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Winter Flowers Bloom In Season

Some flowers naturally bloom during winter.

Evergreen foliage and colorful berries might be more prominent than flowers about now. They should be. Evergreen foliage is, as implied, evergreen. Colorful berries need to be appealing to wildlife that disperses their seed through winter. Not so many winter flowers bloom, though. Most flowers want their bloom season to be favorable for their pollinators.

Flowers that do not rely on pollinators can bloom whenever they choose to. Yet, because they do not rely on pollinators, most waste no resources on floral color. Flowers are, after all, only colorful to attract pollinators. Therefore, if flowers that need no pollinators bloom now, most are easy to ignore. Flowers that are colorful now can probably justify being so.

Most colorful flowers bloom while their pollinators are most active, during warm weather. Some from cooler climates can bloom now simply because they do not know it is winter. Some from milder climates can bloom now because they do not know how cool winter is. Several winter flowers actually bloom now to exploit pollinators who are active in winter.

Winter flowers of some species of Salvia appeal very specifically to hummingbirds. Such species are native to regions where hummingbirds overwinter. Their floral colors are the sort that hummingbirds pursue. Their floral structure and nectar favor the eating habits of hummingbirds. They bloom during winter because that is when they expect their guests.

Camellias of various cultivars are among the most popular and reliable of winter flowers. Different cultivars bloom at slightly different times. Witch hazel cultivars can bloom nicely on bare stems where chill is adequate. Winter jasmine requires less chill and blooms as splendidly, but only with yellow. Oregon grape is also limited to yellow, but is evergreen.

Cool season annuals generally provide the most colorful of winter flowers. Unfortunately, most perform only until warmer spring or summer weather. Pansy, viola and primrose are the most familiar. Primrose becomes popular a bit later, and can continue as a short term perennial. Ornamental kale looks like big winter flowers, but is really big colorful foliage.

Posted on by tonytomeo · 20 Comments

Six on Saturday: Another Saturday of Flowers

A Week Of Flowers’ at ‘Words And Herbs’ got me started. It finished two weeks ago, and I did not even participate, but it reminded me that I should exhibit more floral pictures. Although the original project featured any floral pictures from any time of year, these six are all from yesterday, and actually, all are from the same relatively confined landscape. Minor frost that damages some vulnerable species within nearby landscapes is somehow less bothersome within this particular landscape. Elsewhere, some flowers are not quite as fresh. The only other common lantana within another landscape here was already cut back to the ground because its foliage succumbed to frost. It seems to know to postpone regeneration until after frost, but will likely succumb to frost next winter also. Although frost is mild here, it does happen.

1. Lantana camara, lantana was already damaged by mild frost at a lower elevation and less than a mile away. Even while damaged, though, it was still trying to bloom like this.

2. Lantana montevidensis, trailing lantana is purportedly slightly more resilient to frost than common lantana. However, its foliage can become very dark, as if it were damaged.

3. Tecomaria capensis, Cape honeysuckle is overrated. Its orange floral color is nice, but its flowers and floral trusses are too small and too scarce to display the color adequately.

4. Leonotis leonurus, lion’s tail bloom seems to resemble that of Cape honeysuckle, most likely because both attract sunbirds as pollinators where they are native in South Africa.

5. Tulbaghia violacea, society garlic is not among my favorite perennials, but is resilient and undemanding. This specimen has been abandoned for years, but constantly blooms.

6. Callistemon viminalis ‘Little John’ bottlebrush is now Melaleuca viminalis. I learned it as a cultivar of Callistemon citriodora that is more proportionate to compact gardens.

This is the link for Six on Saturday, for anyone else who would like to participate: https://thepropagatorblog.wordpress.com/2017/09/18/six-on-saturday-a-participant-guide/


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Six on Saturday: A Saturday Of Flowers

‘A Week Of Flowers’ at ‘Words And Herbs’ finished a week ago, but as I said last week, it reminded me that I should share more floral pictures.

1. Bergenia crassifolia, pigsqueak is as popular as it is because it is so easy to propagate merely by relocating rhizomes that migrate where they are not wanted. These eventually creep onto a low retaining wall around their area, providing more to relocate elsewhere.

2. Rosa spp. ‘Iceberg’ rose should finish bloom anytime. That bud to its upper left is not likely to open now that the weather is cool for winter. ‘Burgundy Ice’, in the background, is grafted onto the same rose tree with this ‘Iceberg’. I think that they look odd together.

3. Pelargonium hortorum, zonal geranium is getting overgrown enough to look shabby, but should not be pruned back until the end of winter. If it gets pruned back now, it will look even shabbier until it resumes growth as weather gets warmer at the end of winter.

4. Erigeron karvinskianus, Santa Barbara daisy flowers seems to be a bit lean in partial shade. Santa Barbara daisy can be an annoying weed, but within our landscapes, is more often an asset, adorning otherwise bare stone walls. I pull it out to refresh it after winter.

5. Rhododendron spp., azalea blooms lavishly for spring, but this particular unidentified cultivar also tosses out these few premature flowers for winter. Incidentally, it is merely coincidental that most of these Six bloom white. I just got pictures of what is prominent.

6. Helleborus X hybridus, hellebore is happy to self sow, but not as happy to perform. It does not bloom much. When it does, most of its flowers are spotty and grungy. Even the foliage is shabby. This flower, although pallid and weirdly blushed, is a delightful rarity.

This is the link for Six on Saturday, for anyone else who would like to participate: https://thepropagatorblog.wordpress.com/2017/09/18/six-on-saturday-a-participant-guide/

Posted on by tonytomeo · 12 Comments

Six on Saturday: a Week of Flowers

‘A Week Of Flowers’ at ‘Words And Herbs’ reminded me that I really should share more floral pictures. These are from yesterday, though, not all year.

1. Salvia chiapensis, Chiapas sage blooms as long as the weather is warm. Then, it takes so long to realize that the weather is no longer warm that, by the time it finishes the last of its bloom, the weather is beginning to get warm enough for it to resume bloom again.

2. Cestrum fasciculatum ‘Newellii’, red cestrum blooms about as continuously. It should have finished blooming about a month ago, but will likely continue until more sustained cool weather just like it did last year. After pausing briefly, bloom resumes before spring.

3. Rosa spp., carpet rose will eventually stop blooming and defoliate just long enough to get pruned back to the ground. It grows back like weeds, but such vigorous growth takes some time to decelerate enough to bloom, which might not be until the middle of spring.

4. Camellia sasanqua, sasanqua camellia has become more of a small tree than a shrub. These flowers are too high up to appreciate individually, but are impressive in profusion. I thought that it is ‘Navajo’, but it now does not seem pink enough, and is a bit too ruffly.

5. Iris X germanica ‘Rosalie Figge’, unlike any other bearded iris here, blooms whenever it wants to, even during the coldest or rainiest weather, with ruins such bloom. I am not certain of its identity. Someone here on Six on Saturday suggested this name, and it fits.

6. Iris unguicularis, Algerian iris from Skooter’s garden, which is perhaps more properly known as Tangly Cottage Gardening, is now blooming to prove that it actually is winter. I am very pleased that it is such perfect blue, without purple, and blooms during winter.

This is the link for Six on Saturday, for anyone else who would like to participate: https://thepropagatorblog.wordpress.com/2017/09/18/six-on-saturday-a-participant-guide/

Posted on by tonytomeo · 2 Comments

Alternatives For Fresh Flowers

Form develops as color fades.

There are so many choices for flowers to grow for cutting between spring and the end of summer. For autumn and winter though, the choices are somewhat limited. Of the few things that bloom this time of year, there are fewer that are good cut flowers, and even fewer that bloom continually or profusely enough to provide an abundance of flowers until other flowers start to become available again in spring. Besides, who wants to go out to the garden in wintry weather to get flowers to bring into the home?

Many plants have other parts that are showy enough to substitute for cut flowers in the home. Cut foliage, stems, seedpods and even bark can be useful. Some flowers can be dehydrated to last all year, but look nothing like they do while fresh; and the process is somewhat involved. The most convincing alternative to fresh flowers is probably dried flowers.

Not many flowers dry well. Almost all simply turn brown and deteriorate. Only a few remain intact and also keep some of their color. Roses and hydrangeas are commonly dried, although their colors fade and they become shriveled. Yarrow and baby’s breath likewise change their appearance as they dry, but not quite as much. It is not so obvious as their tiny flowers shrivel.

The best dried flowers look somewhat fresh when they are actually dried. Strawflower, statice, globe thistle and globe amaranth are four of the best examples. These flowers are actually rather ‘crispy’ while they are still fresh, and only become crispier as they dry. If left in the garden, the flowers deteriorate only because of exposure to weather, and eventually rot in winter rain.

Simply as fresh cut flowers, strawflower, statice, globe thistle and globe amaranth flowers last longer than just about any other flower. They can even be separated from mixed bouquets and dried as the other flowers deteriorate and get discarded. They only need the lower portions of their stems that were originally soaking in water to be cut off if significantly deteriorated.  

However, most dried flowers probably look best if dried immediately after getting cut, since their foliage yellows more as it dries slowly. Lightweight flowers, like baby’s breath and statice (except bulky perennial statice) can be arranged fresh but without water, and simply allowed to dry as they are arranged. The only potential problem with this technique is that flowers may be difficult to separate and recycle later.

Flowers are more often laid out to dry individually and then arranged afterward. Globe thistle and globe amaranth are rather pliable and can wilt while drying, which can change the shape and consistency of a formerly fresh floral arrangement. Once dried though, their stems remain firm, and they can then be arranged more permanently. Most flowers are adequately dry in about a week indoors (or outdoors in warm dry weather).  

Because strawflowers are rather bulky on soft stems that may wilt, they dry with straighter stems if hung upside down while drying. The biggest flowers should be hung singly. Smaller flowers can be hung in small bunches. This works for heavy flowers like roses, and wide flowers like yarrow as well.

Posted on by tonytomeo

Dried Flowers Were Formerly Fresh

Some faded bloom retains striking form.

All sorts of flowers bloom through autumn as well as winter. Honeysuckle still exudes its richly sweet summery fragrance. Honestly though, most flowers bloom for spring or early summer. They finished a while ago, and are now going to seed. Even flowers that bloom repeatedly do so less now. This is when floral design can get creative with dried flowers.

Straw flower, statice and globe amaranth are among the most familiar of all dried flowers. While still fresh, they already seem to be dry. They do not seem to change much as they dry. They neither fade nor wilt very much. Only their stems sag. If they hang upside down as they dry, their stems remain straight as they stiffen. Their foliage is likely unimportant.

Rose and hydrangea are among less conventional dried flowers that actually look dried. They fade and shrivel, but somehow develop a distinct visual appeal. Amaranth, celosia, lavender and globe thistle fade and wilt only somewhat. Because amaranth stems curve downward anyway, they need not hang to dry. Lavender stems can dry before collection.

Pampas grass and cattails are big and bold dried flowers that were popular in the 1970s. Hairspray should contain dislodged fuzz that otherwise escapes pampas grass bloom. It can also prevent cattail bloom from bursting to disperse its fuzz. Cattails typically grow in marshes, where they are difficult to reach. Pampas grass foliage inflicts nasty paper cuts.

Some dried flowers are better dried than fresh. Some are mere by products of bloom that deteriorated earlier. Dried floral trusses of lily of the Nile, without their seed capsules, are quite striking. So are dried floral spikes of New Zealand flax and some yuccas. They are merely deadheading debris otherwise. Even dried queen Anne’s lace is worth recycling.

Dried flowers do not necessarily need to be of floral origin. Dried bird of Paradise leaves develop weirdly twisty form. Colorful deciduous leaves can be as colorful in the home as in the garden. So can firethorn and cotoneaster berries. Twigs of ‘Sango Kaku’ Japanese maple and red twig dogwood provide color with form. These are only obvious examples. There are many more to experiment with.

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Six on Saturday: Firsts & Lasts

Angel’s trumpet should be finishing bloom by now. Instead, and even while their foliage is fading with cooler weather, their bloom continues. Only the unidentified cultivar with single pink flowers currently lacks open flowers, but even it is budded for potential later bloom. (I neglected to get a picture of a flower of ‘Charles Grimaldi’ angel’s trumpet only because two pictures of angel’s trumpet is sufficient.) While angel’s trumpet is finishing, Algerian iris and ‘Peach Delight’ ginger lily are blooming for their first time here and red butterfly ginger is generating bulbils for its first time here. I was not aware that this sort of ginger generates bulbils. Otherwise, I could have allowed the other gingers do so also.

1. Hedychium greenii, red butterfly ginger is making bulbils! I did not know that it knew how to do so. I am now glad that I refrained from pruning the bloomed canes out earlier.

2. Hedychium coccineum X cornonarium ‘Peach Delight’ ginger lily started to bloom so late that I did not expect for it to actually show this much color and confirm its identity.

3. Iris unguicularis, Algerian iris is also blooming for the first time here, since its arrival from Tangly Cottage Gardening. It should bloom more for winter. Is it blue or purplish?

4. Brugmansia, angel’s trumpet of an unidentified cultivar, species or perhaps hybrid, is trying to bloom with its last big single pink flowers of the season, and it just might do so.

5. Brugmansia insignis ‘Single White’ angel’s trumpet is my favorite in regard to bloom, but not one that I recommend. It is blooming nicely though, now that its season is done.

6. Brugmansia candida ‘Double White’ angel’s trumpet also intends to bloom until it no longer can. It bloomed only sporadically since spring, but better than the ‘Single White’.

This is the link for Six on Saturday, for anyone else who would like to participate: https://thepropagatorblog.wordpress.com/2017/09/18/six-on-saturday-a-participant-guide/

Posted on by tonytomeo · 8 Comments

Bloomless Hydrangea

This hedge of modern Hydrangea is completely devoid of bloom.

Modern cultivars of Hydrangea were not easy to adapt to. I learned how to prune old fashioned cultivars during their winter dormancy. I knew to retain the terminal buds of their retained canes to bloom for their following season. Pruning canes of modern cultivars back shorter and depriving them of their terminal buds in order to promote shrubbier growth seemed to be more like pruning roses. I did not trust them to bloom without their terminal buds. Not only do they bloom, but they do so a bit more abundantly, and with sturdier floral trusses that last and retain their floral color somewhat longer than those of old fashioned cultivars. Old fashioned cultivars have bloomed so reliably for the past few years that I am not so hesitant about pruning them back. However, this year, they inexplicably did not bloom. I do not mean that they bloomed sparsely, or that a few of the total did not bloom. I mean that none of the modern hydrangeas bloomed at all. The only hydrangeas that bloomed within the landscapes at work this year are the few remaining old fashioned sorts. All of the hydrangeas are healthy with vibrantly green foliage. Neither disease nor insect pathogens have been problematic. I can not explain this odd lack of bloom. With such vigorous canes, pruning should be easy this winter. However, I am more likely to leave awkwardly long canes in order to retain their terminal buds. Even if they are not necessary, terminal buds might provide an earlier prebloom prior to the bloom of stems that grow from lateral buds. I can not help but wonder why, while modern cultivars did not bloom, old fashioned cultivars did. A colony of unpruned feral Hydrangea near the bank of Zayante Creek was unusually prolific in bloom.

Unpruned feral Hydrangea bloomed unusually prolifically.
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Tabasco

Dahlia ‘Tabasco’

Annuals, as their designation implies, complete their respective life cycles within one year. Perennials, as their designation implies, can survive perennially, for more than one year. However, some bedding plants that are enjoyed as annuals actually have potential to be perennials. They are only as disposable as annuals because they are less appealing during dormancy or whatever season in which they do not perform so exemplarily. Most who enjoy gardening do not mind. Perennials that are designated as perennials but do not perform for more than a year are more disappointing. Of a few dahlias that the other horticulturist here purchased a few years ago, four were two pairs of bedding dahlias, which typically function as annuals, and one was a rather expensive perennial ‘Cafe au Lait’ dahlia. ‘Cafe au Lait’ rotted within its first season of minimal bloom. I was not at all keen on it anyway, and was even less keen on its lack of perennial performance. One pair of bedding dahlia, which I do not remember the name of, bloomed for two years, with bright yellow flowers against light green foliage. They would have bloomed again this year if I had stored them better and put them back into the landscape sooner. I forget about the stored dahlia tubers because we typically do not dig and store them here. The other pair of bedding dahlia was ‘Tabasco’. It originally bloomed with red flowers striped with orange, against dark green foliage. For the following year, it blooms with yellow flowers blotched with orange, against simpler green foliage. Now, for its third year, it blooms more like it appears in pictures, with simpler red flowers against bronzed foliage. I do not mind its variability, and actually find it to be interesting. I am more impressed by its perennial performance.