I can feel the light growing! The earth has tipped its axis and the daylight begins to return. Happy New Year to you and yours.

Red amaryllis and paperwhites, blooming even in dark times

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Went outside the other day in a dry break and was thrilled to see these bluebell sprouts pushing up already. It’s not even technically winter yet and they speak to us of spring.

Green tips of spring flowers getting started early

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The cotoneaster berries are super red this year. Birds and photographers love their winter redness. Note: this plant has an extremely weird pronunciation. You might think it was “cotton Easter,” but no. It’s actually pronounced cuh-tone-ee-AST-er. Isn’t that something?

Brilliant red cotoneaster berries from above

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In Seattle, houseplants at a south-facing window get actual sunshine in the winter months.

Asparagus fern’s new frond reaches to the sun

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I know that usually these are all called Christmas cactus, but the points on the leaves mean it’s Schlumbergera truncata, or Thanksgiving cactus, and not Schlumbergera bridgesii. I am happy to report it is blooming the proper time, not that I do anything special to it. I have several different colors and they all seem to be liking the indoor weather this year.

Close up of a white Thanksgiving cactus flower with magenta edges

Bonus image!

Thanksgiving cactus with red flowers, with its planty friends

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I adore my little carnivorous plant, a Cape sundew. It eats fruit flies and soil gnats! A few short months ago I transplanted the three little plants that were in a 2″ pot into a 4″ pot, filled with sphagnum moss. They are so happy—I need a bigger pot already! One just bloomed and now the second one is getting a flower.

Care tips: 1) Must sit in an outer pot kept filled with water about halfway up. 2) NEVER give it fertilizer. The bugs feed it. Learned this the hard way.

Tiny droplets attract fruit flies and soil gnats on the Drosera capensis, commonly known as the Cape sundew

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I live in the Pacific Northwest so it gets kind of cold, with some frost, at least, most years. So that means moving the houseplants inside (ideally on an overcast day) and then finding room for them, which is the hard part. I’m still rearranging. South windows are so great in the winter, especially in Seattle. That low-angled sunshine (when it appears) will come all the way into the room in a few weeks. Outside the window is a peach tree on the right and on the left in back, a huge, ancient cedar tree.

Houseplants and shadows in a quick Seattle sunbreak

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Like my last post, this photo was taken exactly ten years ago at Seattle’s Volunteer Park Conservatory. I hear the fragrance in the evenings was incredible.

These flowers are so elegant and graceful, but I found it surprisingly difficult to get a photo that showed it. I hope this one succeeded.

Golden yellow brugmansia or Angels Trumpet inside the Volunteer Park Conservatory in 2010

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I took this photo exactly ten years ago, when the Ecuador Pink brugmansia, or Angels Trumpet, was in unbelievable bloom. Seattle’s beloved Volunteer Park Conservatory is still closed due to covid, but let’s hope for a reopening soon.

Long tubular brugmansia flowers, with some crotons and red pigtail anthuriums

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The only name I know for sure is string of pearls for the middle one. Some kind of rosette with pink-gray leaves on the left, and the weirdest one, a cactus with long papery spines that are kind of like fingernails, but very pointy indeed, on the right. We’ll be getting sun in this window all winter.

Some succulents in the afternoon sun

Also see Through My Lens Monday, Our World Tuesday, Tuesday’s Wordless Wednesday, Tuesday Treasures, Wordless Wednesday, My Corner of the World Wednesday 1, Little Things Thursday, Friday Bliss, Weekend Reflections, Pink Saturday, Shadow Shot Sunday 2 and All Seasons Sunday1. Thanks so much for visiting here and hope to see you again soon. Please sign up at upper right for notifications of new posts.