After work and shopping (just groceries, nothing exciting.) this dark evening, I grabbed the bags from my car and was greeted by one of my favorite winter fragrances, that of Lonicera fragrantissima. Because it's dark when I'm home during the week at this time of year, these pictures were taken on Sunday.
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The catkins of the Contorted Hazel (Corylus avellana 'Contorta') will soon expand to become dangly earrings that wiggle with the slightest breeze and thrill the gardener.
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Helleborus argutifolius 'Pacific Frost' continues it's floral show while the Helleborus orientalis are just pushing up new leaves and buds.
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Grevillea victoriae has been blooming for a while now and is still covered with buds, promising blooms for months to come. Unless they suddenly decide to all fall off. While it hasn't happened to this specimen, the plant is rumored to have that nifty little quirk.
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Cheating with these just added Primula vulgaris. While there are some blooming in my garden, they're looking a little tired from being pelted with rain and eaten by slugs. A little cheap and cheerful color, visible in the light from the back porch, lifts my spirit when I take the dogs out.
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The plant in my garden that gets the award for longest bloom time is Abutilon megapotamicum. If we don't get a long and deep freeze, It'll also keep it's leaves all winter.
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Last but not least is the Camellia sasanqua 'Yuletide' that I thought I'd killed. The little shrub actually has lots of blooms on it. Wonder if they were there last month?
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That's about it for this month. The Jasminum nudiflorum has been blooming for quite some time now but the pictures were all really bad. The Schlumbergeras (Christmas Cacti) are finished for this season but there are a few that bloom later in the year - Easter cactus, Whitsun Cactus, etc.
Garden Bloggers' Bloom Day is hosted by Carol at May Dreams Gardens on the fifteenth of each month. Hie thee forth to her blog to see what's blooming in her garden and in those of other participating garden bloggers the world over!
Happy GBBD and happy weekend everyone!
Climbing the steps to our door another wonderful scent tickled my nose, it's heavy perfume is one that I always associate with The Northwest Flower and Garden Show because it's often heavily used in the gardens there.
Sarcococca
Speaking of great winter fragrances, Viburnum × bodnantense ‘dawn’ scents the air during the day from October through May or June. It's cheerful pink blossoms are a visual treat as well.
Cyclamen coum. Those in the ground haven't sent blooms up yet. Perhaps this is an earlier-blooming specimen. We'll see what happens in years to come.
The catkins of the Contorted Hazel (Corylus avellana 'Contorta') will soon expand to become dangly earrings that wiggle with the slightest breeze and thrill the gardener.
Likewise Garrya elliptica.
Seems like there's one Mahonia or another in bloom from fall through spring.
Helleborus argutifolius 'Pacific Frost' continues it's floral show while the Helleborus orientalis are just pushing up new leaves and buds.
Grevillea victoriae has been blooming for a while now and is still covered with buds, promising blooms for months to come. Unless they suddenly decide to all fall off. While it hasn't happened to this specimen, the plant is rumored to have that nifty little quirk.
Cheating with these just added Primula vulgaris. While there are some blooming in my garden, they're looking a little tired from being pelted with rain and eaten by slugs. A little cheap and cheerful color, visible in the light from the back porch, lifts my spirit when I take the dogs out.
The plant in my garden that gets the award for longest bloom time is Abutilon megapotamicum. If we don't get a long and deep freeze, It'll also keep it's leaves all winter.
A not-so-hardy abutilon in the greenhouse.
Last but not least is the Camellia sasanqua 'Yuletide' that I thought I'd killed. The little shrub actually has lots of blooms on it. Wonder if they were there last month?
That's about it for this month. The Jasminum nudiflorum has been blooming for quite some time now but the pictures were all really bad. The Schlumbergeras (Christmas Cacti) are finished for this season but there are a few that bloom later in the year - Easter cactus, Whitsun Cactus, etc.
Garden Bloggers' Bloom Day is hosted by Carol at May Dreams Gardens on the fifteenth of each month. Hie thee forth to her blog to see what's blooming in her garden and in those of other participating garden bloggers the world over!
Happy GBBD and happy weekend everyone!