Tag Archives: low maintenance

attracting birds, evergreens, months 01-03: winter, months 10-12: fall, urban deer

Apple Blossom Camellia

01/23/2020 svseekins 9 Comments

Camellia japonica apple blossom, Joy Sander, Camellia sasanqua,, garden Victoria, Vancouver Island, BC, Pacific Northwest — photo by SVSeekins

Here’s a darling fall & winter flower that caught our Christmas guest’s attention as they came to the door.

Camellia ‘Apple Blossom’ is just beginning to bloom at Haloween. It continues through November and December if the weather is right.

I treasure every new bloom. But the shrub doesn’t garner our guests’ compliments until the winter solstice has passed.

When protected from the brunt of the wind, this camellia happily goes about its business. Even our resident blacktail deer seem to let it be. 🙂

My morning coffee is that much more of a treat when I’m also watching the overwintering Anna’s hummingbirds investigating the Camellia blossoms.

When each flower opens, its pink petals fade to white.
Plain.
Hummingbirds typically look for more dramatic blooms.
I reckon it’s the heavy yellow pollen that is drawing them near.

In mid-January, the Pacific Northwest suffered a snowstorm. Now that’s drama!

The delicate buds & blooms froze – then turned brown & mushy.
So sad.
If it had stayed sunny with only light rain, the flowers would have lasted. Alas, that’s just not often our January weather.

Fortunately for me, this camellia is listed as zone 5 – – and we don’t get that kind of cold in Victoria. Our shrub should survive to bloom another day…
maybe not this winter…
but perhaps next fall. 🙂

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PS. Here are some more pink fall friends:

bulbs, drought tolerant, months 01-03: winter, months 10-12: fall, perrennials

Cyclamen Coum Naturalizing

12/29/2019 svseekins Leave a comment

My favourite Cyclamen is the winter-blooming Cyclamen Coum. Its bright flowers stand out in the drizzling winter gloom of southern Vancouver Island.

hardy cyclamen coum, persian violet, eastern sowbread, round-leaf cyclamen,C. coum garden Victoria, Vancouver Island, BC, Pacific Northwest — photo by SVSeekins

The decorative leaf appears in September once the summer temperatures begin to drop. It’s a promise of blooms to come. By late December, tiny buds show themselves. When it’s even colder & I’m more desperate for flowers, c.coum begins to bloom. By February & March its in full celebration in Victoria.

Hardy cyclamen are known to naturalize well where they’re native (Turkey). Here, in the Pacific Northwest, they’re just as happy. The climate is similar enough.

I planted 3 C. coum around the base of our Gravenstein apple tree in 2009. Ten years later, I’m rewarded with several naturalizing in the grass. The furthest is about 6 feet away!

My fingers are crossed for blooms in the lawn this February! I reckon they’ll be reasonably safe, as C is less likely to mow that early. When he brings the lawnmower out in March, I’ll ask him to cut at its highest setting.

Cyclamen coum is a mild-mannered plant. It can easily be out-competed by the autumn-blooming Cyclamen hederifolium. I am careful to keep the dominating C. hederifolium far away from our treasured C. coum.

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months 01-03: winter, months 10-12: fall, perrennials

Winter Jasmine

12/27/2019 svseekins 2 Comments

The solstice has passed, so it’s officially winter. With that, the joy of winter jasmine presents itself in our garden.

Many years ago, Dad brought me a cutting of a plant he found blooming on New Year’s Day. It turns out that Jasminum nudiflorum can bloom even earlier than that! The first of the flowers started to appear in November. Most years, it’ll keep blooming right into spring, finishing up in April.

winter jasmine, winter-flowered jasmine, jasminum nudifolium, Jasminum sieboldianum, garden Victoria, Vancouver Island, BC, Pacific Northwest — photo by SVSeekins

I’m happy with this low-maintenance winter bloomer. It doesn’t demand a precious full-sun location. In 10 years, I’ve never pruned it. Aside from just a bit of water through the driest months, it requires no attention. It’s hardy to zone 6, so our occasional coastal snowstorm hasn’t ever phased it. (Isn’t zone 8-9 grand?)

The branches have no clinging tendrils, & it doesn’t twine around supports like a vine. I weave new growth through the trellis to lift the blooming branches up to eye level.

When one branch lay on the ground, it sprouted roots, creating another plant. That turned out to be a bonus – – not a worry. Winter jasmine is not a bully at all.

Our trellis hosts