Garden Bloggers' Bloom Day - December '09

I almost didn't do a December Bloom Day post because I couldn't fit it in on the 15th, and then yesterday was much the same, but today I resolved to get it done!

Not that there's a lot to show, but I do have a few house plants blooming, and some of the overwintering plants are putting out blooms.

Abutilon Gold Dust is the star, with more than a dozen lovely orange flowers and loads of buds.

Outside on the front porch during the summer it produces sparse blooms, but overwintering in the house it really revs up production! Strange plant. But beautiful, so I happily forgive its idiosyncrasies.

Another orange bloomer is Columnea, sometimes called Goldfish Plant because the flowers resemble little goldfish. That's a pink Bacopa on the shelf below, which sowed itself in a last year's container and grew into a nice healthy little plant. I couldn't bear to throw it away in the fall so I potted it up and brought it inside. Bacopa is a half hardy annual here in the northeast. It'll be interesting to see what it does.

The overwintering wax begonias have a few blooms, but the Thanksgiving/Christmas cacti are both finished blooming, unfortunately.

I brought the pot of Anemone de caen into the house too because they were still popping out blooms.....and to my surprise are continuing to do so. I love these glorious blue flowers!

The Babywing begonia was disappointing this past summer after growing into such a beautiful plant last year. Begonias can be baffling. Sometimes, for no apparent reason, they just begin to whither and die off. I managed to save a couple of pieces of this one
and they rooted, so I didn't lose it entirely. Now I need to snip off another cutting, and keep doing that until I can hopefully make the plant fuller again. Does anyone have any tips on how to keep them healthy?

This is last year's Poinsettia!

It's just a small one that I kept on the covered side porch all summer and neglected badly. A few weeks ago I noticed red bracts on it, so I brought it inside and began treating it a little better (like watering it!). There are 2 more sets of bracts turning red now. I don't know if they'll get bigger, but I'm happy just to see them small. I didn't give the poor little plant any special treatment to make it turn (I think it's supposed to have at least 11 hours of darkness - or is it 14? - each day for a certain period of time) so this is a very pleasant surprise. I've named it The Little Poinsettia That Could!

In two of the upstairs bedrooms overwintering geraniums are happily blooming and there are also some under lights in the cellar.

Some of the containers are in the cellar as well. There were plants still blooming long into the fall and I didn't want to throw them on the compost heap, so I just left them in the garage and they kept right on blooming with very little light. With the onset of very cold weather we recently moved them to the cellar. This is a purple Osteospermum (African or Cape Daisy) and it's blooming its head off. The warmth of the cellar brought on a whole slew of new buds! I wonder how long it will last.

This is "Copper Purple" Osteo. It has few flowers but is still looking happy.

I usually put the vinca vines into the veggie garden to overwinter, but the ground was too wet with all the rain we had before Thanksgiving, and then the cold set in and I caught that nasty cold bug and couldn't get out there to do the job. This one is in the cellar but will eventually go outside (I hope). That purple spike is a cordyline I'm attempting to overwinter.

Outside in the garden there are no blooms, only ice and snow. Last Saturday, when the temperature warmed enough to loosen the ice in the birdbath, I dumped it out and it made a pretty ice sculpture in the snow with the embedded leaf.

The little Rock Garden #2 is wearing a blanket of snow and I need to get the de-icer out for the birdbath so that the birds will have some water available.

I hope you'll find the time to visit Carol of May Dreams Gardens to see what else is blooming in other parts of the world.
To those of you in warmer climes: Please soak up some of that warmth and color for those of us in the frozen north!
I hope you're all enjoying the pre-Christmas season and finding at least a little time to relax and remember the reason for the season.