Merry Christmas !

A vase on Monday and a steamy eight hours

A second 'A vase on Monday" for me ...unheard of , I hardly ever bring things in from the garden. But it is  easier in the winter  , less to choose makes it fun.
I've been making so many vases , so I should make use of them .
I sniped a long branch of my NOID evergreen slender leaf shrub , It was getting too spindly anyway . I've  had it for years , must  have brought it back without a tag from the Cistus 'tough love sale'
Then I added few tiny hips of  the China Rose and  branches of  the narrow leaf Trachelospermum 'theta ' which is a Christmas  maroon this time of year. I think I might just go out and have another look for something else to add.

The reason I have so much time today ...eight hours of Christmas pudding steaming.

Tell the truth Tuesday...the back garden

 I'm joining Alison  Bonney Lassie   for my first installment of 'Tell the truth Tuesday'                                                                                   The truth is I've not done a thing in the garden since the weather turned cold and wet . And it's been very wet lately , so it is mostly mushy these days. I like to wait tell Feb/ March before I hack everything down . The birds are all over the what's left of the seed heads and dart in and out of the messy planting.

I'm hoping the worms will have pulled most of this down , so it will be less for me to do.

I did rake up most of the plum leaves around the stock tank.

And to tell the truth I've been having too much fun in my Pottery studio , which gets even more messy .

December Garden Blogger's Bloom Day

Mostly when I went out in search of blooms to photograph . I found . .. Droopy  ones

 But then I found a  few Calendula dotted about .

I almost missed the Viburnum blooms 

 'Pieris Japaonica 'Crispa' not quite blooming , but a like the foliage .

Tatty Chrysanthemums 

The Salvia's had better days.

Mahonia Charity a reliable  December bloomer 

I'm doing a bit better  with the indoor  blooms ,  Schlumbergera always a good one this time of year.

And a new African violet  which a bought more for the foliage , which is very wavy and looks like  miniature  Chard .
That's about it for my December blooms . More December blooms at Carol's blog  here.

A Vase on Monday

My first ' A Vase on Monday' . Inspired by this favorite vase I  recently made. I was happy. for once with the staining and glazing . Now if the Air plant survives that will be a first as well.
Almost forgot ... pine cone is from my contorted Pine.
'A vase on Monday is hosted by Cathy’s 

Another Orchid blooms

Angraecum, distichum  first blooms of this tiny African native . I bought it more for the flat plaited leaves , but the blooms are scented I discovered when  examining the 1/2 inch blooms. 
I understand it hates root disturbance . So, I'm keeping it  in it's moldy plastic pot for a good long time.

November in the garden

We've had a run of lovely sunny days in the PNW , so I got out to get a bit of tidying up done .
I nearly missed the   'Fuller's Teasel' which seems to be a very late bloomer , unless I missed it in all the tangled mess  this time of year.

The blue yard debris bin to prove I've been clearing up. I was planning to leave it all  till  Feb or March .  But my bulbs arrived and I decided I couldn't just push things around enough to get them in the ground. So I just  pulled everything I could out.

Which was great because I haven't been able to walk though the path around the back garden  for months.  

The pathway cleared ! I think the miniature bearded Iris will be happy with the open space. I was able to dig holes without splitting too many underground bulbs . Ten Tulip blue spectacle in the ground.

Lots of this about, looks like the Zennias have had it.

One of a few survivers... Tetonia , blooms that is.

Plenty of droopy blooms around.

,It was time to poke Crocus 'orange monarch' bulbs into my Bonsai pots. I've been waiting for this ... So excited to see how they  get on with the dorment Hosta .

A few in this one !

The rest are going into the dwarf mondo lawn .

Back indoors ,  while watering my Orchids  I found a Dendrobium blooming ! 

A proud moment  when an Orchid re-blooms

Tiny autumn

One of the seedlings I plucked out of the ground on a walk in the my neighborhood last year.   The little blob of moss is  from the bits that fell off the roof when Philip was cleaning the other day .

Before it's all gone

For lovely Autumnal color that is.                                                                                                                                           Hamamelis 'Jelena ' keeps it's leaves a little longer than the other's 

My mystery daisies get everywhere , lucky for them that they go so well with the Amsonia.

And the Japanese Anemone .

Pennisetum spathiolatum clumps have recovered this year after being dug up and divided too many times.

Leucosceptrum stellipilum 'October moon' is one of the first things I planted in the garden .

Big leaves dropping from Magnolia macrophylla . I've scooped them all up and added them to my leaf mold bag.

Nicotiana longsdorfii just keeps seeding and making more plants.

Another Mystery plant, I've no idea who you are.

My "Tough love" sale tree is defiantly no longer the Charley Brown  tree I brought home  several years ago.

It taken quite a few years . But  the drive way planting is getting there.

A last bloom  ?

In door excitement

Excuse me for being a little bit excited . I've got flower buds on my Orchids . All summer they just  quietly  grow those fat roots. But come Autumn ...flower buds . I think they like the light in my sunroom and the temperature is still warm enough for them.

I've make note of when they were blooming last year. I think it was after Christmas, so I've  got a while to wait. Orchids   are in no rush. 

I do have one  miniature Streptocarpus  blooming , the others seem to be having a rest .