New Year's Flowers

 With the warm temperatures, many of the plants are confused about what they are supposed to be doing.  Here is one solo German Iris, which usually does bloom in the Spring and often re-blooms in November.  But this is its first time to make an appearance in January!  It was a delight to arrive yesterday afternoon, after being away for five days, to see the yellow shining in the garden.

The daffodils have put up leaves, some as much as 12 inches high in their confusion about what to do.  However, we have not had enough time with freezing temperatures for them to set any buds.  I wonder what they will do if the thermometer doesn't go low enough.

Several of the shrubs have patches of flowers that have awaken early.  Here is one cluster on the Viburnum x burkwoodii 'Conoy' that couldn't wait, even through the rest of the bush is waiting for later.  I will be watching to see what happens next.

Here you can see another side of the same Viburnum, with the view out to the Chesapeake Bay.  This is the time of the year when all of the evergreens provide most of the visual interest for the entire garden.  Having different colors of foliage, with varying leaf sizes and textures creates a more subtle display.

Around the back of the house, in the lavender bed, the Rosa 'Meiggili' ‘Peach Drift’is bravely showing its color in front of the tall grass. 

Finally, the winter jasmine, which has a few blooms throughout the winter whenever the temperatures get above 40 degrees.  Here it is the best I have ever seen it, because every bud has opened.

Happy New Year is what they all seem to be saying!

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.