Monday, December 15, 2008

Bloom Day, December 15 2008

Well another month has passed and it's bloom day again. Why does it seem that time moves in fast-motion in the month between Thanksgiving and Christmas? This is my second time to participate in this event and I'm really enjoying it. I have to send a shout out to Carol of May Dreams Gardens maydreamsgardens.blogspot.com/index.html for coming up with the idea and allowing me to participate.
The weather here in Central Texas has been so nice lately. I've slept the past 2 nights with the window open in my bedroom. This morning about 5:30 I woke up freezing! A cold front blew in and the temperature has been hovering at just above freezing all day. To top it off the wind is blowing from the north at a pretty rapid clip, so I've been staying in most of the day. I did manage to put on my warmest clothes and snap a few pix of the things blooming in my yard. Some of the pix may be a bit blurry as it is very difficult to photograph flowers that won't sit still!
In the photo above is a viola planted in with some apple chamomile. The chamomile smells just like an apple jolly rancher candy when you crush the leaves.

Some butterfly weed that is still hanging on.

Next up is a close up of some white statice (a.k.a. sea lavender) that I have blooming near my front door. I really like this plant.
Winter in Texas means pansies. They were blooming like crazy out in the bed by the street.
It's not a flower, but I thought this giant mustard looked really nice squeezed in between the zinnias with some leaves from the red oak.
I had really high hopes for this shot of bi-color sage and my purple trailing lantana. Unfortunately the lantana couldn't stop dancing in the breeze long enough for her picture to be taken.
Close up of the lantana
I have several pinks or dianthus planted in the yard, but this was the only one in bloom. Don't know what happened to that missing chunk, but it is easy to find beauty in imperfections. Don't you think?
Yellow snapdragons looking cheerful in spite of the temperature.
Another viola. These things bloom like crazy here all winter long.
A few hot pink snapdragons.
Some magenta colored allysum planted in lava rock. It smells as good as it looks.

This is the bloom from a dianthus called "Spooky Mix". The blooms usually look much better than this (this one looks kinda beat up) but I wanted to be sure to get at least one on here. There were several blooms just a few days ago, now lots of buds, so maybe I'll have better shots of them in January.
Gorgeous orange rose. I dont' know what variety it may be.
Pink rose. Again I don't know what variety. These bushes were here when I bought the house. I've done nothing to them but move them around several times.
Here's a view of that Spooky Mix dianthus just about to open up. It's one of my favorite winter-blooming plants.
This was a surprise. I have a Peggy Martin rose in the container I purchased it in and today it had several little blooms on it. One of these days I'll get around to planting it.
A pot full of petunias. I planted these about 3 years ago and they keep coming back and blooming. I'm gonna keep em as long as they keep it up
A kind of scraggly looking hibiscus. It has 3 blooms on it right now and this was the best one. It may also be it's last of this season.


White alyssum blooming in a pot by the front door.
Probably the last bloom for the Mexican Bird of Paradise.

Again, not a flower but this komatsu looks so nice.
Mexican bush sage is still covered in blooms. I was lucky to get this shot with the breeze that was blowing.
Snapdragons in with the pansies and agave.
Artemisia and zinnias. The zinnias are putting on quite a display right now. This may be the last day for them.

More of the zinnias.
Probably the last bloom this season for the double purple datura. Looks pretty sad doesn't it?
Sorry for the blurry pic here but the mexican mint marigold wouldn't be still. You can see some purple heart peeking out below it.
The periwinkle are still covered in blooms.
And last but not least is another shot of the statice by the front door.
Thanks so much for looking at my blog and I hope that everyone has a happy holiday!!!

16 comments:

Unknown said...

Get out of here! You have a lot of blooms going on....the dianthus are moody plants aren't they, I have quite a few of them.

Iris said...

Yep, I'm in Austin. You've got lots of beauties right now!

How do I not know what a viola is? I guess because I focus on native/drought-tolerant perennials mostly.

Anyway, they're rather pansy-like, aren't they? Seems like I might need some in a pot for winter color! Thanks.

Unknown said...

I want some of that chamomile- apple jolly ranchers are my favorite! And I am jealous that you have Peggy Martin blooming. Mine is definitely asleep for the winter.

Meryl said...

Wow--you have so much growing. I'm jealous. (It's 4 degrees here!)

Jean Campbell said...

I liked the violas best. My garden guru, Miss Billie, said to buy flats of yellow, they were the best for winter color.

Always uncompliant, I bought burgundy and pink panolas (in between pansies and violas) and forgot and deadheaded them before my Bloom Day pics -- next month, promise.

Orange roses and dianthus are high on my list of favs, too.

Thanks for visiting my blog and leaving a comment.

Dave said...

You've got a lot of blooms down there! Not much happening here in TN.

Anonymous said...

Oh, the zinnias are gorgeous! As are the snapdragons. But, what on earth are you doing with a hibiscus flower at this date? Mine haven't bloomed in several weeks now. Great post, thanks!

joco said...

Hiya HHS,

Riding a rein-rabbit are you? :-)

You have more colour now than I do in summer.
I particularly like the combination silver + orange of the zinnias and artemisia. Lovely together, and so generous. Enjoyed my visit.

ConsciousGardener said...

Awesome post Randy! I can't believe you've got so much going on! I love that spooky dianthus...did you plant them by seed?

Green thumb said...

What a lovely array of vibrant flowers. Love your collection!!
Thanks for sharing.

lisa said...

Wow, I'm having some serious climate envy right now! You sure have a nice assortment of blooms for Bloom Day...cheered me up! :)

Anonymous said...

You do have a lot going on right now. I should really plant some pansies/violas, though I suppose they'd have to go in the back yard as I believe deer find them delicious. Love that hot orange zinnia paired with cool silver artemisia.

Commonweeder said...

My daughter lives near Houston now, so I love checking the Texas blogs. You've got a lot going on. I love Bloom Day for giving us an opportunity to do this kind of inventory. Beautiful photos.

Carol Michel said...

You really do have a lot of blooms right now. It's a great show for December. Thanks for joining in for bloom day again.

Carol, May Dreams Gardens

Daniel Mount said...

Your garden sure is looking summer-like for December. What good fortune. We're having unusually wintery weather here in The Pacific Northwest, which ruined everything that was left and then some. I lived in Harlingen when I was a kid. I miss the oranges, bananas and gardenias,and lantana hedges.

Lori said...

Wow, you've got tons of things still blooming! I'm amazed that your zinnias are still blooming like crazy. My datura was over ages ago. And I think you mentioned swapping some seeds on my blog-- I'm game. Sadly, someone stole 99% of the datura seeds I collected, but I have enough to swap for some of your double datura.