December Blooms in Southern California! While many gardens are buried in snow or frost, and gardeners are dreaming of their spring gardens, a few plants are blooming in the Late Bloomer garden and I thought I would share. Hopefully, they will offer a little sunshine into your day!
As I didn’t plant a full-scale winter garden this year, I still have pepper plants, some with blooms, though peppers are very, very slow to develop and ripen. Do you see the spider in this photo? Write me and I will send you some Kabocha squash seeds!
We are in a serious multi-year drought in Southern California, and recent rains have been a blessing! But we have a long way to go!
These photos were taken on December 16th the morning after a rain, and sunny December 17th.
A native of Brazil, the Princess Flower is a beautiful addition to a tropical or sub-tropical garden. Best suited for zones 9-11, this shrub is a recipient of the Award of Garden Merit given out by the Royal Horticultural Society and blooms are plentiful from May to January.
Tropical milkweed self-seeds (that’s why it’s called a weed!), so once planted, it will keep popping up all over your garden. Once you plant it, Monarch butterflies will find your garden!
Most of the flowering plants are producing small flowers in December, except for my pale pink camellia bushes. They are really putting on a show.
Some plants are just starting to bloom.
Others are on their last legs.
And some plants just won’t quit! Borage self-seeds, so by the time one bush is spent, another one is pushing up. I’ve had borage blooming all year, and bees love it!
California native Pitcher Sage is my only native plant blooming at the moment. It’s about finished blooming and I’m looking forward to other natives starting to bloom. My plants produce delicate lilac flowers, but, evidently they also come in blue! Pitcher sage has done very well in the Late Bloomer garden. All my native plants were purchased at Grow Native Nursery, the retail store of the non-profit Rancho Santa Ana Botanic Garden.
I hope you enjoyed the color! Do you have anything blooming in your garden? Thanks for reading and I hope you will share with a snowbound garden friend! – Kaye
