Bloom Day - Nov. 2010

Technical difficulties with Flickr made this post a day late, but it's worth wait...

Last month, I had too many flowers to pick from for my Garden Bloggers' Bloom Day post. This month, I had to look more carefully for flowers.

Shimp plant is one of my few stars this month. All three of my plants froze to the ground last year, and they have taken almost 10 months to regrow and bloom.

The flowers stay on the plants for a long time, which is nice since the plants themselves aren't as full as I'd hoped. If we don't have a record freeze this year, maybe the plants will grow more stems during the spring instead of having to start from the roots.


Piegon berry is growing near the shrimp plant in dry part-shade. Normally, its leaves are green, but recently they've turned shades of pink. This is its peak display of the year.


In the backyard, one of my Archduke Charles rose bushes is blooming like mad. The other is giving a more sporatic show.


My last strong bloomer this month is sweet olive. If I hadn't been looking for blooms to show you for GBBD, I would have missed these. Each plant had lots of tiny flowers but apparently not enough to create the hallmark strong apricot scent that you can smell from a distance. I couldn't smell anything until I got very close.

Nandina, Sweet Olive, Sweet Olive - March 2009

If you're thinking about buying sweet olives, here's my tip. Spend the extra money for the big plants. I planted one gallon pots in March 2009, and today - 20 months later- despite good care, the plants aren't much taller than when I started.

Rose, Sweet Olive, Nandina, Sweet Olive, Sweet Olive, Bailey - November 2010

Someday, when the plants are tall and full, I hope that I can open my back door and windows and enjoy the fragrance. That was my plan when I planted four of them along the foundation, but... at this rate it will be another five years before they even reach the window ledge.

My mini joy sedums are displaying almost a whole life cycle at once: immature buds, full buds, youthful flowers, aging flowers and seed heads.

A few "wanna be flowers" are looking great right now.

Fig Fruit

Nandina Berries

I also have a few plants for whom blooms are the exception right now rather than the rule.

Lopsided coneflower

Moonbeam Coreopsis

Garlic Chives (I love the tangled straps in the background)

Salvia Greggii

Lonely lantana bloom

Battered aster

Solitary black and blue salvia flower

Turk's Cap

Finally, to make up for the color that I know is on the way out, I rescued a some cool season annuals from the "death racks" at Lowes. In exchange for some TLC, they should provide bright spots throughout the winter.

Pansy

Dianthus

Petunia and Sweet Alyssum