Monday, December 14, 2009

Garden Bloggers' Bloom Day - December 2009

The winter rains have come to San Jose, and the twenty-something temps last week were definitely noticed in the garden. Winter blooming trees like my favorite Arbutus 'Marina' can handle it, in fact the flowers have gotten noticeably deeper in color. Nice.
~click any photo to enlarge~

Thought I'd lost the lovely, sparkly plumes of Miscanthus 'Morning Light' in the rain, but in THIS morning's light they were looking just fine!

Whoa, did you know that Green Senecio has these adorable purple blooms in winter? And looking so great after a freeze? What a winner!

Can you believe this Rudbeckia??? Still blooming after six months? That's how long 'Indian Summer' has been at it. The finches love the dried seedheads, so how can I cut them back?

California gardens can usually manage to squeeze out a rose of one kind or another every month of the year. My coral carpet roses still have quite a few of these simple swirls.

When the sun emerged after our cold snap, these pink carpet roses went from bud to blooms in a day. I love their heart-shaped petals. I'm letting them climb the lilac (just a little bit, okay?)

A pristine Hybrid Tea (I think this is a John F. Kennedy) in December is a little more rare. Maybe a garden NEEDS a little shock of cold sometimes to stimulate it!

Diascia blooms look like happy babies to me. Happy orange angel babies. Really.

Everyone has probably had just about enough of my precocious Cerinthe, who shrugged off the frost no problem (as cool-weather annuals will do, only usually they do it in MARCH).

We're at about 8 months of bloom for the Lantana, however this is one of the few survivors; he snuggled up against the house just a few feet away from his shriveled brethren. I'll trim lightly, but with Ms. Mantis' egg case in there somewhere, I need to be careful (or she'll come back from the dead and kick my ....)

The Crassula by the front door also emerged unscathed, except for some red cheeks! He's getting ready to do his winter-bloom thing too.

Poor Mona, half of her a blackened mess, the other half fresh as spring. Perhaps she knew I wanted her to hang on for one more Bloom Day?

My hybrid Fuchsia is out for the count, but little Fuchsia thymifolia is saying yes, she really WOULD like another.

And then there's Sweet Alyssum, one of those ubiquitous little plants that will follow in my wake for years to come. Just let her do what she wants and everybody's happy, right?

Preview of coming attractions: The catkins on my Corylus avellana contorta (Contorted Hazelnut) are starting to emerge. We'll check back with him in January...

Thanks, as always, to Carol from May Dreams Gardens for being the heart of Garden Bloggers' Bloom day. Visit her site for links to Bloom Day posts from all over the world.

"We can have flowers nearly every month of the year."
Elizabeth Lawrence


20 comments:

  1. Ah, California dreamin'. You have some nice blooms there. I especially enjoyed seeing a senecio in flower. There will be little to nothing blooming in my new garden after a few hard freezes, I'm afraid. I'll go look tomorrow morning.

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  2. Nice collection. I am indeed surprised by the senecio, and surprised by the cerinthe too. Sometimes annuals just don't know when to quit around here.

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  3. You have a lot going on, very nice. I love the Green Senecio and will now be on the search for some!!

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  4. Laura, The sight of that rudbeckia warmed my heart. Enviable bouquet of blooms day flowers you have there.

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  5. Happy bloom day! Love that Senecio!

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  6. You have lots of nice blooms out. I really like the Cerinthe, never seen that plant before.

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  7. Love your descriptions, Laura! Happy Orange Angel Baby....my favorite! I can't believe you still have a Lantana bloom...mine is a brown, twiggy MESS!

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  8. Beautiful shots.....love that Arbutus, and all the others. I didn't know you guys got into the 20's....we rarely get frost here & it's usually pretty light at that...

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  9. I need to try harder with roses. The other day I passed by a home a few blocks away with a full rose garden, all in bloom. Ridiculous! (Envious!)

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  10. Ahh, California. Stuff growing. Lovely shots. Love the variety you still have in your garden. And to be smelling allyssum in December. Wow.

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  11. Whoa indeed - the Green Senecio is a winner. I love those little surprises.

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  12. I'm jealous... all that loveliness still going in mid-December. California must be dreamy indeed :)

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  13. Thanks everyone! That Senecio is quite the popular fellow today! Would be happy to provide cuttings...there will be plenty!

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  14. What great variety! Love the Miscanthus and contorted hazelnut.

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  15. Lovely photos, just reminds me of all the plants we have in the UK during the summer months - and then you add the Corylus - so strange having that and the others in the same garden at the same time

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  16. Spectacular photographs.
    That miscanthus picture might start me rethinking grasses.
    Have you considered watermarking those gorgeous images?

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  17. Happy orange angel babies! That would be a good name for an album. Your flowers are just lovely, and so refreshing to us northerners! I just discovered the joy of lantana this year; I wonder how long the blooms would have lasted if the workmen hadn't trampled them :/

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  18. Great Pictures! I have many of the same plants flowering in my yard at the moment. The Arbutus Marina looks spectacular right now, with fruit in every hue between orange and red, along with the flowers ranging from creamy-white to bright red. It's a wonderful tree all around. My senecio must be a different species though, because the flowers on mine looked like dandelion blooms. & the Allysum, never stops blooming for me. I had to go through one of my beds and cut them back because they were getting too leggy for my liking.

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  19. Loving the color you have blooming right now. IT is rainy season out in the Bay area isn't it?
    Happy Holidays friend - and THANK YOU For saving me on the NETWORK with the TwitterDeck info. LOVE IT!

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