Well the fall camellia next to the garage continues to be our most reliable bloomer for Garden Blogger Bloom Day and the wintertime.  It’s hard not to imagine the backyard without the camellias.  They are such a continuing delight.  The hybrid that I picked up from the camellia society a couple of years ago has been blooming all winter long as well, but the flowers are starting to decrease in size.

Meanwhile the first of the spring camellias is blooming again.

Some of the other flowers around the yard are pretty reliable participants in the late winter/early spring bloom.

But it’s worth noting that we have never seen this red heather blooming persistently over the winter.

It’s also worth noting that I’ve never seen flower buds on the Cyclamen coum in January.

I wanted to include a picture of the buds on one of the other Hellebores as well.  This is a particularly dark foliaged plant with dark red flowers as well.  It looks like it wont’ be long till this one is in bloom.

In the greenhouse we have more Narcissus showing up.  This is a particularly nice one (note the buds yet to open)

We have also decided (in response to Covid) to upgrade our basement lighting and get an early start on the planting year.

And as a result here are the little plants from the seeds that I planted last week on my birthday…