Welcome to Garden Bloggers’ Bloom Day for November 2008.
Here in my zone 5 garden, it is definitely almost winter, but a few foxgloves, Digitalis purpurea, haven’t gotten the message and are hanging on. Shhh… let’s not tell them, or any garden fairies sleeping nearby, that this growing season is over.
I haven’t quite faced the end of the season, either, as shown by these container plants that I’ve left until the bitter end.
That bitter end will probably come tomorrow for these flowers, or maybe next week. Or definitely the day after Thanksgiving when I start to put up Christmas decorations. Maybe.
I’m definitely leaving this bird’s nest alone. I’m pretty sure it’s a robin’s nest and it won’t be used again, but I like seeing it there, so there it will stay.
I’m always happy when I find birds’ nests in the trees after the leaves fall off. It makes me feel like I’m doing something right in my garden, if the birds choose my trees and big shrubs to build their nests in.
Oh, were we supposed to talk about our blooms on bloom day? Sorry about that. Gads, sometimes I get distracted.
Along with the foxglove, there are lots of sedum blooms in the garden.Most are pretty dry now and have turned to various shades of brown and deep purple. I’ll leave these for winter interest. They look good with snow on them.
Other remnants of bloom in the garden include Hydrangeas, mums, Hydrangeas, coneflower seed heads, Aster seeds heads and a few old roses on my one small carpet rose.
I should really trim back the asters or I’ll be ‘busting my aster’ pulling out aster seedlings in the spring. I’ll do that maybe tomorrow or next week, or definitely by the day after Thankskgiving.
For some reason, late in the year, once it gets cold and dreary out, it seems like a lot of ‘procrastination’ blooms in my garden. How about in yours? Do you need help identifying it? If so, let me know sometime and maybe I’ll help determine if it is growing in your garden. It’s hard to get good a picture of ‘procrastination’, but I know it blooms in my late season garden.
One other plant that is growing in my garden that is worth a mention are the Lenten Roses, Helleborus sp.
While much of the garden is turning tan or brown as it goes dormant, Helleborus will stay dark green all through the winter.When everything else looks dull and lifeless, this spot of green will remind me that spring is “just” around the corner.
What’s blooming in your garden in mid-November for Garden Bloggers’ Bloom Day? We would love to have you post on your blog about your blooms today and then leave a comment here, so we can find you and come for a ‘virtual garden visit’.
*****
“We can have flowers nearly every month of the year.” – Elizabeth Lawrence
Anonymous says
In my zone 7b garden Carol I have quite a few things still hanging on for dear life. I like that shade of purplish brown your sedums have turned. They will look interesting w/snow on their clusters. My post is up!
Kylee Baumle says
CAROL! Don’t faint! My post for Garden Blogger’s Bloom Day is up!!
Your hellebores look fabulous!
Rose says
Those containers look awfully good for this time of year! My Bloom Day post will be up at 5 AM tomorrow, well I guess that’s 6 AM for those of you east of Illinois. Snow is in the forecast for tomorrow, so my blooms won’t last long!
Naturegirl says
Carol your containers are still showing color!! The sedum is striking
too! Here in my garden I’ve cut most plants back but my roses..oh my roses still have blossoms and buds!! I don’t know if those buds will open before Jack Frost hits but I’m watching.
I had made a decision to post a ~special garden~ today.
LINDA from Each Little World says
Carol — I’m with you when it comes to Hellebores. Few other plants have their presence at any time but certainly none in November. I did manage to find quite a few things still green and growing to post and even one plant still blooming! I was quite amazed as that is not the norm here in Zone 5.
Looking forward to visiting lots of gardens to see what everyone has blooming.
Corner Gardener Sue says
Hi! That sedum is on my list of plants I want to grow next year. I think you should let those pansies stay in that pot all winter and see if they send up new growth in the spring. I have had that happen.
I just put my post up, and since I wrote it before my squirrel one, and had it saved until later, I thought it had failed to go up, until I scrolled down to look. It said something about the autosave not working, I thought it was gone!
Today I looked at a couple GBBD blogs from a year ago, to see what kinds of plants people posted about, and noticed that only a couple people had links to theirs here in your comments. When you click on the name, it goes to the profile, so I suggest we, like a few have done, put links to our each months’ GBBD blogs here.
(Carol, I was thinking about emailing you to see if I could suggest this, but I read your instructions first, and you said there were no rules, so let us know if you don’t like the idea. Thanks, Sue, A Corner Garden)
http://www.blogger.com/post-create.g?blogID=8333330062798605073
Now, I hope that worked!
Corner Gardener Sue says
When I pasted my url, it didn’t turn into a link, and then I noticed it wasn’t the same as what’s there on the page for bloom day. I’m trying again.
http://acornergarden.blogspot.com/2008/11/garden-bloggers-bloom-day-111508.html
Unknown says
Sue… use this:
$a href="http://acornergarden.blogspot.com/2008/11/garden-bloggers-bloom-day-111508.html"%Sue's Garden Bloggers' Bloom Day Post$/a%
Only put a < where every $ is, and a > where every % is. That will let you post the whole link correctly, with "Sue's Garden Bloggers' Bloom Day Post" as the text that shows the link.
Unknown says
Almost forgot, here is Blackswamp Girl Kim’s Garden Bloggers’ Bloom Day Post!
Carol, I certainly won’t tell your foxgloves that they’re way too late, but you have to whisper this way and let my sedums know that they all turned brown (not your gorgeous shade of purple!) too early.
And you never know about that robin’s nest. Mourning doves tend to use other birds’ nests for themselves (which is sometimes preferable, since they build such messy ones!) so maybe you’ll have some of them next year?
Anonymous says
I think I figured it out! If you haven’t yet, and this works, I clicked below on Name/URL. I put what I wanted into the name, and then copied and pasted the http info into the URL blank. Please bear with me if I’m the only person who didn’t know that yet, or if it doesn’t work.
Have a great weekend!
Anonymous says
LOL, Kim, I just checked to see if anyone else had posted here, and saw that your two posts had come between my second and third. I did succeed in putting a link, but it didn’t turn out with my name on it, just “november gbbd ’08.” So, that’s mine! I’ll have to try your method next time! I did put the URL in again, so I think if you click on my name here, it will get to the same spot as the above one.
Unknown says
Yup, it did work! You can use that html coding that I posted in your regular comment text next time, though, if you prefer.
Anonymous says
Your garden still looks pretty good to me Carol! Way more variety in color than I have in my zone 5 garden.
I think I have only participated in GBBD once (I have a terrible memory) but I am posting for November. Thank you for coming up with such a great idea.
joco says
Hiya Carol,
Ever decreasing circles…..
But still a little to cheer us up everywhere, I’m sure.
Seedlings and birds: You must be doing something right!
My blooms, mostly under glass, are at “Odds and sods” :
HERE
Yolanda Elizabet Heuzen says
Well, you know what is in flower in my garden as my post has been up since yesterday.;-)
What fun that the digitalis is putting up a few blooms especially fpr GBBD, how kind of them. And your containers still look very cheerful too. Your sedums look better than mine, mine are black and brown, probably due to all that rain.
Happy GBBD!
Helen/patientgardener says
Hi Carol – see my GBBD post athttp://patientgardener.wordpress.com/2008/11/15/gbbd-november-2008/
Not too many blooms but it was also blowing a gale so I did hang around too long taking the photos!!
Ewa says
Ehe, your first picture made me laugh.
I posted some pictures of flowers in my garden in Poland, zone 6. There is also cup of tea waiting.
Come and see:
http://www.tinyurl.pl?Y5TeIDgh
VP says
This comment has been removed by the author.
VP says
Hi Carol – like your garden, my blooms have been hanging on for November, so there’s more to show everyone than I thought.
http://vegplotting.blogspot.com/2008/11/gbbd-hanging-on.html
Anonymous says
Not much flowery action here in southeastern Pennsylvania, but some color nonetheless. My post is up at Nan’s Bloom Day Post. Happy Bloom Day!
Anonymous says
It is amazing how the foxgloves keep throwing out the odd flower. I really like the picture of your birds nest in the tree.
My post is up – although there is not a lot flowering in my garden.
Warm regards
K
Zoë says
All looking sad and neglected here too (because it has been for weeks), although there is promise of things to come, the hellebore, and viburnums are budding up already.
Anonymous says
Hi Carol, what an amazing thing for those foxgloves! I do believe the fairies not only know about that, but had a hand in it. You know how they are. And when you can get a photo of that elusive procrastination, it will be one for the books! Thanks again for this wonderful idea.
here.
Anonymous says
Hmmm, something happened to my last sentence but the link took.
It should read:
My post is up and can be viewed here.
Frances (sorry)
Sarah Laurence says
Carol, your garden is so green and colorful! The leaves are down and nothing is blooming in Maine, but I was in NYC last weekend and visited a park in my old neighborhood that will be unfamiliar to most people:
New York Surprise
Thanks for hosting GBBD!
Katarina says
I love your birds’ nest, Carol! It’s very pretty even without birds…
The bitter end will probably come very soon here as well, but there are quite a few flowers in my garden. Surprisingly many, must say.
Thanks for hosting GBBD – my post is up too.
Katarina
Anonymous says
This month’s scans — Foliage and fuzz — are up: http://www.remarc.com/craig/?p=518
Les says
Carol, thanks for hosting once again. We share similar tastes in plants, despite our zonal difference. I love Hellebores, and my most bountiful crop is Procrastination. However, it is easier to appreciate Elizabeth Lawrence the further south you live. I still have quite a few blooms hanging on, as well as fall color and the beginning of the the winter blooms. Thanks again an here is my link:
A Tidewater Gardener – November Bloom Day
Meems says
Carol, I love the bird’s nest in that barren tree, too. Symbols of life and doing things right like you said. The foxglove is a pretty sight and aren’t you glad plants don’t always follow the rules when it goes our way? The sedum will be very nice to have all winter as they continue to fade and cap with snow.
I learned you will have something green in your garden all winter. That Helleborus would be catching my attention when days are drab or gloomy.
Great fun this GBBD creation is… thanks again for hosting!
My Florida garden has slowed a wee bit but still has some blooms to offer for November here.
Meems
Gail says
Carol,
Nice bloom going on!I wish I knew your secret to growing foxglove…you can even get it to bloom in the fall! I do think a few procrastination blooms have seeded in my garden, too!
Thank you Carol for hosting Bloom Day and mine is up! http://clayandlimestone.blogspot.com/
Gail
Daphne Gould says
Up here in the NorthEast nothing much is blooming at least in my garden. But here is my post about would could have been.
Marie says
Procrastinate in the garden? Who me? Can I help it if the seat of my pants is stuck to a chair?
I did manage to get out in the garden and take some pictures and post them this week.
I feel like a lump.
http://bethlehem-pa-gardening.blogspot.com/
Mr. McGregor's Daughter says
Hooray for confused Foxgloves! It's such a treat to have plants go beyond the call of duty & throw out blooms this late in the season. Elizabeth Lawrence's quote is my motto. It is attainable in years with a warm winter. We'll see what happens this year.
I suffer from late autumn procrastination, but it's really more about not getting my fingers frozen. Somebody needs to invent gardening mittens. I posted my Bloom Day entry a day early as the weather has taken a turn for the worse. I guess I rake with mittens on.
F Cameron says
First time to your blog!
Although I’ve been blogging since 03/2007, I didn’t find Blotanical until this fall. Today, I saw PGL’s link to your blog. Now I understand where the “Bloom Day” started!
Thanks,
Cameron
Defining Your Home Garden
Chapel Hill, North Carolina
Mr. McGregor's Daughter says
I'm following Kim's advice & trying the direct link. I've never gotten it to work before: my post.
Yay, it worked! Thanks, Kim!
Linda aka Crafty Gardener says
There is nothing blooming in my Canadian zone 5b garden. Thank goodness for houseplants that are blooming. I’ll be doing the virtual tour today to get my fix of garden blooms in other parts of the world.
Linda, aka Crafty Gardener
Commonweeder says
I can’t believe how many people still have flowers outside. I have documented my puny buds on my Bloom Day site. You’ve got me thinking about hellebores.
WashingtonGardener says
Isn’t finding an unexpected bird’s nest like stumbling upon some secret little world that you didn’t know existed right under your nose? Here you are gardening just feet away and a whole family came together and you never knew.
My bloom day post is up here now: http://washingtongardener.blogspot.com/2008/11/gloomy-bloom-day.html
Anonymous says
Carol, Thank you for already visiting my GBBD post – it’s a little shy on blooms though, I’ll admit! The bird’s nest is a beauty – it’s another kind of bloom if we bend the rules a bit!
Sweet Home and Garden Carolina says
Happy GBBD, Carol. I’m on standby this weekend awaiting the birth of our newest little gardener, a granddaughter.
My post is up.
beckie says
Carol, here I posted extra early and forgot to comment. Your sedums are really lovely and WILL look great with snow on them. I also like the look of birds’ nests in the trees. And I sure know what you mean about procratination blooming this time of the year!
Anonymous says
Carol, I’m going public with a new blog about my own tiny garden with a GBBD post. There’s still too much in bloom for November – I’m ready for winter! (I wonder if my hellebores are still alive…)
Unknown says
Oh, were we supposed to talk about blooms on bloom day? I guess I got a little distracted too. LOL. My post is up http://cbmvwag.blogspot.com/2008/11/november-bloom-day.html
I don’t thing I said much about my poor pansies though. They’re quite the troopers to have in a zone 3/4 garden that seems to be in the throws of winter already!
chaiselongue says
Beautiful sedum flowers! It’s late autumn/winter here even in our warmer Mediterranean climate and we haven’t many flowers as we’ve been concentrating on the vegetables – but what we have is on my blog now.
Meadowview Thymes says
Hi Carol-my post is up. It is just now getting cold in Texas, so I have a few blooms today.
http://meadowviewthymes.blogspot.com
steelystyle says
Blooming today is…I don’t know! Maybe you can help. Also, fall fruits and some colorful leaves.
Anonymous says
Carol,
Thanks for being host to this event. Here is my meager offering on a bleak November day. Helleborus foetidus is coming later in the winter.
Unknown says
You have some great photos, holing on to the bitter end! Good girl. Thanks for hosting this.
Anonymous says
The only blooms I have this month are in my kitchen and laundry room, not in my garden. We’re going to get 20` weather tonight, so whatever isn’t already frosted out will be brown tomorrow.
http://www.motherearthsgarden.com/garden-blogger-bloom-day-november-2008/
gintoino says
Hi Carol, thank you for hosting GBBD once again, My pos t is up at
http://jardimcomgatos.blogspot.com/2008/11/em-flor-garden-bloggers-bloom-day.html
chuck b. says
I cannot believe it’s November 15th already. Sheesh!
http://back40feet.blogspot.com/2008/11/november-bloom-day.html
Anonymous says
Gracious, you’ll be busy answering bloom day posts for days. I’ve got mine up. Procrastination not only grows @ Rosehaven, it blooms there pretty much all the time. Thanks again for naming my garden. I promise the books will be in the mail Monday.~~Dee
Barbarapc says
What a wonderfully fun and silly thing to do up here on the northern shore of Lake Ontario – enjoyed every minute of it & am looking forward to seeing what's happening in gardens around the world.
Corner Gardener Sue says
I decided to go ahead and try this to get a link to my blog in the body of the comment. Thanks for the instructions, Kim! I won’t be able to read or post comments until this evening and the next few days. It’s cool to see so many people involved in this! Thanks, Carol!
Sue’s Garden Bloggers’ Bloom Day Post
Annie in Austin says
Foxgloves and pansies! Isn’t it funny, Carol, that the flowers blooming in your garden look like spring?
There are tons of plants in bloom here right now and my November Bloom Day Post was up on time, but then I forgot to leave a link. We have frost possible tonight so Philo & I are trying to jam tender plants into the garage.
A lot of what's blooming in my garden today may not be there tomorrow, but there will be photos because you invented Bloom Day.
Annie at the Transplantable Rose
The Constant Gardener says
Wow, lucky you still having foxgloves. Mine went ages ago. And the sedums have gone soggy what with all the rain we’ve been having…
Never mind, there’s a bit still hanging on in there, so I took some photos and put my GBBD post up just now.
Thanks Carol!
vertie says
Hi Carol,
Here’s my bloom day post. I love those sedums. My garden is finally getting its act together just as yours winds down.
Vertie
http://tinyurl.com/5u5vx4
Green thumb says
Hi Carol, We all share similar apprehension about the inevitable, impending frost! But right now, the blooms are there in the garden for us to enjoy.
Your Sedum looks striking and the Pansies are vibrant!!
My bloom’s day list is up too.
Best Wishes
Anonymous says
There’s not much to my bloom day post for this month: I do have blooms, but nothing so exciting that I want to go out in the damp 30s weather to photograph. Won’t we be getting seed catalogs for the springtime soon?
a says
I’m procrastinating too… as long as there are any signs of life, we’re not done yet, right? Another Indiana gardener in denial.
-arythrina
http://metaphyta.blogspot.com/2008/11/bloom-day-november-15-2008.html
garden girl says
Hi Carol, once again, thanks for sponsoring GBBD. I’m pleased to still have some blooms in spite of our decidedly November gloomy weather suddenly descending upon us this week. If not for sunny windows and the basement greenouse, I would have the sum total of 4 bugbane blooms left in the garden. My post is here: http://gardengirl-lintys.blogspot.com/2008/11/november-bloom-day.html
As always, thanks for this inspirational monthly event. the wheels are turning in the recesses of my mind for plant purchases next spring to expand the early spring and late fall bloom potential in our garden!
Anonymous says
I’d like to second Sue in calling for URLs in the body of comments. I like to copy them into my browser bar, then toggle back and forth between this comments window and my main browser. So…here’s mine (click on ricki’s blog in navigation bar at bottom of any page):
http://bannersbyricki.com
Thanks again, Carol…not sure I would be paying close attention to my garden without this forum to spur me on…and would have missed so much.
Lisa at Greenbow says
I just wanted to let you know while I was GADding about this morning I got a couple of pictures to show my pitaful excuse for November blooms.
Happy GGBD…
Horselip's Horse Sense says
Hello everybody. A friend told me about this blog and told me I should visit. I just started a new gardening blog about gardening here in Austin Tx (zone 8) and this is my first post of what’s blooming. This is a great idea! I really like seeing what’s blooming in all the gardens around the world.
I’m checking out the blogs one by one on here and will see as many as I can. Please feel free to check out my blog and let me know what you think.
Thanks
Randy
Lythrum says
Hi all I posted my remaining roses on my blog. I garden in zone 7b in Alabama. I look forward to seeing everyone’s gardens and blogs.
Anonymous says
My garden is in the mountains of western North Carolina (zone 6B). My blooms right now are the last of the Sheffield pink mums, some yellow mums, asters, some kind of wild aster, gentian, witch hazel, one confused day lily, and the last remnants of red and blue salvia. The forecast for this week is for temperatures as low as 16 so I don’t expect some of these to last much longer.
Indoors I have an orchid, geraniums, begonias and some confused Christmas cactus that always bloom before Thanksgiving.
Anonymous says
Zanthan Gardens post up. The same few diehards that made it through summer.
I love foxgloves. They are one of my favorite flowers to long for whenever I am in England.
Kate and Crew says
We have a handful of mammoth sunflowers in the garden and a couple of impatiens and a purple pansy out front. We’ve never had a great bloom day, but I take what I can get.
Here’s my post on Gardening Without Skills
http://gardeningwithoutskills.blogspot.com/2008/11/happy-bloom-day.html
THANKS and HAPPY BLOOM DAY!
Rusty in Miami says
HI Carol, my GBBD post is up, and thanks for continue to host this great tradition.
Anonymous says
Better late then never. I finally got my pictures loaded. You can find my bloom day at http://jellyfishbay.wordpress.com/2008/11/15/garden-bloggers-bloom-day-november-2008/
Thanks
Shady Gardener says
Hi Carol, I actually haven’t been outdoors (!!) these past few days, but I’ve posted an indoors blossom today.
Lee17 says
I love hellebores! We used to have really fabulous ones back in the Northwest, but down here, they will not grow. I miss them.
Here is my post:
http://thesuniskillingme.blogspot.com/
Anonymous says
I finally got my GBBD post up. Glad to join in with everyone else.
Jan
Always Growing
Diana says
Carol – I’m so glad you mentioned the Hellebores – i have one coming back and forgot what it was until you id’d it for me. thanks. I think you and I have the same I can’t do away with it it if isn’t 100% dead philosophy with pots. I struggled to toss one little half dead petunia in a pot today. Procrastination grows in my garden when the weeds show up! My post is up at
http://sharingnaturesgarden.blogspot.com/2008/11/full-for-freezeor-i-blew-bloom-day.html#links
ConsciousGardener says
Hey! I’m up…it’s almost 9pm, long day in the yard getting things ready for this frost/freeze! Everyones stuff looks fab! Happy Gardening…oh check out my friend Randy on Horselips…it’s his first post!
Julia Erickson says
Carol,
I’m imressed you still have your foxgloves. I’ve avoided the frost here in NJ zone 6b, so have a lot more to share–perennials, annuals, even the autumn cherry tree–this month than I expected:
http://heirloomgardener.blogspot.com/2008/11/garden-bloggers-bloom-day-november-2008.html
-Heirloom Gardener
Nancy says
Well… with only 2 hours to spare, my post is up. There’s a lot going on in my yard right now…
Nancy’s Garden Spot
Sandra Evertson says
Beautiful Foxglove! And such a sweet little nest to find!
Sandra Evertson
MLight says
The container is a lovely splash of color!
Thank you for hosting this!
We have a late first freeze this year, and I’ve really been enjoying the last blooms.
http://mlight.typepad.com/moomin_light/2008/11/garden-bloggers-bloom-day-november-15-2008.html
Jan says
Hi Carol,
I love your seedum…the color is so bright! I didn’t include mine in the post because it is a yucky brown!
Here is my GBBD post for November! Jan
http://thanksfor2day.blogspot.com/2008/11/november-garden-blogger-bloom-day.html
Anonymous says
Whew, I got my post up just before midnight. I love your sedums, Carol.
Like Annie said, there’s a lot in bloom here in Austin on the eve of a possible light frost, but I had to go back to Green Hall Garden to find it. Here’s my Bloom Day post.
Kerri says
I know all about not quite facing the bitter end…as evidenced by my container emptying job being dragged out so long.
Your sedum looks great!
There’s definitely procrastination blooming in my garden…oh yes, I know what it looks like. LOL
I wish my one tiny little helleborus looked like yours. It doesn’t seem to want to grow.
My post is up (at last!)
Happy Bloom Day, Carol!
Anonymous says
Hi Carol,
Here is zone 3 there is even less left, but I managed to snap a few pics. I am looking forward to spending more time reading blogs now that gardening season is done for me!
Janice
http://www.calgarygardencoach.typepad.com
Cosmo says
I’ late as always, but I’m up: cosmosgarden.blogspot.com. I love hellebore–I have a few different kinds and can’t wait until February to show them off! I love Bloom Day–thanks so much for starting it.
growingagardenindavis says
My post is up too Carol. I hope the garden fairies find a safe, warm spot for ther winter…maybe they make use of their special door and sneak inside?
Cindy, MCOK says
Hope you and the fairies stay safe and warm this winter! My Bloom Day post is up at http://texascottagegarden.blogspot.com/2008/11/yesterday-was-bloom-day-but.html
Barb-Central Texas says
Your container plants are still beautiful, Carol!
Here’s what’s blooming in my garden as of Nov 16:
http://huerto-de-altamira.blogspot.com/2008_11_01_archive.html
Curmudgeon says
Greetings Carol. The WWWs did our GBBD post earlier this week since we got a sunny day Mon. but were due to have rain the rest of the week.
http://weedwhackinwenches.blogspot.com/2008/11/sunny-monday-in-novembe-aka-gbbd.html
–Curmdgeon
Dan says
Hi carol,
I posted my GBBD a day late. I am also in your zone so I did not find many blooms but there is lots of seed heads and foliage color.
http://veggiegardenblog.blogspot.com/
Dig, Grow, Compost, Blog says
Well speaking of procrasinating, my post is finally up!
Anonymous says
Finally made it! My Bloom Day post is here
Hope you’re having a nice November.
jane says
I’m sorry, 2 days late, I’ve only managed to get one in before!
I’ve got a couple of sorry flowers in my scottish garden in the wet and cold.
I enjoy looking at the posts from hot places! (Though I don’t know what your zone system is)
Daniel Mount says
The sneaky osmanthus started blooming. I say sneaky because their flowers are so small yet potently fragrant . The sweetness carries so far it takes me a while to remember just where that smell is coming from. So nice to have its freshness after all the musky flood odors that passed by.
Tex in the Garden says
I’m really sorry I missed the What’s Blooming for November. I’m in Dallas, zone 7b. Salvia greggii does well — my ‘Hot Lips’ and my ‘Raspberry’ are still in bloom, though barely. My Mt. Emory Sage still has some red flowers.
Biggest surprise is the tender perennials Salvia micro-phylla ‘Snow Nymph, ‘Peach’, and ‘Coral Nymph’. Tender, my foot. They bloom!