Waxed Amaryllis Bulbs

Have you seen a waxed Amaryllis bulb before? I hadn't until last month when Jackson & Perkins contacted me and asked to send me something in the mail. When the box arrived I was surprised to find this indoor garden bulb. But I was even more surprised that the bulb was coated in wax.

After placing the bulb in a bright and warm location, the bulb sent out a scape and then showed signs of another emerging scape. Like a normal Amaryllis bulb the scape kept growing until it unfurled and the flower we are all familiar with, and associate with Christmas houseplants, appeared.

My bulb was waxed and painted silver, but on the Jackson & Perkins website you can see that they come in a lot of other decorative colors.

Caring for a waxed Amaryllis bulb

Do you have to plant a waxed Amaryllis? No. As you'll see at the website, the bulbs are held in decorative saucers. The bulbs are waxed so planting them in soil would not result in them sending out roots.

How do you water a waxed Amaryllis?

You don't water these bulbs. Unlike tulips and paperwhites that you may force indoors this time of year, this bulb doesn't require watering. Amaryllis bulbs that you buy have all of the energy they need to bloom one time stored in the bulb. It will bloom even if you don't water it. But because the roots have been removed and the basal plate waxed, there are no roots to absorb water.

After blooming Amaryllis care.

When your waxed bulb has finished blooming, you're suppose to toss it. That's right. It is considered a disposable plant, and requires not further care after it has finished blooming for you.

If you look at the Amaryllis label on my blog, you'll find instructions and tips for caring for a normal Amaryllis bulb. In particular, you should look at the post on pollinating and collecting seeds from your Amaryllis because it is a fun winter and indoor gardening project any gardener can do.

Have you seen these Amaryllis bulbs? Would you treat an Amaryllis like an annual that you can toss? Leave a comment below and you'll be entered into a random drawing for a gift card from Jackson & Perkins.

Matthiessen State Park

Do you, like me, have a craving for adventure, but feel like you can't get up and go because you don't have friends and family that want to participate in activities like hiking? Growing up in Chicago, I never knew of people that went hiking or visited state parks. REI offers a number of classes, outings, and Events. I was invited to participate in an outing to Matthiessen State Park last year and kept putting it off. I finally got around to taking REI up on their generous offer to do an outing after Thanksgiving.

The REI outing started early one crisp, fall morning in Chicago. After we stood around getting acquainted and drinking coffee, the group and guides loaded up into the van. The trip to Matthiessen State Park in North Utica, IL., took a couple of hours. If you've ever driven through IL you understand that it isn't a very scenic drive, unless you consider rows and rows of corn to be scenic. Once we arrived at the park, the group got pointers on staying warm and dry during the hike.

The walking sticks were a good idea. It was still pleasant outside for that time of year, but there was definitely a bit of snow and ice on the ground that made walking difficult. Oh, and the mud and slippery leaves. I recommend taking walking sticks on your hikes to help you find secure footing and to help you up and down sleep slopes.

I had procrastinated in choosing my outing, and was kicking myself for waiting so long and not taking an earlier outing where there would have been more plants to see. But once we got underway I realized that there is just as much interest for plant lovers in fall and winter. Take the picture above for example. Have you ever seen an Osage orange? I'd never seen one in person myself. That morning when I posted pictures on social media, I learned that most people know them as hedge apples. Contrary to their common names, they are not related to oranges or apples.

The constant flow of water exposes the sandstone below the surface in this creek. We don't have geography like this in Chicago.

Matthiessen is also home to a lot of mosses, lichens and mushrooms. I couldn't help but kneel down and take pictures.

Even this late in the season there are still signs of the mushrooms that thrive in the area.

Does this look familiar? Well, if you are going to spend time hiking in the woods it would be smart to learn to identify poison ivy. The guides quickly pointed it out and made it a point to mention that even when it isn't leafed out, poison ivy will still irritate your skin.

This day I learned just how noisy a forest is; it was an odd experience for someone like me. Trees make a lot of noise as the bang together and sway in the wind. It sounded as if a tree would fall on me any moment.

Unfortunately, some of the trails were closed for repairs, or because the time of year made them dangerous to hike on. I was particularly bummed that we could hike down to the Vermilion River, but what I was able to see between the trees was beautiful. I made a note to return and see it one day.

Because of the closed trails, we took a detour and walked across the Prairie Connector. Going from feeling secluded among trees to standing in the middle of a prairie took some getting used to. You realize just how strong the wind is and noisy in an open prairie.

A photo posted by @mrbrownthumb on Nov 29, 2014 at 2:36pm PST

On the hike we were joined by Lenore Sobota, at docent at Starved Rock state park. Her expertise came in handy during the walk through the prairie connector when we encountered animal droppings and signs that a furry animal had met an untimely demise. She even found a bald eagle feather on the trail, which gave us a clue as to what may have found a meal here.

Looking down into the bridge that spans the canyon.

Looking towards the other side of the canyon through the bridge.

A photo posted by @mrbrownthumb on Nov 29, 2014 at 5:56pm PST

Matthiessen State Park was once private property and operated as a private park. Evidence of this can be seen by the extensive network of trails, but also in the permanent features like this beautiful stone bridge that spans the canyon. Here's a video of the decent into the bridge on my Instagram page.

Taking the staircase off the side of the bridge leads you down into the canyon. It is so beautiful and the canyon walls tower over you on both sides. It is amazing to realize that a steady flow of water over many years was able to carve this. View this short video of the inside of the canyon on my Instagram page.

Keep walking through the canyon and you'll end up at Cascade Falls.

The falls weren't doing much cascading, but you can see that water does run here. If you look up photos of these falls online, you will find some with some impressive pictures of ice covering this area.

Here is a photo of a family taking pictures at Cascade Falls to give you an idea of just how deep below the surface you are in this canyon.

Because of how soft sandstone is, the canyon is always changing. Water seeps into the stones, becomes frozen and splits open the walls of the canyon. That is how the small caves here are formed

A photo posted by @mrbrownthumb on Nov 30, 2014 at 9:18am PST

Evidence of the canyon being created by water can be seen in the numerous boulders in the floor of the canyon.

The coolest bolder in the canyon is a rock with a face carved into it. Some people say it looks like Spongebob Squarepants. Do you see it?

The canyon floor is full of so much beauty. Just look at this tree's root buttress exposed by the flow of water. After some more exploring around the canyon it was time to head back up to the surface and leave Matthiessen State Park. Check out this video from above the canyon looking down towards the cave and rock face pictured above to give you an overhead view of the canyon.
 

We walked back through the canyon, and up the bridge to walk through the other side of the canyon. Only to be confronted by a wooden staircase to take a bridge that leads to an old fort from where we would head back home. I don't mind telling you that my legs were killing me by this point and I was ready to sit. But it was the kind of pain that makes you feel like you did something.

If you're looking for an adventure check out the workshops, classes and trips available through REI. A big thanks to REI for gifting me this trip to see a part of the state I have lived in most of my life that I had never seen before.

Have you ever been to Matthiessen State Park before? If not, you should go. Opt Outside this holiday season.

Plastic Strawberry Pot by Bloem Living

Does the terracotta strawberry jar need to be improved upon? I wasn't so sure when Bloem Living contacted me asking if I wanted to review any of their colorful and elegant planters, window boxes, watering cans, and hanging baskets. After looking over their containers I decided on the Shortcake Planter since my terracotta strawberry planter had long ago succumbed to falling off a shelf and breaking. I chose the purple Shortcake jar which measures 6.5 X 8.25 inches and is made from recycled plastic.

It was late in the garden season when the planter arrived and I thought about maybe planting it with succulents like the ones I had seen at Menards and an independent garden center in Chicago.

Herbs I planted in my Shortcake Planter

Sage
Parsley
Oregano
Nasturtium
Mexican Tarragon
Helichrysum italicum

As luck would have it, we were having an herb container garden workshop at the community garden and I scored a few herb starts to plant in my planter. I took my Shortcake Planter to the garden on the day of our workshop, and it was well-received by some members of the community garden and the garden workshop attendees. Drawn to the cute size and colorful profile, a few people even asked if they could have it, or if it was a door prize for our event.

Unfortunately for them, the planter had to come back home with me so I could continue to test it out. So I sat it on the back porch with the rest of my potted plants and pretty much forgot about it all summer as I spent time a lot of time away from home. Every few days when I would return I would check on the planter and see if it had dried out in the late summer heat or maybe been knocked over by the winds.

On one occasion the planter did dry out, but after placing a saucer underneath it, the herbs growing in it pretty much survived on rainwater the rest of the summer with no attention from me.

So, does the terracotta strawberry pot need an update for the modern gardener? If you are the kind of color that yearns to add splashes of color to your container garden; the answer is yes. Bloem makes a wide-range of planters besides the Shortcake Planter in a vibrant array of colors that you cannot help but feel like smiling when you come across them. There is no mention on the website about how well these plastic planters hold up to UV rays, but I did not notice any color fading in my Shortcake Planter even after it sat in full sun for the summer. Nor was there any breaking or cracking as is usually what happens with cheap plastic planters. And of course, there was no threat of it falling over and breaking like a traditional strawberry pot made from terracotta.

Besides the obvious, what would you plant in a strawberry pot?