I love tropical plants--the brilliant flowers, colors and luxuriant plant forms.  In my dreams I have a large green house filled with bountiful citrus trees, vibrant bougainvillea, fragrant clerodendrum and gorgeous brugmansia.  Some plant or other is in bloom at all times, and many bloom during the darkest months of the year.  I spend the winters soaking in all that warmth and fragrance and high humidity.  Every summer my trusty helpers take many of those same plants out into the garden, where they serve as dramatic focal points.

Then I wake up and remember that I live in a cold winter climate without benefit of a greenhouse.  My trusty helpers are actually two lazy cats who can't lift anything heavier than a medium-size cat toy and the supply of sunny indoor space is limited.  It is all extremely depressing.

I make do with a twenty year old lemon tree that has never so much as flowered, a four year old orchid cactus that flowered for the first time last summer and a few fancy-leaf begonias.  Several months ago I augmented this tropical collection with a small clivia and an even smaller jasmine.  Hopefully they will get enough light to thrive and even bloom someday.

In the meantime I am saving my pennies for the greenhouse.