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Cyclamen is a popular christmas plant in Houston. We were told that sometimes, if planted in the ground, they can survive for a year or two before the summer heat kills them.
This is the first (and maybe only) example of this we have seen - Maybe in January there will be more than 2 flowers, which is its current state. There also are not many leaves showing as yet, so this photgraph is not exactly the best one for this month
This is a picture of our first "Grand Soliel D'Or" daffodil.
I expect more next month.
Just for the sake of bulb-bore facts, I would like to add that add daffodills in this family (which includes both paperwhite and avalanche) grow to be less than 2 ft tall, and each flower is only one inch wide (but you get clusters of flowers which makes up for thier smallness)
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This is one of the many Paperwhite daffodills we have in the garden, which are blooming at present. They should multiply as the years go by, but we are still on our first generation, having only planted them 2 months ago.
As with all the Daffodils blooming in December, these are "tazetta" narcissus, and smell quite strongly. Paperwhites either smell "intoxicatingly sweet" or "like a new pair of shoes", depending on who you ask.
This daffodil is a "Chinese Sacred Lily", (yellow cup and white petals). Again they are small, but quite fragrant.
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This Amaryllis gets the vote for Houston flower of the month - It has been quite spectacular with its 8 inch wide flowers, which have been blooming for the last 2-3 weeks.
The only problem is that it should not be blooming right now , but in the spring. I bought this bulb from the "Houston Bulb Mart", and I suspect that it was sold to be grown indoors (and set to bloom around christmas time) - I think that our relatively mild winter has fooled this plant into thinking it is indoors, so it is growing quite happily - Lets hope it withstands the hard freezes it will receive in January and Febuary.
Hidden in the background, you can see a pot which contains an as-yet unplanted crinum, which will hopefully be worthy of mention when it flowers in the summer..
realising that you probably like nothing more than long download times, I added another little closeup of a paperwhite to this collection.
I hope you enjoyed what Houston had to offer for December!
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