Liar, Liar, Pants on Fire

When I said in my recent post for Garden Bloggers Bloom Day that I didn't have anything flowering out in the garden, that wasn't actually true. I didn't realize it, but I had overlooked my Mahonia x media 'Charity.' The one nearest the house, that I can see from my TV room window, has turned mostly to tiny "Oregon grapes." But two others, that are out further in the back garden, are not quite as far along in their flowering state, which I'm sure the hummingbirds appreciate.

Foliage Followup -- December 2016

For Foliage Followup I'm sharing some shots of foliage that is not pretty, but, to my eye, interesting. I'm always intrigued at this time of year to actually find foliage that is dried up and crisp, rather than soggy, given how very much rain we get in the fall and winter. By rights, everything should be brown mush, and a lot of stuff is. But this red twig dogwood, which didn't get enough water this summer, turned dry early, and the leaves have been hanging on for a long time, refusing to drop off. They're curled up and twisted into such fascinating and kind of beautiful shapes.

Pam at Digging hosts Foliage Followup on the sixteenth of every month, the day after Garden Bloggers Bloom Day. Check out her post here.

Garden Bloggers Bloom Day -- December 2016

Right now, after our recent series of hard frosts and light snow, there is nothing flowering out in the garden on Garden Bloggers Bloom Day. Fortunately, there is a scant handful of flowers inside the greenhouse.

Echeveria 'Black Prince'

Echeveria 'Black Prince'

Old Lady Cactus Mammillaria hahniana

Technically not open yet, Begonia fuchsioides is about to flower, so I'm including it -- after all, who knows what will be going on in January?

Pelargonium sidoides hasn't stopped since I brought it into the greenhouse, but the finish line is near, I think

I repotted Iochroma 'Ashcott Red' when I brought it into the greenhouse, and it flushed out a new set of leaves and lots of flowers

Aloe 'Grassy Lassie' puts out a tiny flower, not open yet, but such an intense orange I had to share it

Carol at May Dreams Gardens hosts Garden Bloggers Bloom Day on the 15th of every month. Check out her post here.

Bugging Out I

This little cutie on the seedhead of a Verbascum ended up in the focus of my camera lens a couple of weeks ago, before our recent frost, while I was looking for something interesting to share for Wednesday Vignette. I wonder now if I should have captured her and put her inside the greenhouse. But I do occasionally use Neem Oil in there, because the close conditions encourage aphids, whitefly, and spider mites. So I left her to her own life cycle outside in the wilderness of the garden, where I never use chemicals.

"Lady Bug, Lady Bug, Fly Away Home..."

Anna at Flutter & Hum hosts Wednesday Vignette. Check out her post here.

More Frost, Hoar Frost

Although technically none of my photos here are of hoar frost, which is thicker and "hairier" than this, the temptation to use the title of my post to make allusion to one of my favorite lines from the movie "Young Frankenstein" was too good to ignore.

For the last few days we've been in the grip of a cold snap, with our temperatures going down below freezing overnight and rising above during the day, resulting in a lovely rime of frost everywhere in the morning. One of the quirks of PNW weather is that when our temperatures plummet in winter, the rain stops and the sun comes out. I ran out on Wednesday morning with my camera to get some pictures before the sun completely melted the frost away, while it was still sparkling like stars. The sparkle was hard to capture, but I tried.

Golden morning sunshine

Tetrapanax leaf rimed with frost and speared through and through by Chaemerops humilis

Agave havardiana

Arctostaphylos

Arctostaphylos shining in spots almost like it's flecked with minerals

Verbascum seedpods

Cacophonous mess of Achillea and Verbasum foliage

The curled-up needles of Abies koreana 'Silberlocke' already look like they are frosted on the underside

Erysimum

Cardoon

Euphorbia

Phlomis

Frost on moss

I've seen deer in our neighborhood lately, but so far haven't seen them in my own garden. But there's evidence they've been around, in the form of cloven footprints embedded in the frozen soil, and at least one Itoh peony that looks like it's being chewed on. Do deer eat peonies? I thought they were poisonous.

Where deer? Here deer. Oh dear.

The cold snap is slated to end today with a doom and gloom forecast of a dreadful snowstorm. Are you wondering how much snow they're saying we'll get?

Two to four.

Inches.

Yes, inches. I can hear you laughing.

I hope we survive. I'll probably be making Christmas cookies.

Wednesday Vignette

Today my Wednesday Vignette is a shot of something soft and fluffy that evidently got left behind when a birdie was chowing down on the spiky seedhead of a coneflower. I was prowling around the garden with my camera recently when I noticed this little feather.  I'm sure the neighbors look at me strangely as I peer and bend over and contort myself into all kinds of positions to get "The Shot." This one was worth it.

Anna at Flutter & Hum hosts Wednesday Vignette. Check out her post here.

First Frost

We had our first frost last night. Although yesterday morning we technically had some big fat flakes of snow falling, the air temperature didn't actually go below freezing, and the snow melted on contact with the ground and didn't stick. But last night the temperatures went down to at least 31, maybe lower (the thermometer said 31 at 7:30, just before sunrise, when we left for the train station).

Frost always reminds me of sugar crystals

Lots of water droplets frozen in place

Water frozen in its course on a Tetrapanax leaf

Like the water, my work in the garden is at a standstill until the temperatures warm up a bit. I'll probably be back out there once we get temps that are steadily in the 40s, even if it's raining.