I heard a bird sing in the dark of December
A magical thing, and sweet to remember
"We are nearer to Spring than we were in September,"
I heard a bird sing in the dark of December.
Everywhere in my garden there are signs that spring is coming, the light is returning. On Christmas eve, while I was walking through my parking strip to get to the car, the unmistakably sweet and clean fragrance of lonicera fragrantissima tickled my nose. What a delightful surprise.
Anne Lovejoy, one of my favorite garden writers had (and maybe still does?) a Christmas tradition of walking through her garden and bringing in a bouquet of whatever she found blooming there; a celebration of living in such a mild climate. I love the tradition but instead of picking flowers to bring in, I've decided to photograph them and some other interesting things from my garden this Christmas.
Walking down the sidewalk on the other side of the house, you can't miss the fragrance and cheery pink flowers of Viburnum x bodnantense 'Pink Dawn.'
Hellebores waking up for the season.
The tassels of Garrya elliptica are starting to lengthen
New growth on a peony whose old growth hasn't yet fully fallen.
Swelling buds on Camellia japonica.
Skimmia japonica will be adding sweet fragrance to the air along with Sarcococca confusa, daphne odora and the weedy but wonderful daphne laureola. These winter fragrances always remind me that the Northwest Flower and Garden Show is just around the corner.
Our autumn has been so mild that most of the leaves remain on the Stachyurus praecox. If I were not such a slacker, I'd go out and pull them off before these sweet buds which are covering the large shrub begin to open, they're much more dramatic on bare branches towering over the helleobores beneath.
On the other side of the same path is Stachyurus salicifolius with cooler foliage but smaller and, to my eye, less impressive blooms. Hopefully these will both be open for January bloom day and you can be the judge.
Speaking of mild weather (so far, may it continue for the rest of the year, knock on wood.) there are also some brave hangers on from summer.
This calla won't win any beauty pageants but can you believe it's still blooming at the end of December?
So the abutilons aren't so covered with bloom that you can barely see the leaves as they are in summer but the hummingbirds and I are sure thankful for the cheery orange color this time of the year.
Can you believe that Berberis 'Orange Rocket' is still holding on to a few leaves?
This lobeila is quite a surprise as I've never planted it in my current garden. It seems quite happy climbing through Yucca 'Bright Star' though.
Love this yucca!
Bright stems of Persicaria 'Red Dragon' looking especially cheerful.
Have I mentioned lately how much I adore Pernettya mucronata?
Chief Joseph Lodgepole Pine. Joey gets more yellow each day!
Doesn't everyone love lichen growing on the fence? No? Just me?
And last but not least, the brightest plant growing in my garden right now is this screaming orange slime. It looks especially bright growing on this blue gate.
The spring is a coming,
The sun is a rising,
The earth is a singing,
It's Christmas Morn.
Oh, I would give a lot if I could live in that climate zone! We'll have a lot more snow during the next three months... :o(
ReplyDeleteWe are very lucky to live where we garden year round. The winters her are dark, gray and wet whereas you have your lovely snow on the ground that makes everything seem lighter and so very clean.
DeleteGreat orange slime photo! ;)
ReplyDeleteThanks, it's pretty cool slime!
DeleteGreat reminder that we have passed the solstice and that the days are now lengthening. When I get back home (flying back today), I'm going to make the rounds of my own garden and see if anything is actually flowering and what is budding. Thanks for the pictures of the Garrya tassels!
ReplyDeleteThought of you when I posted the Garrya tassel pictures! Once you get home, it would be nice to get together sometime and I promise not to mess up the time!
DeleteYou want to change climates with all these beautiful blooms you have? Zone 9 is usually too hot to grow most of those beauties.
ReplyDeleteNice collection of blooms and the fence photo looks like art.
Really, zone 9 is too hot for some of these? Yikes. I was thinking of all the agaves, Bismarkia nobilis, aeoniums, etc. that I could just throw in the ground instead of hauling them inside each winter. Maybe I'll just be tankful for where I am.
DeleteThanks Shirley for the reality check.
thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you. this is what I needed today. It has been so chilly and wet and I have been needing signs of spring! Yesterday I saw a flowering rhodo and I got rather excited
ReplyDeleteI wouldn't so much mind if we just slid through the next few months with no freezing! My Musa basjoo foliage just got a little nipped by cold on the very top but most of the leaves are quite green. Could you imagine how huge they would get if there was no heavy frost this year? Heaven.
Deleteheaven indeed. I sooo am with on the warm wishes. The next months are some of the wildest. We've had incredibly mild january/feb weather and also some horrendous jan/feb weather. It's so random. As long as we stay seasonal it shouldn't be that bad.
DeleteIt's looking so springlike already in your garden! Days have started to get longer again now, yay!
ReplyDeleteHappy news for us all! Let's just hope for a really mild winter. My plants that are inside for the winter already want to go back outside!
DeleteThat Pink Dawn viburnum ... you have me dreaming. I planted one last spring and I am waiting to see a flower and smell the fragrance, but the plant may still be too young. And here in New England it won't bloom until later in winter, right now it's under snow. But how I am looking forward to having something like yours.
ReplyDelete(I loved your comment on Casa Mariposa's blog about seed catalogs --- an amusing spoof on whether to buy or not to buy. Made me chuckle!)
That viburnum has pleasant enough leaves but isn't really the star of the garden in the summer but some years it starts blooming as early as November and doesn't quit until late June. It's fragrant and beautiful, has put up with quite a bit of neglect (hardly any summer water) and a couple branches brought inside would perfume an entire room! Yours should bloom this year if it was in a gallon sized pot.
DeleteGlad you liked the comment.
Wow you've got a lot going on in your beautiful garden! Of course you know spring can't get here fast enough as far as I'm concerned, thanks for the preview!
ReplyDeleteIt was a relatively dry day today and I ventured out but instead of starting one of the big projects, I puttered, blew some leaves out of paths and discovered that the snowdrops are up and will be blooming in a few weeks. Wacky winter - let's hope it keeps up.
DeleteYour comment about seed catalogs was fabulous!!! I always buy more seed than I could ever plant. LOVE that you included a pix of a slime mold. I get them after heavy rains. They look like bright orange boogers. Spring won't arrive here until early March. My peonies are still sound asleep!
ReplyDeleteI wish I could take total credit for the comment but Louis from Parallel 49 palms came up with the idea whilst gazing at a plant in a nursery; I only changed the wording a little.
DeleteIt might be better if a few things were asleep here but we've only had one night during which the temperature dipped briefly to 30 degrees. I worry that if our weather finally does get cold that lots of plants may be damaged. Oh well.
Your garden has an amazing amount of blooming going on! And the orange slime mold provides unique textural contrast!
ReplyDeleteWe're pretty lucky that way here. Yes, the orange boogers are quite lovely. (Thanks Casa Mariposa;)
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