Well, tomorrow is the first day of winter finally and it needs to be. Although yesterday was unusually warm, the temperature is back to being a more normal cold today. I braved the chill outside this afternoon for a few minutes so I can bring you this garden report.

Starting in the southwest-facing flowerbed at the left corner is my Arugula herb plant looking green and healthy, although just a bit small. For a while, I'd been thinking that this little plant was a start from seed that dropped from one of the many little flowers that bloomed from the arugula I had planted myself in spring. Now I think that this is probably the same arugula I planted and it just sprouted new leaves during the summer or autumn.

One of the lushest plants I have out there right now is feverfew. This stuff comes up somewhat like a weed, but I don't find it overly aggressive and I'm content to have it sprouting about since the blooms it gets are attractive. I have some dark green hollyhocks out there still, so they must be sheltered rather well against the concrete wall of the house. The rose campion is doing fine and the liriope foliage is green and attractive and not rough looking like after last winter. However, this winter has not even begun yet, so we'll see how the foliage still looks in the spring. It has a few black berries, too. Perhaps there will be more berries next year. The dusty miller is holding it's own, at least the big one. I didn't see the little one out there. Eucalyptus looks just a teeny bit rough, but it's doing fine otherwise and the rudbeckia coneflowers have healthy green leaves at the soil line. I'm not sure what's going to happen with echinacea. It is adding interest with it's seedheads and dark brown color, but I saw no evidence of green health anywhere. We'll see if it emerges back in spring. Now the euphorbia's not looking too hot, but it probably just needs to be cut back in spring to let new growth emerge. Oh, and by the way, the creeping thyme looks really nice and the santolina is doing fine. I'd say that the latter is a hardy plant as long as it's in the ground. I tried it in a pot one year and was unsuccessful. It is sheltered where it's at, too, so that is probably helping it. And remember the creeping zinnia? Well, that's an annual as far as I know and it's browned and spent, but covered in a thick layer of leaves. Perhaps it will come back from seed. My mother has had that happen with her creeping zinnia in the past. Oh, and about that 'Lady Lavendula' or whatever it's called- it's life cycle has ended. Also, the lamb's ear which is well-protected against the wall seems rather happy. As for the salvias- some healthy leaves are kind of hiding, yet peeking out, among the debris. Meanwhile, the heliochrysum appears to be finished.

At center-right of the flowerbed, Phlox 'David' is still alive, but rather yellowish. Of course, that's to be expected with how cold it's been. The columbine foliage is a bit limp and yellowish, but that can be cut back in spring to let the fresh new growth be clearly seen. This always came back for me nicely in a pot at the apartment, so it should make a nice show this coming spring since it's been in the ground and is overwintering there. At the very right of this flowerbed we have yarrow with some nice green ferny foliage hanging on.

Now there isn't much to say about the fairy garden. There's one plant that emerged from seed that's not only hanging in there, but looking fairly nice. This is that one columbine that emerged from seed that I'd sown under the fairy tree while it was warm. I've got an earlier photo of it that I will post sometime.

Okay, now off to the main garden. I'll start here with the rose bush. It's rather bare with some straggly leaves and some hips. And remember that I transplanted the lavender and yellow yarrow from the mobile garden into the main garden? Well, although the yarrow looks a bit rough, I believe that it'll pull through the winter and then we'll see how it does in the ground for the first year since I've had it. As for the lavender, it looks great and it will be interesting to see how it thrives in the ground when summer heats up. It should get quite a bit of flowers unless the plant puts most of its energy into root and leaf growth. I had also transplanted common sage into the main garden from the southwest-facing bed at the time of the other two transplantings I've just mentioned. Well, the sage is looking rather rough, but that's natural and it should do well come spring since it is in the ground. Common sage has also survived for me through winter in plastic pots.

Well, moving on, I want to mention that the strawberry foxglove is doing fine, so I expect it to bloom either next year or the year after. I plan to take a photo of the blooms for you all to see when this happens. And I saw at least a couple of small blue borage plants still hanging in there as well as the lunaria I transplanted at the end of the gardening season. The broom corn which had been left to stand has a stem with a seedpod head leaning over and when I went over to check out the Nasturtium patch, I saw that it was gone.

So this is pretty much the state of my garden at this time. :)