Colchicum on the hillside

Well for this Garden Blogger’s Bloom Day the Colchicum are the bright new stars for the month.  I’ve added more this year and I can foresee adding more Colchicum every year.  They have real visual impact and last even longer than I had remembered.

Colchicum bivonae

Colchicum x byzantium ‘Innocence’

Another bright spot for this time of year is the emergence of the Cyclamen hederifolium.

Cyclamen hederifolium

First the naked flowers appear and then the wonderfully interesting leaves will appear.

Cyclamen hederifolium leaf

A surprise this morning was seeing that a single red flower was emerging from the perrenial garden foliage.

Dahlia ‘Bishop of Llandaff’

Dahlias are not normally hardy over the winter for us but this is the fourth season for the Bishop to return.

Nearby is the Black and Blue Sage which was also said to marginally hardy for us and continues to regrow and spread.

Salvia guaranitica ‘Black and Blue’

Of course the Cestrum continues to flower for us.

Cestrum ‘Orange Peel’

But right next to it the Clematis virginiana is now trying overgrow the rose bush.

Crocus Rose surrounded by Clematis virginiana

We also see this Clematis abundantly spreading the woods so we will need to try to trim it back.

Clematis virginiana

And when we turn to the annuals in the vegetable garden they are flowering beautifully.

Annuals in the vegetable garden

Including also the glads in neighboring rows.

Aaralyn Glad

Glad ‘Margaret Rose’

Lastly I should mention that we have had Evening Primrose growing on the hillside through most of this year.

Evening Primrose (Oenethera speciosa)

I was surprised to discover while perusing some my old orders from Park Seeds that I had actually order Oenethera seed back in 2001 and I’m now think this may be why we now have wild primrose growing in the pasture…