Christmas and Holidays Sale! 40% Off All Lavender Pendants

I had a wonderful time creating all of these handmade lavender filled pendants from the lavender I grew, but since they are a unique item, they are not something that has sold well on the internet.  Internet sales are driven by what people are searching for.  

And they don't search for what they do not know exists.

Each one of these is filled with dried lavender flowers woven into these tiny baskets with double-sided satin ribbon.  There are about ten of them which I made in multiplies of five, but most of them are each one of a kind.  They can be worn as pendants, hung in a window, or like the one I made for myself, hung in your car.

If  you visit my Etsy shop, you will see that all of the individual ones are on sale.

If you would like to stock your brick and mortar shop with a few of these for the holidays, then I have a listing there that gives you 55% off for sets of 5 of your choosing.  Write me via Etsy if you are interested because there are some listings I would need to renew if you want to see them all.

Last but not least, some people who've purchased some of my Wholesale Gift Sets know that they get a surprise in their package!  A free one of my bookmarks made the same way as the pendants, or sometimes even a pendant.

Please help me move these guys, if they are not up your alley, then maybe you know someone who would like them.  The lavender inside will last for many years.  I even seen a photo of a lavender wand with the caption that it still smelled like lavender after 40 years!

Pink Sunshine

 Icy white with a bit of raspberry drizzle, right!?

Harlequin Streptocarpus Cape Primrose

I confess that the ones with purples and blues in them are my favorites.

 

Purple Blanket Stitch Streptocarpus

Isn't it cool how the colors in so many flowers highlight their veins?  One person remarked that the edges of this one looked like it had been blanket stitched.

 

I Have Realized Almost All Have Seven Stripes

As I attempt to tell them apart and not post the same one twice, I have come to realize that all visible throat patterns have a pattern of seven.  Two, three, two.

Bear in mind as I post these, that I need to decide which ones to keep and then propagate from leaf cuttings.  Breaking my wrist in July was a huge set back, because there are hundreds of itty bitty ones that have been waiting all summer for me to tease them apart and transplant them.  At the moment, it is so hot, they'd fry from the shock.  I hope to begin soon though.  As room in the greenhouse for the winter will be a premium and who gets to stay and who has to make it outdoors remains to be seen.  

And not forgetting the fuchsia cuttings!

  I really like this one!

 

Blooming in the Sunshine

This beauty has sunlight on her petals because I really do grow them outdoors where they get morning and or late afternoon sun. 

These Streptocarpus Have an Awesome Color Range

 Until I grew them from seed, even I had no idea what an incredible range of colors they can come in.  From whites and yellows to the deepest purples.  I don't think there is a color I haven't seen!

One After Another

 Even I have been amazed at the range of colors and patterns which have been opening up all year from the microscopic seed I sowed in May of 2019.

And again, all of these can also be found on Instagram under various hashtags such as #floweringshadeplants  💜😀

Saturday Morning Blue on White

 I submitted this one to be the cover for a groups cover photo, but they went with a marbled purple.  I have never really been into the marbled look...  But I do like this!

Blue Sunshine

 Don't forget that all of these have already also been posted to Instagram under the hashtags for #streptocarpus #capeprimrose #gesnariads #floweringshadeplants #floweringhouse plants etc.  And almost all of the photos I take are of the ones growing outdoors where they either get a bit of morning sun or late afternoon sun.

They are ALL my favorites!

One Long Summer and Now It Is Fall

 I haven't posted in a long time again.  I need to write a book!  Besides all of us worldwide coping with a pandemic, I fell and broke my wrist right after my lavender began to bloom.  That may not sound like much, but if you put one hand on your other forearm and then wiggle the fingers of the hand of that forearm, you will feel all the muscles and tendons moving in your arm because all of that action goes through your wrist.

So when you break your wrist, you can't use your hand for a long time.  It takes months just to be able to make a fist again.  Which meant that for the first time ever, I had to watch my lavender crop bloom and then turn brown as I could not weave.

Meanwhile, the streptocarpus kept blooming and delighting me with new flowers non-stop!  They even made it through record heat waves with barely any damage to their leaves or flowers.  Since my goal is to re-introduce them as outdoor blooming shade plants, I had planted as many as I could into one gallon pots and they are all out in the morning sunshine everyday.  

Now I hope to select more to pot up and keep as stock plants.  It is going to be SO difficult to decide which ones to keep for making leaf cuttings.  And it is going to take time to figure out which ones look too much like ones that are already named, which names have already been taken, etc. 

I have been posting all the new flowers to Instragram on a weekly basis.  I have sort of taken over the hashtag for floweringshadeplants, not so much the hastag for floweringhouseplants but they are there as well as the one for streptocarpus and capeprimrose.  I hope you'll take a look.

And if you are an aficionado of streptocarpus and think any of my posts look like a named variety you are familiar with, please let me know!

Although I shall be tempted to declare many favorites as I go along, it really is hard to decide.

Cape Primrose Streptocarpus Gesnariads Are Showing Colors

Just a quick update on the the new colors that are showing up in the streptocarpus that have begun to bloom.  Here are a pink and a purple.  There is another one opening up that is going to be a deep maroon red and another one that is going to be a very pale pink.

I am going to keep the ones that are showing colors so I can make cuttings from the leaves and be able to offer baby streps with known colors in the future.  This is so exciting, I have waited so long to see this species of gesneriaceae bloom again like they once did under my cherry trees.

Look out!  These are going to be the new outdoor shade flowering rock stars.

Streptocarpus Are Doing Great!

   So far so good!  The greenhouse is NOT heated and although I had wanted to heat it for some of the other plants I am over-wintering in it, I am kind of glad that it doesn't have any heat.
   Why?  Because I want the streptocarpus to be weather hardy.  Just like the upright fuchsias I had hoped to be growing in there instead, I want my plants to be strong enough to endure outdoor conditions. 
  Most flowering plants you see in the garden centers this time of year have been grown in heated greenhouses and then thrown out into the cold of the garden centers they are shipped to.  Most nurseries are not concerned if those plants survive or not because they figure you'll just come back for more sooner.
  That is one reason why they have begun to market fuchsias as "annuals" when in fact, they can live for over 100 years.  If you toss them out every year, they make more money that way.
  But I digress...
  It does get down into the high 30's here and can also freeze at times.  So it is still possible I might see damage.  But so far so good!  I even spotted one that had put out a flower spike yesterday when I was filling orders for the west coast states.  So I brought it in and planted it up with a few others.
  And I bought insulated protective sleeves for shipping the plants.  So far, everyone has been very pleased with the plants on arrival.  Maybe, just maybe, Streptocarpus just might be the means by which I can afford to finally salvage my struggling upright fuchsia collection.
  A girl can hope.  It's been over 8 years now since I made the mistake of moving the nursery here and had all of the stock freeze to ground level and then had the deer mow them down when they tried to come back up.  Then it took a few years to afford to be able to build a deer proof enclosure and move the survivors into it.  Meanwhile, with no income from the nursery, it was necessary to work many jobs and put a lot of time into the lavender instead.
  I can't wait to see all the colors and forms these Streptocarpus will be!
  They look great growing under big upright fuchsias!