A Mid-Afternoon in Mid-January (in Zone 8b)

Daphne odora 'Marginata'

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I worked from home today - and in the middle of the afternoon, I went outside with the Pointer Sisters and Stanley to photograph what's blooming for May Dreams Gardens Garden Bloggers' Bloom Day.  I hadn't looked closely at the garden in a few weeks - yes, I've worked in the garden quite a bit, but I've focused on things like pulling down vines covering the front fence and cursing florida betony and laying down mulching fabric around the vegetable beds. 

I hadn't stop to noticed how conflicted the garden is - after an extremely warm month or so:  there are daffodil buds everywhere, hydrangeas beginning to leaf out, perennials pushing up out of the ground.  But the cold that so many have been experiencing over the past few days is supposed to drop down towards our shoreline for the next few days - so this afternoon's garden will change quite a bit between now and Saturday morning.  Yes - on Saturday morning perhaps the only blooms will be the lingering dried flowers of the Hydrangea macrophylla 'Endless Summer'.

And that really isn't so bad, is it?

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The winter daphne is blooming - and I regret to say that one of the two plants that I put in the ground last fall is wilting away [like they say they can do ('daphne death') - something that I thought I wouldn't have a problem with].  I fear that this could be a dog-related illness...all I know is that they don't like being disturbed, transplanted, or dug around - and although I'm now batting 50%, I'll not be discouraged because the fragrance of my one small daphne is just spectacular.  I'll plant more, and I'll think a bit more about where I will put them next time.

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It was almost as if the daffodils emerged and budded all in the same day - I hadn't noticed them, and then there they were, preparing to bloom.  It's always interesting what we see - what we choose to see and what we filter out.  It's like looking at a dataset, a figure or a table - one day you interprete it one way, and then on another day you view it quite differently.  That's always a challenge as one writes a proposal - because of course a review will do the same thing.  Is there only one way to view that data?  Most likely not.  But how we filter our world - now that's something to get a handle on.

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Last fall I planted the native coralberry, Symphoricarpos orbiculatus, and I think that I'll like this little shrub, especially once it gets a bit larger in size.  I got mine at a garden show in the fall, I think at the Carolina Wild booth - but I don't see this one on their availability list right now.  Hmmm. 

I find myself whining with everyone about the cold - but today when I was outside, it was still 56 degrees out, and after spending my graduate school years in central Michigan - sometimes I find myself longing for those crisp cold days.  Don't get me wrong - I wouldn't trade my current zone for a more northern one (at least I don't think I would) - but winters are supposed to be cold, aren't they?  Even here in coastal South Carolina we should have some cold weather during the winter months. 

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How can one have a January bloom day, and live in South Carolina - and not show their camellias that are in bloom?  

First - there's the Camellia japonica 'Mathotiana Supreme'.  A beautiful large red-flowering camellia, whose flowers become edged in purple when the weather gets colder.  I have two of these in my garden, both robust plants, and right now they are both covered in blooms - colorful roses of winter.  Others are blooming in my garden too - the blooms of which will be damaged by the cold over the next few days.

   

 

 

 

   

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So there are also camellias with big, swollen buds all over the place.  Waiting patiently (perhaps shivering patiently tonight) - like the deep red buds of the lightly fragrant Camellia japonica 'Kramer's Supreme'.  This was the second camellia to be planted in my garden, a somewhat uninformed and random choice, and it sits alongside the Camellia japonica 'Debutante' that was one of the few things already planted in my garden when I moved in. 

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And the Camellia sasanqua 'Yuletide' continues to bloom, ignoring the fact that the Christmas trees have come down, and that we are all back to work.  Might I say that I'm envious of this little sasanqua, choosing to celebrate while everything around it has decided that the celebration is long over?  

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So, last fall I put the two flowering maples that I had in pots into the ground.  I've decided not to cover them this week - and most likely they'll freeze back to the ground (but hopefully will come back from the roots in the spring).  It's a bit of a shame, since today I noticed that they were blooming.  Oh well, win-some, lose-some.

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As an example of the conflicted nature of my garden - here is a blue taro leaf beginning to unfurl.  Silly, silly leaf - what was it thinking?

I used to never like elephant ears.  I've had 'Black Magic' in my garden for awhile now - and in a garden tour I was on last fall, I saw other, interesting ones - like Alocasia macrorrhizos 'Variegata'...and then recently I saw this gorgeous elephant ear at Plant Delights.

I know little about the different genera, or their genetic relationship to one another.  It seems a bit...puzzling.

(There's nothing quite like daydreaming about new plants on a chilly night when you should be starting to work on the next grant...).

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Several of my fall-blooming salvias decided this year to continue blooming even though the calendar suggested that it was winter - 'Hidalgo', especially those with some live oak cover, are blooming away oblivious to the season.  One especially large one has fallen onto a clump of northern sea oats - resulting in a nice, chaotic tangle of color and texture. 

We had an early first freeze in the fall - in mid-November - but ever since then it has been unusually warm - on ocassion air-conditioning-warm even. 

Everything that slipped through the cracks that night has actually grown more, bloomed more.  

It's been a bit nuts.

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The star magnolia began to bloom last weekend - I wanted to say no, to stop that, but it obviously responds to an environmental signal that has nothing to do with my wishes.  Hopefully the few that have emerged will warn the others through some mysterious communication pathway, and the others will stay folded up inside of those furry buds.

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A small group of gerbera daisies are blooming away, mostly orange and yellow ones - I've actually never been all that fond of them in the garden - and find bouquets of them oddly unnatural.

But they were a favorite of my Mother's, and so now I find that I like when they bloom in my garden. 

They are more interesting up close I think, with interesting colors that aren't so readily apparent from a distance.

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I do really like gerbera flower buds though.

Alot.

A whole lot. 

They are like little planets.

That unfold instead of spin.

There will be more of them.

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The loquat is covered in tiny green fruit.  I have no idea how they will fare over the next few nights - I know that they can take a bit of cold, and I do hope that some of them make it. 

It's the first time that my tree has been covered in fruit - and I was looking forward to watching them grow and change color.

And perhaps I might do something with the fruit.  Perhaps.  But if the windchills get into the teens, it won't be good.  We're under a windchill advisary tonight (and don't laugh, you northerners.  I know, we're pathetic).

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There are a few signs of that mid-November freeze - the seed pods of the perennial hibiscus have dried, and opened - dispersing seeds to wherever.  

I think they're beautiful. 

 

 

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I can remember the banana shrub having flower buds present this early before.

Perhaps I simply never looked closely enough?  But it does seem very early. 

I'm hoping they'll be fine, they should be.

No need to worry about them.  (As if they are something I can do something about...).

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If you're up north, cold - and tired already of winter - I highly recommend a quick visit to the south in order to enjoy the fragrance of the tea olive.  I have one small and one large one - and honestly the fragrance lingers throughout my entire one acre when they're both in bloom.  They probably won't blink tonight - although I'm guessing those tender new leaves might not be so happy.

Truly.  It's worth the trip.

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 I'll end tonight with something bright and...distinctly out of place.  One lone black-eyed susan has been in bloom for awhile now - it was blooming in mid-December, and still seems quite happy.

I've rambled on much to long here.

I'm sure that the garden will look different in the morning, but that will be fine - the spiral gingers are heavily mulched, as are the shampoo ginger - the kumquats and satsuma are wrapped in plastic, and the two agaves are covered in blankets.

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It's okay to wait for spring, that's all part of the fun don't you think? 

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(Compare to December 2008) 

Comments

[Annie in Austin]

It's a lot of fun to read a rambling post from you, Pam, as you walked around the garden... in real life I might not be able to keep up with you, but didn't miss a word here!

This is the fourth winter for my Michelia/banana shrub and it always seems to bud now. My loquat's still holding on to the tiny fruit, too, but I'm not looking up recipes yet- late freezes usually knock off 90% of them. If I get a dozen that would be a crop. Maybe you'll be luckier.

My camellias are about done, so love to see photos of yours. Happy GBBD!

Annie at the Transplantable Rose

[Pam/Digging]

I'm grateful that you didn't neglect to give us your camellia photos. They're so lovely and really do evoke the Deep South to the rest of us. I know exactly what you mean about the garden being conflicted by up-and-down temperatures though. Mine doesn't know which was is up right now.

[Les]

You ceratainly had a lot to show for GBBD. Your C. japonicas are about 6 weeks ahead of mine and thank goodness mine are still tightly budded as we are expecting 15 degrees tonight. My sasanquas will be more brown after tonight than any other color, but their time has passed for this year. When I lived on Seabrook Island the trash cans in the condo parking lot were inside of walk-in wooden cages to keep the coons out, but they were surrounded with Loquats. When the fruit ripened herds of the little critters would come eat, and invariably one would figure out how to unlatch the garbage cage. It was always a mess. Up here we never stay warm enough for the fruit to ripen, but it is a great tree none-the-less. Good luck to you and your garden in the cold.

[Benjamin]

This makes me sick. It was -15 here a few days ago. I think we DO need the fullness of each season--for rest, for apprecaition, for perspective, and because gosh darn it there are four. Four is a holy number in many native cultures, and of course in the middle east. Look at the four square gardens, or the four compass points in native american myth, metaphor, symbology. We have four directions to go in. Maybe I will just go south then. (I will say it sure seems like the canadian geese are migrating back north already--maybe they are--seen so many lately. Spring is coming... right?)

[Kate]

damn! I was down there and forgot to sniff a tea olive, what's wrong with me! That is the scent I miss the most! argh!

[Carol, May Dreams Gardens]

Wow, so much bloom in your "conflicted" garden. It was nice to see all those flowers, especially the camellias, which we don't have here AT ALL.

Thanks for joining in for bloom day once again.

[Pam]

Annie, I remember my not being so impressed by the banana shrub, and you commenting on how much you like them. I was looking at mine today (it's about 7-8' tall now) all covered in buds - and I love it's size now and am much more of a fan. Regarding it's blooms - I really hadn't noticed them this early before, but I could have not been paying close attention. I was looking at my loquat today - and despite temperatures in the upper teens for one night, the small green fruit look okay. I'm hopeful.

Pam/Digging, yes - conflicted. Tomorrow there could be snow flurries! Anyway, I was looking around the garden today, and everything looked okay despite a few very cold nights. I'm ready for a bit of consistency - but fear that I won't get it for a month or so yet!

Les, the garden fared well, gratefully. I won't know about a few things until spring - but the loquat fruit looks good still. Aren't you perhaps getting some snow tomorrow? There's even a chance of snow flurries here - that is always fun.

Benjamin, I lived in Michigan for graduate school - and have known your pain! It often felt like the winters would never end. While I miss many things that I could grow more easily up north - I'm pretty dang grateful for the long growing seasons, and camellias...blooming...in January? I never knew about camellias until I moved further south after school. And yes - there should be four seasons, and oddly enough - I'm hopeful that I'll see a snowflake fall tomorrow. I'm one of those folks living in the south who misses a snowy day.

Kate, I should have reminded you!

Carol, thanks for hosting this monthly tour of gardens. I enjoy the ritual of it very much.