Brave Plants

11/23/13

mums

     In the last three weeks we have had some cold night temperatures.  The temperatures have not just gone below freezing, but have been in the mid-twenties.  Yet I have some flowers that are still hanging on with a few blooms.  The mums, of course, are still blooming.

Carolina Jessamine vine

     The Carolina Jessamine vine has a few blooms.  I did not know whether it would bloom this fall, since it was so recently planted.  But it did surprise me with several blooms.

begonia

     I have one begonia that is still blooming.

petunia

     Everything around my one petunia in the back yard garden succumbed to the cold.  But it is still holding on.

gaillardia

     The gaillardia in the side garden is still trying to put out blooms.

back yard garden

     My back yard garden is cleaned out for winter except for some sweet alyssum that still has flowers.

bare trees

     Most of the leaves have fallen off the trees in our neighborhood.  So everything is looking kind of bare outside now.

rhododendron

       But surprise!  As I was doing final cleanup in the gardens yesterday I saw a flash of pink in the rhododendron bush.  I looked inside and found three blooms.  So even though we are supposed to have wind chills in the teens tomorrow, these blossoms reminded me to think about the coming spring.

Growing Season Over

11/3/13

     The freeze we had last weekend killed all my annuals and put a halt to perennial blooming.  This photo shows some of the vinca and hardy begonias in my backyard garden that succumbed to the freeze.

     Similarly, the annuals in my deck planters, like these wax begonias took a hit.

     Although the calibrachoa in one planter is still fine.  It may last until December.

     The deer, which never bothered my jumbo begonias along the front of the house, one night ate all the top blossoms off of them just before the freeze. 

     After the freeze, I planted ornamental cabbages in their place

     Peak color on the trees suddenly appeared this week after the freeze.

     I saw a stray violet blooming this week on my daily walk with the dog.  When I went back to photograph it, I couldn't find it.  Too many leaves covered the area where I saw it.  But there is the promise of spring as we head into winter in the buds of my rhododendron.