The Garden in late January

December felt warm, January not so much. It's been wonderfully sunny since our return from California, but cool and rather windy—the wind makes temperatures in the 40's painful. I was finally able to get out in the garden last Saturday, which is when I took these photos. The high that day was only 46F, but the extreme wind had ceased and so it felt warmer, at least that's what I told myself. 

I took this first photo for long time reader Chavli. Back when I posted the September, October, November vignette she asked for a December photo to complete the series. I missed December, but I like how the January photo shows the shade pavilion greenhouse glowing.

We ended 2025 without a freeze, no freeze in November or December. Last week it finally happened, temperatures in the mid 20's overnight, with Saturday night being the most extreme. We fell below freezing around 10:30 pm and remained below until 10:30 am on Sunday with an ultimate low at the airport (our official recording station) of 22F. I'd read forecasts of 27 and thus didn't do anything to provide heat to the shade pavilion greenhouse, thankfully it didn't drop below 28 in there (the sun heated things up and the doors were closed, retaining the heat). 

The shot above shows the potted aeoniums near the door in the SPG. They'd endured a few brief overnight dips to 25F left out in the driveway, but I finally decided to show some mercy and moved them before things got really extreme They'd been out far longer than I thought I'd get away with, so no sense losing them now. I'll move them back here once things moderate, it looks so empty without them (I wrote about the aeonium display here).

There is one test aeonium in the ground, I managed to leave this Aeonium 'Lily Pad' planted out by accident. It has a sort of shiny, too much like jelly, look to the leaves, I think it might be a goner.

Some of you asked about the moss Christmas tree, there it is, doing fine outdoors. I have poured water over it a couple of times, since we've been so dry here this month. 

The dry has definitely helped borderline succulents survive the cold. I forget which Mangave this is, but it's doing just fine.

Ditto for these two hanging on the front of the garage. It's worth noting that even with the recent low temperatures we're still running the warmest winter on record here in Portland.

The front garden, on the 24th of January.

Agave parryi ssp. huachucensis 'Excelsior'

Blooms of Edgeworthia chrysantha 'Nanjing Gold'.

The Semponiums continue to power through. These photos were all taken before Saturday night's cold, but they look the same now. S. ‘Sienna’...

Semponium 'Diamond'

Semponium 'Destiny'

Here's one of the Dasylirion wheeleri along the house sidewalk and the containers that I've left out there through the winter. Soaking up the sun.

The Euphorbia rigida blooms are starting to open.

Note to self: you really need to add some soil to this large terracotta container. It's down several inches at this point.

The Trachelospermum (ground cover vine) colors up so nicely in the cool months. I wish I could remember which one this is.

Arctostaphylos 'Monica' on the left, A.  x ‘Austin Griffiths' on the right.

A very dry (and thus starting to curl) Cheilanthes tomentosa with an Agave "Mateo'.

I think this is the only agave damage I have to share thus far this winter. It's a NOID plant that I've always thought might be A. 'Baccarat'. The black leaves probably have more to do with a car door than they do winter rain or temps.

I left all the small Agave victoriae-reginae in the ground, and they're all doing fine. Here's one in the front garden...

Back garden...

A view across the empty patio. The shade angles are extreme this time of year.

The covered, containerized, plants.

The ferny bits.

Palms and the orange wall... I love them both very much.

The shade pavilion greenhouse.

A sad looking Pyrrosia hastata, those fronds curl with the slightest cold.

The dish-planted Pyrrosia are doing fine with the cold, even though they have very little soil around their roots. Many experts say Pyrrosia are hardier when grown as epiphytes. I've got a few such experiments running around the garden, but should extreme cold hit I'll definitely pull these three in, they're too special to allow to perish.

Pyrrosia sheareri

Pyrrosia sp. SEH#15113

Pyrrosia sp. SEH#12547

Here's another of the experiments (they keep me engaged and sane), Pyrrosia lingua with its root mass wrapped in a little landscape fabric and moss, tucked in at the base of the Metapanax delavayi.

Truth be told I hauled out the hose (old habits die hard, growing up in Spokane where it gets COLD over the winter, I learned to disconnect my hoses, drain them, and put them away for the winter) and watered a few things, like this, which had gotten really dry over the last 16+ days with no rain. You can tell when a Pyrrosia is too dry, its leaves lose all luster and they look and feel limp. 

Another Pyrrosia experiment, this one tucked into the Albizia julibrissin 'Summer Chocolate' .

One of my late season plant purchases, Rhododendron yuanbaoshanense.

And here's a recent score that I'm very excited about. In the springtime I'm left juggling plants that need to be planted out, things still in their nursery pots. There's no great place for me to stash them where they can get light and water, but they're not in my way. The driveway crop tanks are great for corralling them short term, but then I can't plant up the tanks with early spring crops. THIS will help me with that...

A small local nursery (Birds & Bees) is going out of business and I found this rolling rack there. It's a little taller than what I was looking for, but it's got all sorts of vintage charm, the shelves are already drilled for drainage and the castors are beefy.

Patina!

Look at all that storage space! My springtime shuffle suddenly got a whole lot less stressful.

The Bit at the End

Perhaps you've heard of aphantasia? People with this neurological variation are unable to "voluntarily visualize mental images." If someone with aphantasia tries to picture a tomato, or sunny beach, they wouldn't see a picture. It's not a disorder or something that can be fixed, it's just how the brains of a small percentage (1-4%) of the population work. Anne Wareham, who writes for Garden Rant recently shared that she has the condition, read her story here: What If You Can’t Picture a Garden? Gardening With Aphantasia.

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