A Week of Flowers: Looking back at January & February 2023

I'm belatedly joining Cathy of Words and Herbs for the last three days of her annual 'Week of Flowers' series (described here in her kick-off post).  She started her posts on Friday, December 1st and will conclude them on Thursday, December 7th this week.  The intent is to brighten what is often a somber period of the gardening year in the Northern Hemisphere.  Coastal Southern California is arguably less dark and dismal than many other areas but, even in my frost-free climate, plant growth slows and I spend the majority of my time in the garden cutting things back, cleaning up, and planting with spring and summer in mind.  Remembering the bursts of color I can expect in the coming months helps me focus on what needs to be done in the interim.

I looked back at photographs I collected over the first six months of this year and picked those that captured distinct moments of joy.  This post includes photos taken in January and February this year.

My hybrid Camellia williamsii 'Taylor's Perfection' usually starts blooming sometime in January.  Buds have already formed on this shrub and, barring a span of the excessively warm, dry weather that causes them to drop, I can look forward to a display like this in a little over a month's time.

At the moment the leaves on my ornamental pear tree (Pyrus calleryana) are only just beginning to turn color, littering the driveway.  If it follows last year's schedule, it'll be covered in white flowers in early February like this.

Did you notice the red flowers of the shrub espaliered against the garage wall behind the ornamental pear tree in the last photo?  That's Calliandra haematocephala, commonly known as the red powder puff shrub.  It usually puts on a display starting in early January and running through March.

This was a big surprise last February.  It's a species tulip, T. humilis 'Alba Coerulea Oculata'.  It bloomed from bulbs I planted in November 2022 for the first time in February 2023.  Whether it'll bloom again in my climate remains to be seen, although my other species tulips, T. clusiana, have reliably returned years in a row.

We got a LOT of rain last season (by our standards) and the Ceanothus arboreus 'Cliff Schmidt' on my back slope had a banner year.  So far, we've received less than half an inch of rain since the start of the 2024 "water year" on October 1st so I'm not sure I can count on a similar display come February 2024 but I can hope.

I'll cover the March-April timeframe on Wednesday and the May-June timeframe on Thursday.  In the meantime, drop in on Cathy at Words and Herbs to find the images she's pulled together to brighten wintry days.  You might also want to participate yourself.  Cathy welcomes all who wish to join in, asking only that they link to her A Week of Flowers post at Words and Herbs. 

All material © 2012-2023 by Kris Peterson for Late to the Garden Party