Garden Bloggers Bloom Day - February 2022

It's been a while since I posted, but I am SO ready for spring and plants, I just have to participate in this month's Bloom Day. Here we go!

A number of February's flowers in my Zone 8, Pacific Northwest garden are little and hard to see, like the blooms on Azara microphylla. If you get close, you can smell the sweet, light vanilla scent they emit.

Anther pungent bloomer this month is Sarcoccoca hookeriana var. humilis. The tiny flowers have an outsized smell that you'll catch from 20-30 feet away if the wind is right.

There are some super early bloomers that showed up last month  - and even before. Arctostaphylos 'Austin Griffiths' has been blooming since late December and is almost finished.

And these little Galanthus spp have been a welcome sight since January when they first started pushing up from the ground.

Not all the winter bloomers are shy, though. Take Camellia 'Yuletide', for example. This one is full of itself, and has been since December. We're encouraging it to cover the boring chain-link fence behind it, and it's doing its best to oblige.

Other flowers that have been blooming since last month are a series of energetic Hellebores, none of which I have specific cultivar names for.

Also blooming since last month is this Barbecue Rosemary. I guess the concept is to strip the leaves off - or not - and thread meat or veggies onto the stems for cooking over a flame. I've used the leaves for cooking, but I haven't tried the BBQ method yet.

 

 

Erysimum 'Winter Orchid' contributes a hit of color against a red brick planter.

Mahonia repens is just beginning to open. The huge bumblebees I'm seeing around will appreciate this flowering native.

The first primrose has opened. It's pretty early for it, but it might be Primula 'Cowichan Red' from the late lamented Joy Creek. Portland gardeners already miss that wonderful nursery that closed this past fall.

My favorite blooming plant this month is Camellia transnokoensis. I moved it two springs ago, and it seems as though it's finally settling in again. The blooms have been unfolding in a spectacular way outside the window near my computer desk.

And that's my take on Bloom Day for February. 

I'm joining Carol, of May Dreams Gardens, to celebrate all the flowers everywhere this month. Check out her blog to see lots more blooming beauty.

Happy Bloom Day, all!