Thursday, December 24, 2009

Blooming on Christmas Eve!

Meg and I are sending
Seasons Greetings to everyone!
We hope everyone has a wonderful Holiday Season extending well into the New Year.
This Camellia sasanqua 'Kanjiro" is blooming in the back yard the 2 foot tall bush has two flowers on it. The bad news is that the deer have munched about half of my Camellia Japonica 'Debutante' and nibbled on two other camellias. I walked outside last night and heard them moving around in the back yard last night.



Above is an Helleborus foetidus that was given to me this fall! On the job where I'm building a new porch she has maybe 10 of these much closer to blooming than mine. I have been offered bavies and will get some.

Johnny Jump up from the edge of the back porch. This is planted under the eaves and has missed our recent snow. The snow is still melting here, but rain is expected tomorrow. In fact thunder storms are expected???


This maple tree can be seen from the kitchen window, the dark spot is sap. A tree that saps like this one damaged two years ago by a backhoe will attract insects. I did find some ants on the sap today, but at was only around 40 degrees outside. If we get warmer weather and the sap continues to flow we will see butterflies on it. This area has seen 2 butterflies about a month ago that might have been sapping, a Question Mark and Mourning Cloak. I'll let you know what develops.

21 comments:

Shirley said...

Hi there Randy & Meg, ah now… I’m a fan of the hellebore :-D

Just wanted to stop by and wish you a Merry Christmas and all the best for 2010 to you and yours :-D

Catherine@AGardenerinProgress said...

The camellia is very pretty and the Hellebore is getting close to opening.
Hope you and Meg have a Merry Christmas!

Carol said...

Your 'Kanjiro' is lovely Randy. Bother about the Deer! I love Johnny Jump Ups! Sweet face! I look forward to seeing your butterflies sapping! HAPPY CHRISTMAS EVE! Merry Christmas! Carol

Ginger said...

Interesting about the sap!

Seasons Greetings to y'all as well!!

Tatyana@MySecretGarden said...

Merry Christmas and a Healthy and Happy New Year!

compost in my shoe said...

We have roses in full bloom on this christmas Eve and it is wonderful. Looks like you are celebrating the flowers of the season just the same. Happy Holidays!

Anonymous said...

Kanjiro is a wonderful Christmas gift to be blooming now. I may try a camellia in container on my sheltered deck.

Nell Jean said...

Love the Camellia and the Viola. Sorry for the damage to Debutante.

I look forward to the butterflies, always.

Merry Christmas

Victoria Williams said...

Merry Christmas!
That is a gorgeous camellia, lucky you!

Rothschild Orchid said...

Merry Christmas xxx

Janet, The Queen of Seaford said...

Hope you all had a wonderful Christmas. Interesting that the sap attracts the butterflies, but I guess it should. Sorry about the deer eating the camellias...rotten critters.

Redzlan aka Tabib said...

Happy Holidays! ;)

Meems said...

Love those camellias blooming this time of year! A very Merry Christmas to you and Meg, too. Keep those great photos of butterflies and bugs coming in 2010.
Meems @ Hoe and Shovel

Kate/High Altitude Gardening said...

Lovely Camelia though Johnny Jump Ups always hold a special place in my heart. (And, my garden!)

Happy New Year

Madibirder said...

Hi Randy,
Thanks for visiting Wings Among Us and your kind comments. You have a great blog with brilliant photos. I particularly love the Cardinals, they're gorgeous
Best regards
Rosmadi aka madibirder

Kanak7 said...

That camellia is stunning!!

All good wishes for 2010...HAPPY NEW YEAR!!

Shady Gardener said...

Hi Randy and Meg, I hope I can keep up with the progress report on this tree! We have had a couple of trees that "ran sap" a couple of years ago and attracted butterflies. (Ours are oak trees.)

Anonymous said...

How lucky you are to have flowers in January! Have your hellebores bloomed yet? I can't wait for mine! I just planted them this year, so I've even seen them bloom.

Miranda Bell said...

Hi Randy & Meg - very Happy New Year to you - I've not had a great deal of time for visiting blogs and posting recently but was determined to get round my favorites before february arrived!! Love the photos of the birds in previous postings - many species we dont' get in France. Take care Miranda

Ali Iyoob said...

Your gonna hate me, but I do that to select trees in my woods on purpose. Got my lifer Southern Pearly-eye like that.

Susan said...

I enjoy visiting your blog, and hate to ask you a question this way, but would you mind sharing how you added the tabs under the header on your blog. They are a great addition and can't figure out how to do it. Thanks so much.