Thursday, December 15, 2011

Garden Bloggers' Bloom Day December!

Check out the GBBD post to see what's blooming in gardens all over the world!  I'm looking forward to seeing who (in this general climate zone) has anything in flower outdoors.  I admit I didn't go exploring much myself; I know there are still a few roses hanging on, but looking no different from last month, so I ignored them.

These camellia buds are my only recorded outdoor "flower."  This is the camellia I bought a couple of years ago at Lowe's for $10, and I'm sure I have a tag or something somewhere telling me what it is (I have yet to make my friend Barbara Dunn proud (not to mention the shade of Thomas Jefferson) and start keeping decent garden records).  I thought it was a fall bloomer when I got it, but so far it's been inclined to bloom in the spring, and probably is intending to do so this year, just got a bit confused with all the warm weather.  It'll be interesting to see if those buds open and when.

Aside from that, I have only indoor blooms.  This is Amaryllis 'Evergreen,' which I picked up when I was buying those discounted shrublets from Park's earlier this fall.  The amaryllis bulb was slightly discounted, but mostly I just wanted one, and thought it would be fun to go Decidedly Not Red this year.  It grew very fast and energetically, so probably it's worth trying to keep alive till next year.

Here is a very pink cyclamen that came with an award I got from Master Gardeners (they like me! they really like me!).  I don't think I will try to keep it alive; in fact I'm already managing to neglect it.  What? need watering again?

I have no poinsettias, because I am tired of them.

I brought in a Black Pearl pepper to winter over, not really intending to coax fruit from it, but it is making flowers, so maybe I'll have at it with a paintbrush and see what happens.

This is what the fruit looks like (took this in August at the demo garden; my potted plant never got that far).  It's a very handsome ornamental pepper; the fruit is edible but extremely hot.

And that's it, but at least flowers are blooming!

8 comments:

  1. Sometimes its better when there's not an abundance of blooms - we can focus more on the few that are there. Good for you, master gardener, getting an award. I'd like to do the program one day - really get a thorough grounding, and help other gardeners to boot. Good luck with your propagating of the pepper - those fruits look really shiny and interesting.

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  2. I saw the Black Pearl pepper in a garden this year and thought it was the coolest plant. They too brought it in to over winter. I really must get one of these. The little flowers are even pretty. The demo garden image of yours is just what they looked like here in Buffalo. Happy GBBD.

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  3. Gorgeous and exotic. Happy Bloom Day.

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  4. Wow, I love the Amaryllis 'Evergreen'!
    Happy GBBD :)

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  5. Nice post...I'm sort of the same way with Cyclamen...I can't win for trying!

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  6. I now have about a dozen amaryllis, most of which have not yet bloomed, because they were started from seed by your grandfather and are slowly growing to a size where they might bloom. They take up the whole top of my dresser during the winter and move outside on that porch in the summer. I am sure that there is a way to make them mature to flowering size much faster, but I don't seem to be in a hurry. Some of the bulbs were the size of a grape tomato when I inherited them. Lots of leaves, rare blooms.
    A few edible violas hanging on outside, it's been unseasonably "warm" here in NH, but getting colder by the minute today and probably going to be really cold tomorrow. "Christmas" cacti just finishing blooming, they will bloom on and off through the winter after their long stay outside all summer and it was a nice sunny one.
    Oh, and the shamrocks are blooming, but they bloom all year. I am hoping that with a better location perhaps the night blooming cereus will grace us with a flower sometime soon, and that I won't miss it. Nice to have more sunlight in the house with so many trees gone from the timber cut.

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  7. Oh, nice photos and nice collection, but i love most your green amaryllis. This is the first time I saw one like that. Will you be planting it in the ground when the season allows?

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  8. Hi Andrea - it's not quite warm enough here for amaryllis to be hardy, so I'll bring it out in a pot for the summer and then give it that dormant period so it will bloom again. I like the green too!

    Thanks to all for stopping by. I love GBBD!

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