Garden Bloggers' Bloom Day - January 2015
Happy January to all my Bloom Day visitors. Do you have color and blooms where you are? Here in my zone 9a garden in Southeast Texas things are looking pretty bleak these days.
Just over a week ago, on January 7, I showed you some of my blooms that were still going. That night we did finally have our first experience this season of below freezing temperatures with frost and that put an end to most of those blooms. It has continued to be chilly and rather dreary since then, although the temperatures haven't dipped quite that low again.
Still, even now, I do have a few blooms to show you.
Thank you for stopping by this month and thank you Carol of May Dreams Gardens for again being the hostess of this monthly party.
Just over a week ago, on January 7, I showed you some of my blooms that were still going. That night we did finally have our first experience this season of below freezing temperatures with frost and that put an end to most of those blooms. It has continued to be chilly and rather dreary since then, although the temperatures haven't dipped quite that low again.
Still, even now, I do have a few blooms to show you.
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| The violas, planted for their winter color and just because I love them so, continue to bloom, of course. |
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| As do the cyclamen. |
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| The ornamental cabbage "blooms" in a pot with heuchera, foxtail fern and pansies. |
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| Somewhat surprisingly, some of the Copper Canyon daisy blossoms survived the frost. |
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| As did some of the nearby 'Mystic Spires' salvia. |
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| Even more surprisingly, even though much of the Cape honeysuckle was bitten by the frost, several of its blossoms also survive and our overwintering Rufous Hummingbirds are very grateful. |
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| The prairie coneflowers also were not daunted by the frost. |
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| And this poinsettia, most definitely a tropical plant, was on my little entry patio during the coldest weather and did not have any protection, other than the fact that it was positioned against the bricks of the house which probably provided some warmth, and it's still blooming! |
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| The Fatsia japonica (Japanese aralia) which first put up its unassuming and quite inconspicuous bloom in early December is still flowering. |
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| Elsewhere, buds on the Carolina jessamine... |
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| ...and on the camellias give the promise that there will soon be more blossoms in the garden. (This camellia lives under a magnolia tree where songbirds roost at night among its leathery leaves. Their droppings sometimes "speckle" the camellia leaves below.) |
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| Of course, my bottle tree is always in bloom! |
Happy Bloom Day Dorothy! I enjoyed all your lovely blooms that are still around despite the cold weather, especially the Fatsia and of course your bottle tree which is so much fun and whimsical!
ReplyDeleteAlthough the blooms are now few, they are now even more appreciated on these gray days.
DeleteA lovely series of bloom photos!
ReplyDeleteHappy Garden Bloggers' Bloom Day!
Lea
Thank you for dropping by. I look forward to visiting your garden.
DeleteHappy Garden Bloggers Bloom day. It's this time of year that I am tempted to adorn my garden with baskets of silk flowers - and perhaps a bottle tree like yours :-) I have but one little bloom on the Carolina Jessamine in my garden.
ReplyDeleteWell, give that jessamine a little time. In a few weeks, it'll probably be full of blooms.
DeleteHappy Bloom Day, Dorothy! I wondered how your garden was faring--we spent last week in Dallas, and it was pretty chilly, though nothing compared to what we left behind at home. It was nice to see some green, though. Love the combo of the flowering cabbage and kale!
ReplyDeleteI really like using the ornamental brassicas for winter color. They are nothing if not dependable.
DeleteSome winters it is harder to find blossoms than others, but something pretty always turns up. There are always promises when open flowers were frostbitten.
ReplyDeleteThe one thing you can depend on in a garden is that there will always be something of interest there!
DeleteThe salvia takes me straight back to summer!
ReplyDeleteIt's really a year-round bloomer here unless we get an extremely cold winter - which we haven't had this year.
DeleteDorothy, thank you for visiting my upstate NY site - no, the only thing "blooming" outside here is snow and ice: in fact, it got down to -3 at my house yesterday, and my son, 20 minutes away, got down to -14. So I enjoyed each and every one of your blooms. I love camellias and Carolina jessamine - two plants I absolutely can not grow in my zone 5b climate. Happy GBBD! Alana - Ramblin' with AM.
ReplyDeleteBrrr! Makes me shiver to imagine it. I was outside today with temperatures in the 40s and found it quite chilly. Stay warm! Spring is coming!
DeleteLovely to see all your flowers, and I do like your bottle tree! I wonder if I perhaps should try putting my poinsettias outside, they really don’t like my dry, hot living room and will die soon indoors anyway. I might just try :-) Happy GBBD!
ReplyDeleteMy poinsettias always die, too, if I try to keep them inside for any extended period. So I put them outside and they last a good long while as long as it doesn't get extremely cold. I hope to plant this one in the ground in a protected spot and see how it does.
DeleteHi Dorothy, We had some cold weather too in Southern California. There was even frost on the ground. I'm curious how your Brugmansia did? I'm so sad because both of my potted ones were making new flower buds, and then we got the frost and it just withered all the leaves. They look awful! Now the leaves are falling off and they are just scraggly branches, but I know they will come back. Same thing happened to me last year. At least you have some blooms to look at. I am ready for Spring!
ReplyDeleteAll of my brugs went down with the frost on January 7, but, as you say, they'll be back in the spring. One of mine still was blooming at the time of the frost. Spring will be here - probably sooner than we expect.
DeleteUgh.. that's painful! But yes, thankfully they will be back! Our weather is crazy here. It was 34 on New Year's Even and this week it's been in the 70s. I imagine we'll see spring here early as well. Poor plants don't know what to do! :)
DeleteThose little prairie coneflowers are adorable! And I'm astonished that your Poinsettia survived - I thought they were the sensitive types...
ReplyDeletePoinsettias seem to be a bit tougher than people think. I've been able to winter them over a couple of times before as I'm hoping to do with this one.
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