Lots of Foliage

I am still fighting a cold, so it was too cold for me to go out this morning when the light was right, but I was able to go out and get some photos of foliage for Pam's Foliage Follow-up after in warmed up a bit.  I ended up taking a huge number of photos, and, as usual, included way more than most others put in their posts.  Most of the foliage is new, that normally wouldn't be growing at this time of year, because it has been warmer than it should be.  I am kind of wondering, though, if the new growth really has been there in the past, but I didn't see it because of the leaves over them.  Since we had to have our tree cut down last spring, there aren't as many leaves on the ground.

This plant is a dianthus named, 'Wink'.  Larry was good friends with the Wink it was named after.  She passed away about a year ago.  Her husband was an agronomist at the University of Nebraska, and named this after her.  I'm thinking he hybridized it.  It's a cute little plant that has small pink flowers.

The daylilies have new growth on them.  I wonder how they will do when we get winter weather.

I think this is knautia.

The arum is looking like it thinks it's early autumn.

It seems to be normal for the grape hyacinths to green up as early as fall.  I'm thinking these did.

The perennial geraniums are looking pretty good.  I'm pretty sure they normally die back in the winter.

These are the reblooming irises in the east front yard bed.

I've shown other hellebores, but not this one yet.  I am excited to see how well they bloom this spring.
 

Candytuft:

Yarrow:

I think this is a dwarf sage.

Well, this dandelion thinks it's time to grow.

I am pleased to see new growth on one of the Zizea aureas
. 

I have been enjoying the little bluestem and switchgrasses I planted last summer.

Larkspur:

Columbine:

The crocus and daffodils on the south side of the house have grown since I posted about them coming up.

Honeysuckle:

I transplanted several 'Prairie Smoke' geums in the new planting area.  At least some of them look like they will make it.

Purple Poppy Mallow:

This may be a penstemon.

Helenium hoopesii:

Snapdragon:

Drumstick Alliums:

There is also some foliage inside to show.  The mother of thousands is a very hardy plant.

I have been showing Larry's rabbit foot fern on foliage posts for all three years I've been blogging.  He has to take it  downstairs to a shower to water it.  He does a good job keeping up with it.

The airplane plant has lots of little plants hanging from it.  These succulents were sunk in a washtub last summer.  I hope they make it to spring so they can go back out for the summer.  We take almost all of the plants outside when it's warm enough.

I've had this bay plant at least 3 years.  We had to cut it back one spring when it looked like it was going to die, and it took off again.

Scented geraniums don't do the best in the house, but this one is doing pretty well.

Two of the three rosemarys are doing pretty well.

I love angel wing begonias. 

In my GBBD post, I showed a photo of a Martex kitchen towel ad that I had on a wall in the kitchen, with the matching towels on a rack on the wall.  This picture is in the bedroom we turned into a dining room.  Can you see the foliage on it?

I am really not good at decorating, but I like some of the things I do.  The salt and pepper shakers were my mother-in-law's.  There are some differences, but most of the items on the buffet have something to do with what's in the picture.

I am looking forward to seeing what the foliage looks like on the plants next month.  Have a great week!

I Enjoy Year 'Round Blooms

Carol, of May Dreams Gardens, hosts Garden Bloggers' Bloom Day the 15th of each month.  She has quoted Elizabeth Lawrence, who said, "We can have flowers nearly every month of the year."  Well, I may not have any outdoor blooms right now, but I do have some flowers from summer that I can enjoy, because I dried them.  I also have a few indoor blooms, and lots of flowers on items around the house.

I didn't keep up with harvesting the lavender this year, but did get some hung.

Here's a wider view of where the lavender is hung, along with some yarrow.  I love the ad from I think, the 1940s.  I have had fun finding the towels from the ad to display.  The words on top say, "Even a man can do a good job with Martex Dry me Dry."  The ad also states the towels are from 25 to 50 cents each.  I paid more than that for them.  Here's a link to other posts I've done on some of my collections.
 

Here is another way I enjoy flowers year around.  I like to change these out from time to time.

In the past, I've posted a number of the blooms I have on the walls.  Some, just lean.

 I almost took a different photo of this, but decided to be willing to show I sometimes have some clutter. I think these hydrangeas are from 2010, because I don't think I got any dried this year.

 Here are some blooms from this year.

I didn't dry as many straw flowers this year, because I liked how they looked outside.  Still, I am glad I got some.

Another source of winter blooms are the lovely books on gardening, of which a tiny part of my collection is shown here.

 This begonia did not bloom this summer.  I'm glad it is now.  It's a nice touch of color in what is now the grandsons' toy room.

I have 3 holiday cactus plants that are about finished blooming.  Still, they are nice and colorful.

The other two are in the garden window in our dining room that we put in what used to be a bedroom.  It looks like I need to do some cleaning in here.

I have had 'Naomi' the longest, and can remember the name, maybe because it is the name of a person.

It's January, and I'm always happy when the days are getting longer.  I hope the rest of winter goes by quickly.  In a couple months there may even be some outdoor blooms.  In the meantime, the seedheads are fun to look at, and seeds are available for the birds to eat.  Already, some of you in warmer zones are getting some hellebore blooms, so the countdown to spring is under way!

'Black Jack' sedum:

Ironweed:

I love the look of the empty pods of the hibiscus with the blue sky in the background.

Joe Pye Weed:

Wild Quinine:

The strawflowers I didn't get dried, in the shadow of my legs:

I hope this finds you well.  There are lots of colds and such going on around here.