townsendia glabella

 You might find these unassuming native daisies to be boring, especially because these photos are taken on a cloudy morning when they are not quite open, and when they are on their way to fading. When I purchased them, I did so because I wanted something different from my usual fare of purple/blue mat Penstemons, and I thought that plain white daisies would be a good foil for the real stars of the garden. But these lowly daisies have qualities of their own.

To start with, they began blooming with the early crocuses, and like crocuses, they continue to bloom despite the vagaries of weather, even through the snow. Unlike crocuses which last maybe a week, these have stayed in bloom for at least 6 weeks now, and the first flowers are only just beginning to fade, while new ones form. I expect to see blooms for at least another month. Flowers begin with a purple flush, and the purple stays on the backs of the petals.

Plants stay a compact mound, the peduncles stay short so while you would never pick the blooms for cut flowers, you also don't need to tidy them after bloom, when those flowers turn into puffs of seed. So far they have needed no irrigation since the drink or two I gave them at planting time.

So while these may be boring little daisies in a photo, they are much more enjoyable than I expected. And those Penstemon that I planted to be the stars of the show? They just started blooming, and will be finished in about 10 days. The crocuses are long gone.

I was going to toss 'Bolero'...

Last year, 'Bolero' was so damaged by thrips that I was just on the edge of removing all seven bushes. I didn't get around to it, although I complained a lot. No way I can bear removing them now. Third year's a charm? Or is it the blue cup thrips trap?

The plants are compact. The leaves are disease free (not saying a whole lot here, though) and glossy. Flowers are four inches in diameter, deliciously fragrant (I've heard described as waterlily, but there is also sweetened whipped cream in there). Bushes are very slow growing, but certainly not wimpy.
Blue cup just visible behind the bush.

Doesn't it look a little like 'Eden'?

orchids

I've been sorely neglecting the photographing of my orchids. They've still been blooming. I just haven't been documenting. Darn work. Always getting in the way of life. Today I finally got around to photographing what's in bloom today.

 Dendrobium moniliforme 'Sekkoku'.
I've loved this plant since I purchased it a few years ago. In my conditions, it's easy, blooms a lot, produces many keiki's,  and has a delightful fragrance. What more can one ask? I missed the peak bloom, which has been going on for the last week or two. The flowers are starting to fade.

 I was on a rampage of purchasing grocery store miniature phalenopsis when I bought this one. Definitely some P. equestris in its background, as last year's stem now has a keiki at the end.

 I like the backs of the flowers more than the fronts.

 Another grocery store phalaenopsis. When I saw it, it called to me: "save me!" I could not resist the call. I love the spots, no matter how common this type of phalaenopsis is. When this type of phalaenopsis goes out of fashion, and people stop producing them, and all those other ones were tossed into the trash when they were finished blooming, I hope I still have this one.

Dendrobium 'Micro Chip'
I purchased this  at the San Francisco orchid show a couple of years ago from H&R Nurseries. When I got it home, all the new growths shriveled and died. I thought it was a goner. It has made a comeback, however, and it is amazing. The flowers are numerous, charmingly formed with cute maroon spots, it is easy to grow, the flowers last an incredible amount of time, and to top it off, the flowers are lightly fragrant. Actually, to top off the top-off, each growth can produce consecutive spikes of flowers in a season, and they can re-bloom the following season! Some of my growths have produced 4-5 spikes. It has even produced flowers from leafless pseudobulbs.  How amazing is that?!?! I've never seen an orchid like this.

 Dendrobium moniliforme 'Himeginsetsou'
Also purchased a couple of years ago at the SF Orchid Show, from Andy's Orchids. This is the second flush this season, the first one covering the leaves with the pale pink, lightly fragrant flowers. When I got this one home, it had come loose from the mix, and I was worried. It has recovered nicely, however, and the variegated leaved definitely add something to my collection.

Neofinetia falcata
It's not that these haven't been blooming that I haven't been photographing them. On the contrary, they've been blooming all winter (the nice thing about having a dozen divisions). I need to show them more love. I also have a number of the non-blooming collectors varieties, that are grown for their leaves. But I don't have the blooms to incite me to take photos.

Lc. Rojo 'Barbara'
I expected this to produce a lot more flowers this year than last year. Nope. The growth is larger, but it is losing the leaves on the older growths, so that there are only two growths with leaves. I guess it doesn't like my conditions. It makes me very sad. Lc. Rojo was one of the great loves of my youth.

Hippeastrum 'Red Lion' x papilio

A hybrid of my own making! I'm thrilled. It's like I've given birth.
2 years ago I pollinated Hippeastrum papilio onto 'Red Lion." The cross produces a lot of seed, but only one grew. It grew very slowly the first year, making a bulb like a small pickling onion. Then last year, it zoomed. It produced a huge plant in a 3 gallon container. Here it is.

The satiny sheen is just like it's Momma.

 

Two to a stem, just like its Pappa. I think the back is just as pretty as the front. Looks a little like 'Ruby Star."

Here's Pappa.

 He decided to bloom last summer like this. Not much stem with the direct sunlight.

Here's Momma.

What a kick. I don't know if I'm brave enough to try hybridizing roses.

hellebore time continues

Helleborus niger 'Jacob' first opened his flowers around Thanksgiving. In that warm period, those first few flowers faded rapidly to green. Then we had a lot of cold weather and a lot of snow, burying the plants, and the flowers stayed in their half-opened state, like snowdrops drooping. In the last few days, the weather warmed up quite a bit, and the snow melted. The hellebores have started opening.

You can see the flower that opened months ago in the center of the photo above,  and at the lower left in the photo below. 

 

If there was any question as to why hellebores bloom in the middle of winter, here's your answer. There has been a constant stream of bees to my plants, the only thing in my garden in bloom, and probably the only things in bloom for a long way around. 

Helleborus x ericsmithii 'Champion' is not a pure white. It is lovely in itself, but looks a little dingy next to the crisp white of 'Jacob' which is pure H. niger. I scared off the bees going to these flowers when I took the photos.

The leaves are not diseased. They were splashed with stucco when I had the house re-stuccoed this summer.

 In another month or two, these will start to fade, and the H. x orientalis hybrids will start to bloom.

first winter roses

jacob

 Although the true roses are ending, the winter roses (Helleborus) are starting to come out. About 4-5 days ago, the first of 'Jacob' appeared. I liked it so much that I bought a couple more. This is the first plant I bought, and it began blooming about this time last year.

jacob 2

 'Jacob' 2 has a few flowers opening. 'Jacob' 3 had a battle with spider mites this summer, and although it survived, it is not blooming.

nell lewis

'Nell Lewis' is a few years old now, and these are the first flowers on it.

I don't have any of the new flashy colors in Hellebores. The original white are still my favorite.

still a few blooms

Despite the four inches of snow we had, some of the roses hung in there and are still blooming. I thought they might be freeze-dried when I saw them, but nope. Still fresh. Still fragrant.


There are still a couple of flowers left on 'Iceberg'

Iceberg

 There's a few on 'Bolero' which still has crispy edges like it did all summer. Sigh. To take out all of them, or not.

Another rose I've been debating removing are the two bushes I have of 'William Shakespeare 2000.' Such miserable plants. Of course, despite the snow and nightly freezing temperatures, there is this one gorgeous, perfect, fragrant bloom. 

'Old Blush' has a few flowers hanging on. 

'Falstaff' has a bud, but not particularly happy.

'Bishop's Castle' has a few amazingly nice flowers, which have a different fragrance than in the summer. 

I don't know if this flower on 'Alnwick Castle' counts, but what the heck.