December Bloom Day

This is all I have blooming right now: some pansies that I picked up at
Lowe's. This one is hunkered down among the lavender and strawberry leaves.

Even so, the winter garden has a special beauty all its own -- the bare bones of the garden are in plain sight. Often we don't have "real" winters here in central NC, so we can have blooms all year with the right plants, and each of those flowers are to be treasured.

Purple muhly looks good for months after flowering.
The dried seedheads look like floss and glisten in the winter sunlight.

December is the one month that my garden doesn't often have any blooms, except for pansies. I am trying to remedy that -- I have a couple of Wintersweets that I grew from seed, and I would like to get Hamamelis vernalis (especially 'Christmas Cheer') and Hamamelis virginiana. Elizabeth Lawrence was a great pioneer of looking at the garden all year, and I love to look at her research and experiences with winter gardening.

I have set out Narcissus tazetta, in the hopes that they would bloom, but they never have -- they are one of the types that increases into a hundred small bulbs that won't size up to flower.

The Lonicera fragrantissima, now approaching the size of a small house, will sometimes bloom in December, although it often waits until January.

No other flowers right now, but we still do have fall color. Almost overnight, a number of plants that had some color early on are now brilliant spots in the landscape.

The leaves of rugosa 'Purple Pavement' are a lovely shade of red.

Rosa virginiana

Rosa rugosa alba

The swamp cyrillas starting turning yellow and orange weeks ago,
and are now finishing a vivid shade of red similar to blackgum.

Oakleaf Hydrangea "Dayspring' starts out very dark
and lightens over time, finishing a lacquered crimson.

Thanks to May Dream Gardens for hosting Bloom Days.