully propagated one was one with apricot colored flowers.

Apricot colored begonia

These days every May I buy a cyclamen or a begonia in flower for myself, and pop it in the window with the other pot plants on the low bookshelf in my bedroom. It brightens the room, and makes me think of Mum. I haven’t spotted any apricot begonias — they’re a bit of an old-fashioned plant, but I’m told they’re coming back into fashion, so fingers crossed I find some soon. 

I do have other cane begonias, and they’re in need of cutting back and repotting, so I’ll propagate some of the cuttings.

The bookshelf by the window in my bedroom gets plenty of light, so it’s great for pot plants. All the ones you can see in this photo (apart from the cyclamen) are from friends — the Chinese Money plant (which has many babies) from Carol, the  baby  zygocactus (Christmas cactus to many, only it flowers in June here) from Deb. These ones have grown from little segments that fell off. The big plants are on the deck. A spider plant from Fay, and more, not in the photo. It’s so enjoyable, seeing them brightening the room, and watching them grow.

Not all of them thrive, but I don’t mind.

I do enjoy growing and propagating plants.  Do you?