Can Christmas be only ten days away? How is it that we have three hundred sixty-four days a year to prepare and we (or maybe it's just I) crams everything into the three weeks before the day? Every year I vow to start thinking of gifts and making things in January and February before the gardening season gets going and have everything ready for the next Christmas. However, it never works that way. Maybe it's best to be really busy now when the days are so short; the nights so long. Takes one's mind off of the lack of light. I digress. It's the fifteenth of the month when Carol at May Dreams Gardens hosts Garden Bloggers' Bloom day where garden bloggers from around the globe share what's blooming in their gardens in the middle of each month. Go here for Carol's post and links to the other participating bloggers' offerings.
Here's what's happening in my garden on this, the shortest GBBD of the year. Soon the days will begin to lengthen again!
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The first few blooms of Lonicera fragrantissima have opened and are sharing their incredible fragrance. It proves difficult for me to photograph well but with an asset like that scent, who cares what it looks like!
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Viburnum × bodnantense ‘Dawn’ has been blooming since November and will continue for months to come. Another highly fragrant plant, this delights on calm days, especially if the temperature is a little warmer.
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Not blooming yet but the closest it's ever come in my garden is Tetrapanax papyrifer 'Steroidal Giant.' All I want for Christmas is...
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'Marjie' rose, a Swanson's Nursery exclusive has bloomed all summer and fall and shows no sign of stopping. The small pink fragrant flowers are becoming a favorite. For more on this special rose look here.
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Not blooms but the Jerusalem Cherry plant that came home last Christmas has been blooming and producing fruit since I brought it home. Such a sweet, fast growing, and easy plant.
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Schlumbergera last longer in the greenhouse. Those in the people house have already dropped all of their flowers.
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Brugmansia will spit out a bloom or two through the winter if they survive the *$*#%@) spider mites!
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Here's what's happening in my garden on this, the shortest GBBD of the year. Soon the days will begin to lengthen again!
Grevillea victoriae
Helleborus argutifolius 'Pacific Frost'
Viburnum × bodnantense ‘Dawn’ has been blooming since November and will continue for months to come. Another highly fragrant plant, this delights on calm days, especially if the temperature is a little warmer.
Not blooming yet but the closest it's ever come in my garden is Tetrapanax papyrifer 'Steroidal Giant.' All I want for Christmas is...
Rosemary
Mahonia × media ‘Charity’
Laughing at temperatures in the mid 20's, the abutilons continue to bloom.
Less-than-perfect primroses are providing lunch for the slugs.
'Marjie' rose, a Swanson's Nursery exclusive has bloomed all summer and fall and shows no sign of stopping. The small pink fragrant flowers are becoming a favorite. For more on this special rose look here.
Aging hydrangeas are quite lovely!
So they're not blooms but they are sweet and blue. Dichroa febrifuga.
Meanwhile, inside the greenhouse -
Abutilon 'Red Tiger'
Abutilon something or other.
Not blooms but the Jerusalem Cherry plant that came home last Christmas has been blooming and producing fruit since I brought it home. Such a sweet, fast growing, and easy plant.
Grocery store gardenia, also from last year is back in bloom.
In the greenhouse, the pelargonium bloom all winter.
Schlumbergera last longer in the greenhouse. Those in the people house have already dropped all of their flowers.
A new one this year. It's labeled but I forgot it's name.
Brugmansia will spit out a bloom or two through the winter if they survive the *$*#%@) spider mites!
Only 95 days until spring. For a beautiful countdown, click here. The Northwest Flower and Garden Show, the beginning of the new garden season for me, is only two months away! Hooray!