December Bloom Day (Town Mouse)

Yes! Finally it has rained. After the frost, a gentle, warm rain. Almost 60 degrees yesterday, and wet. I spent the morning in the garden, tidying up and making a few photos for Garden Blogger's Bloom Day, hosted by Carol at May Dreams Gardens.

Yes, we still have a few blooms. On the left, the last of the California Fuchsia (Epilobium canum). I cut most of it down to 1 inch, but didn't have the heart to cut the ones with blossoms. It's the hummingbirds' favorite, and there isn't all that much left for them.

The Salvia spatacea (Hummingbird sage) did bring out one flower stalk late in fall, but only two blossoms. Still, a welcome bit of color.


Surprisingly, the hummingbirds are very fond of our Tea tree (Leptospermum scoparium). It's certainly the wrong shape of flower, but they come visit almost every morning. While I favor natives, I'm really quite fond of the Tea tree which has some blossoms year round and attracts other birds as well.



The white blooming Chaparral current that I bought at Rana Creek nursery this September is starting to bud out. I'm acutally not sure whether it's Ribes malvaceum or Ribes indecorum, let's see what the blossoms look like. Right now, we have promising buds.

I've planted two currents in the area before the tea tree, which looks a little thin. I hope they'll fare well in this spot, which has quite a bit of sun in summer.


The white Camelia, which has been blooming since early November, is starting to get a little brown around the edges. Randy and Meg's Garden Paradise had a post about white Camelias recently, but I'm still not sure which one this is.


Also not sure about this South African daisy, which I bought in the spring and which has been someone's favorite food until just now. Well, the blossom is welcome, and doesn't it look great with some raindrops on it?


The wine barrel is overflowing from the rains, and the Eriogonum fasciculatum on the left looks happy (no, that's not a real frog front center, it's porcelain).


The first manzanita are also starting to bloom and put out bright green new leaves; a welcome sight after the long summer.

Even the hot tub duckies are enjoying the wet weather and wishing everyone a Happy Bloom Day (the solistice is only a few days away, then the days get longer again).