Sweet Surprises

February is not generally a busy gardening month. Usually I just content myself with indoor blooms this time of year. I saw this little geranium seedling popping up in October, so I rescued it by planting it in a pot to spend the winter indoors. See how it rewarded me? Such a tall bloom for such a tiny little plant. That's not even a regular size coffee cup, it's just a mini one!

 And this kitchen begonia has been blooming for months now. Gorgeous. 

But with the mild winter that many of us have been enjoying, I thought I'd go out to see if the garden was waking up early. Boy was it ever! My first stop in the winter is always my Angelina Sedum. I know I've shown it here many times, but seriously, this plant is a winter show stopper. Look at the colors! I absolutely need to plant more of this one.

 I could show you all kinds of little plant babies popping up out there, but most of them are just little green specks. This one really caught my eye though, and I'm not even sure what it is. I think it's an agastache of some kind.

Of course there are all kinds of bulbs popping up, especially swelling daffodils. They will certainly be early this year.

Violas and pansies are still hanging in there, no surprise.

I also figured the hellebores would be heading towards blooming, and I was right.

So as I was casually studying my late winter garden, I turned around to find the sweetest surprise of all. Not in a million years did I expect to find the Siberian Iris in bloom. To say I was thrilled is putting it mildly! This is a full month earlier than they bloomed last year.

I'm so happy that I went out to check on the garden yesterday. It brought me such a sweet, sweet surprise!

A Year of Love

It's Valentine's Day, and our hearts turn to love. Now I know the day is meant for showing love to our family and friends. But I thought I'd show a little love to my garden! 2011 was another beautiful year in the garden I love.

January

 February

 March

 April

 May

 June

 July

 August

 September

 October

 November

 December

Frosty Start to the Day

This continues to be a mild winter, much to my delight. But the funny thing is, I think I've spent less time outdoors than I usually do in harsher winters. Mostly it's because we have had so much rain, and being outdoors hasn't been very enjoyable. The only winter posts I've put up here on my blog have been focused on indoor plants since we haven't had any pretty snowfalls to highlight. But occasionally, we get a frosty but sunny start to the day. The angelina sedum has been photographed many times this winter, as it continues to delight. Nothing else I have in my winter garden is as sunny and bright as this plant. Note to self, plant more of it! 

 Penstemon leaves have stayed evergreen.

And spring bulbs are getting ready for the show.

Creeping thyme makes for a frosty path through the rose arbor.

Silver gray yarrow leaves still look lovely with frosting.

The rising sun begins to melt the caps on sedum Autumn Joy.

 Euonymus looks good no matter what kind of winter we have.

Foxglove leaves just laugh at the frost.

Arborvitae are crystallized.

The pennisetum is still holding up this corner.

And while the hydrangeas are not quite as beautiful as they were in summer, they remind me that they will be back in all their glory before too long.

Mellow Yellow

Personally, I think yellow is anything but mellow. It's such a lively, vibrant color. It automatically makes me think of sunshine. I love yellow! The only trouble is, yellow is hard to come by in winter, even a winter as mild as this one. If it was April, I'd have these yellow species tulips in bloom.

Or in July, I could  have sunflowers blooming, even these planted by the birds.

May is one of my favorite times to see anything but mellow yellow, because May is peak season for my beloved roses.

If it was June, I could find yellow in my favorite black-eyed susans.

See, yellow is so bright and beautiful, that even the birds are wearing it. In August, I could see goldfinches galore around here.

Even March brings me yellow in the garden, as my first daffodils come into bloom.

But it's only February 1st, and there are no yellow flowers in my garden this time of year. The only yellow out there this time of year is my Angelina sedum. It may not be a bloom, but it's definitely enough to give me just a little bit of mellow yellow to love.

But yellow flowers are still my favorite!