Funny you should ask, today of all days. I really have nothing in bloom in my garden... except one tiny snowdrop that I noticed this morning! I was very excited and had no one to share it with, so I'm glad you asked, lol!

:)
Dee

Ooh, I'm glad you asked, too, molie! I was cutting back some overgrown forsythia and noticed one lone flower had opened. I had no idea it could or would do that.

More expected, I've got helleborus foetidus (stinking hellebores) in full bloom - well, it's hard to say "full" because the flowers unfurl over a very long period, and I'm sure in about a month I'll realize that what I see now is just a lot of partly opened buds. The H. orientalis (aka x hybridus) are mostly in bud, some just poking up and some about to open. The h. niger flowers, which should be blooming now, are nowhere to be seen. Not sure if that's because the buds are less prominent or ... something bad happened.

Also, pink and white heaths are going strong. The deeper purples will come later, I guess, or maybe the color just darkens with age.

Being in the warm corner of New England, but not wanting to gloat about it, winter jasmine (Jasminium nudiflorum) is pretty well in full bloom. I saw it at the NE flower show about 10 years ago, and just had to have it. It does well here in our borderline zone 7, in fairly deep shade. I love the green stems, but the flowers, though scentless, are a sight for sore eyes in late winter.

My guilty secret, winter honeysuckle, is also blooming, and so it gets another year's reprieve. I'm still not really certain if it's invasive here, and I would not have bought it if I'd known it could be, but I'm planning to remove it ... one of these days.

Missing in action: my cyclamen coum. It bloomed last year, and now I can't even find a leaf. It may have been overpowered by European ginger, which is spreading in the vicinity of the cyclamen, if I even remember correctly where they were last time I saw them.

Actually, mine IS a heath (Erica) but I often misspeak... silly me.

Go ahead and brag about your winter jasmine; I would if I had one. That would be a great idea for my fence. I just love the look of blooms in the winter... somehow they just seem to be laughing at the snow. And Dee...your one snowdrop must be so cheerful to see... one is better than none.

I actually am a bit worried about my Queen Elizabeth rose. I never do a thing to it to prepare it for the winter and worry that this thaw might do her in this year.

Molie

Six years ago I moved to Ct. from Virginia. While down there I acquired a winter blooming jasmine and transplanted it to my garden here in cold New England.
I'm amazed to see that every year at this time it bursts into bloom. All my gardening friends lust for rooted branches! Margyrose

Nothing is blooming!! However, yesterday I did notice that the tips of some Daffodils are popping up. They will probably stay that way through the winter.

Ask me again at the end of February, that's when the Hamamelis 'Arnold Promise' will be blooming! My only winter bloomer and it has lots of buds on it.

One single bloom on camellia 'Winter's Rose' still left (normally it blooms in Nov- early Dec)...
...and to my big surprise I noticed several opened flowers on daphne transatlantica 'Jim's Pride' (which is not a truly D.transatlantica, but rather hybrid between D. caucasica x D. collina.) This one stays green longer than any other daphne I grow and loses its leaves only by February.
Happy New Year to everyone!!!!

I am very envious of our CT neighbors....camellia.....jasmine!!!

My snow banks receded during the recent thaw and underneath was a very flattened fall crocus....but it was still a flower and I will count this as something blooming in my garden the final week of December.

Forgot about witch hazel - I noticed a few bright red blooms open on Hamamelis x intermedia 'Diane' this weekend. In New York a couple of weeks ago, I saw an enormous native witch hazel in bloom (H. virginiana); it was more of a tree form, and very beautiful. It made me wish I had more land so I could add one - there's nothing like flowers in December, as far as I'm concerned.

Thought I would share a winter dream lost to a hungry beast.

Kt, all the hamamelis 'Christmas Cheer' I find on line are h. vernalis, or Ozark Witch Hazel - I wonder if yours was really an x intermedia cultivar? Think it will regrow? Maybe, if it wasn't grafted ...

I had to google the euphorbia, all mine are invisible now and I didn't know there were evergreen varieties. Here's what PDN says about 'Nothowlee':

This is a real WOW plant for a sunny, well-drained spot in the garden! E. 'Nothowlee' is a 2004 Gold Medal winner at Holland's prestigious Plantarium Expo. We'll also award them the 2004 stupid cultivar name award!

Here is a link that might be useful: PDN Nothowlee

Nan,
As I had to elbow a few aboretum smarty pants out of the way when I scooped up H.'Christmas Cheer' I tend to think it was indead a x intermedia cultivar...but as we all have learned the hard way who really knows!
This is my second year with 'Nothowlee' (try and say that three times fast) and it is a fabulous plant for our neck of the woods. Last winter it held on and looked great until Feb/March and looked pretty ratty through most of the spring but then bounced right back. The true black and blue/green leaves really set of the yellow/gold euphorbia flowers and are a GREAT front of the garden plant when planted in a mass of at least a half dozen. This plant is sold in the zone 7 area as a great winter container plant but frankly I think it is so much more.

Wow! to "Nothowlee" which I've never seen. Tell me... how ratty is ratty? I mean, if it's in the front and enmass, do you cut it back in the spring? Do the stems get kind of wet and rotten or does it just flop a bit?

Molie

Snow, snow, snow . . . Our ground has been frozen hard for a month despite swings in temperature and an inch or so of thaw and puddles over the last couple of weeks. Nothing blooms in winter here; I guess that's the difference a zone or two makes. The earliest I have anything blooming is the end of March: some Hamamelis x intermedia and vernalis, a winter blooming heath, and some early bulbs along a sheltered foundation - snow drops, species crocus, and reticulated iris. A couple of years ago I started getting "winter blooming" plants, and while they do extend the season some, they are by no means winter blooming this far north. At the time I wondered why I never saw hellebores in local nurseries, but have since discovered that around here they bloom only shortly before other spring bloomers and are somewhat underwhelming in comparison, with tattered foliage and mellow blossom colors. I guess that I'll probably play around with placement of my hellebores to see if they will look better and bloom earlier in more sun or by a warm foundation, but after 5-7 months of snow deep enough most years to bury much of my garden completely (shrubs? what shrubs?) I'm ready for screaming color - daffodils, forsythia, and crocus.

Molie
E. 'Nothowlee' is promoted as a winter container plant perhaps because of its tendency to look ratty...yes really ratty in the spring due to loss of most of its leaves. I had three 12"h x8"w plants and last spring purely on impulse I ripped one out and decided to leave the other two in place and watch what they would do. They came slowly back and to me were well worth it, but keep in mind that my spring season is likely much colder than yours so this plant may in fact come back to life faster for you. When I mentioned planting in a mass of a half a dozen I was picturing them specifically in dtd's back garden bordering her patio. This is a small front of the border plant that looks stunning 3/4's of the year with bold coloring that companioned with the right plant..I have another PDN plant near by it "Kniphofia pumila" and I will have to poke through some photos to see what else. Holly Molely I just saw the photo of E. ÂNothowlee on PDN and I must say mine is MUCH more subdued (and much nicer IMHO) than the plant shown on line.
Dtd,
I have another evergreen Euphorbia that I picked up from Avant Gardens a few years ago it pretty non descript but if youÂre interested I put a chunk aside for you. FYI it has not taken over like some EuphorbiaÂs do.
babs,
Trust me be thankful for that blanket of snow it covers a multitude of sins (just like an over sized tee shirt), honestly if you didn't have the snow you could be looking at mud, piles of black plastic nursery pots, crushed and rotten plants, and all of the sad items you ment to bring inside but never did.

Thanks for the feedback on your E. 'Nothowlee' because the quality that really appealed to me is the dark leaf color. I have a long border garden that ends near the river. I figured that a dark-leaved plant would look striking either near my Heliopsis 'Prairie Sunset' or near our river birch. But I guess I'll have to see it in a nursery before I purchase it. The colors are often not true at nursery websites.

Molie

"...honestly if you didn't have the snow you could be looking at... piles of black plastic nursery pots... and all of the sad items you ment to bring inside but never did..."

Oh my goodness, ain't that the God's honest truth!

And don't forget the leaves that are all piled up around those items that you didn't get to rake yet...

:)
Dee

"Being in the warm corner of New England, but not wanting to gloat about it, winter jasmine (Jasminium nudiflorum) is pretty well in full bloom.. . .. It does well here in our borderline zone 7, in fairly deep shade. "
Digginthedirt, you've sold me!! There are two varieties of winter jasmine available from ForestFarm Nursery: the regular one (hardy to z.6) and j.n.Mystique (hardy to zone 7.) I prefer the smaller size and attractive variegated leaves of "Mystique" but I'm too inexperienced a mid-Cape Cod gardener to know if I dare risk it here. (Previous gardening experience--California). The location would have some protection from our winds--but on New Years Day we were having a windchill of minus 11! Would you risk it?
Thanks in advance.

Here is a link that might be useful: ForestFarm Nursery--winter jasmine

Personally, I'd go with the green variety, not just because it's so much hardier but because it's tall enough to make its presence known in the gray cold of a Cape Cod winter.

I'd be afraid that the (admittedly beautiful!) Mystique would be sulky, and I've lost enough optimistically labeled 'zone 7' plants to be wary.

The species is a lax shrub, and sprawls unless it's got some support. Mine is growing on a lattice fence off the NW corner of the house, where it gets little protection from the wind. I occasionally tie some of the branches to the lattice, or weave them through it, and it has a nice cascading form. The branches are a little like Kerria japonica, very bright green for several years' growth.

But really, Emily, you should try some of each ...

Thank you, diggingthedirt--I do think I'll try some of each. The fact that J.N. likes some support is good to know. I have some space in front of a fence. I just am so entranced by the fact that i could have something blooming NOW, in the bleak midwinter.

When you mentioned the possibility that the fall crocus was eaten by the e.ginger, I had to wonder if that was MY ginger-on-steriods.
That may be my one claim to fame and a good enough reason to start thinking about our SPRING SWAP!!!!
Idabean/Marie

Marie,

I still have your ginger -on-steroids from the swap a few cycles back. It's just so beautiful and healthy that I had to thank you!

Lisa

Nope, Marie, your G-O-S is in another area. This is plain vanilla Euro ginger. The cyclamen is pretty finicky, and prone to disappear. There's another, other than C. coum, that's supposed to be more reliable, and I'm going to track it down and give it a try.

Glad to hear from my G-O-S again. I'll start taking orders soon. That came from divisions from an Arlington MA friend no less than 14 years ago. She'd love to know it's traveled around the state!