Very Early, Very Late
We’re entering the cold half of the year, when color in the garden is a luxury, and flowers even more so.
Fortunately, a few tough plants figured out how to outsmart the competition and get their full share of space and sunlight by blooming very early or very late, when all the other perennials are dormant.
This is nature’s gift to the gardener, of course, even though it wasn’t intended as such. Here are a few of these wonderful off season flowers.
Hellebores bloom as early as the end of January, often still buried in snow.
Pansies, I don’t even know if I should call them early or late, they’re probably both. I saw those bloom in single digit temperatures for New Year.
Witch hazel blooms between December to April, even in climates as cold as zone three.
Camellias are the December flowers of the south. Despite their delicate appearance they’re quite happy with the cold, as long as they grow someplace warmer than zone seven.
Ornamental cabbage is not technically a flower, but adds beauty and color to the late November garden.
Winter heath blooms late in winter with delicate spears of white, pink, or purple flowers.
Winter aconites and hepaticas are often the first flowers to bloom in spring, as early as mid-February.
The evergreen branches of grape holly get covered in clusters of cheerful yellow flowers at the end of winter.
I left the best for last. Gorgeous here in the picture, the toad lily, is a carefree cold climate perennial which starts blooming at the end of September and keeps going until the dirt freezes solid.
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