Wednesday, January 30, 2019

Winter Garden

Considering the deadly cold some parts of the US are suffering, I probably shouldn't even show this, but here in the balmy coastal Pacific Northwest, we are experiencing a mild winter, so my little winter garden right outside my family room window is putting on its sweet show.
Tom's hardy winter-blooming cyclamen are such pretty little things, not just the flowers in shades of pink, but the lovely little leaves too. They are punctuated by snowdrops. 
The larger, more pointed leaves are the fall blooming cyclamen. They send flowers up before the leaves, the flowers bloom and fade in the fall, and then the foliage lasts through the winter, while the winter bloomers send up leaves first, and then the flowers pop up. 


This hellebore that we picked up last summer, inexpensive and unnamed, is just going bonkers with blooms. 
Our dark ones are slower and not as robust. 
The primroses just don't quit. 
Witch hazel is in bloom 

rising above the sarcococca, which fills the winter garden with fragrance. 
This winter flowering mahonia ( Oregon grape) is the third one of three different varieties to bloom, offering a progression of nectar for the hummers.  
This is the view from the family room window, where, when the rain returns, I will still be able to enjoy this little winter garden in the front yard. 
And in the back, I got out yesterday and cleaned up the patio and removed the frost browned plants from the pots. We have been spending a little time here, sitting after walks or yard work. It isn't warm, but bundled up just a little bit, 45 to 50 isn't bad, when it isn't raining. 
Today was another mostly sunny day. More projects were completed. That's another post.

Stay safe and warm, all of you who are in the Arctic vortex. We're thinking of you. 

9 comments:

  1. Don't feel bad about posting these beautiful photos. It does my winter weary eyes good to see what might show up around here in a few months.

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  2. Just beautiful! We've got some cold weather coming the first of next week. I hope your pretty flowers withstand the cold. They are saying it might be as cold as 14°F. Yikes!

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  3. What you do with gardening makes sense. Plants have been developed to survive in very harsh climates. You're taking advantage of this.

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  4. How beautiful to see green grass and flowers! We have snow now but when we don't it is all brown and dull. We are in the polar vortex here and currently 0 degrees F which is actually warmer than it was earlier! Still, we are better off than the northern states!

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  5. As I ise this morning the temp is 14 degrees F. It is cold and my house heater is clicking away. Yet and still I also have hellebores budding under my sugar maple tree.

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  6. We certainly have been lucky this year that the polar vortex didn't visit. Your winter garden is not only full of gorgeous blooms and foliage but is also looking tidy and well-cared-for!

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  7. Don't feel badly. We are in sore need of pretty and colorful. We are not as cold as the rest of the country but everything that was once growing is now brown, limp and sleeping. Enjoyed the visit with your lovely garden.

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  8. It's 60 degrees here, so we aren't complaining. I thought you had a winter vegetable garden...lol! peas, etc. But your blooming plants are lovely...nothing doing here yet.

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