The Pink Hyacinth...

Flowering pot plant ideas
The delightful scent and beautiful form make the hyacinth one of those most sought after flowering bulbs.
Flowering pot plant ideas
 If grown indoors the pot needs to be in a warm position.
Flowering pot plant ideas
 The position of the pot also requires good light conditions.
Flowering pot plant ideas
 Keep the soil slightly moist.
Flowering pot plant ideas
Too much watering will make the hyacinth grow tall and leggy.
Flowering pot plant ideas
The scent will fill the room the plant is in!
Flowering pot plant ideas
 To help stop the plants growing towards the strongest light source, just give the pot a half turn every day.
Once the flowering beauty has completed, you can plant it out in your garden for the bulb to grow and flower next Spring.
Flowering pot plant ideas
Hyacinths come in the most gorgeous colours.
I chose bright pink for a pop of colour in the decor,
but they come in a range of hues in the colours of white, purple, mauve, pink, and peach.
But:

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Classic Banana Cake...

Banana Cake Recipes
Nothing beats a classic banana cake!
Banana Cake
Always popular and delicious too.
Drizzle cake with passionfruit topping for an extra tropical flavour.
Banana Cake
It's another sure-fire way to use up your overripe bananas in the fruit bowl!
Banana Cake
This cake recipe is from the 'Edmonds Sure To Rise Cookery Book'.
You'll find this iconic cookbook on the shelf
 in most New Zealand Bookstores or supermarkets.
Or online via Fishpond.
This book is probably the most used in my cookery book collection.
It's so used the cover has come off and a few pages are loose!
I just bought my son a new Edmonds cookbook because he is about to leave home, and you simply must have this cookbook in your kitchen!
Banana Cake

Banana Cake
  • Ingredients: 
  •  125g (1/2 cup) butter, softened
  •   ¾ cup fine white caster sugar
  •   2 eggs
  •   1 - 1 ½ cups or 3-4 mashed ripe bananas
  •   1 and a half teaspoons Baking soda 
  •   2 Tablespoons hot Milk
  •   2 cups white flour
  •   1 tsp Baking Powder

  •   Chocolate Icing
  •  1 and 1/2 cups powdered icing sugar 
  •  1 Tablespoon Dark Cocoa Powder
  •  2 Tablespoons of melted butter
  • Milk to mix to consistency.
  1. Method:
  2. Preheat the oven to 180ÂșC (356F). Butter the inside of a 20cm deep round cake tin and line the base with baking paper.
  3. Cream the butter and sugar until light and fluffy, then add the eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition.
  4. Add the mashed banana and mix well.
  5. Stir the baking soda into the hot milk and add to the creamed mixture, then sift the dry ingredients together and fold them through the creamed mixture.
  6. Scoop the mixture into the prepared tin, level the top, and bake for about 50 minutes or until cake springs back when lightly touched.
  7. Leave in tin for 10 minutes before turning out onto a wire rack to cool. When cold ice with Chocolate Icing or dust with icing sugar.
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A New Pot Plant Standard...

Do you ever go into the garden centre,
 and see a plant that is screaming at you 'make me into a standard?'
Well that is what happened with this Ficus.
How to make a standard ficus pot plant
The main trunk is so straight.
How more perfect is that!
I bought it with no idea where in the house it would go.
But once home decided it was time for a change in the French Masculine Bedroom.
I have had black wrought iron pieces on the side table for too long.
Time for something new.
Time for a pot plant!
How to make a standard ficus pot plant
So I just repotted the ficus into a bigger plastic pot that would fit inside the display planter.
Then trimmed the plant into a standard by removing the lower leaves.
A slight prune to round it a little was needed.
As the plant grows the shape will improve with regular trimming.
I always like to do this as a gentle slow process.
How to make a standard ficus pot plant
This fiscus variety is called 'Baby Ben'.
How to make a standard ficus pot plant
It's a variety that is great for topiary.
How to make a standard ficus pot plant
They like part shade, so the filtered light in the bedroom,
 and no draughts means it should thrive.
How to make a standard ficus pot plant
If you like the black & white photographs that are framed above the Ficus...
How to make a standard ficus pot plant
They are available HERE on the Mia Bella Passions Photography page for your free personal use.
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