Oxalis palmifrons

I have been growing Oxalis palmifrons since 2013 without a hint of a flower to be seen.  This year, upon my return from Thanksgiving in Boston, I was surprised and happy to see the first buds on the little Oxalis palmifrons (obtained from Plant Delights).

Oxalis palmifrons

You may remember that Oxalis palmifrons has these delightful little palm-like leaves, and the flowers are just a marvelous bonus!

Oxalis palmifrons

In the greenhouse there are still more Oxalis in bloom.

Oxalis massoniana

Oxalis caprina

And the Daubenya that blooms very reliably for Thanksgiving.

Daubenya stylosa

I remember first seeing it at the Brooklyn Botanic Garden over a Thansgiving holiday.

Also in bloom from the greenhouse (though I’ve brought it into the house to enjoy) is the first of the small Narcissus for this year.

Narcissus catabricus ‘Silver Palace’

I actually counted 24 blooms in the pot tonight.

In the house for the winter time is the Amazon Lily.  Characteristically this one flowers every thanksgiving holiday in celebration of the fact that it belonged to Beth’s mother who always used to prepare the thanksgiving meal for the family.  And it flowers again outside in July.  This year it seemed to outdo itself with flowers which carried a wonderful fragrance we had not noticed before.

Amazon Lily (Eucharis x grandiflora)

Amazon Lily (Eucharis x grandiflora)

Bear in mind that this plant has been in the same pot for about 30 years with only occasional watering.

Something funny happened on the way to the greenhouse to take some of these pictures.  Despite the fact that we have been down to 20 degrees in mid-November, the subsequent weather has only hovered around freezing for the lows.  I noticed a very spritely little wallflower in bloom.

Cascade wallflower (Erysimum arenicola)

And then the first of our nominally spring-blooming camellias.

Camelia japonica red

How’s that for the beginning of December in Maryland…:)

Einkianthus quinqueflorus

With so much happening out of doors right now it would be easy to pass by some of the things happening in the greenhouse.  At the back of the greenhouse I almost missed seeing the flowers of this lovely evergreen Einkianthus.  I’m usually looking at the pots, especially when for what is just popping up from seed and I had already concluded there were no flower buds on this Einkianthus.  Imagine my surprise when I saw this shrub has many flowers on it (the first time for us).  Apparently the flowers follow the leaves.  The drooping bells are much larger and prettier than the normal Einkianthus alatus, but the plant is probably not hardy here.  We put the pot in the ground after last frost.

Einkianthus quinqueflorus

It is especially easy to miss the Moraeas since the flowers have very short duration.  But the colors are marvelous from these little plants from the iris family.

Moraea macronyx

I don’t know if the torn petals were from normal wear and tear or some critter.  But what was left is lovely.  Wait till next year.

Two more stunning Moraeas follow.

Moraea tripetala ssp. tripetala

Moraea elegans

I should have more Moraeas over the next few weeks.

There are also several lachenalias in bloom.

Lachenalia unicolor

And a marvelous little ornithogalum.

Ornithogalum sp. (ex McGary PBS)

This one may be worth a try outside.

And another almost missed is this lovely hesperantha.

Hesperantha falcata showing unopened bud as well

On a hunch I went out to the greenhouse after supper and found the hesperantha was blooming although all the buds had been tightly closed at 3pm.  Apparently this hesperantha specializes in serving the nighttime insects.  How many of those we have in Maryland right now I’m not sure.  I first grew this plant several years ago and then lost the parent but I had saved the seed and this is the first child of that mother plant.  By the way all of these plants except the Einkianthus came from the Pacific Bulb Society‘s seed and bulb exchanges.  It’s a marvelous source of botanical marvels.  Besides opening at the night the Hesperantha falcata exudes a lovely scent to attract all of us late night flower hunters…

Hesperantha falcata

Lewisia pygmaea

I was surprised to see that a little pot of Lewisia pygmaea seedlings was flowering even though I think of Lewisia as spring flowering plants.  But a little research showed that indeed they can flower again in the fall after being dormant in the summertime.  The odd thing here is that this is the first bloom for these plants.  They only just germinated this spring from seeds distributed by the Alpine Garden Society in 2013.  And there are no such flowers on the plants in the alpine bed which flowered wonderfully this spring.  Anyway I’ll enjoy them as a little bit of spring in the fall.

The greenhouse is producing the other pronounced springtime right now.  All those plants that happily produce wintertime flowers are putting up green shoots like mad and some are even flowering.  The oxalis caught me off-guard with their rapid growth.  I dimly remembered planting them in early September last year, but that is clearly too late.  This is what some of the new acquisitions looked like when I pulled them out of their bag.

Oxalis sprouting

And the plants that I had moved to basement to spend a dormant summer were growing vigorously, regardless of having neither water or light.  Needless to say I will be more aware next year.  Anyway, I potted the new ones up and brought the old ones from the basement.  And in a little more than two weeks they are growing vigorously.

Oxalis caprina

Oxalis caprina

Oxalis caprina was the first to flower, even though it was just planted from a bulb.  It’s small and a bit scraggly as a plant but like all the oxalis it’s flower is worth looking at closely.  Second on the scene is Oxalis polyphylla v. heptaphylla.

Oxalis polyphylla v. heptaphylla

In this case it is from one of last year’s pots.  The flowers are somewhat larger than the Oxalis caprina.  Many more varieties are on the way.

Oxalis hirta (pink)

Oxalis bowiei

Altogether I count more than 35 different kinds of oxalis at this point, mostly from the Pacific Bulb Society bulb exchange and Telos Rare Bulbs.

The oxalis have lots of friends and neighbors that are sprouting too.  The Ferrarias, Moraeas, Babianas, and Lachenalias are all coming along rapidly.

Ferraria ferrariola

So you can see that I am actively contemplating the greenhouse in bloom but the outside is still filled with fall pleasures.  I’ll leave you with an image of Chrysanthemum abundance.

Yellow Chrysanthemums