Could it be any greener? Our regular walks in a local park here in the Seattle area in the Pacific Northwest are now just a symphony of electric green after a whole lot of rain this week. The darling little ferns are licorice ferns, and they like to live on bigleaf maples, which these are. See all those leaves on the ground?
Licorice ferns grow on mossy bigleaf maple trunks in December after much rain
Bonus image!
Woodland trail in Seahurst Park in Burien, Washington
This little darling always blooms at Halloween rather than wait for Thanksgiving. Thanksgiving cactus plants have the pointy upper points on their leaves or clades. Here it is on a beautiful sunny day we had recently. In Seattle we cherish sunny days so much.
The magenta-pink-and-white flowers on this Thanksgiving cactus are so showy!
I find these ferns enchanting. After a beautiful and very dry summer, it rained in the early fall a couple of good inches, just enough to get things going in the woods.
Baby ferns grow on mossy tree trunks in the Pacific Northwest after some rain
We have been taking mini-hikes in a wooded park near me in Seahurst Park in Burien, WA. Today it was raining quite hard. Can you tell this is in the Pacific Northwest?
My bedroom overlooks our rose bed, which has about fifteen rosebushes and is in front of the house. Lots of people walk by with their dogs, or just stroll by for a walk. So I am reluctant to cut any roses for bouquets, thus reducing the view for myself and passersby. But a big rain was forecast (finally!), so I cut most of them. Once it rains hard on roses, they don’t look so good for anyone, so best to bring them in.
If only you could smell them, so incredibly sweet! Homegrown roses smell the best.
You can tell by the points on the leaves that it’s actually a Thanksgiving cactus, not a Christmas cactus. It actually bloomed right on time this year. Make sure you take care of them more like regular houseplants, don’t let them roast in the sun or get super dry like regular desert cacti.
Thanksgiving cactus blooms in the late fall sunlight. Magenta with white flowers are so showy.