February Flowers

It is that time of year when only the determined bloomers are showing any color in the garden.  For this garden it is the heathers and winter jasmine.  While their colors are soft and their stature is small, against the drabness of the browns and grays, they provide a reassuring hope in the middle of the winter. The heathers, as intended, are visible from the living room windows of the house, and during most of the year are a low and easily ignored grouping at the top of a steep slope.  The current varieties have survived the hot baking sun in the summer and the long cold and wet of the winter.  I have had the most success with starting them as small plants, pampering them for the first year or two, then only watering them during periods of severe drought.  They are pruned down in the spring, to preventing legginess.

One variety that is particularly enjoyable is the Multicolor, with its intense winter foliage color, shown above.  I have lost several and this is my one survivor.  I am not sure what the specific problem has been, and wish I knew what to do.  But I have lost too many to buy any more without some sense of keeping them going. 

I brought out some winter jasmine plants from our house in DC, and though there is not a high spot for them to cascade down, someday I will find the right place. They are holding their own while the right spot will be found someday.

Soon, as the days get warmer, and temperatures rise about 40 degrees, other big, bright flowers will make these small bits of color fade by comparison.  But during the worst of February, they give me hope.