Stretching the limits!

Some times we have to stretch to grow just like plants do when they sprout from seed and push through the soil and stretch for the suns warmth and moisture of the morning dew.
When we look at nature we can see so much of Gods plan for us in how nature grows, thrives and survives.  When we stretch ourselves beyond what we see our limits to be we need to rely on God to give us strength and courage to reach out of the dark soils of our lives and push forth stretching for the goodness and warmth of our Fathers love and care.
Today was a stretching day for me as I went with a friend to a town I had never been to before and a big stretch to be in a car for so long. But the day was so pretty. It was warm and sunny all day and the drive was great. I know that God gave me courage and peace. As we drove back home I felt peace were there used to be anxiety and panic.  The hills are rolling with green grasses and grains. The wheat field are coming to life and the songs of the spring birds was in the air.

When we got to the town we were heading to we went to Home Depot (a store we dont have were I live). It is a huge store and it was almost overwheming when I walked inside..but the feeling was an overwhelming joy to be there and know that the next place I was heading was the garden center..LOL :)
I cant walk into a store like that without looking in the garden center. And of course I could not go home empty handed. I found a wonderful 6 inch pot of Donkey tail succulent.

A couple fairly nice Titinaopsis. They were way over watered so I gave them new dry soil when I got home.

And a cute Echeveria aphrodite

All in all it was such a great trip..for the new plants that i had so much fun picking out...but most of all for Gods love, courage, and protection. Thank  you my Lord for a job well done!

Aloe parvula...Gods gift today :)

Today as I was looking at some of the Haworthias I noticed something so very delightful about a small aloe I have.  I looked for months of an aloe parvula and I finally found one about a month or so ago. In fact i got 2 small plants of it. To my sweet delight today i see a bloom stock starting on one of them! I am so thrilled, this is such a precious little aloe no more then about 2 maybe 3 inches across and about as tall. Its in a very cute tiny vase. I know that some times we just need these wonderful surprises to brighten our day and encourage us in our journey in this life and I think God knows just when to send us a special gift to say "chin up and enjoy the journey".

Seed, pods and plants..gotta love them!

Tonight I am going to start writing in my blog again..I have not written in a long time and I feel its time to start it up again. A lot has been happening in my plant room over the winter but the most wonderful part has been seeing the changes come as the seasons change. As we get near to spring A lot of the haworthias and aloes have come into bloom. The haworthias have been blooming for about 2 months now and the aloes started about 3 weeks ago. I have tried my hand at some cross pollinating of haworthias and aloes...it will be interesting to see if any of it takes and produces seed pods.

This is one of the crosses I did. Haworthia variegata and Aloe pink blush.

Another cross I did just for fun is these 2. H. tortousa and Aloe dorian black.

It has been a lot of fun pollinating differant haworthias and aloes. I did get a good number of seeds from the haworthias...H. lime green gave me 5 pods and a few seeds, the pods were very small. H. venosa ssp tessellata gave me several pods with a good amount of seeds but the all time winner was H,tortousa with 8 pods and lots of seeds.