Thanksgiving Color

As the year winds down, so do many of our gardens. At least in terms of flowering. And yet our late warm weather is convincing our gardens to keep going. With that in mind I attached my telephoto lens and went outside to photograph individual flowers that I can't normally get close enough to. Here then is a sampling of color via flower in my mid-November garden.

It's the time of year for cyclamen and I just brought home this pretty pink and white variety. 

For some reason I find that certain types of yellow primrose have the sweetest fragrance. This one certainly does, adding a bit of welcome scent to a late fall garden.

Azalea Court Jester. This accidental sport features mostly white flowers streaked with hot pink. It seems to be a fall bloomer, unusual for an azalea.

Say the word 'clover' and a horticulturist might look at you patiently, waiting for you to be more specific. That word is used for all manner of plants but the genus Trifolium is the most accurate genus for this plant much beloved by bees. Here's my T. 'Coco Mint', featuring dark foliage. Lovely!

Carnations may be common but Dianthus (botanical name) is in fact an amazingly varied genus. The foliage can vary in both form and color and of course the flowers come in nearly every color imaginable, though a great many are pink (leading to another of its common names 'pinks').

Agastache aurantiacum Coronado. Love the color on this highly fragrant hummingbird mint. 

Speaking of 'mints' and delicious fragrances, this Coyote mint (Monardella odoratissima) has both in spades. Plus lovely violet flowers.

Erica canaliculata Rosea. One of my favorite heathers and a surprisingly long bloomer.

I've shared several photos of my amazing Asclepias cancellata in bloom. Here's another one, with a bee on the right side harvesting nectar. The single plant literally produced close to 1000 flowers!

I've shared some nice photos of this Bouvardia ternifolia over the years. I had to move the pot to a much shadier spot in the spring and because of that it got leggy reaching for more sun. Once back in the sun I cut it back hard and within weeks it sprouted new leaves and within a month produced its first small tubular red flowers.

Lastly here are two shots of my Canarina canariensis. This late fall/early winter bloomer has begun to produce its first nodding coral-red flowers. Love them. Below one can see its somewhat scandent habit.