Usually we don’t have many flowers out for Christmas because it is usually a lot colder! Some flowers are still hanging on from autumn and some are opening up far too soon, thanks to the very mild weather we have been having for quite some time now.
Chaenomeles.
By the back door, this beautiful shrub will flower on and off until Spring.
Iris reticulata Pauline.
More flowers are opening on the above Iris.
Fuchsia Whiteknights Blush.
Still hanging on, it doesn’t want to stop flowering. I will have to cut back all the hardy fuchsias soon.
Galanthus Little John
G. Little John is a tall variety of snowdrop and is increasing nicely from just one bulb. There are quite a few snowdrops flowering at the moment, not enough though to give them a post of their own yet.
Muscari Valerie Finnis.
M. Valerie Finnis is determined to be in flower for Christmas Day.
Primula.
More and more coloured primulas are opening, making some parts of the garden look springlike.
Narcissus Rinjveld’s Early Sensation.
More flowers of this narcissus are opening each day, but they are getting battered by the strong wind, this was the best of them all.
Leucojum aestivum Gravetye Giant.
The common name is summer snowflake! I must go and see if Leucojum vernum, the spring snowflake, are flowering yet.
Laucojum aestivum Gravetye Giant.
No, the spring snowflake is showing no signs of flowering yet.
Galanthus.
Oh dear, this one has lost its label !
Hellebore.
Quite a few hellebores are flowering.
Hellebore.
Hellebore.
Hellebore.
Pulmonaria.
The very ordinary spotty Pulmonaria, but so useful for the bees that are flying at the moment, when in the woodland taking these photos, I was surrounded by buzzing bumble bees!
Daphne bholua.
This little shrub is in full flower…….
Daphne bholua.
…..releasing its wonderful perfume into the woodland. Only 10 ft away is D. Jaqueline Postill, but no sign yet of her flowering.
Jasminum nudiflorum.
More flowers coming each day by the front door.
Cyclamen coum.
A few cyclamen coum have started flowering, I don’t have anywhere near the same number of plants of this cyclamen as C. hederifolium, maybe I ought to go searching for seed pods and baby corms as I don’t think the ants spread the seed around the same, maybe they are hibernating.
Iris unguicularis Mary Barnard.
The petals were getting blown every which way when I tried to take a photo, I’m afraid this is the best I could do.
Rosa Evelyn
A lovely David Austin rose with a beautiful perfume, even at this time of year. Once New Year is over, I must cut back all the roses to give them a rest, otherwise they would flower for ever.
Rosa Graham Thomas.
We were away for Christmas staying first with our son and daughter in law for a few days near London, then on to our daughter, son in law and our 2 grandsons in Bristol for a few days. We finally returned after a wonderful time with no cooking, wasn’t I lucky! We got home yesterday when it was dark and raining hard, so it was this morning before I could go and check on the garden.
Thank you all for leaving comments during the year, I send you Best Wishes for 2016 and I hope the New Year brings you everything that you wish for.
Glad to hear you had a good Christmas with your family – and no cooking! I feel a bit cooked out, I must admit. Lots of lovely flowers but it’s not very good that it’s such a mild winter, the flora and fauna must be a bit confused, as are we gardeners too by the changes. Happy new year to you too, Pauline.
I was treated to some wonderful food over the Christmas period Catmint, I was spoilt!
The weather is Topsy Turvy at the moment, with so much rain day after day. In the north of the country there are serious floods with people homeless after being flooded out, they had a rotten Christmas and there are more storms to come unfortunately.
Your garden flowers have been nonstop this year and I have thoroughly enjoyed the parade, especially since I am mostly deprived of blooms in my shady garden. I’m glad to hear your Christmas travels have been happy ones and you and yours have not been washed away by the rains. I’ve been in touch with Chris Crowder; Levens Hall has experienced 3 floods in succession and the last was the worst ever. He says the gardens should bounce back without too much trouble, but there has been a good bit of damage to the buildings which will not be as easy to rectify. I’ve seen the photos of York, too, where I traveled with a group this past June, and am just heartsick about the damage.
The flowers don’t seem to want to stop Marian and now the snowdrops have started, there will be more new ones each day.
Your photos of Leven’s Hall showed the devastation the north of the country is experiencing at the moment. Storm after storm is coming across the Atlantic and wreaking havoc across north England and southern Scotland, we are all wondering where it will all end.
Such a lot still in flower or starting to flower in your garden. Its certainly been an odd autumn/winter so far. The roses in my garden keep trying to flower too. Its also amazing how green the garden is. Wishing you a happy new year of good gardening in 2016
The grass hasn’t stopped growing all year, it is so wet now, but we can’t cut it so it is rather long. Hopefully this will be a better year for the garden as last year which wasn’t too good at all due to ill health.
Hi, all the flowers are so beautiful! I’ve never seen such beautiful Narcissus, Rosa Evelyn is amazing!♡
Thanks for sharing!
Wishing you a Happy New Year!!!Sandra xx
Thank you Sandra, the flowers keep coming as the weather is so warm! The temperatures are still in double figures at night time, when really it should be cold and frosty!
Happy New Year Sandra!
Thank you Pauline!!
Sandra xx
What a lovely set of blooms, hard to believe it’s winter! I am amazed at the roses and just love the hellebores. It sounds like you had a lovely Christmas….no cooking is certainly a treat. All the very best to you and yours for 2016!xxx
Thanks Dina, I think we will just have to hope that it stops raining in the North, it is just getting worse and worse up in your part of the country, hopefully where you are you should be staying dry underfoot.
Roses and hellebores just shouldn’t be flowering together!
I very much enjoyed these photos! I enjoy all your post, but this one in particular because here in Sweden we are in the midst of winter and I see almost exclusively white in the garden though I did manage enough greenery and berries for the Christmas table decoration! Thank you.
Lovely to hear from you Denise, thanks for your lovely comments! I can imagine your beautiful white scenery, we just have rain, rain and more rain! The north of the UK is flooded at the moment, lots of people had a rotten Christmas when the water came into their homes. Your greenery and berries sound just right for Christmas.
I hope you have a Happy New Year!
We see the devastation caused by the flooding in the UK here on the news. So many have been affected, my heart goes out to them.
Wishing you a happy ‘gardening’ New Year!
So good of you to come back to me Denise. I have just watched the lunch time news and it gets worse and worse, now Scotland and down here in the SW where we live are becoming flooded. Our garden seems to be able to take any amount of rain, we have a ditch (from when the garden was part of the farmer’s field next door) which is between the back garden and the little woodland, it is now a fast flowing stream, I hope it doesn’t get any higher!
I hope the water doesn’t overflow your ditch. On the positive side, a stream in your garden, how lovely. Such a relaxing sound – if you know it’s not going to get any higher!
And still the blooms go on!
Definitely a bonus to have Christmas without cooking, glad you enjoyed.
Have a very Happy New Year Pauline.
They do don’t they Jessica! I’m not venturing out to see how many more snowdrops have opened, the rain is torrential!
It was lovely not having to cook over Christmas, but also rather nice to be back home once more. I will be doing the cooking when we have an Epiphany Party!
All the best for 2016!
Sounds like you had a wonderful holiday week. So nice to come back to flowers in the garden, with the primrose and snowdrops in bloom winter is practically painless 🙂
I did have a lovely time thanks Frank, it’s lovely seeing all the family again, but still nice to come home! Lots of flowers had opened while we were away and soon the woodland will have masses of white everywhere with all the snowdrops. With the crocus and hellebores joining in, it feels as though spring is just round the corner!
Enjoyed seeing your beautiful flowers Pauline. Happy 2016 to you and yours. Susie
Thanks Susie for your kind comment. Wishing you all you could wish for your garden in 2016!
Wonderful second-hand satisfaction to see your flowers, Pauline. Where do you get your rather nice little labels from? Hope 2016 is wonderful for you and your garden.
Thank you Cathy, glad you enjoyed them!
I’m not sure which web site I got my labels from but think it may be http://www.theessentialscompany.co.uk I also use an oil based silver pen so that the writing doesn’t get washed away.
Wishing you lots of happy gardening in 2016!