{"id":2402,"date":"2008-12-15T21:01:57","date_gmt":"2008-12-16T02:01:57","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.zanthan.com\/gardens\/gardenlog\/?p=2402"},"modified":"2017-07-20T15:08:33","modified_gmt":"2017-07-20T20:08:33","slug":"gbbd-200812-dec-2008","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.zanthan.com\/gardens\/monthly-comparison\/gbbd-200812-dec-2008\/","title":{"rendered":"GBBD 200812: Dec 2008"},"content":{"rendered":"

Carol at May Dreams Gardens<\/a> invites us to tell her what\u2019s blooming in our gardens on the 15th of each month.<\/p>\n

Paperwhites and roses. Crocuses and coneflowers. English peas and summer squash. To you gardeners with more distinct seasons, you probably think Austin gardens are a bit dysfunctional. And so we are. Last week we tied a record high of 81\u00b0F; the same night it snowed.<\/p>\n

\"Asclepias<\/p>\n

Our ground doesn’t freeze but neither do our plants go dormant. Yesterday we basked in the enviable 70s; tonight we face our first hard freeze of the winter–down to the mid-20s. Oh, I know that’s nothing compared to the onslaught of ice you northern gardeners are struggling with. Did I mention, our plants don’t go dormant?<\/p>\n

Tonight Austin gardeners are racing around to bring in potted plants and cover everything tender with old sheets and blankets. Friday it will be in the 70s again. The hope and heartbreak of December are in every bud. Like the crocus above, most flowers decided to hunch their shoulders against the cold today, and huddle petals closed.<\/p>\n

Buds<\/h3>\n

The coral vine, Antigonon leptopus<\/i>, hasn’t frozen back to the ground yet, but it’s flowers refuse to come out and play.
\n\"Antigonon<\/p>\n

I had hoped my most recent amaryllis acquisition would flower in time for GBBD but it is just as likely to freeze tonight without ever opening.
\n\"Amaryllis<\/p>\n

Last week the ‘New Dawn’ rose along the front fence was flowering nicely. This ‘New Dawn’ in the back yard was just about to open. I cut it after this photo and brought it in…
\n\"rose<\/p>\n

…along with this ‘Blush Noisette’ bud which has already opened in the vase.
\n\"rose<\/p>\n

Most of the rest of the roses look like this ‘Blush Noisette’–browned by recent light frosts and a bit windblown and worn.
\n\"rose<\/p>\n

Summer’s Decay<\/h3>\n

I rather like this faded coneflower and it’s valiant attempt to keep blooming despite summer’s passing.
\n\"purple<\/p>\n

I don’t care at all for the Port St. Johns creeper but it is the only thing in the garden that is blooming with abandon and I have to admire that. Perhaps by morning it will be frozen and I can hack it back and uncover the rose it’s smothering.
\n\"purple<\/p>\n

Vegetables<\/h3>\n

My attempt to grow summer squash in the fall failed. I only got one small squash off of eight plants.
\n\"summer<\/p>\n

The English peas just started blooming last week. No peas yet. I think, with the row cover on, they might survive tonight’s low temperatures.
\n\"English<\/p>\n

Herbs<\/h3>\n

The lavender just started blooming this week.
\n\"Lavandula<\/p>\n

The rosemary has been blooming all month. It was too gloomy and windy for the camera to focus.
\n\"rosemary<\/p>\n

Seasonal<\/h3>\n

Let’s end this bloom day with December’s own flower…the only thing blooming “in season”–the paperwhite narcissus.
\n\"paperwhite<\/p>\n

Postscript<\/h3>\n

Not pictured but flowering, the duranta and some very faded roses on ‘Ducher’.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\"Crocus<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[5],"tags":[200,211],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.zanthan.com\/gardens\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2402"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.zanthan.com\/gardens\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.zanthan.com\/gardens\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.zanthan.com\/gardens\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.zanthan.com\/gardens\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2402"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.zanthan.com\/gardens\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2402\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5614,"href":"https:\/\/www.zanthan.com\/gardens\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2402\/revisions\/5614"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.zanthan.com\/gardens\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2402"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.zanthan.com\/gardens\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2402"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.zanthan.com\/gardens\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2402"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}