(Delightful tropical flower arrangement...)
Annah and I got this beautiful flower arrangement on Friday night at a fundraiser for the local Boys & Girls Club for donating ten dollars. The only plants that I think I can identify are the Anthurium and a Heliconia velloziana, and a Leucospermum cuneiforme or praecox (Yellow Pincushion Protea)[?]. If I have identified these incorrectly, please leave a comment in the comments section. Sadly, these flowers will not last forever and will have to be thrown out once they turn black and disgusting, but we will enjoy them while they are beautiful. (Scroll down to see the close-ups of the flowers.)

(Unopened Heliconia velloziana flower)
(Heliconia velloziana flower)
If I have indeed identified this flower correctly, here is some information on it: Heliconia velloziana have "Splendid splashes of color, dramatic form, long lasting, and a variety of sizes, make this a favorite for exotic tropical flower arrangements. The name Heliconia (pronounced "hell-ee-cone-ee-uh") honors Mt. Heliconia, home of the ancient Greek gods. There are between 250-400 species or more, with 98 percent native to tropical America." ¹

(Leucospermum cuneiforme or praecox. ["Yellow Pincushion Protea"]?)
Here is some information about the Yellow Pincushion Protea: "Resembling the spiny sea urchins, pincushions are a good accent to any arrangement. Although not as long lasting or to use as a dry flower, pincushions come in beautiful shades of red, orange, and yellow." ²

(Anthurium 'tropical' or Anthurium 'osaki' ?)

In other news, my rooting project for my schlumbergera segments (and for the past few weeks a Zebrina Pendula 'Burgundy') has been steadily progressing. Each of the schlumbergera segments have sprouted roots and I have even placed a few of them in their own cup with some soil. Once these newly potted cuttings develop a more complete root system in these cups, I will post new pictures and new information.

(Schlumbergera cuttings and Zebrina Pendula 'Burgundy' cutting)
(Close-up of the Schlumbergera roots)
We also were able to do some plant browsing at Sargent's Gardens, which is one of the plant stores in town, and we saw some nice plants, including some astounding Aeschynanthus radicans in bloom, but it was too expensive since they were asking around thirty dollars for it. We also saw a nice Aglaonema x 'Stars' (there wasn't an actual tag with an ID, but I believe it was a Aglaonema x 'Star's) but this one was also too expensive for us being about twenty dollars.

Sources:

¹From http://www.hawaiitropicals.com/tropflowguid.html
²Ibid

Photo Credits: All me

(Our newest addition to our plant collection...)
We picked up this beautiful little African Violet on Wednesday night when we stopped by Home Depot. The temperature outside was about -10 degrees so we didn't really want to buy any plants, but we found this plant and couldn't resist it! I kept it inside my coat as we hurried to the car and luckily the car was still nice and warm from when we had used it before. There does not appear to be any damage to the plant and we are glad to have it as a new addition to our African Violet collection! The picture above shows the flower as being more pinkish in color, but during the day it looks mostly white.

Photo Credit: Me

(Adenium Obesum almost blooming...)
This Adenium Obesum was purchased a few months ago from the Lowe's here in town for about six dollars. It has been slowly growing along the windowsill where it gets medium light as well as an average temperature somewhere in the lower 70 degree range. It is often watered about once every week and has thus far not complained about this watering schedule.

(A closer view...)
It has been getting ready to bloom for about three to four weeks now and it is now starting to show a hint of pink (which you might or might not be able to tell from the picture above) and should be beautiful once it fully blooms.

It has been suggested by other blogs that you should let your Adenium Obesum go dormant for the winter, such as this link from Mr. Brown Thumb's blog, but I purchased it very late in the fall and wanted a plant that would bloom during the winter months. Perhaps next winter I will let it go dormant.

I will post a picture once the plant fully blooms.

Photo Credits: Me

Wicked Gardener stated: "I've tagged you! Seven Random Things about you. Just cause I love your blog!"

Here is our list of seven random things:

1. Annah and I are the proud owners of two hermit crabs.
   
   
2. We both enjoy cooking.
   
   
3. We both love the TV shows House, M.D., Six Feet Under, and 24 (at least Jordan likes 24)
   
   
   
4. Annah is Korean and Jordan is Norwegian & Native American.

   
   

5. Annah enjoys rock climbing, but Jordan has yet to get hooked on this.
   
   
6. Jordan enjoys fishing and Annah enjoys it now that she actually catches fish.
   
   
7. We were able to meet and listen to the author Michael Pollan when he was in Iowa City, Iowa on January 13th, 2008.
   
   

Photo Credits: (1) Flags are public domain images from Wikipedia which were combined into one image, (2) Michael Pollan picture was taken by me following his speech.

(Peperomia orba flower -- click on it to see a larger version)
The picture above is my flowering Peperomia orba plant that has been growing along the windowsill since I got it a few months ago. It gets somewhere between four to eight hours of sunlight each day and is labeled as being a Medium Light plant. It seems to be getting the appropriate amount of light and water, and even though the humidity is rather low where it is growing (only 30%) it still seems to be happy.

Until today, I had somehow not noticed that there was an unusual growth on this peperomia orba. I was surprised and immediately researched what the flowers look like for this plant and found out that they "produce greenish-white, panicle-like flower spikes." They aren't the most brilliant flowers to look at, but it's nice to find out that the plant appreciates the growing conditions I have been providing it and hopefully it will continue to grow and flower long into the future.

Reference: http://www.greenzonelife.com/dictionary/peperomia.htm
Photo Credit: Me

(Variegated Pink African Violet)
Annah and I purchased this beautiful variegated pink Saintpaulia ionantha ("African Violet") at a store up in the Twin Cities called Linder's Garden Center for a couple of dollars. Calling it a Saintpaulia ionantha in this post is most likely incorrect, but the label on the pot said "Saintpaulia hybrida" and I have been unable to find anything specifically on that. Anyway, I had been looking for this plant ever since I saw this post post on the blog Plantsarethestrangestpeople, which is one of our favorite blogs. I also saw this post on another favorite blog which is called Damn Plants, which also made me want to be able to get my hands on one of these plants. The pictures in each blog have leaves with more variegation on them than the one we purchased, since the variegation is mainly just on the center leaves, but it is still quite beautiful and surely won't be the last variegated African Violet we purchase.

(A little bit closer view...)
This is my first African Violet but Annah owns one that she nursed back to health a plant that never bloomed and was rather boring into a plant that is very healthy and vigorously blooming plant.

(Even closer...)
Caring for an African Violet is pretty easy. Usually a North or East facing window is best for getting a healthy plant that blooms, but placing them under fluorescent growing lights will also result in healthy plants. I currently have mine placed under growing lights and will hopefully be able to maintain the current beauty of the plant. Temperature should be in the 70s during the day but should not fall below 60 degrees at night. These plants like a little bit of humidity to stay healthy. Also, these plants should never dry out completely and an adequate soil moistness should always be maintained for this plant.

Hopefully our African Violet collection can begin to grow now that we know of a good place to purchase them.

Reference: http://www.hort.purdue.edu/ext/HO-10.pdf
Photo Credits: Me