Monday, January 16, 2017

Bloomday, a day late and battered

So yes, I cheated. Snow was in the forecast and I knew, due to my schedule, that even under the best of scenarios if it melted on queue (which of course it hasn't) I wasn't going to be able to take photos before Bloomday. Plus anything that was blooming in the garden had already survived multiple snowfalls and ice storms. So I took photos early. Then all hell broke loose (if you can equate snowfall with hell-fire). These photos were taken on January 10th, but everything that I've posted looked the same on January 15th, under the foot of snow that refuses to leave, I'm just sure of it...

Acacia baileyana 'Purpurea'...poor thing has been flat on the ground, iced over, and snowed on, and it keeps on keeping on. I know the wily ways of the Acacia however and while it can look like all's well it's really already dead. Fifteen degrees as a low on Friday morning and days and nights below freezing, I don't have much hope. Still if you went ahead and opened up those yellow flowers of powerful scent I would be oh so happy...

Grevillea victoriae 'Murray Queen' — at least the hummingbirds don't care if it's vertical or horizontal. They do care however if it's iced, or snowed over. That makes them very unhappy. Thankfully even with substantial snow a few blooms are peeking out.

Those wilted orange bits on the Abutilon nuabtang were trying to be flowers, before the last ice storm I mean. Now it's buried under the snow, I doubt they're looking better.

Callistemon viridiflorus seed pod, that was once a flower!

Edgeworthia chrysantha ‘Akebono’...these want to be flowers, and soon.

I wonder if it will happen?

Correa backhouseana, I was afraid to touch them or even breath when I was close to these — for fear they weren't real. How can they still be hanging on?

Eriobotrya japonica flowers were trying to look like flowers, and they still very much smelled like flowers.

Magnolia laevifolia, flowers in waiting. Cinnamon buds of beauty in the mean-time.

Wow! Happy discovery scratch that...it was happy back then, on January 10th. Since I took these pictures I've made the discovery that our nasty snow broke the trunk of my Hamamelis x intermedia 'Early Bright'. A nursery owning FB friend has given me great advice about patching it up, we'll see if it's salvageable. Meanwhile yes, my Hamamelis is actually still in flower, and hanging on to its brown foliage. It's just bent over...


Stachyurus salicifolius is showing off it's dangling wanna be flowers.

Euphorbia amygdaloides var. Robbiae is also looking ahead a month or so. "I will flower...you just try and stop me!"...

Helleborus argutifolius...one tough plant.

Edgeworthia chrysantha 'Nanjing Gold' is a touch more hardy than the ‘Akebono’, I have faith I will be seeing these flowers soon-ish.

Euphorbia rigida, starting the push to those acid green flowers I love so much.

Euphorbia 'Ascot Rainbow'...so colorful and full of bashful-bud promise.

Arctostaphylos densiflora ‘Sentinel’ is currently feeding the local hummingbirds, since I brushed off the snow-cover that is.

Along with the Arctostaphylos x 'Austin Griffiths'.

Mahonia x media 'Charity' is unfazed by this winter business. Couldn't care less.

So that's a look at what's what outside, there are also things happening inside. A second bloom has opened on the Mammillaria gracilis var. fragilis.

And this "annual" whatever it's name is (Tradescantia something or other — which I only brought in because I didn't want the container it's in to freeze) is blooming it's heart out with these little purple flowers.

And the darn Brugmansia! Three flowers are open now, with two more on the way.

They definitely develop more of a orange hue inside, outdoors they stay creamy white.

I had fun seeing what the light would do to the insides of the trumpet.

As always Bloomday is hosted by Carol over at May Dreams Gardens. See all the links to posts around the world by clicking here.

Weather Diary:
January 13: Hi 29, Low 12 airport - 14.9 on my thermometer / Precip 0 - clear sunny skies
January 14: Hi 29, Low 19 airport - 18 on my thermometer/ Precip 0 - clear sunny skies
January 15: Hi 28, Low 19/ Precip 0 - clear sunny skies

All material © 2009-2016 by Loree Bohl for danger garden. Unauthorized reproduction prohibited and just plain rude.

16 comments:

  1. I am impressed you got flower pics! I swept off the snow on a few things but then was afraid that I might break things if I kept it up. No blooms on bloom day for me. Bugger.

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    1. Although I wasn't thinking of it at the time it is nice that my 8 year run isn't broken...

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  2. It is hard to read your recent posts knowing what your weather should be like right now. We're going to have a week of jumping temps and precipitation that could go in many bad directions - or not. We bolted the trunk of a Korean maple together after it split one winter and it has survived very well. Maybe that would work on the Hammamelis.

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    1. It gets worse too Linda, an even more damage ice storm is predicted for Tue/Wed...on top of the snow that's still in place. When will it end?

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  3. So sad seeing what things looked like before your snow. I really hope some of your flowers survive and open. You limbed up your Austin Griffiths to better reveal the structure, right? I should do that to my Manzanita.

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    1. I have cut a few branches on my 'Austin' but really it's done most of that on its own. I chose well for a change!

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  4. Your flower photos are beautiful and I am glad you were able to get some shots before the snow. The last three winters have been strangely unpredictable with temperatures in the 50's, then plummeting into the 20's with snow. I guess we have been fortunate so far not to have a lot if ice, which does the damage. I hope all your plants recover alright and that warmer days are ahead for you.

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    1. Thanks Lea, I appreciate the wishes. Sadly there's now an even more damaging ice storm predicted for Tue/Wed...this is just insane.

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  5. My last snowfall had barely melted before the current snow covered everything right back up. I'm stuck waiting until things melt this week. I hope your 'Akebono' blooms. The buds on mine started to fall apart after that really cold weather. But my plant is younger and it was already opening a few flowers, so wasn't as hardy. I hope your Hamamelis survives. If it doesn't drop its leaves next year, you might want to pick them off just in case. Might be worth doing on a small plant until the graft strengthens, to reduce the amount of snow it holds.

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    1. The day I took these photos I remember feeling almost drunk on color, it was amazing. The he snow and ice was gone and there was life again. For a few minutes at least...

      And ya, I should have removed the leaves. Live and learn.

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  6. Sorry that your snow won't leave. It got up to 42 today and tomorrow up to 45. The ice is melting and things feel downright balmy. Crazy winter-blooming brugmansia! Fingers crossed for an early spring!

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    1. Braggart! We are scheduled for another damaging ice storm. I am so done with this crap.

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  7. I can feel your frustration, Loree. Still, I have to admire the way so many of these plants have been doggedly hanging on - I'd have never expected that from the Correa, for instance. My fingers are crossed that the majority come through this period of snow and ice to give you a beautiful spring.

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    1. There are some though ones mixed in there...I too am surprised.

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  8. Manzanitas always appeal to me, and yours are just downright magnificent. Is 'Austin Griffiths' rare? Because it looks to me like a plant that anyone who sees it will want one -- and plenty of people have seen it in your garden and Greg Shepherd's. I'm assuming Xera sells it?

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    1. I don't think it's particularly rare, and yep...mine is a Xera plant.

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