Pretending it's Spring

All week it's been frigid. The temperatures has dipped down to the teens, and it's brutal. I went across town to my favorite store, Trader Joe's. Oh, how I love this place.

I ended up bringing home with me two bunches of daffodils. I couldn't resist the price, each bunch of 10 stems were $1.49. I have to wonder how these farms make any profit with prices so low, but I suppose they do when a chain like Trader Joe's is buying large quantities for resale.

One day later, it looks like spring in my living room. One by one the daffodils are bursting open. Such a needed spot of "sunshine" and bright happy color. Makes me think and dream of spring. Soon. Very soon.

Growing Empty Spaces

This week, I received a cool message on my blog's Facebook page from David, someone I never met before. I'm not sure how he found my blog or Facebook page, I suppose a simple Google search on urban gardening in NYC would bring me up in search results. He shared a link of his short documentary that he made about urban gardening in Brooklyn.  How communities turn urban plots of land into an edible green oasis. Check out his video and be inspired to grow locally.

My White Blooms

My amaryllis finally started to open this week. I'm so excited to finally see it bloom!

Here it is fully opened.  It's not as big as I thought it would be, but it's definitely pretty. The second bud is coming up as well. It's nice to see something blooming in this frigid weather. It's currently 17F. Brrrrr.

Eagerly waiting

On an impulse, I bought an amaryllis 2 days after Christmas because it was on sale for only $3.99. I am a big sucker for plants, and plants that are on sale. I put the plant on my window sill and have been watering it and patiently waiting for it to bloom. Just the other day, I saw the bud beginning to open. I can't wait until it fully blooms! Amaryllis are one of my favorite plants of all time! I've never owned an all white one before. It's going to be so pretty!

New Year, New Plants

It's no secret that I am a sucker when it comes to a beautiful plant.  I have absolutely no will-power whatsoever. Every start of a new year, I am so gun-ho about buying new houseplants. Once again, I got reeled into a promotional coupon that I received from Home Depot for a buy one get one free orchid plant.  If you sign up to their Garden Club, they send you newsletters with tips, advice, and coupons. Sound familiar? Its like deja-vu.  Two years ago, I gave it a go and went out brought these home. The plants were beautiful when I got them home and perfectly healthy. A couple of months down the road, and I managed to kill both orchid plants. I'm pretty much a brown thumb when it comes to house plants. And apparently especially with orchids. I followed the instructions on how to take care of the orchids but I made a rookie mistake. It was my fault really. I overwatered the poor things and the roots got all damaged. Both plants slowly lost their leaves and died. So, when my inbox received a new coupon for a buy one get one free promotion, I figured, hell, I'll try it again. This time however, I am going to take meticulous care in keeping this phalaenopsis alive. The plants were surprisingly cheaper than 2 years ago! They were selling for $14.99 each! So with the coupon, I got two for that price! At $7.50 a pop, that's what I call a bargain! I went after work straight to the Home Depot closest to my apartment and brought home this beauty. I plan to read some books on how to care for her. Hopefully by this time next year, I'll be writing a new blog post about how well she's doing, instead of buying a new one. Wish me luck!

Happy Belated New Year

I'm behind in blog posting, again! What a way to start a new year! But this time however, I have a good excuse. I've had the flu for 5 days straight. Sniffling, sneezing, coughing, stuffy head, runny nose, achey, headache type of flu. I haven't left the house in about a week. Being sick during the holidays is the worst. (sigh)

Before I got really sick, my family was visiting from out of town and we got a chance to do some fun touristy things around the city that I normally don't get around to doing. Like visit the Christmas tree at Rockefeller Center.

Hope everyone had a great holiday and healthy new year!