‘Tis the Day After Christmas, so thought I would see what I can see around the garden, greenhouse and neighborhood.
It snowed on Friday–not enough to really impact travel, but it was enough to light up the lawn and give a nice holiday feel to everything.
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I took Bodhi for a quick walk today and found the following at Ingraham High School:
The gorgeous form of this pine tree really stands out in winter.
I believe this is Cotoneaster lacteus. This photo is of berries on what I believe is probably the original shrub planted around the school.
A close-up of the brilliant berries.
This is one of my favorite Ingraham trees–I think it may be a weeping white spruce. It’s graceful leaning trunk, bright blue color and beautiful cones make it a stand-out.
Close-up to show the color and cones.
A seedling of the cotoneaster–there are several large seedlings around the school now. I took some berries to see if I can get some starts, as this would make a great bonsai/pot plant.
Hollies are a bit despised here in Seattle, except maybe the last six weeks of the year. Nothing says Christmas like a well-berried holly tree.
The leaves and berries are wonderfully shiny on a dull day.
Winter forces us to really see the beauty of plants that we’ve missed the rest of the year. This is likely Chamaecyparis lawsoniana, with its distinctive cones and graceful foliage sprays.
The driveway display isn’t fresh, for sure, but it has an artistic flair provided by the Hakone grass and Leon’s beautiful sculpture.
Close-up of the forest grass. It has turned a tan/yellow for winter. The hardy fern next to it is laughing at winter.
Leon installed a new bird feeder. We don’t have a lot of different species at this point–mostly chickadees and juncos. The jays haven’t figured out how to reach the seeds yet. The crows pick seeds up that have spilled. And the squirrels steal seeds, too, having figured out how to climb the stone sculpture that serves as the feeder’s stand.
Junco checking things out.
One camellia flower decided to open for Christmas! It was fully opened for the snowy weather. Tucked back at the bottom of the shrub, it didn’t get totally ruined by the snow/rain.
Sadly, the Prime Ark blackberries didn’t make it to black before the cold weather hit. The berries are still there, but they are brown and squishy. Sad.
I was worried about how the pineapple guava (Feijoa) would fare in the cold weather, but it isn’t even fazed at this point.
The Plant Delights hellebore is throwing buds up. These plants are so incredibly hardy–the freezing and snow didn’t even slow this one down.
Aucuba glowing bright in the Doug Fir bed.
The elephant garlic I was gifted by friend and artist Janet Still. There are two of these monsters and they both are showing growth–not afraid of winter at all.
Plectranthus showing December what for in the greenhouse.
Persicaria capitata perking up the greenhouse shelves.
I couldn’t reach these pelargoniums easily to get a good picture, but they are pretty impressive with their clear pink blooms.
The cymbidiums in the greenhouse are blooming wonderfully this year. It is safe to say they thrive on neglect. I pulled them out of the greenhouse in spring and put them around the edge of the Doug Fir bed, watered sporadically, fertilized maybe twice…and here we are! These generous plants don’t ask for much. These are all from the clone (divisions) we call “Mom’s.”
Close-up of a freshly opened flower.
More buds ready to burst…about 18 more flowers from these two spikes.
Just days from being opened, these buds hold so much promise!
Fuchsia “Machu Picchu” blooming, oblivious to the cold and low light.
The brugmansia in the greenhouse is putting out one flower at a time now. There are two more buds coming along–so could have flowers through February!
The holiday cactus has an impressive flower open.
I was very close to this chickadee. It was hiding in on the Jeff Tangen arbor and I was underneath trying to get shots of the birdfeeder.
This is when it realized how close it was to me!