The First Snowdrop

 

Giant Snowdrop (Galanthus elwesii 'Mount Everest')

 

Giant Snowdrop 'Mount Everest'

 An extraordinary break in the weather sent the thermometer up to a delightful 72 degrees today! I took the opportunity to look around my yard to see what, if anything, might be sprouting, and found the first blooms of the Snowdrops I'd planted last fall.

Nearby was one small species crocus flower--yellow with purple feathering on the outer petals.

 

Yellow Crocus

Along the bed on the east side of the house I saw that my Hellebore 'Flower Girl' was displaying its first bud! I planted this one the fall before last, but it didn't bloom at all last spring, so this will be its first flower! Let's hope my plant will bloom profusely later on.

 

Bud of Hellebore 'Flower Girl'

My other Hellebore, 'True Love' is well-established now, and bloomed well last year; I hope it will do as well this spring, but I've yet to see any buds on that one. The buds of the witch hazels are still tightly closed, but the early daffodils are starting to nose up through the mulch. I hope the coming weather won't be so inclement as to blast all these buds. After all, we still have two more months of winter to get through... somehow it seems harder to accept that after getting a taste of spring with a beautiful day like today!

Gardener's Bloom Day, January 2024

Dried Hydrangea blossoms with snow

 

It's Gardener's Bloom Day once again, sponsored by Carol Michel's Blog "May Dreams Garden." What a lovely surprise to wake up to see about an inch of snow on the ground this morning! It's been two years since we had any significant snow here in my USDA Zone 6b garden. I believe we're supposed to get another 1-3 inches tomorrow, let's hope. I love having a bit of snow cover at this time of the year, it seems fitting and proper.

 

Princess holly, lavender and barberry shrubs.

It was about 23 degrees outside when I took these shots with my phone--why won't these phones work when you are using gloves? My hand was an icicle by the time I got back inside!

 

My cut-leaf Japanese maple 'Viridium'

Muhly grass with dried perennials.

The Little Indians bed.

The west bed with sedge and grasses.

I love the way some plants look when they're dusted with a bit of snow, but there are definitely no blooms here to be seen, unless you consider these "snow blossoms." Indoors, however, I always have a few flowers to console myself with. My collection of indoor plants is a weird mix of exotics and very eclectic, so here we are.

My Gardenia Tree (Tabernaemontana divaricata 'Flore Pleno') likes to bloom at this time of the year--I suspect this may be its blooming season in its native habitat in southeast Asia. The flowers have the most marvelous perfume for the first 6-8 hours after opening--after that the perfume fades.

 

Gardenia tree (Tabernaemontana divaricata)

 

My home-grown orchids continue to bloom: the oddly colored hybrid I bought at a roadside stand in Florida is probably a hybrid of Oncidium and another species. I brought it into the master bath after the flowers opened to enjoy its blossoms. The other orchids have been blooming for a couple of months now. The plant stand in the family room below is where most of my orchids live--as you can see I have collected quite a few over the years, mostly as presents, and a few from my botanical art classes. My students love to paint orchids, even though they're really difficult flowers to render.

 

Mystery orchid in the master bath.

Miltassia orchid flower spike.

Phalaenopsis on plant stand in family room.

Here are a few other blossoms: an Anthurium one of my sisters gave me, and a Brazilian begonia. I bought the latter because it was touted to have perfume, and I'm a sucker for perfumed flowers, but it has disappointed. This specimen, at least, has no scent that I can detect, but likes to bloom during the winter, which few begonias do.

Pink Anthurium

Brazilian begonia.

 

Someone gave me a waxed Amaryllis for Christmas but the downstairs of my house is so chilly it's taking its time to open. I thought it would be interesting to document the process of the buds opening in a painting, so that's what this last photo is about.

 

Waxed Amaryllis and painting.

I'm saving the center of the painting for the fully open flower, which will probably happen later this week. I'd love to save the bulb to grow, but have no idea if these bulbs will survive if potted once the blooms have faded. I have about four pots full of red Amaryllis bulbs that re-bloom every spring, but I don't know if these waxed ones will grow if freed from their wax covering. Have any other gardeners reading this tried it? If so, I'd appreciate any advice!

Not A Snowy Day

 

Bits of ice and snow on ground.

I had really been looking forward to seeing a nice picture-postcard snow yesterday, on January 6--it would be the first snowfall of the year. We've hardly had any snow in the past couple of years. But mother nature did not grace us with the lovely snow I'd hoped for. It started to come down as sleet--tiny BB-sized pellets, which adhered only our deck and the mulch on the flower beds. After a few hours of that, some actual snow descended, but the big, wet flakes lasted only for about fifteen minutes and then turned to rain--a slow drizzle.

With the temperature hovering around 32 degrees, the rain froze slowly, leaving droplets on the branches, and tapered off in the evening. When I got up this morning, the ice crystals shimmered on the trees, making the foggy morning seem even colder than it was. I didn't get out to take photos until the ice had melted quite a bit. What there was, was interesting, but hardly spectacular.

 

The cherry tree in the front yard.

The yard on the west.

The back yard this morning.

 

Hard to make photos of some remnants of ice and snow look interesting. But, taking a closer look at some of the frosty vegetation, one could find some pleasing sights, like the icing on the pavement and ground cover.

 

Ice crystals on the front walk.

 

Some of the small evergreens looked particularly lovely with their icy decoration. The red leaves of the dwarf Nandina are gorgeous at this time of the year! I guess we'll have to hope for a better snowfall the next time around.

 

Dwarf cypress

Frozen blue rug juniper

Dwarf Nandina.