a pothos plant that I started from a cutting that Nathan gave to me several years ago
some not-too-happy crocuses I tried to grow indoors
two on-the-decline hyacinth that I forgot to photograph in their prime
two lillies I mistreated this winter
and lots of seeds that have yet to sprout

This is the FIRST flower I ever ever grew. It's an "orchid gladiolus". You start them as bulbs in moist soil. I grew these indoors, surprisingly enough. I seem to have luck with bulbs; not-so-much-luck with seeds. Bulbs are generally quite easy to grow, if you follow the planting instructions. The flower pictured here eventually had five flowers on one stalk! That's nothing compared to the gladiolus you can buy at the florist - those come with ten to twelve flowers on one long stalk. But seeing as how this was my successful flower EVER, I wasn't about to complain.

This is the first lilly I ever grew. Since this one, I've had five successful lillies from bulbs. One was even a return from a previous year - another first for me. I seem to be able to make a bulb grow, but I use them all up - the bulbs are useless after I get done with them. Sad! Anyhow, I had some asiatic lilly bulbs outside over a winter and they grew back the next year. Yay! Oh, yeah, back to the photo. This is a stargazer lilly and the blooms smelled INCREDIBLE! I had two pots of these suckers going simultaneously and the smell filled the house! I finally sent one to work with Scot, to brighten up his cubicle.

This is a close-up of the blooms on one of the stargazer plants. I'm definitely going to put some stargazer bulbs out in the landscaping this year. They were so vigorous and fast-growing! I don't know anything about their pest-resistance, though, and since I grew this one only last summer, I haven't had an opportunity to see if I can get it to come back again the next year. I may have used it all up.

I have a bunch of fireweed seeds in pots. I really hope they come up, as I'd like to transplant them into the landscaping in our back yard. I love fireweed - it's the epitome of Alaska, as far as I'm concerned. A house up the street has some fireweed that comes up by their mailbox each year. If my fireweed doesn't grow this year, I'll wait till fall and filch some of the seeds off the neighbor's plant and try again.