Flowers add color in winter

Even though it's winter, there's no need to forsake flowers -- real, live, growing flowers. Tropical plants know nothing of winter, and some are capable of growing and flowering practically nonstop as long as they have year-round moisture, warmth, food, and light. They share our winter quarters well.

African violet comes most readily to mind, and it's a good choice. These plants come in all sorts of colors and put on a steady show if kept constantly moist, in moderate light, and out of drafts.

If you can grow African violet (and who can't?), you also can have other flowers in winter. Begonia is another plant that comes to mind, and the best for year-round bloom are wax begonias and some older types such as Lucerna.

But that's not all. Remember last summer's impatiens, blooming so freely in the shade? Well, a sunny window in winter is about as bright as is outdoor shade in summer, and in either situation, impatiens will bloom happily. Abutilon, also called flowering maple for the shape of its leaves, is another reliable indoor bloomer, this one with petals that hang downward like colorful skirts. For something more exotic looking, a flower to transport you -- in spirit -- to a Hawaiian jungle, grow anthurium, whose stalk of tiny white or red flowers rises above a broad, shiny white or red modified leaf.

Just remember that African violet, begonia, impatiens, abutilon, and anthurium all need constantly moist, but not soggy, soil, and temperatures that never fall below about 60 degrees.

Even if you're the type of person who occasionally forgets to water your plants, you still can have flowers year round; some plants like to dry out between waterings. Orange jasmine and African gardenia are two such plants whose flowers also are fragrant. Bromeliad, a family that includes pineapple, also includes plants that tolerate some drying. You could twist the leaves off a pineapple and plant it, or go for a more exotic looking bromeliad, like the urn plant.

Flowering takes an extra measure of energy for any plant, and this energy comes from light. All the plants mentioned need a bright window if they are going to flower right through winter, when sunlight is at a premium. Provide more diffuse light as the sun grows stronger in the months ahead.