Garden Bloggers Bloom Day - November 2016

This month is slipping by even faster than I realized. I forgot about bloom day until the posts from other bloggers started showing up in my email. Luckily, there was a break in the rain and I took my camera out to get a few quick shots. I just got a new camera and I'm still learning its quirks, but I'm starting to get some pictures out of it that I'm pretty happy with.

The extremely mild fall we've had so far in the PNW has kept many flowers along much longer than normal, and is even producing a few new flushes, late bloomers, and early bloomers. In other words, things are all wonky out there.

Inside, a couple orchids are in bloom. Neostylis Lou Sneary 'Blue Bird' faithfully produces its fragrant, dainty flowers. One spike aborted, but it has a couple more following.

Phragmipedium Olaf Gruss.

Outside, next to the greenhouse to be moved in quickly as soon as frost is predicted, Lapageria rosea keeps up its exotic display. The weather has cooled enough that no more buds seem to be swelling.

Inside the greenhouse, Begonia 'Little Brother Montgomery' has a couple of blooms. I'm still not brave enough to try planting this one out in the garden, though it may be hardy here. I think it's a better bet in this area in urban gardens that get a bit more heat, particularly in spring to wake it up.

This next photo is just of buds, but I'm so excited by this I couldn't wait. I grew this Erica oatesii from seed started about 2.5 years ago and this will be its first bloom!

Moving out into the garden, Anaphalis margaritacea is still blooming here and there, though most have already turned into fluffy seed heads. May they sprout to their hearts content, hopefully in areas that don't get mowed.

The Parahebe perfoliata is STILL BLOOMING!

I really love white-flowered fall and winter-blooming heaths. We don't get much snow at my elevation (not complaining) and the bright white really brightens up the dark, usually rainy landscape.

A particularly silver Helleborus x sternii from Cistus is blooming already.

While ragged and worn Nigella damascena have been prompted by the rain and the warm fall to gasp out a few final blooms.

A seedling Erysimum I'm fond of.

 All the fuchsias that bloomed this summer are still blooming. I'll let 'Lady Boothby' represent them.

I was disappointed to find out that "Penny's Pink", the name under which this Hellebore is sold, is a trade name. The real cultivar name is 'ABCRD01'. I've said it before and I'll say it again: I strongly dislike breeders who don't bother to give their plants sensible names.

Who's tired of me sharing pictures of Prunella vulgaris? Too bad. Here's a few more.

The effect of the seed heads en mass. The mass of dead brown stems that disturbed me at the end of summer now looks wonderful to me. It helps that they've greened up under those seed heads since it started raining.

They're rather nice when the sun comes out and hits them.

I finally got a decent shot of the berries on this Gaultheria mucronata. Actually, I was kind of hoping for white berries, but both of my plants turned out to be red! These are pretty, too.

This Vaccinium ovatum that I just planted is opening flowers all over.

 I thought Asarum caudatum only bloomed in spring, but the plants in this bed haven't stopped blooming all summer.

A nibbled Cyclamen purpurascens. I need to spread more slug bait.

Dicliptera squarrosa

These weird, late Rudbeckia 'Goldsturm' flowers were produced by one of the monster-sized set of leaves, which are still green while the rest of the plants are all turning lovely fall colors.

Kniphofia 'Percy's Pride' surprised me with one last bloom spike. I went a few days without checking on it and found the stem doing a double turn, once where a slug had chewed the stalk and it fell over, and once more where the stem turned back up and kept growing. You can't keep Percy down.

Finding out that Leptospermum lanigerum will bloom sporadically throughout the year was a happy surprise. This is the silver form from Xera, which bloomed for me the first time this spring.

A couple of the Epilobium are still blooming, but 'UC Hybrid' is the one that looks the best this late.

Lobelia laxiflora var. angustifolia is racing against the clock to open a couple more flowers before frost. The rains brought out a couple more buds after it quit for the summer.

I grew this Lilium formosanum from seed four years ago and it surprised me with a late bloom. Maybe if I didn't have it in a bed that gets no summer water, growing in the back where the house keeps it even drier, it would have bloomed sooner, but I'm content to let it tough things out here.

Berberis x stenophylla 'Corallina Compacta' has a few out-of-season blooms.

The orange Bidens have started slowing down. This one still looks pretty good, but I don't think they have much longer.

Daphne x transatlantica 'Blafra' is blooming, of course.

The rosemary is starting to bloom.

One of my free rescue Arctostaphylos hookeri 'Wayside' has a few flowers open at the ends of mostly bare stems. Hopefully they'll flush out with lots of new growth in spring. I have a 'John Dourley' that looked just as bad that came back wonderfully, so we shall see.

The light was just right on this Achillea millefolium. The hoverfly on the right thought so, too.

They were a bit overly rambunctious in places, but I did end up enjoying the blue flowers of these Gilia capitata. Many of them are still blooming, making me like them even more. I just need to encourage them in dryer, leaner areas where they won't grow five feet tall.

Some fluke of circumstance has made the flowers on Osmanthus heterophyllus 'Goshiki' highly visible this year. Usually they're much more hidden within the foliage. Even so, I still smell them before I see them, as the scent can waft more than 20 feet on the warm days we've had this fall.

Abutilon megapotamicum continues to bloom. This will be its first winter in the ground. I'm a little nervous.

The variegated Elaeagnus pungens is almost finished. Just a few more blooms to open.

Meanwhile, the primroses are just getting started. They'll keep trying to bloom all winter into spring. The individual blooms don't look good for long, quickly turning to mush in the pounding rain and the frosts to come.

And last but certainly not least, I'm so happy that we've avoided frost for as long as we have this fall. My Tropaeolum tuberosum is blooming! This is not the early-blooming, day-neutral variety 'Ken Aslet', but a selection grown more for its edible tubers. 'Ken Aslet' isn't very good for eating, from what I hear, though it forms edible tubers, too.

Thanks to Carol at May Dreams Gardens for hosting GBBD. Be sure to follow the link to see what's blooming in her garden and gardens around the world this month.