Holiday Blessings and Best Wishes to All For the Year Ahead!

December Berries and Blooms

As we near holiday festivities at the end of the month, I'm celebrating small highlights of color on these short days. 



Oxalis vulcanicola 'Zinfandel' is blooming in the sunroom. While the landscape outdoors is brown and gray (not much snow yet), the foliage and flowers of this plant brighten our days.



Such a beautiful combination.



The Salvia I'm overwintering in a pot with other plants has a few fading flowers. I think it's a variety of S. sylvestris, but I can't find the tag. I wonder if it will bloom off and on all winter.



While blooms are sparse this month, berries are plentiful. Just a couple examples include Fuchsia 'Marinka,' which had blooms recently and has been prolific in forming berries.



Did you know they're edible? Generally, we don't have enough berries from our few plants to bake or prepare them, but the fishman enjoys them. So I eat a few and he gets the rest. They have a slightly sweet, peppery flavor that's fun for nibbling.

Also, the Cranberrybush Viburnums (V. trilobum) in the pots in the first photo, on the shrubs, and in my previous post are bright and long-lasting. Apparently, they're mildly toxic to humans but edible in small quantities, and can be used for preserves and syrups. They certainly lend a bright cheer to any scene.

I'm linking this post to Carol's May Dreams Gardens for Garden Bloggers' Bloom Day. Head on over to see more December blooms. Happy Holidays!

A Garden Bloom in December?

Can you believe it? After multiple frosts and freezes and snows and ices, there's still a bloom surviving from my garden?!

OK, I'll admit it's from cuttings I brought in a couple of weeks ago...but it's still blooming! So, I plopped it in a vase with several other elements for display. I'm joining in with Cathy's meme In a Vase on Monday.



The bloom is an unknown hybrid, I believe derived from Chrysanthemum morifolium. This little flower is graceful and colorful, and deserves some kudos.



Along with the bloom, I added some Dusty Miller (Senecio cineraria​) foliage that was hanging out in pots on the porch. Talk about a sturdy plant!



Also the lovely, vibrant berries from Cranberrybush Viburnum (V. trilobum). They really add zing!



Finally, I included foliage from the Mum; I love the way it's variegated after several freeze/thaw cycles.

It's a happy little vase. :)

Head on over to Cathy's Rambling in the Garden blog to see other entries for the meme. I hope our American friends had a wonderful Thanksgiving. And Happy Holidays to all in the weeks ahead!

Celebrating the Survivors

For this Garden Bloggers' Bloom Day, the outdoor blooms are few and far between. I admit I cheated a little, and took these photos a few days ago. However, these particular plants are still in roughly these same stages today and we're having a warming trend, with winds from the southwest.

Shown above, my Mums (Chrysanthemum x. morifolium) continue to bloom, despite several rounds of frosts and freezes. They're such cheery, hardy plants.



These Fuchsias (Fuchsia 'Dark Eyes') have paused as buds, while most of their neighbors closer to the earlier cold winds have succumbed to the elements.



Lesser Calamint (Calamintha nepeta) always amazes me this time of year--frequently sporting a few tiny blooms until the weather is consistently brutal for several days. It probably helps that they're growing as a patch of groundcovers near a corner of the house.



This is a former "bloom." However, the seedheads of Sedum 'Autumn Joy' (S. spectabile) are stunning as they age to a bright mauve. They brighten the landscape in various garden locations for weeks on end.

Finally, the 'Ozawa' Allium (A. thunbergii) I celebrated recently remains regal as the blooms close and fade.

Happy Garden Bloggers' Bloom Day! And thanks to Carol at May Dreams Gardens for hosting!