Bloom Day - January 2014

This January 2014 there are blooms here, there and everywhere.  While there are no large masses of flowers anywhere as there will be, hopefully, in the April-May timeframe, our unseasonably warm weather has once again produced blooms that won't show up in many other areas until spring.  There are no roses but that's in part due to the fact that I cut back all the rose bushes just after Christmas.  By comparison with most areas of the US, still contending with the "polar vortex" described by the news media, we nonetheless have an embarrassment of riches.  For lack of a better idea as to how to present them, here they are in alphabetical order.

Agapanthus (no ID), blooming significantly ahead of schedule

Alstroemeria (no ID) just coming into bloom in the backyard border

Anemone 'Dr. Fokker,' the first to bloom in the backyard border

Dwarf Anigozanthos hybrid, planted in the side border

Antirrhinum majus, rocket variety, in a raised planter in the vegetable garden

Arbutus 'Marina,' almost perpetually in bloom

Dark pink Argyranthemum frutescens, in a pot at the bottom of the slope

Light pink Argyranthemum frutescens in the backyard border

White Argyranthemum frutescens in the side yard

Yellow Argyranthemum frutescens in the side yard border

Bauhinia x blakeana (Hong Kong orchid tree) in the front yard

Camellia japonica 'Taylor's Perfection,' planted alongside the garage in the vegetable garden, doesn't care for our Santa Ana winds

Ceanothus (no ID), breaking into bloom in the backyard border

Cerinthe retorta, a new introduction I haven't made a decision on

Coleonema pullchellum 'Sunset Gold' in the front border, another long-term bloomer

Coreopsis 'Tahitian Sunset' - I'm not thrilled with it but, as its bloomed almost continuously since June, I'm keeping it for now

Crassula 'Springtime,' blooming in a neglected area under a Ceanothus hedge

Echium handiense 'Pride of Fuerteventura,' a dwarf variety, in the dry garden

Erysimum linifolium 'Variegatum' in the bed surrounding our fountain

Geranium 'Tiny Monster' in the side yard

Gomphrena 'Itsy Bitsy' in the side yard

Grevillea lavandulacea 'Penola' in the dry garden

A newly unfurled bloom on Grevillea 'Superb'

A more mature bloom on Grevillea 'Superb'

Hebe 'Wiri Blush' in the backyard border

Leptospermum scoparium 'Pink Pearl' in the dry garden

The bracts on Leucadendron 'Wilson's Wonder' in the front border are shifting from yellow to red

A dwarf Leucanthemum x superbum 'White Lady' in the backyard border

Unbelievably, one of the Lisianthus 'Echo Pink,' planted in early June in the backyard border, is still blooming

A somewhat sad, but blooming, Loropetalum chinense var. rubrum in the side yard

Matthiola incana (Stock), blooming in the backyard border

Nemophila menziesii (Baby Blue Eyes) in the backyard border

Narcissus (no ID) in the border outside the living room window

This Osteospermum ecklonis '3D Silver' is in the side yard but all throughout the garden are in bloom

Osteospermum ecklonis 'Serenity Purple' in the dry garden

Osteospermum fruticosum (trailing African daisy), I think, in the side yard

Yellow Papaver nudicaule (Iceland poppy) in the side yard

White Papaver nudicaule, also in the side yard

Pelargonium hybrid 'White Lady,' sited on the slope

Pelargonium ionidiflorium 'Pink Fairy Cascade,' also planted on the slope

Pelargonium peltatum 'Pink Blizzard' (ivy geranium) in a pot by the front door, another long-term bloomer

Phalaenopsis (no ID) brought from my mother-in-law's home last July

Polygala fruticosa 'Petite Butterfly,' planted near the street

Ribes viburnifolium 'Catalina Perfume Currant' on the back slope

Viola (no record of variety) in the backyard border

If last year's Bloom Day posts are an indication, the Agapanthus, Echium and Ribes are blooming earlier this year than they did last year.  Camellia sasanqua, which was still blooming last January 15th, is finished for the season this year, and Tibouchina urvilleana, also in bloom last January, has yet to recover from the last round of pruning. The timing of more recent introductions is harder to assess.

Please visit Carol, the host of Garden Blogger's Bloom Day, at May Dreams Garden for a look at what's blooming in other gardens around the US and elsewhere in the world.