Because of our recent relatively mild weather, some of the Camellia japoinicas think it's February already. This one sits and faces me when I sit on the back porch sipping coffee in the morning so I've ben following it's progress.
Finally, perfectly wid opn for bloom day! Hooray!
This white Camellia has also been a morning coffee companion.
Elsewhere, Cyclamen coum is sending up flowers to go with it's lovely foliage.
Believe it or not, Abutilon megapotamicum is still blooming outside. Not the huge flushes of bloom that happen in the warmer months, but a sprinkling of buds and blooms that will remain as long as we don't get a prolonged deep freeze.
Mahonias still carrying on.
Grevillea victoriae 'Marshall'
I have never taken a very good picture of Chimonanthus praecox (Wintersweet) but my nose always catches it's delightful scent. This is planted in my parking strip where I walk by it every morning and evening as I leave and return.
Also planted nearby is one of my favorite plants, Lonicera fragrantissima (Winter honeysuckle) whose sweet fragrance wafts far and wide. It's such a treat to return home to this cloud of fragrance!
The tassels of Garry elliptica are putting on a nice show.
Viburnum × bodnantense 'Dawn'
Petasites fragrans
The first Hellebore to be fully open!
Meanwhile, inside the greenhouse, by some miracle, the gardenia continues to bloom.
Agapetes 'Ludgvan Cross'
Paperwhites and Cyclamen persicum.
Echeverias have been blooming since fall.
Last but not least, this NOID Pelargonium which has also not stopped blooming for months! Thanks Carol for once again hosting GBBD! If you're of a mind to see what's blooming in gardens all over the planet this day, click over to May Dreams Gardens and check it out!
Is that Chimonanthus luteus? They do have the most heavenly scent. I love your Camellias. I don't know what Camellia japonica is doing in flower so early. My Abutilon is doing the same as yours and flowering away. I love the Agapetes, what an unusual flower.
ReplyDeleteI believe you're correct, Chimonanthus praecox var. luteus. It's planted too close to the Lonicera fragrantissima and the two fragrances mingle so that It' difficult to tease them apart. Crazy C. japonicas this year!
DeleteWhat a treat to see all these blooms on another frigid morning here! The camellias are beautiful; I can't believe they are blooming for you this time of year. Wish I could grow them here--that and the Mahonia, which I've always envied. Still trying to put together a Bloom Day post myself, but the pickings are pretty slim:) Happy Bloom Day, Peter!
ReplyDeleteYou've had such cold temperatures lately that I can't imagine much that would be blooming for you right now. Happy Bloom Day to you, Rose!
DeleteCamellias bloom as early as December and as late as May. A hard freeze takes out blossoms and tight buds wait for the next warm spell. Cultivar has a lot to do with their timing. Some are more hardy.
ReplyDeleteKeeping a Gardenia in bloom under glass is a real feat.
January is the very earliest that they bloom here and usually February. I have one goofy one that I inherited with the garden that is never totally covered with blooms but starts blooming when the others are finished in April or so and continues to throw out five or six blooms at a time through most of the summer.
DeleteThat poor gardenia has wilted a couple of times as I let it get too dry. Perhaps the humidity has helped.
Same here with Camellia japonica, a month ahead at least.
ReplyDeleteI love love love Agapetes 'Ludgvan Cross', so unusual, for me anyway.
The early Camellias have me thinking that it's spring already! Agapetes is listed as hardy in our climate but if we have a long deep freeze, it perishes so it stays inside the greenhouse in the winter.
DeleteBeautiful, especially the camellias!
ReplyDeleteHappy Garden Bloggers' Bloom Day!
Lea
Thanks, Lea! Happy GBBD to you!
DeleteFabulous selection to bring cheer on a winter's day!
ReplyDeleteIt's funny that there are so many flowers when I really consider mine more of a foliage garden. I must admit to loving floral color in the winter and spring!
DeleteOh My, you have so many flowers! Just beautiful. I need to get an Abutilon megapotamicum this year. My single Camellia's blooms are still tightly closed. Your Garrya is stunning!
ReplyDeleteOther Camellias in my garden are also closed tight. A neighbor and I have the same ancient variety which we both inherited in our gardens. Theirs is covered with early blooms; mine still closed - Go figure! Looking forward to seeing you at the Tacoma show next weekend. Maybe we'll both find our abutilons there.
DeleteOh my, your Garry elliptica has me swooning, so lovely.
ReplyDeleteIt is a lovely thing. Came from Dig a few years ago.
DeleteLovely! I noticed most of these things blooming here in London as well. Needless to say back home in Massachusetts the only thing blooming is the Abutilon megapotamicum inside.
ReplyDeleteAh yes, winter, that season where the ground is covered with snow for months. I remember it well. Glad you are spending some time in London! What a wonderful city!
DeleteGoodness gracious. If this is what your garden looks like in January, who needs spring? So far, all I have to show for is the stinky hellebore :-(
ReplyDeleteWith all the amazing fragrances, do you have a favorite? I love Mahonia's lemony scent, but a Gardenia blossom knocks my socks off!
I love all of the fragrances! Lonicera fragrantissima is so strong and wafts so freely and far on the winter air that it holds a special place in my heart (or nose.)
DeleteHappy GBBD Peter!
ReplyDeleteyour garden is blooming lovely, nice camellia and gardenia! For me they are conservatory plants, I'd like to grow them if I could...
Have a nice day!
Happy GBBD, Nadezda! You have all of that beautiful snow to brighten the dark winter nights. Spring will be here before we know it! Have a nice day!
DeleteWhat lovely morning coffee companions you have! The greenhouse gardenia is beautiful as well. Well, it's all beautiful, but those are the things that particularly caught my eye!
ReplyDeleteI've been delighted with my morning coffee companions. They're just inside the light cast by the porch light so I get to see them even though it's dark outside. That poor gardenia has been so mistreated by me and it's still blooming. Dumb luck!
DeleteThe blooms on that Pelargonium are unusual - I don't think I've seen it before. Your Camellias are ahead of mine - the buds on my C. japonica hybrid are still closed tight. I LOVE that Agapetes! Happy GBBD Peter!
ReplyDeleteI stumbled upon that Pelargonium by accident and have now found a white one with the same flower form. The white one isn't as floriferous for me as the fluorescent fuchsia colored one.
DeleteHappy GBBD to you, Kris!
You have a lot of wonderful things blooming outside!
ReplyDeleteAren't we lucky to live here where this is possible?
DeleteYou have some wonderful flowers. The 2nd Abutilon photo is excellent. I was at first puzzled why all the flowers and foliage in nearly all the photos were dripping water, until I realized that is probably rain. I'm jealous!
ReplyDeleteHappy Bloom Day.
I'd love to send you some of our rain! We're in the midst of the annual PNW Rain Festival (October 1 - July 5.)
DeleteHappy GBBD to you, my friend!
That garrya is a fantastic specimen. What a rich January Bloom Day you have, Peter!
ReplyDeleteI love that garrya even though it's in a sort of unfortunate spot in a parking strip where we're constantly cutting it back from the street.
DeleteGlad I don't have to vote on just one...you have serious variety there, and rain! But I'll stick with the camellia...stunning.
ReplyDeleteI am delighted to have camellias so early this year! I could stand a bit less rain at the moment but it is what it is.
DeleteYou have so very many stunning blooming plants! Wow! Happy GBBD! Those Camellias, yowza! They melt my heart. Sigh. :)
ReplyDeleteI'm lucky to live where I do. We still have seasons but it's mild enough here in the winter that there are blooms and fragrances that whisper the promise of spring!
DeleteThe Garry elliptica is so elegant! Like a living chandelier. I love the look of everything covered in rain drops, wouldn't mind some of that :)
ReplyDeleteHow lovely to have such lovely companions with your morning coffee! Our Camellias are so much earlier than usual but that is probably due to the mild weather we have had recently, not this week though! Your Garrya is also fantastic, beautiful tassels decorating the bush. You have so much in flower, you wouldn't think you have had such cold weather.
ReplyDeleteOut comes my notebook. I am sadly lacking in blooms right now, even though I claim that blooms are not my "thing". Aah, the Agapetes!
ReplyDeleteThat Garrya is positively swoon-worthy! In my next garden, that will be one of the first ones in... You were smart to plant the Wintersweet and the Lonicera for fragrance. I sniffed them both on separate occasions this past week, and swore I need some of that too. And that Agapetes is so unusual - that goes on the wish list too! Happy belated Bloom Day!
ReplyDelete