1/15/08

Bloom Day

This the first Bloom Day on my new blog! I've participated every month since the tradition began last February (although I was seriously late once or twice).

Like adding structure to the garden, Bloom Day adds structure to the garden blog. I don't try to post every day, but I do try to post regularly. It's good to have something to rely on every month in case I don't have anything new to say (which is often).

I'm looking forward to comparing next month's Bloom Day with last year's. I know a lot has changed in my garden since then.

So then, on to Bloom Day...

First of all, this post for Bloom Day incorporates by reference all blooms shown in this post from three days ago. I just can't bring myself to take any more pictures of Hardenbergia violacea or Zantedeschia aethiopica 'Hercules'.

Other current blooms not shown: Abutilon (white- and apricot- colored flowers), Lewisia (with that "insincere pink"), yarrow (sporting a three-month-old flower head that still hasn't gone to seed), and rosemary.

Here is a plant I show often, but not recently. I know it as Cotyledon orbiculatum var. longifolium. It might have a newer name by now.
Usually, the umbel is erect, but this time it's quite horizontal.

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Also usually, this plant flowers in the summer after hot weather, but I have a January flowers this year.

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It's also strange to see this guy making flowers on my roof.

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I have a hard time recalling the names of lesser succulents. Always on the tip of my tongue...

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This is my only flowering houseplant--Aglaonema. A single dose of dilute Miracle-Gro and it flowers on command. I could have flowers all year long with constant feeding, but I'm too lazy.

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And I do these things just like everybody else. Mostly over, I put it outside last night.

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Manzanitas bloom in winter. I have three different kinds, all quite young, and two of them have flowers today.

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Since these plants are small, I have to get up close to show you the tiny flowers. In the future, I'll stand at a distance and you'll see a plant festooned with terminal panicles of urceolate flowers.

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White and pink.

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Since buds count, here is Verbena lilacina. This is a California native that will bloom all year on the coast once it gets going. The flowers are quite fragrant.

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The cymbidium orchid has buds that refuse to open.

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They will eventually. That little drop of water you see is a tear the plant is crying for missing this month's Bloom Day.

Cyclamen in darkness under the deck stairs. I bought several on discount and planted a little drift. This is the only picture that looks good enough to post tho'.

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I don't like spiders, but I don't mind the Tibouchina's spider-like sex parts.

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I'll end with a coming attraction for next month. Ceanothus 'Ray Hartman'.

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Link to last month's Bloom Day.
Link to the Winter Queen of Garden Blogger Bloom Day.

17 comments:

Frances, said...

What a picturesque sedum grouping! Love the manzanita blooms. We do like to see the whole plant AND the close ups, or I do anyway.

Annie in Austin said...

The tibouchina is one of my favorite things to see on your blog - but the urceolate Manzanita flowers are pretty cool. [I had to go look up urceolate and realize that's more correct than my original idea that they were cordate.]

Happy Blooming Day at your new blog, Chuck. I missed June so am not in the running for a perfect attendance medal.

Annie at the Transplantable Rose

chuck b. said...

Mrs. Bongo Congo, actually those sedums need to be edited. Everything is getting so crowded. People do enjoy that pan. One day I should try learn the names of those plants.

I never get tired of taking pictures of the tibouchina, so that works for both of us, Annie. :)

Anonymous said...

I've been meaning to check out your blog for some time now. We're just a bit north of you, in Sonoma County. What a beautiful garden you have!

So funny - I forget the names of my succulents, too. Yours are doing VERY well in the damp cold - wow.

Carol Michel said...

Really, your orchid cried because it missed bloom day? Mine sort of laughed at me. They do whatever they want in my sunroom.

Your garden always intrigues me because I don't recognize 99% of your plants, really. Do you ever have a freeze or frost?

Carol, May Dreams Gardens

Mr. McGregor's Daughter said...

Thanks for posting more pics of exotic (for me) blooms. I wish I could grow Tibouchina. I also have succulents without a name, I'm ashamed to admit.

Lisa at Greenbow said...

I just love all your succulents. I would have dozens if I could keep them alive during winter. I don't have much luck with them unless they can be outside all year long. So few I have found can survive here in zone6b.

Rusty in Miami said...

Your collection of succulents is amazing, I got to get me some. Your other blooms are beautiful specially that Tibouchina spider

JvA said...

Is your Ray Hartman the one you had in a pot? Did you plant it in the ground? I've forgotten your Ceanothus situation.

chuck b. said...

That Ceanothus is new from last year. The one in a pot looks good. But it's not making blooms. Maybe next year. I have two Ray Hartman, and one Frosty Blue. And three Diamond Heights, which one grows for the variegated foliage, not the flowers.

I'll have to do a post just on succulents for y'all. I've got tons. I never think about them for the most part.

Anonymous said...

Your lesser succulents look pretty great. As always, a wonderful Bloom Day post.

Entangled said...

Urceolate? That sounds like something I should have learned in college. Annie amazes me.

I was going to say the Manzanita flowers look a lot like Vaccinium.

chuck b. said...

Same family: Ericaceae.

I learned all the crazy shape names in my plant ID class. I remember some better than others.

Anonymous said...

killer collection, chuck b, and with the budding promise of more to come. i'm looking forward to seeing the open product of those on the verge. we bought a blooming cyclamen in march and it just went dormant two weeks ago. very healthy color generator.

lisa said...

I'm digging your succulents too...that manzanita bloom looks like my kinnikinik, and a lookup told me why. The tibouchina looks like it's daring you to take a whiff...cool.

Julie said...

Oh goodness...your succulents are stunning! I am jealous...mine are all much smaller!

Neza S.G. said...

I like your blog- We're only in the dreaming stage right now in Minnesota, unfortunately. So we drool on your blog.
I recognize the Campania Faccia Planter you have as your profile photo. Is it yours?
I used to buy/sell them.

The Rock and Roll Gardener