A little indoor gardening

Since my gardener ran off with the maid and the cook, I decided I'd better take matters into my own hands (literally) and get a few things done on Saturday. It was a very productive day. I transplanted the little impatiens plant from the amaryllis pot into a little pot of its own. It survived the transplant quite well, with no rejection issues.

It went into a VERY little pot of its own. Note the size comparison. :-)

Either I'll put it outside with other impatiens when the weather gets warm enough, or I might just keep it in the window of my sewing room to brighten things up in there (which will, of course, mean future transplants). We'll see.

Next my hibiscus plant... this is before.

And here it is after.

Pretty sad, huh? But a necessary job. And I know, it's not the proper time of year for the pruning. It's supposed to be done in the fall so that when it's time to put it outside for the summer, it's all full again and ready to bloom. But mine always blooms all winter because it gets full sunshine through our south living room windows. So when the sun gets high enough in the sky in the spring that it no longer comes into the living room, and the hibiscus is getting overgrown and scraggly-looking, that's when I prune it. It's a little slower to start blooming outside, but that's okay. I'd rather enjoy the nice blooms all winter in the house.

The trimmings make for a nice bouquet, don't you think?

Yeah, I know... I trimmed off flower buds, too, which I hate to do. But there are always buds, so I can't avoid it.

The plant is getting so old that I may just toss it this fall instead of bringing it indoors. It's so woody at the base that it doesn't make a nice-shaped plant anymore, and it needs a bigger pot, which would be even harder to handle than the one it's in now. BUT, I don't know. I've had it for years and loved it, and I'd hate to give it up. And where else could I find a hibiscus plant that has two different colored flowers?! Here are a couple of its last.

Well, this post has gotten much longer than I intended when I started out, so now I'd better get off to some serious sewing. We sold 10 buckets in 10 days out of the Etsy shop, and so far we've sold 3 of the new book covers! Fun!!