gbbd, short & sweet

Hamamelis 'Early Bright'

I bought Hamamelis ‘Early Bright’ last year about this time as a fairly small specimen. I’m surprised and delighted to see it blooming. It is Early and it is Bright. I was told it had fragrance, but have yet to detect any. I suppose if it was brought into the house I might smell it, but it needs to put on more growth before I’ll be comfortable cutting even a snippet.

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Winter Jasmine does have fragrance…

Jasminum nudiflorum

But though the plant is sizable, the flowers are sparse. There are many buds, but they tend to open slowly over a long period of time.

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I have complained frequently about the frostbite on Mahonia ‘Arthur Menzies’. It was easy to put mittens on the tight buds prior to our first cold snap, but they had bloomed out sufficiently to make it impossible the second time around. You may be able to see the blackened tips on the outermost blossoms. Those that were more protected, growing more toward the center of the plant, fared better. Arthur, I fear, will never be as show-offy as his cousin ‘Charity’.

Cryptomeria japonica 'Sekkan Sugi'

Once you start wondering about something, the answer is sure to reveal itself in other blogs, even if you don’t take the trouble to put the word out. The little bud-like doohickeys on the tips of Cryptomeria japonica ‘Sekkan Sugi’ are flowers. Pretty cute, if you ask me.

Aloe 'Carmine'

Coming indoors, you can see proof that my Aloes bloom reliably, sometimes more than once a year. They are pretty puny, nothing like the magnificent blooms you will see if you follow the blog Piece of Eden. Still, they make me happy, and I’ll take what I can get without moving to a climate at odds with my webfoot ways.

Don’t forget to check in with May Dreams Gardens to see January’s blooms world-wide.

21 thoughts on “gbbd, short & sweet

  1. ‘Early bright’ looks a sweet little bloom . I have two new Hamamelis ‘ Jelena’ and ‘Diane’. I can’t detect much fragrance on ether , even the one i brought in. I have had a cold though ! Happy GBD

  2. I didn’t know that winter jasmine had a fragrance. I’m going to run out and clip a bit to bring indoors! Hamamelis fragrance seems to elude me unless it’s warmish outside and my nose is practically buried in the flowers. You’ve got lots of fun winter bloomers! Aren’t we lucky to live in this climate?

  3. It is so interesting that the witch hazels are famous for their scent and yet hardly anyone can actually smell it! Is it a case of the Emperor’s new clothes do you think?

  4. I rather like the little aloes. We left the honking great big ones in our Porterville garden. Now I’m collecting new ones – I have a coral aloe, with ‘coral’ margins to its leaves and friendly non-prickly leaves. One day, there will be flowers for the sunbirds!

    • Diana~I will never be able to boast of “honking big” Aloes, but that’s probably a good thing, as I have to drag them into the house for the winter.

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