A tradition that Brother Tim and I have honored through the years is to take an inventory of what’s blooming on the fall/winter holidays.  So, for Thanksgiving, the below blooms are some bright spots that I’m thankful for.

The yellow snapdragon in the pot just outside the front door is still blooming a bit in the wet, cool weather.  It hasn’t been cold yet and nowhere near frosting.  I went quite a few years having neglected Antirrhinums as garden flowers, but they are workhorses and they bring an optimism that few of the borderline hardy perennials possess.

Not a great photo (it was pouring rain all day, so I was worried about getting the camera wet), but this is the seed-grown hardy geranium that I started last winter.  It is still trying hard to bloom after about five months of putting out flowers.

The arboretum rose on the Jeff Tangen arbor is still blooming.  I couldn’t smell it through all the rain, but my memories of the fragrance are still strong from its summer-long blooms.

I think the rain was affecting my photographic abilities.  Here is a late dahlia.  The flowers of dahlias change colors with the weather–they get mellower and more pastel as the weather cools.

A better photo of the same dahlia flower.

I think these are the annual form of dianthus, but they are sticking around through the cold and wet.

Brother Tim and I both like the single-flowered Matricaria cultivars best.  These stalwarts are throwing a few blooms here and there.

Probably the biggest surprise in the garden is the wonderberry blooms.  These plants don’t seem to have any clue that winter is just a month away.

The strawberries are all breathing a sigh of relief for the cool/wet weather.

Fuchsia “Machu Picchu” blooming in the greenhouse.  This has been a favorite of mine for  nearly thirty years.  The original plant came from Brother Tim many years ago.

A few Streptocarpus flowers are poking up in the greenhouse.  The plants look ratty, but the color of the flowers is a welcomed contrast to the green, yellows and browns as winter approaches.

Mom’s Cymbidium blooming big in the greenhouse.  There are three or four more orchids with spikes in various states of expansion.

This Euphorbia from Brother Tim keeps expanding and blooming in the greenhouse as it goes.

Fantastic flowering maple (Abutilon megapotamicum) from Brother Tim.  I pruned the mother plant last year and stuck all the trimmings into a pot and they rooted…so now I have two pots of these great plants!

Another picture of this festive flower.

Persicaria capitata has a few blooms in the greenhouse.  I want to try this plant as a hanging basket, as the leaves and growth pattern would be perfect for that.

Another rotten photo, but this is documentation of the blooms of a scented pelargonium.

Plectranthus blooming in the greenhouse.  The flowers are intricate, white with maroon mottling on the lips.

A holiday cactus blooming in the greenhouse.  This bloom isn’t quite open–I should be able to get a better photo in the next few days.

Another Machu Picchu pic–you can see some Botrytis on a leaf.  I noticed a lot of it around the greenhouse today, so will go in this weekend and do some clean-up and get another fan going for air circulation.

A cheery Verbascum in the orchard garden.

Not flowers, but worth noting:  Prime Ark blackberries trying very hard to ripen before frost.  I don’t think they’ll make it, but their effort is impressive!

 

I spent ten days on Oahu and saw some beautiful things.  The pictures are below:

It is impossible to ignore the sunsets on this beautiful island.  Even cell phone pictures look like postcards.

I’m not great at identifying the tropical plants, but they are spectacular.  This shrub was prevalent in the city, planted in beds around shops, hotels and other businesses.

The paddle boarders, the hugging couple, and the subdued light make this one of my favorite pictures from this trip.

Crinum plants are incredibly amazing–they spring from enormous bulbs and reach eight feet or more.  And the fragrance of these graceful flowers is delightful.  And after the flowers fade, giant seed pods balloon up.

 

Kigelia africana is an easy tree to remember.  The flowers always end up on the ground in the morning–big, fleshy and bright.

There were hundreds of birds screaming in this banyan tree.  I didn’t see exactly what kinds–possibly mynas.  Impressive, noisy tree!

 

Hibiscus are found everywhere throughout Hawaii.  This was a simple, lovely pink one in Fort Derussy Park.

This hibiscus flaunts itself like a tropical sunset.

Plumeria trees starting to bloom.

Another sunset photo.

This milkweed relative is an interesting shrub.  I like the flowers–and the leaves have a nice substance.

The star of this photo isn’t the sunset, it is the 129-year-old Kiawe tree that toppled recently at the Halekulani Hotel’s patio.  Find more info here about this tree and how they are trying to save it.  It looked pretty good when we were there.

Another great sunset photo.

 

The plectranthus in the greenhouse started to bloom–always super late, but cherry for thanksgiving!

I was surprised that one of Mom’s Cymbidiums had opened its buds in the ten days since I’ve been home.

Brugsmansia also helped me transition to Seattle from the tropics with its best flowering all year in the greenhouse.  I couldn’t smell it, though, but I know the flowers do have a great fragrance–they were just too tall for me to get at!