Joseph here, in northern Indiana, where normally December and January is an indoor-only gardening season, with lots of snow, frigid temperatures, and ground frozen solid.
Not this winter, though. We’ve been having absurdly warm temperatures, and bizarrely when everything would normally be deeply dormant, I still have things flowering!
Here’s what is showing off in my garden… do you have any winter bloomers going strong at home?
Most of what I have flowering are pansies (Viola x wittrockiana, cool season annual). I started these from seed in the fall, and didn’t really expect them to survive my winter in my window boxes. Well… they are surviving for sure!
This is one of the ‘Cool Wave’ series, pansies that make long, trailing stems. They look so good spilling out of my window boxes.
I also grew a bunch of the variety ‘Flirty Skirts’ which have these wonderfully ruffled blooms.
Some are more ruffled than others, but they’re all beautiful.
This bright yellow is a nice bit of sunshine in our typically cloudy winter weather.
And this Cool Wave variety has been so nice – lots of flowers, with a great pattern.
I also have snowdrops blooming! This is the species Galanthus elwesii (Zone 4 – 7) which I got because it is a little larger than the typical Galanthus nivalis (Zone 3 – 7). Last year they all bloomed in the spring, but with the warmer weather, I have a handful blooming now, and some that even started back in November.
I just planted these a couple year ago. I can’t wait for them to multiply into nice clumps.
Finally, I have primroses (Primula hybrid, Zone 3 – 8) blooming! These have always started early, but never THIS early. They’re a long way for full bloom, but it is great to see some color this time of year.
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Comments
I'm in CT and it's been unusually warm as well, similar to last year. We're getting some plowable snow overnight on Saturday so maybe the trend will become more seasonable. Color in the garden in January is definitely an upside!
I'm in Pittsburgh and it's around 29 degrees this morning. Those winter blooms are amazing- such a surprise, I always heard Pansies like cool weather. Your Pansy "‘Flirty Skirts’" are really gorgeous!
How to have winter blooms!!! They look very happy!
Gorgeous!!
It's always so nice to be greeted by the cheerful faces of pansies!!
Wow! I love your pansies. Did you direct sow the seeds into your window box? The trailing stems of the “Cool Wave” series look great. I’ll have to try pansies in my window box next fall. I’m in Indiana too (south central) and so many of my bulbs are already up (some alliums are a foot tall right now), but none of my bulbs are blooming like yours. Thanks for the inspiration.
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