1) a variegated euphorbia-- it was just green & white until the cold weather, now this!
2) this also seems in the euphorbia family to me-- but they grow like weeds here & there about the yard-- sometimes getting 6 feet tall. We've heard them called 'gopher spurge' (supposedly they discourage the critters?) Just this past year I started noticing them for sale in nurseries.
3) a variegated 'wallflower' (erysimum) gets ready to bloom

on a california christmas day...

Once again, we found ourselves travelling through Napa Valley on a gorgeous day...and stopped for a mini-hike along a river. The mustard, you see, is already in bloom...

a belated joyeux noel...

featuring some photos taken at the incomparable Wendy Addison's 'Theatre of Dreams' (we stopped through there on Christmas day.)

another kind of Bloom Day

I recently posted "Bloom Day " photos taken on the 14th & 16th.
December 15th found us working our way back up the California Coast from Santa Cruz, and we stopped for a very beautiful small hike in a state park along the way.

As a way of focusing our observation of the small details, we've developed a habit of counting each type of wildflower we see on such a walk. Here, then, are most of the things we found in bloom that day, on about a one mile stretch along Waddell Creek, south of Half Moon Bay.

December Bloom Day(s)-- frosty & foggy

Yes, this month's blooms were shot on 2 very different looking mornings: Dec. 14th (frosty) & Dec 16th (foggy). Taken all together, it appears as though it's still quite colorful out there, but there is a lot of space between those little colorful moments. A LOT of space. It seems to me as though it's been more consistently cold (yes, it's all relative!) than at this point in previous winters-- with frosty mornings being the rule.
from top:
1) camellia
2) scabiosa
3) yarrow
4) gaillardia
5) pelagorium
6) lavendar
7) primrose
8 & 9) frosty penstemon
10) helenium
11) frosty rose


To see what's blooming in gardens across the world-- visit the comment links at May Dreams Gardens.

Golden Grass...

...glows in afternoon light.

I'm also enjoying the color against the texture of these chestnut pods.



I believe the grass to be "stipa arundinacea"-- and the bottom photo shows the same plant in early September.

still life with cat

wintry light at the Laguna

hot cocoa

Usually, with roses especially, I'm a dead-heading fool-- clipping each blossom that's past its prime, so the blooms keep coming. This year, I'm making an effort not to (now that its December)-- with the idea that the roses need to rest up some for next year. Also, some rosebushes will form lovely hips (the seedpods). Mostly mine just have the soggy, moldy-looking old roses just sitting on 'em still. And some just keep blooming, like Hot Cocoa here.

raindrops

After over a week of freezing nights, followed by several days of rain-- well, it's a damp, dreary grey mess out there, and not in a charming way. I'm tempted to do a photo-essay of the yard's most miserable, soggy moments, but for now, I'm going to go to the bright side.
These raindrops, caught by flash, become positively jewel-like, no?


And here's a foliage plant, new to the garden this year-- melianthus major-- that looks rather nice in raindrops as well, and just keeps looking crisp and healthy, come what may.