christmas "roses"

 'Jacob' has reached his full glory just in time for Christmas. Perfect timing for Helleborus niger, the "Christmas rose."

 I used to wonder why all the fuss about Helleborus niger when I was growing up in California, as there were all sorts of things blooming at that time. Here in zone 7, where there is little blooming at this time of year, this plant is a joy. It's a bit of challenge in this climate, though, since it suffers if it gets much direct sun at all, and doesn't like the heat of summer.

 'Jacob' is my best plant of the Christmas rose. 'Joseph Lemper' is also starting to bloom, but since I bought it as such a small plant, there are only a couple of flowers on it, not much in comparison to 'Jacob', and 'Nell Lewis' has hardly grown at all, with no flowers.

 'Glamis Castle' has held on to its last flowers long enough to appreciate today, thanks to being in a pot and being brought into the garage every night.

 Although starting to get blown.

The rosemaries are blooming in a scattering of sky blue. Well, not really sky blue. New Mexico skies are much more intense than this.

Not "roses," but other plants to comment upon today.

 Campanula rotundifolia still holds onto its last flowers despite 22F temperatures. Primarily because the flowers are pressed up against the glass sliding doors.

 The last bits of flowers on salvia 'May Night'

 Kale 'Red Winter' colored up a bit, with the first frost. I'm bummed that this year wasn't a good year for kale. Such a struggle getting them started in August for some reason.

The Christmas cactus was relegated to the wash room since this is the only room that is bright enough to support plant life, and doesn't get much artificial lighting at night. I didn't make the mistake of leaving the light on by accident like I did last year, which made all the flowers drop off.