Last Saturday night, the ice storm arrived in our area, coating the trees and covering the driveway. I knew this was coming, and got concerned about the single digit temperatures. While I have plants in the Carolina room to keep them sheltered, this was just going to be too much for a few of them.

I decided to move the ones most at risk to the basement where it is warm and I have a grow light. It was a good time to set up some small pots for the spider plant to root its little daughter plants.

Consulting the book of wisdom on planting, the Farmer’s Almanac says that today and tomorrow would be the best days to plant above ground crops. Since these aren’t crops, I just went ahead.

In researching how to do this, the prevailing wisdom is to put the little ones in pots while still connected to the mother plant. I could do that with about six of the little ones.

Several more already had some roots. They had broken off the main plant when I tried to remove it from the birdcage that it was in. So, those were potted up separately.

I had several begonia stems that broke off the main plant, and a couple that I pruned. The stems will grow roots given the right conditions. I split the bottom end, dipped it in rooting hormone, and planted it in a small pot. We’ll see if it roots. I use coffee filters in the bottom of the pots to keep the dirt in and let excess water out.

I brought the hellebore down to the basement as well. I was worried that its roots would freeze in the pot. When I had it on the bench, I noticed it had a bud.

I didn’t realize that these bloomed in late winter. It is a white one.

Two days after being brought into warmth with the grow light, the flower stalk had doubled in height!

The bench is pretty crowded at this point, but with the best planting days today and tomorrow, I’ll make a bit more room for some seed starting pots.

The amaryllis still looks exactly like this, four leaves and no flower bud stalk forming. It has been given several doses of fertilizer, with higher phosphorus to encourage bloom development. It was put it in the basement to get more light. Maybe that will help. It hasn’t bloomed in two years, and this is its last chance.

So today, I’ll be planting some seeds in the pots I have left. I am always dreaming of a garden full of big beefsteak tomatoes, fresh herbs, butternut squash, little cherry tomatoes, and yellow peppers, and lots of pretty flowers in pots on the veranda. I hope the torenias come back in the big ceramic pot. I need to prune and clean up the geranium and the rest of the begonias. So, plenty to do, even if it is the dead of winter. Snow is predicted to start again tonight, ruining another weekend’s plans. If we get the six inches the weather folks say we’ll get, I’ll be housebound again for several more days. Luckily, I always have something to do!