Enjoying a Mini Garden in Winter

Hey everyone!  How did you manage your way through January?  For me, there were three birthdays this month in my family and one of them was mine!  Making your way through January eating birthday cake is not a bad way to go.  However, I did find a less fattening way to perk up the month and that was enjoying this mini paperwhite kit that my husband gave me as a gift for Christmas.

I have to be honest and say that I wondered if the bulbs would even grow considering how much after Christmas it was and also, considering that the kits were probably placed in the store somewhere around October or November.  I set out to plant the paperwhite bulbs anyway and hoped for the best.

Approximately two days later, one of the members of my garden club showed up at my front door with a paperwhite bulb and some rock pebbles, along with some Hershey kisses.  We were having a remote meeting because of the outbreak of Covid in a few days and as a gift we were given the bulb as an activity to do during the meeting.  If my garden club said it was ok to plant paperwhites in January, who was I to argue?

The progression was somewhat slow...to me anyway.  It took over a week and maybe two for sprouting of any magnitude to come about.  I wondered if it would all turn out to be a bust but, still I had faith.  It was nice to think that something living might actually appear in my house in the dead of winter.

Well, the stalks grew and before too long a few buds appeared.

And then some blossoms.  Yay!

The heat got to be too much for the little plant in my window-filled living room, so I moved it into the kitchen, which was great because I enjoyed it even more in that location.

And finally, the paperwhites came into full bloom a few days ago. (The bulb from my garden club is still on its way.)  I am one who likes the fragrance of paperwhites so that is a bonus for me, too :). Not everyone likes the scent, however.

The moral of this story for me was to never look a gift horse in the mouth.  As a gardener, if you have a chance to do any sort of gardening in the winter, take it!  The rewards could be just that...rewarding!  Plus, winter can be so hard to get through that we have to grab for joy in any place we can find it.  Don't you agree 😉?

Joining these Link Parties:

Inspire Me Monday, My Uncommon Slice of Suburbia

Tuesday Turn About, Wednesday Link Party