The New Year started off with the hellebore in bud in the back garden, but the cold temperatures this week have not allowed it to bloom yet. This is the niger variety, which is the earliest to bloom in my garden. (Last year it bloomed in early December!)
I was also (finally) able to identify the new creature living in our back garden - the red squirrel. He's very fast - much faster than the gray squirrels that I am used to. He's sassier too: He'll chase the larger squirrels away if he feels they are intruding on his territory.
It turns out he likes black walnuts. Which is good for him, since the land behind my fence is littered with them.
He is pretty cute, though. Even if he has an attitude.
Inside, the orchids are making promises of future flowers; many have new shoots, which will carry future buds.
And there are the other usual suspects as well, such as air plants.
And my free poinsettia that the office was giving away before Christmas. (The best poinsettia is a free one.) I took it home even though it's flowers were finished.
I am also trying to grow amaryllis this winter.
The Queen's Tears (below) which I didn't actually want to take home from the garden club plant sale, has also grown on me. It turns out it's in the bromeliad family, and one of the easier ones to grow. I kept it outside all summer and pretty much ignored it. When it was time to move plants inside for frost, I obliged and brought it inside. Now it looks like it will bloom soon, as if to say, "See, I was worth saving." (Sometimes gardeners can be a little skeptical with new, "unknown" plants.)
And since there's temporarily a lack of color, I purchased this cyclamen, which is now living on the kitchen counter.
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