Happy to Be Here

We've had several waves of freezing temperatures outdoors. My sunroom regularly dips into the 50's (deg.F) and sometimes into the 40's at night. Some of my plants either don't care or have been close enough to the heater to shrug off the cold.

The Allspice tree is actively growing. The small red leaves are new. There are several growth tips. Allspice is one of the plants that seems to grow in "flushes". It grows several new leaves all at once then rests for a while.

Ignore the bright red spot at the bottom. That's a petal from an impatients. The small leaved plants at the base are Winter Savory.

The Banana is growing the next new leaf before the previous one has unfurled completely. The strawberries sharing this pot are making fruit. Both are clearly happy.

I'm sure I left the Cinnamon tree out too late last fall. It got damaged and didn't show it right away. Cinnamon is definitely one that grows in flushes, and the last one or two got harmed by the frost. The new leaf in the photo has dark veins as compared to the more mature leaf. Any stem or vein still growing got bit. I've lost some tip leaves and upper stems.

So I thought my Cinnamon was barely tolerating life in a temperate zone. That is until yesterday when I found what appear to be blooms on a couple of stems!

Go figure. Now this is not to say the plant has made a flush of leaves since the frostbite, not one. But I didn't expect it to bloom here.








The cardamom plants are unfurling new leaves. I suppose they are as happy as they ever get here. I've never had a cardamom to flower. I wonder if this has more to do with keeping the plants in pots or the climate. The leaves smell good when crushed, but I never get seeds or pods.

My coffee trees and pygmy date palms are growing new leaves slowly. The bay is leafing at every tip. The piper betel is growing slowly, and one betel palm is adding a frond. The acacia will need a trim soon.

That rounds out the census of happy customers.