Enamored with Evergreens, February 22, 2016

Winter here is too cold for most plants to bloom, so it is nice that evergreen shrubs and perennials with their persistant leaves do so well here.  I'm also using them for a belated Foliage Follow-up post.

Today I am linking with-

Foliage Follow-up hosted by Pam of Digging

Today's Flowers hosted by Denise

In a Vase on Monday hosted by Cathy

Macro Monday 2 hosted by Gemma and Magical Mystical Teacher

Down my ramp, the Rosemary plants are probably the most useful of the evergreens, behind it is the variegated Elaeagnus ebbingei 'Gilt Edge'-

On the east side of the house is Osmanthus delavayi, which has tiny glossy dark leaves, looking like tiny ivy leaves, and has fragrant white flowers in spring.  It grows densely enough I can even keep it looking fairly good with my so-so pruning skills, behind it are the irrepressible Rhododendrons-

The small but sprightly holly-like variegated Osmanthus heterophyllus 'Goshiki'-

The evergreen Carex oshimensis 'Evergold'-

My newest experiment with evergreens are 4 Manzanitas, wonderful plants from the mountains that don't need, in fact dislike, summer water, making them excellent for places far from my hoses.  They are also winter to early spring bloomers, great for those resident hummingbirds, and have edible berries, and gorgeous reddish smooth bark in some cases.   Here Arctostaphylos sonomensis-

A. viscida 'Sweet Medina'-

A. columbiana 'Wolf Creek'-

Flower buds on A. columbiana 'Parkdale East'-

I saw a large Manzanita at Georgie's Clay absolutely loaded with similar bunches of flowers running pink to white, absolutely fantastic.  I meant to get a photo but it was raining when I came out.

Camellia japonica 'Taiyo' has grown to 4' from a tiny few inches, despite getting no care at all and practically no summer water;  the variegated leaves are lovely-

Cathy of IaVoM asked about my Vinca 'Wojo's Gem', it is a puzzle since it tends to be called Vinca major in spite of being the size of Vinca minor, though Proven Winners calls it V. maculata, it spread very well in this seldom-watered bed around a tree, better than in a long bed with lots of competing plants-

It has flower buds about to unfurl, and regular Vinca minor is starting to bloom very early as well-

And now for this week's In a Vase on Monday challenge, I found one little Crocus bloom- most of the original crocuses have long ago disappeared because of voles or squirrels, and one tiny Snow Drop with some pink winter heather, Erica x darleyensis-

I rather prefer the crocus with the fuller silvery Lamium, which has a echo of some purple in the pattern, the vase of unknown origin with roses reminding me of sugar ones for decorating cakes-

I like the little snowdrop casting its shadow on the turquoise vase-

What signs of spring are brightening your garden now?   -Hannah

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