Bloom Day - January 15th....a day late

I'm a day late for bloom day. It was raining. It's January. The blooming plants were in the greenhouse. That's my excuse.

We had our first real winter weather last week as the temps dipped into the mid-twenties at night and were in the upper-thirties during the day.

It was cold enough to ice up the fountain a bit:



But not cold enough to scare away the wintering hummer. He is still sticking around enjoying the fresh hummingbird nectar I set out in the feeder:



It was cold enough to have to bring all the potted plants, including the paperwhites, into the greenhouse. I just brought them back out today now that it has warmed up a bit along with a few other hanging flowering pots. So this is what I have for bloom day this January:

Paperwhites and cyclamen and pansies:



Closer:



The faces on pansies always make me smile:



Pink Geranium:



Dragon Wing Begonia:



And Meyer Lemon:



And that's all I've got this month. Happy bloom day everyone!

Sipping Tea and Watching the Hummingbird

I sit at my table this fine first day of 2011 sipping my flowering tea and watching the hummer. He is busy this morning chasing the other birds away from the yard. The Rufous is a feisty little thing. Here he is on take-off:



The butterflies are also out and about this morning. Here is one on the Aralia blossom:



After we had a few hard freezes last week the flowers are few and far between (other than the lemon and aralia blossoms and the plants in pots that travel in and out of the greenhouse) so I have the hummingbird feeder filled up with fresh nectar. And since there are no blooms to post, this flowering tea blossom will have to suffice:



The tea is bound and tied together in a small bundle or ball and when hot water is poured over the top, it blooms. Very fancy!:



Happy New Year everyone!