Above, Aloe cameronii with Yucca 'Bright Star' foliage and the long shadows of winter
Aeonium flowers:
A few more 'Firefighter' roses before I prune:Magnolia stellata 'Royal Star'An array of foliage variation from Gasteraloe 'Green Ice'.
A polka-dotted central racing stripe:
Potted,
the foliage was uniform: white dotted green streaks in a white overlay. In the
ground the plant is doing all sorts of wonderful things:Scattered dots, stripes of dots, white dots on white overlay, dotted racing stripes... And the flowers:Agave either 'Kara's Choice' or 'Kara's Stripes': Artostaphylos 'Austin Griffiths':Banksia prionotes, now taller than I am. It also has its first side branch. The first flower bud has yet to appear and much anticipated. The long zipper-teeth leaves are fabulous in the meantime: 'Golden Celebration':'Bishops Castle':The Callistemons that now hide a neighboring house very nicely, thank you. The late morning light was so harsh as to feel like summer. Pruning the Hydrangeas. This purported "dwarf" cultivar is not:Graptoveria 'Fred Ives' in his fabulous winter colors:'Charles Rennie Mackintosh':Aeonium, perhaps 'Garnet':'Queen of Elegance':The long lax branches of Acer palmatum 'Ryusen' in winter bareness:
The internet offers various translations for 'Ryusen' -- "flowing waters" is one--and the name 'Ryu sei' is also used for this tree, with various translations including "dragon spirit" and "falling stars". 'Ryu sei' is according to one source the actual, registered name.
Winter everywhere expresses sadness and beauty.
January has been painfully dry--that here is our sadness. How does your winter express itself?
Comments
Several different types of birds at the Aloe flowers, though. Warblers pulling them off and flying away with them...?!?!!
Spring, nooo! Need more winter, we do.
That grape does have stunning autumn foliage--quite late, indeed!
Not many Aeoniums flowering so far here. Almost zero last winter. I think it was '18 or '19 when they all seemed to bloom.
I don't know much (anything) bout Banksia prionotes, so off to the internet I went. OMG. I'd be on it weekly to spy for buds.
My 'Ryusen' is growing in a large pot. Whether "flowing waters" or "falling stars", it is gorgeous specimen. I fell for it some years ago and it took a while to find in a nursery. The thrill of the find helped with the pain of the price tag.
Got 'Ryusen'/'Ryu sei' at a small chain hardware store in 2013. It was mislabeled as palmatum dissectum but obviously wasn't. The manager of that store appeared to be a keen plant lover who was obtaining whatever he wanted to grow by ordering some for his store--I found several very, very, choice plants there for big-box prices. Then the chain got bought by a larger chain and they shut it down.
How is winter expressing itself? Not sure how to answer that. It doesn't feel much like winter at all, other than a single week after Christmas where we got a little snow. I guess it's only early February, so there is still time, but so far, it's been unusually stingy with any kind of precipitation - frozen, or not.