Garden Bloggers Bloom Day, December 2008

This post is a few minutes late for December 15th, the date chosen by May Dreams Carol for Garden Bloggers Bloom Day. It's no longer Autumn in Austin! These photos were taken this morning - it was about 35°F and very windy so many pictures are blurry. When I went to the grocery store even my car flashed a warning about the weather.
Tonight we're expecting a very hard freeze - some of what we see here may be just a memory by tomorrow.


'Julia Child' rose still had buds as well as blooms


Those Antirrhinum majus, Yellow snapdragons were planted before last ChristmasThe baskets were recently planted with pansies - one of our winter annuals. I bought small plants without flowers - this one just started bloomingA couple of flowers linger on Camellia sasanqua 'Shishi Gashira'
Creeping phlox sublata bloomed in spring and had a light rebloom this fall.
Both plants of Rosa 'Mutabilis' had buds and blooms todayRosa 'Belinda's Dream' had one full-blown rose and a handful of buds
Three plants of Osmanthus fragrans/Sweet olive were in bloom, but it was too cold and windy to catch the lovely scent.

There were flowers on both plants of the Rosa ‘Champagne’ mini rose
Bulbine frutescens 'Yellow' has not only lived but spread and increased in the front bed and is still making buds
Both plants of Asclepias curassavica, tropical milkweed have flowers - no sign of the confused Monarch caterpillar that was here in early December
Blooming but not pictured: Gaura lindheimerii, unknown tall rose-pink variety; Impatiens walleriana/bedding impatiens; Pelargoniums/bedding geraniums; trailing white Lantana; Lobularia maritime/Sweet alyssum; both kinds of Scutellaria/Skullcap; Salvia leucantha/Mexican Bush Sage.


That's it for the outside plants - we can celebrate another successful Bloom Day! Inside on the windowsill there's color from Thanksgiving cactus, coral geranium, florist's cyclamen, mother-of-thousands and the Amaryllis that was my grab bag prize from the Divas of the Dirt party on Saturday. The Meyer's Lemon has one open flower and a couple of buds.What can we celebrate next? There are many possibilities for December 16th:

Classic composer Beethoven's Birthday; novelist Jane Austen's birthday; the anniversary of the Boston Tea Party; Anthropologist Margaret Mead's birthday; Playwright/composer Noel Coward's birthday; the birthday of Science fiction writers Arthur C Clarke and Phillip K Dick, and the first day of las posadas, recreating Joseph & Mary's search for shelter in Bethlehem.


Should I drink tea while listening to Beethoven and reading Pride & Prejudice? That would be relaxing but this is a busy time of year. ABBA composer Benny Andersson turns 62 tomorrow and the DVD of Mamma Mia is set to release. I can celebrate his birthday and make some Christmas progress at the same time by turning up the 'Mamma Mia' soundtrack as my soundtrack for cookie baking, package wrapping and adding the final touches to the Christmas tree.

The Bloom Day posts from all over the world can be found here.

Update late Wednesday night: Low was 29°F on Tuesday morning. All roses, pansies, phlox, gaura, scuttelaria look okay; milkweed & impatiens mostly frozen and lantana looks bad. Mexican oregano had a few flowers and some open on lower part of cupheas, but top bronzed with cold. Beethoven & tea lost out to coffee & Mamma Mia while baking Crispy, salted, White chocolate oatmeal cookies recommended by Vertie via Twitter. HThe Christmas tree is decorated and I'm done baking for now - a high of 72°F is predicted for tomorrow along with more leaf-cleanup. Sure hope to get a chance to visit your blogs soon.