Blooms January 2025

 

 Aloe vanbalenii

 

Blooms, despite all.  Nature destroys, Nature creates.

 

January is a peak Aloe month.  A. candelabrum:

A. hardyi:

A. cameronii:

A. cameronii in more sun:

A. ferox:

A. 'Moonglow':

A. capitata var quartziticola:

 Besides Aloes, some miscellany:  Protea 'Clair':

Leucadendron 'Wilsons Wonder' colors up in preparation for the cones that will soon appear:

A Cuphea that has flowered for months, and continues:

Magnolia stellata seems early this year:

Besides miscellany, Hellebores are just getting started.

I've not been gardening or even going outside much the past week.  Too windy, too painfully dry, wind strong enough to nearly push me over at times.  Still, some roses somehow managed to produce striking flowers.

'The Ambridge Rose'

'Molineux'

'James L. Austin':

'Firefighter'.  Oh, 'Firefighter'.  So apt at this moment.

And of course 'Iceberg':

Look what the wind blew in:  an Egret, Ardea alba.

The wind was very bad, so I imagine it was struggling to fly and landed, exhausted, where it could, in our front garden.

I've watered what could be watered in the garden, trying to keep vulnerable plants alive.  Can't do anything more until the wind goes away.  Started attending, believe it or not, a flower-arranging course at a local community center.  Here's my first effort.  These are florist flowers, not garden flowers.  I think the arch is out of proportion, too tall. 

Using Photoshop I made the hoop a little shorter to see how that looked:

Hmm.  Something like that.  Proportion.  Keep things in proportion.  Took my mind off disasters, occurring and imminent.
 

Happy January Blooms.