Saturday, January 30, 2010

Winter Color

January has been a bleak month, and I can't say I'm sorry to see it come to a close. Thankfully there are a few (seriously, few) spots of color and life in the yard to help assuage the seasonal doldrums.

The first crocuses are blooming. I planted these two years ago:


Pansies do well for us in the winter. In fact, pansies and ornamental cabbages are about all you can find at garden centers now.

Holly berries are starting to fade:

This camellia, while admittedly on its last leg, has been quite impressive, blooming since October!

I enjoy watching birds through the window on quiet weekend mornings, in PJs still with a warm cup of coffee. This cardinal in a ginkgo was taken through the window at full zoom.

Her mate is always hogging the feeder. Can't you tell by his heft?


Daffodils are continuing to rise and I noticed the tiniest buds on the pink dogwood. It's hard to remember the warmth of spring during this cold winter, but it's coming soon. Thankfully!

16 comments:

Janet, The Queen of Seaford said...

Good morning Ginger. Your little Crocus is sure bright and cheery. We have one color here this morning--- white!! At least the sun is shining.

Camoth said...

Wow, those pictures are beautiful!

Dig, Grow, Compost, Blog said...

Ginger, I'm thinking (and hoping) that this weekend is the last real blast of cold for the winter season. I think we'll start to see more things like your lovely crocuses starting to pop. And more days with milder weather so that by the end of Feb we'll be rejoicing in spring's arrival. Or is this just wishful thinking? :-)

Randy Emmitt said...

Ginger,
You must be weeks ahead of us. Our crocuses are just poking up. Enjoyed your cardinals! We have a camellia with 3-4 tinier than usual red blooms all covered in snow right now.

Catherine@AGardenerinProgress said...

Our Crocuses are just popping up too, yours are such a nice bright yellow. The Cardinals sure do add some nice color to your garden too!
The garden centers have just started putting out bare root roses and fruit, but I'm trying to ignore them for now :)

Christine B. said...

If by "soon" you mean May, then I'm right there with you;) Wishing I had daffs coming up and crocuses blooming! Your cardinal does look a bit of a porker...we don't have them where I am, so I enjoy the photos you share.

Christine in Alaska

Becca's Dirt said...

Beautiful crocus blooms. Oh and the camellia is stunning. Hope you have a good day.

Meredith said...

Those crocuses are gorgeous! I hope we see some around here soon. And that has to be the longest camellia run in history. Does it always do that, or do you think it's this year's weather conditions?

Your male cardinal is certainly, um... shall we say stately? He clearly enjoys the feeder. We have a female who regularly visits and is quite aggressive, scaring off even the males to get what she wants, and she's getting some heft, too.

Shady Gardener said...

Just you wait! In March, I'll be posting crocus photos, too. Maybe not as beautifully as yours... ;-)

Heather said...

What great pics of the Cardinals! I am dreading spring and you're begging for it to get here. i can't believe you already have color in your garden at all. Snow is still all we see and I need to read a bunch of my winter reading stack before I am ready to welcome the next phase of the year! Hope your winter is treating you well. We'll be mowing again in no time at all~

Prairie Chicken... said...

great shots of those birds... birds are hard to photograph.

Susie said...

Hey Ginger, the yellow of the crocus reminds me of warm sunshine. I'll be glad when I see that again.

Ginger said...

Thank y'all so much for the kind comments!

Meredith- that camellia usually blooms for about two months, which I thought was long!! It will still be blooming mid-Feb, which will be FOUR months! I have no idea why!

KMG said...

What variety of Camellia is yours? WOW, you are at least six weeks ahead of me here in TN. We have snow on the ground again this weekend. I have to admit this has been a rare snowy winter for us tho. Your new camera is doing a great job.

Gine said...

Great pictures
TFS

Ginger said...

Kathy, I have no idea what kind of camellia that is. I'd say it's easily 8 feet tall, and maybe 10 - so it obviously predates my ownership! I have never watered, fertilized or pruned it.