There is a fun aspect to winter in the greenhouse that I often forget–the surprises that come when I only look around in there once a week. Today brought a perfect example. I opened the door and happened to look at the right shelf to see my hardy cyclamen seedlings blooming for the first time.

These seedlings are about three years old and two of them have formed bulbs in the small pot. I didn’t want to put them out in the garden for fear they would get lost or eaten–they are pretty diminutive.

Viewing them close up is a benefit to keeping them in pots in the greenhouse.

Between the two bulbs, there are at least 4 flowers coming, so I’m pretty excited! And my micro lens picked up the pattern inside that flower that I never would have noticed from the side or top.

The memory garden looks a mess, with lots of branches having fallen from the big Douglas fir and the garden’s edging having been ripped out by man or beast at some point. But the plants don’t seem to know. Already, there are snowdrops, crocus, Iberis, and strangely, a rose!

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It feels an awful lot like an early spring…but I’ll wait to see what February brings.