The fog was heavy, early this morning in my garden.

A January day in the Pacific Northwest

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We had a sunbreak, a very Seattle term for a brief appearance of the sun. The plants adore the light, pouring all the way into the living room at this time of year. May you have the bliss of a winter sunbreak often, and may all your leaves be green.

Houseplants soak up the brief appearance of the winter sun

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NOTE: Just updated this post, the tag had said it was tillandsia paleacea but an expert said no, it’s a caerulea. I checked on google images and they are correct! I’ve had this air plant for several years on this north window sill in Seattle. Sometimes some other tillandsia plant stems just seem to appear in the bowl, but I never see them attached. I basically ignore it, soak when I can remember. Over two months ago (!!) a long flower stem emerged. This week a tiny, delicate flower finally showed, and it’s very fragrant! Wow and wow.

Fragrant purple flower about half an inch wide of tillandsia paleacea, with one or two more blooms to come

Bowl of tillandsias, one tall spike finally flowering

Pretty gray-green color of tillandsia air plants

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An exciting thing happened. Someone sent me a gift of 11 air plants! I’ve kept some air plants alive for a few years so I’m pretty sure I know what to do with them, but I’m hoping these don’t need unusual care. What I know to do is soak them for half an hour once a week (upside down so their little butts are in the air), shake off excess water, and keep on a bright windowsill with lots of air circulation. Makes sense, right? Anyone out there know what kinds these are? I’ve included a picture with numbers to help you tell me what’s what if you know. Thanks in advance!

All probably some kind of tillandsias???

Know any names? Please post in comments. Thanks!

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

I used to call this a Christmas cactus but I learned that the leaves with the points are Thanksgiving cactuses (or cacti), and there are also Easter cactuses. But it’s not even Halloween yet!

My Thanksgiving cactus is blooming happily in October

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I thought our grapevine was Interlaken but the tag is gone. The internet seems to think Interlaken grapes are golden, not red. Well, I don’t know. Our vine struggled for years, very low production, but early this spring we finally cut down a couple of very nearby apple trees that were not producing what we liked and were shading the vine. What a difference! This year for the first time we have some grapes to eat. Yummy!

Red table grapes ripening in early October in Seattle zone 8b

Connecting with Through My Lens Monday, Our World Tuesday, Ruby Tuesday 2, Tuesday’s Wordless Wednesday, Tuesday Treasures, Wordless Wednesday, Thankful Thursday, Little Things Thursday, Friday Bliss, Garden Affair Saturday, and Pink Saturday. Thanks so much for visiting here and hope to see you again soon. Please sign up at upper right for notifications of new posts.

When the petals of your hydrangea flowers get a little like crepe paper, they dry very well. Put in a vase with a half inch of water. By the time the water evaporates, the flowers will be dried enough to last and last.

Colors of mauve, purple and soft blue appear as the blue flowers mature and get ready to dry.

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I finally got to see a Corpse Flower in bloom! It was kind of under the radar at Seattle’s Volunteer Park Conservatory. They hadn’t publicized it for fear of crowds in this covid era. They bloom very rarely. This plant is twenty years old and this is its first bloom, so it is kind of a baby, which is why the whole thing is only about three feet tall. Mature flowers can be eight feet! The bloom was at its maximum this morning, and I saw it at around 2pm. I was surprised that the odor was completely done! So it was not stinky at all, a bit of a disappointment, but it was more beautiful than I expected. The outer part was an incredible swirl of loveliness. Here is a little documentary about them with David Attenborough.

Amorphophallus titanum, the titan arum

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The other evening the sky was spectacular in our Seattle backyard.

Cirrus clouds usually mean rain in a few days, but not this time

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Pink ladies are a kind of amaryllis (amaryllis Belladona) hardy in my zone 8b. I recently removed a tree that was shading these pink ladies and they finally feel like blooming. They are very fragrant. Their foliage comes up in the winter and dies back, but the flower stalks emerge with no leaves in August, which is why they are sometimes called naked ladies. In parts of Northern California you can see fabulous, huge banks of them naturalized along roadsides.

Pink ladies thrive in full sun with sharp drainage, shown in front of iris foliage

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The days are getting shorter. A view of my backyard in the late afternoon light. Love those leek flower balls!

The golden hour, with leek flowers

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I’m brand new to the world of carnivorous plants. Someone gave me this tiny Venus fly trap (VFT) plant and I’m learning. It’s just a baby; the whole pot is only two inches wide. I put it outside for sun and bugs and was so surprised that it captured a big spider! I thought a mosquito or fruit fly was more its size.

Overachiever VFT

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