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Book Give Away // Growing Kalanchoe tomentosa
Category: Presenting "The Curious Gardener"
Book Give Away: May the Best Garden Geek Win–In the Comments field below tell us why you are a garden geek, and the geekiest among you will win a copy of Christy Wilhelmi’s book. What does it mean to be a garden geek? 
In her intro Christy says “When garden geeks get excited about a subject they want to know everything. Gardening is an exciting topic– a vast world of soil biology, botany, and horticulture. It cross-pollinates with the insect world, meteorology and nutrition. The more we learn about gardening, the more we realize there is to learn. It’s a wonderfully addictive passion to have.” Visit Christy’s blog gardenerd.com. Her book is full of information, and is a great read.
Growing Kalanchoe tomentosa– I picked up a small kalanchoe tomentosa at a trade show about a year ago. I transplanted it to a 6″ clay pot and it was outside all summer. I moved it indoors to a sunny, south facing windowsill for the winter because it’s only hardy to about zone 9b. It remains small, though it has grown into its larger container nicely. Suddenly about 6 weeks ago a shoot formed and shot up about 18″, with buds at the top. Then about a week ago these little buds opened and the flowers are quite exquisite. 
After doing a little research I discovered that I’m lucky to have had a bloom, since many don’t bloom at all or rarely bloom. I learned this by reading the comments about this plant on the Dave’s Garden site, and also the Wave Hill blog, where they celebrated a bloom on theirs. (Wave Hill is a beautiful public garden along the Hudson River, not too far from where I live.) According to their blog, “This is the first time in years that the Kalanchoe tomentosa ‘Golden Girl’ has bloomed here at Wave Hill, and I think it’s been worth the wait.” Propagating the plant through cuttings, by simply removing a leaf and putting it in perlite or sandy potting soil, seems to work well. I’m going to give it a try. Meanwhile this plant likes dry soil and sunshine. It’s a cactus. Common names are Panda Plant and Pussy Ears (because the whole plant is velvety and soft to the touch). I love it!
Gardening sets me free! Free to connect with Mother Nature. Free to breathe in fresh air. Free to feel the sun and rain on my face. Free to let dirt fall through my fingers and accumulate under my nails. Free to feel the exhilaration of watching the plants I planted grow. Free to know that I can fill my”world”with beautiful flowers and eat “real” food! What a wonderful gift to give myself and my family!!
Garden geeks love compost!! They get excited over the whole process, and push their spouses out of the way just to be the one turning that rich gold…they are overjoyed with every earthworm they see working their magic, and don’t fret if their new vegan casserole is a flop…just add it to the compost bin! That’s me!
Dorian,
I’m a ‘garden geek’ because I wholeheartedly subscribe to Voltaire’s dictum that one “should cultivate one’s own garden.” Period.
Besides that, I use your fine gloves whenever I do my volunteer work in the Cranford Rose Garden (at the Brooklyn Botanic Garden). They help to fend off — or at least dull — the pain of all of those little pricks of… well, see the next paragraph.
My ex-wife is also a former Smithie. Now THAT should earn me some special consideration for this prize of a book! After all, as the proverb goes: “No rose without thorns.” And no prize without pain, I might add.
Russell
Dear Shelly, we are awarding you the “Garden Geek” prize of the book “Gardening For Geeks” by Christy Wilhelmi. We especially enjoyed the exuberance you demonstrated by ‘pushing your spouse’ away from the compost heap.You will enjoy this book we are sure. Please send us your mailing address in an email to dwinslow@womanswork.com.Thank you!
I am thrilled to receive the book…and anxious for the snow to melt so I can get back to my compost heap! Thank you!