Welcome to Garden Bloggers’ Bloom Day for January 2024.
And Happy New Year.
Here in my USDA Hardiness supposedly zone 6b garden in central Indiana, we are experiencing the same artic blast of air that is affecting most of the country.
Any ideas I had of walking about the garden to see what odd, incidental bloom I might find in the middle of January were dashed by the minus readings on the thermometer. It was -3F when I took the picture of these snowdrops that have been blooming for quite a while.
In the absence of blooms, what’s a gardener to do?
Well, how about reading a column written in January 1969 by Elizabeth Lawrence for The Charlotte Observer titled “Bud-Hunting”?
And I quote:
“This is Beverley Nichol’s favorite. “You may say ‘what does it matter whether they up come up in January or March, provided they come up?” he admonishes his readers. “However if you were capable of asking that question you would not be reading me at all, for unless you long to defeat winter, to make your gardening year an endless chain of blossom, this would all be a sorry bore for you.”
I do like the idea of an endless chain of blossom as Elizabeth says Beverley wrote. It has a nice ring to it, doesn’t it?
But “an endless chain of blossom” isn’t the easiest thing to achieve when January (and probably February) turns artic on us so this will not be a long litany of blooms.
For the record, the Christmas roses, Helleborus niger, are still blooming outdoors, but I’m not going out there again just for a picture.
Indoors, the ever-blooming crown of thorns is blooming.
I have some amaryllis, too, but all the blooms have faded on most of them, and those left now are still big fat buds. My poinsettia is fading, too, and looks less than its best. I am only keeping it around so I can see if the advice offered by Daisy Thomson Abbott in 1932 to get it to rebloom will work.
I also just put some hyacinth bulbs out on their vases, and I can alrady see some buds coming up. They should be in full bloom by mid-February. And now that we’ve had some good cold temps, I may also dig up some lily of the valley pips to force into bloom indoors for February.
In other words, you should have seen my garden last month or just wait until you see what’s going to be blooming in February!
But for January? I don’t have much to show in my endless chain of blossom.
But Garden Bloggers’ Bloom Day goes on, even when we don’t have many blooms to show!
What’s blooming in your garden or greenhouse or sunroom or sunny window as we reach the middle Of January? Join in for Garden Bloggers’ Bloom Day and show us.
It’s easy to participate. Just post on your blog or Instagram feed or Substack or wherever you put your stuff online on or around the 15th of the month. Then, come back here and leave a link to tell us how to get to your post and a comment to tell us what you have to show us.
And remember…
“We can have flowers nearly every month of the year.” ~ Elizabeth Lawrence
Brr, and I don’t blame you. That is cold, even here in New York (where it is 12 degrees right now). That’s why (ahem) I took the picture of my one outdoor flower yesterday. it’s at the bottom of my post. And then I forgot to post my African violet picture-oh well. One year I did get a poinsettia to re bloom- it was a lot of work but I did it. Now, I just try to keep them alive and I have one that is about three years old now.
18 degrees and snowing here in Mississippi.
Happy Garden Bloggers’ Bloom Day!
Experiencing the severe cold here on Long Island with temperatures expected to go into the single digits by the weekend, but yes Bloom Day must go on! I quickly ventured outside for a few views and pictures then headed back inside. It’s always fun to look forward to seeing what is going on in everyone’s gardens.
Here’s one thing that’s getting ready to bloom, but won’t until it warms up. Couldn’t figure out how to share this with Mr. Linky: https://www.instagram.com/p/C2GsuHXuBjM/?img_index=1 My clivia is blooming and my Rapido amaryllis has one blooming flower stalk left. Also some grocery store primroses are blooming, and I have a bunch of potted up coleus cuttings that are colorful enough to count as blooming.
I’m so envious of y our snowdrops, but not of the temperatures in your area, Carol. I planted some snowdrops and Winter Aconite last fall, but have seen no signs of either of them yet. The bit of snow is helping with the drought conditions in our area, though.
Woah! That is arctic air, I wouldn’t go out either. Lovely that you have some blooms inside for January & February. 🙂
Well, my temperatures are okay, it’s just SO much rain! This isn’t the rainy part of Oregon either. The cold is up north, with lots of snow, where it’s the rainy part of the state. So, they aren’t prepared and things are at a standstill.
Hi Carol,
It is definitely wintry out right now, but we can look forward to early spring flowers next month. I was happy to see my first daffodils this week.
I love Crown of Thorns! Even though my red one is quite tall now and 3/4 of the stems bare, I keep it around because it does constantly sport those sweet, perky little flowers, all year round! I have a yellow one as well.
We’re complaining about the cold here in SoCal but you’re in a whole different dimension. An endless of blossom is a reality in my part of the country. I’m not bragging – sometimes the idea of a break in the gardening cycle seems very attractive 😉