Hamamelis

I think if I had to choose just one plant that would or might bloom in the winter time, it would be Hamamelis - Witch Hazel.  And if I had to pick just one of those, it would definitely be 'Rochester'.  It is large, reliable and early.  Ours is on the bank above the upper pond and gets lots of sun.  It is always the earliest of them to bloom, usually by late December and stays in bloom until the warm weather comes in the spring.  It is also one of the most fragrant out of the probably 20 different ones we grow.  I continually cut small branches to bring in the house (you don't need a very big piece to scent the whole room) and enjoy it all winter.
My walk was a quick one, just up to see the plant and back in.  Despite the sun and a temperature of 40 degrees in the afternoon, it still feels like winter out there - not like the 12 degrees it was first thing in the morning, but we are pretty much done with spring for awhile, which is as it should be.  The plants all need their winter break and so do I.

Tibetan Hellebore

Our very long fall (or early spring) caused a lot of things that shouldn't have appeared until March, to make an appearance in December.  If we had stayed warm until spring, all would have been well.  As it is, we have covered a lot of things to keep them safe until the real spring arrives.  One of them is this Tibetan Hellebore.  It is usually the first one to bloom.  It is not one of the evergreen ones (which we have everywhere, thanks to their prolific seeding habits), but dies to the ground  by mid summer.  I saw it starting to come up and threw some pine needles over the two clumps that had done so.  With the temperatures down near 10, I also gave them a cover of a styrofoam box.  They are so pretty I just hate to have them ruined.  Hopefully this will protect them until better weather.  The first photo is now, and the other is what they will look like when spring finally gets here for real.

Sunrise in the hollow

Sunrises and sunsets are something we don't get to see that much of down in the hollow.  It's a trade off, I know.  We get less wind and a bit of protection from storms, a bit cooler temperatures in the summer (though colder in the winter) and just that cozy feeling of being surrounded by hills.  Sometimes, things work just right and we do get some prettiness in the morning or evening - not actually seeing the sun rise or set, but rather the colors it tints the sky, or like in these photos, lighting up the tips of the trees on the hill just beyond the first pasture.  I wish the photos looked as good as it did in person - good enough for me to be out in my pajamas taking pictures before breakfast in the cold.  Did I say how much I love my hollow?  After over  20 years here, I can't imagine ever wanting to live anywhere else.

Mosses

Getting colder out there, but the moss doesn't seem to notice, at least just yet.  Mosses are sort of wondrous.  In the summer, when it is so dry, they get kind of crappy looking, even fall off of their rocks sometimes if you brush against them, but when the rains start again in the fall,  they seem to come back to life, resurrected as it were.  Being a more shady garden than a sunny one, we do have lots of different mosses.  I wish I knew them better, but that is for another time, I suppose.  For now I will enjoy their cool, calm softness.  If you have the inclination to learn more about them, I'm including a link with lots of information and pictures. Something to explore on a cold winter's day when you can't get outside.

It even grow on the bottom of our barn door, among other places.

Here's the link for more explorations of mosses (and lichens)
http://ohiomosslichen.org/moss-photos/

Lonicera purpusii

Lonicera purpusii   We bought this one years ago because it promised that it would bloom in January.  Well, it probably blooms in January somewhere, but until this year's unseasonable warm weather, it always waited until March or so to present us with flowers - just about the time when everything else was competing for attention.  This year though, it has popped out right on time and makes its persence known by it's sweet, lovely scent, long before you get close enough to actually see the blooms.  It requires a walk to the back of the gardens, just past the cactus scree, but well worth the walk.  A branch is gracing our dining table now, so for the next few very cold days I can enjoy it without freezing my toes and fingers.

1 January 2016 - A New Beginning

I had a plan, several years ago, to do a series of posts depicting 'a year in the hollow'.  Somehow it never happened.  With this year's wild and warm weather, and things blooming at all of the wrong times, it seemed the perfect time to finally get to it.  Every day I will share something that's blooming here (an excuse to get outside) and talk a bit about it.  For today, I share a photo of one of our ponds, still quite covered in duckweed. (even though it's not blooming at the monent)  Duckweed is a bit of a perennial pest here on any water that sits still for more than a day or so.  I'm told it does flower, but as it has one of the tiniest flowers around, I know I've never seen one.  Eaten by some, good place to hide for baby fish and frogs, and sort of pretty, though it does get carried away and has to be removed at times to let the water warm up so the waterlilies will bloom.

Just wanted to let people know that we won't be open this weekend due to the excessive heat and the fact that we don't have electricity or water.  It's not been a fun week since the storm last Friday.  'They' say that we'll have electricity some time this weekend, but until then, we're camping out, more or less.  Hope to see you all next weekend.