Gardening
Three Indoor Trees for the Holidays
Norfolk Island pine makes a great indoor holiday tree especially when combined with holiday plants or decorated with garland and small ornaments.
Photo credit: photo courtesy of MelindaMyers.com
Add a small-scale living evergreen to your holiday celebrations. Consider one that is suitable for growing indoors so you can enjoy it throughout the year.
The Lemon Cypress makes a great miniature holiday tree, centerpiece, or gift for a friend. The fragrant chartreuse foliage of this dwarf evergreen continues to brighten your winter décor long after the holidays are over. You can find them as topiaries or in their more natural pyramidal form.
Grow them in a sunny window and turn the plants occasionally to ensure all parts receive equal sunlight and grow evenly. You'll have the best results if you keep your plant in a cool location free of cold and hot air drafts.
Water your mini holiday tree whenever the top few inches of soil are dry. Wait until spring when plants begin to actively grow and need a nutrient boost before applying fertilizer.
The Norfolk Island pine has long been a favorite of indoor gardeners. Its pine-like appearance makes it a great holiday tree. Add a bit of garland and a few small ornaments for a festive effect.
Grow this plant in a cool, well-lit location free of drafts of hot and cold air. Avoid dry air and soil to keep the needles and branches green, flexible, and healthy. Water thoroughly whenever the soil is just slightly moist. Boost the humidity around this and other plants with a gravel tray. Place pebbles and water in the saucer. Set the pot on the pebbles above the water. As the water evaporates, it increases the humidity around the plant.
Switch out the ornaments when celebrating other holidays. Use hearts for Valentine's Day, eggs for Easter and orange lights for Halloween.
Rosemary wreath and tree topiaries are festive as well as fragrant and edible. Give the leaves a pet to enjoy the fragrance and lift your spirits. Or pluck a sprig to add welcome flavor to your winter meals and beverages.
Rosemary was as popular a Christmas plant as mistletoe and holly until the 20th Century. It's not clear why this plant fell out of favor, but it is growing in popularity as a holiday plant. You can find it in many garden centers and florists this time of year.
Rosemary represents love and remembrance, a great sentiment to share during the holidays. Growing Rosemary indoors can be challenging. Don't let past failures stop you from trying. Just keep experimenting until you find the location and maintenance routine that keeps your Rosemary thriving. If the plant turns brown, move it out of sight to the back of your indoor garden. It still smells good when you give it a pet and no one, but you will know.
Change things up this season with the addition of one or more of these indoor evergreen trees. They are sure to brighten your spirits and holiday décor.
Melinda Myers is the author of more than 20 gardening books, including Small Space Gardening. She hosts The Great Courses "How to Grow Anything" DVD series and the Melinda's Garden Moment TV & radio segments. Myers is a columnist and contributing editor for Birds & Blooms magazine. Her web site is www.MelindaMyers.com.
Antiques
Latest Antiques and Collectibles News
I hope everyone had a happy Thanksgiving and is enjoying the start of the holiday season. There have been many antiques, collectibles and auction related news reports since my last recap over a month ago, so it's time to get caught up.
In local news, our recent Webster, MA auction of Corvettes, boats, car parts and estate items was very successful. A 1962 Corvette brought the highest amount at $30,000.
In global news, Reuters reports that a rare manuscript by Albert Einstein recently sold at auction. The 54-page manual was written by Einstein and Swiss physicist Michele Besso, who was Einstein's close friend and academic partner. According to Reuters, the manuscript offered insights on Einstein's theory of relativity "that laid the groundwork for modern cosmology and technology such as GPS navigation." The document was created by the pair between 1913 and 1914 and Einstein's theory of relativity was published in 1915. Documents by Einstein from before 1919 are considered very rare. The pre-auction estimate was 2 to 3 million euros. It sold for 11.7 million euros ($13.17 million U.S.).
Elsewhere, the holidays just got a little brighter for a fan of the movie "Elf." The outfit Will Ferrell wore while playing Buddy the Elf just sold at an auction along with over 1,000 additional pieces of Hollywood memorabilia. The Buddy costume had an auction estimate of between $27,600 and $41,000. An unidentified buyer paid almost ten times that estimate when it sold for nearly $300,000. The volleyball from the Tom Hanks movie "Cast Away" sold for even more at $388,750.
Another recent article tells the story of a London-based dealer who spotted a rare jade figure in a New York auction, as reported by England's Daily Mail. In his 2005 book, Geoffrey Munn wrote about Fabergé dealers Wartski. One of the objects he discussed was a jade T-Rex dinosaur created by Carl Fabergé. The piece is believed to have been created for Russian Emperor Nicholas II. Munn and other experts believed that the carving was lost forever until Munn recently spotted it for sale at a New York auction house. Prior to going to auction, the piece had been on display in a local family's cabinet for 40 years. It's believed that a child who played with it broke and lost two arms on the dinosaur. Despite the damage, the T-Rex surged past the $800 to $1,200 estimate to sell for over $81,000. Experts think that without damaged arms it could have brought over $300,000. I'm happy to learn that the dinosaur that went missing for all of this time wasn't extinct.
We are currently cataloging the next model railroad, die-cast cars and models auction which go live this month. We are also currently accepting consignments of higher value antiques and collectibles for our next multi-estate auction. Sterling silver, gold jewelry, coins, antique paintings, old comic books, baseball cards and advertising items are just some of the items we are accepting on consignment for that sale.
Contact us at: Wayne Tuiskula Auctioneer/Appraiser Central Mass Auctions for Antique Auctions, Estate Sales and Appraisal Services www.centralmassauctions.com (508-612- 6111) info@centralmassauctions.com