Garden Bloggers Bloom Day - December 2009

Work has been more than a little crazy lately.  In fact, I've worked 48 hours in the past 4 days alone!  I'm not whining, just explaining why I feel as worn out and pale as my beloved evergreen honeysuckle vine, shown above. And also why I'm calling it a day--er, a post--after simply posting a few bloom day photos and a short supplemental list:

From top to bottom: The last bloom on a 'Sharry Baby' (oncidium) orchid that I snagged on clearance because I love its scent, the beautiful orange of pyracantha berries, the Meyer (Improved) lemon still in bloom, and my Jumping Jack 'Big Beans' (zygopetalum) orchid. What else is blooming here?  My jewel orchid, with its tiny white flowers that are more like miniature snapdragons than showy orchid flowers, 'Arp' and 'Huntington Carpet' rosemaries, and a poinsettia with deep burgundy bracts.

For more of what's blooming all around the world this December 15th, visit Carol at May Dreams Gardens and her December GBBD post links.  (And for my new favorite exotic-flower-to-drool-over, visit Chuck B's December Bloom Day post and scroll down to the hardenbergia violacea... wow!)

Feeling A Little Dirty...

The Meyer lemon is about halfway to full bloom now, and it smells heavenly in my dining room. Its wonderful lemony perfume that wafts through the house, especially when the heater kicks on and swirls the scent around. And the pristine white (which I usually am ambivalent about at best) blooms are gorgeous in their elegant simplicity.

At first I thought that I would just enjoy the fragrance and flowers... but after so many people commented about waiting on a crop of Meyer lemons themselves I had an about-face and decided to try for the trifecta.  I feel a little silly and inept going around to all of the blooms with the soft paintbrush every day (like a fumbling but enthusiastic 15-year-old boy?!) but I'm really not sure when exactly to pollinate, so I'm covering all my bases.

I understand that I won't get to enjoy the lemons themselves until next year... but I'll know whether any of my ministrations bear fruit--literally--in the next few months, I think!  Stay tuned...  

Garden Bloggers' Bloom Day - November 2009

 What a beautiful weekend!  As I was out taking photo after photo for November's Garden Bloggers' Bloom Day (hosted each month by the lovely and funny Carol of May Dreams Gardens) on Saturday, I kept thinking, "Wow, and there are flowers on THIS, too?" and, "Really, who would have guessed that I'd still be seeing such a show from my salvia guaranitica 'Black & Blue' this late in the season?"  But there it was:

Which brings me to why I participate in Garden Bloggers' Bloom Day each month:  Not only is it a lot of fun to see what's blooming in OPG (Other People's Gardens) but also it keeps me on track with the whole "garden journal" purpose of my blog.  While the images were downloading onto my computer, I went back through previous Bloom Days and discovered that LOTS of plants that are blooming today were still blooming here in the past few Novembers, too, including:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Top to bottom, those images show:  'Munstead' lavender, 'Hameln' pennisetum with blue caryopteris, self-sown red snapdragons with one branch of the still-blooming 'Walker's Low' catmint behind, 'Purple Dragon' lamium, 'Jumping Jack' (zygopetalum) orchid, 'Vodka' wax begonias, pineapple sage fronting 'Rotstrahlbusch' switchgrass, lonicera sempervirens--a the native honeysuckle, 'Sweet Kate' tradescantia, 'Golden Delicious' pineapple sage with 'Sweet Kate' behind, 'Ozark' strawberries, and 'Caradonna,' which is my favorite of the long-blooming perennial purple salvias.

I admit, I was a little bit disappointed to find out that many of my "Special November Flowers" weren't really all that special after all!  But there are a few new things blooming here in the garden, like:

 

 

 

 

 

 

Top to bottom:  Mandevilla sanderi, 'Albury Purple' St. John's Wort, 'Meyer Improved' lemon--which is scenting the dining room wonderfully!--above dark purple begonia foliage, unnamed variety of calendula, lemon verbena, the insidious but pretty 'Neon Lights' mini snapdragons (linaria aerugimea) that self-sow everywhere, and a tiny sprig of alyssum peeking out from a mound of silver 'Amazon Sun' lotus vine foliage.

Other things in bloom at my house this weekend, but not shown in pictures, include:  Peace lily, Thanksgiving cactus, 'Dragon Wing' begonia, 'Grosso' lavender, golden oregano, and 'All Gold' hakonechloa.

Want to see more November blooms?  First check out Carol's Garden Bloggers' Bloom Day Post, and then visit the links at the bottom for more.