An Evening in the Garden

Don't have a lot of time to spare today, but wanted to share some photos I took yesterday evening.

Flowers & Foliage; Berries & Buds

I am very new to Blogger and this internet world of gardening. As such, I wasn't aware of "Floral Friday" or "Foliage Follow-Up," though I read many a blog over the last two days with those themes. So, even though it is Sunday, today I am playing catch-up. It'll be a good snapshot anyway to see what is surviving and thriving here in the middle of January. Here is my Sunday version of what's happening in my garden today:

Fantastic Flowers:

The Florida cracker roses (Rosa 'Louis Philippe') in my front garden survived our Arctic Blast without blinking an eye. Here is a beautiful flower just beginning to unfurl.




Lorapetalum, aka "Chinese Fringe," has its major bloom flush in December and January here in Central Florida.




I've said it before, but I'll say it again. Camellias are the stars of my winter garden. They have been in full bloom since early December and, fortunately, the flowers were unfazed by the "Arctic Blast."




This is Gaillardia, aka "Indian Blanketflower." I have a clump of these, and although they are still green and lush, the successive freezes have caused the petals to become stunted. Still pretty, though.

Phenomenal Foliage:

My neos have all survived the freeze. Yay!

Only a few of my ti plants survived the freezes without damage. This 'Black Magic' came through with flying colors! (It was surrounded by heat lamps, though.)

This Florida-hardy Bird's Nest Fern has never suffered cold damage in my garden. I've had it about three years, and it grows larger each year. Started out as a tiny little plant I found in the houseplant section.

Wow! I've noticed some "fall" color all around our county this weekend. This is something we don't see much of here in Central Florida. I was pleasantly surprised to see my Red Maples (Acer rubrum) in color when I walked out this morning. Yeah, it's winter, not fall, but we'll take that.

One of the stromanthes that was relatively unharmed by the freeze. Some were hit pretty badly. (I have many of these scattered around the garden, all propagated from the first plant I bought.)

The Philodendron selloum hedge got some damage, but this section is still green, thanks to a low-hanging oak branch.

Beautiful Berries

The colder it gets, the brighter these Nandina berries become. So pretty!

Bursting Buds
I can't wait for this bromeliad bud to rise up and burst open! This is an aechmea that I covered with a thick blanket and a beach towel throughout the "Arctic Blast." It looked good for days and days. (I uncovered it daily to check on it.) But that one last night got it. The leaves are more than 50% burned. Fortunately, the center cup and the bloom bud seem to be unharmed.

I am also enjoying this bromeliad bloom spike, though the background in this photo showing the extensive lawn and garden damage is horrid. At least the sago in the background is hardy.