Here, winter is a flurry not of snow, but of garden work.
A few plants are sleeping.
Some are drowsy.
Most are wide awake. The native oaks are growing.
The Agaves are, too.
Aeoniums are blooming.
I'm cleaning up the non-rose plants as fast as I can. Eleven days from now, it will be time to start cutting back the roses.
The east slope is mostly cleared. Mr. Mow-n-Blow is going to dig out the Abelias. I liked the Abelias--the bees and hummingbirds did, too--but the slope is going succulent. The Abelias need more water, and they were also too large for the space. Nearly the last remnant of the original plantings will be gone.
Looking back the other way...
Despite the season, the garden is rich with small beauties. They make all the work seem manageable.
I check this orange every day. It will be ripe soon.
There will be lettuce, too.
A few Clematis continue to amaze.
The Drakensburg Daisy apparently likes to work in winter, too.
Daisy-white provides winter white.
Little umbrellas against the rain? Rain, please come!
Are you going to throw that tennis ball, or what?
Winter means Spring is next.
Thanks for your always interesting post over the last year Hoover. I wish you a merry christmas and fantastic 2014.
ReplyDeleteThank you Marijke. The same wishes to you!
DeleteWhat a great visit to your garden this was, I enjoyed it. That slope will look wonderful full of succulents when you're done with it. IS that fourth picture from the top a Euphorbia obesa? I am hoping for a couple of dry, above-freezing days during Christmas week to spend out in the garden doing some cleaning up and sorting out. The little moments of beauty that you come across do make it worth the hard work.
ReplyDeleteNot obesa. It's a Euphorbia..something. I'll have to look it up. I hope you get a few sunny days. The storms should skip your area and come straight down here, loaded with rain...
DeleteFound it. Euphorbia anoplia. Very easy to grow!
DeleteWonderful to see the different climates all over the world. You are busy in the garden and have still a lot of flowers. Here it is wet, gloomy and the gardens look sad this time of year, we even don't have snow. As always love seeing your dogs on your blogposts, this one is again so adorable. I wish you a very Merry Christmas!
ReplyDeleteA very Merry Christmas to you, Janneke!
DeleteQuite nice to do garden work right now! And to think I was just celebrating our monthly sprinkle of rain and flurries of snow on Saturday... Glad there's agaves and cacti!
ReplyDeleteWishing you lots of lovely gentle rain this winter!
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