Sunday, January 15, 2012

Winter drought - GBBD January 2012









The weather has been dry dry dry - only the tiniest amount of rain for about 4 months now. At night temperatures drop down to minus 5 but the days are mostly bright sunshine, approaching 10 degrees. The pond is frozen over each morning but thaws a little during the day. So several plants that normally bloom in January are still only in bud: lonicera fragrantissima, iris ungulicularis, jasmine nudiflorum ... But Viburnum tinus is out and some roses are still flowering - Gruss an Teplitz and a rose that I bought as Iceberg (but clearly isn't) are among the best. Rosemary is blooming well as are some lavenders. Let's hope for rain or even snow before the spring arrives.

Thanks to Carol at May Dreams Gardens for hosting the Bloom Day.

Y

9 comments:

James said...

Nice to see you still have some plants pulling through the cold and the drought. Here in California we got a moist November--a seemingly auspicious beginning to the rainy season--but then very little afterwards. Just drought drought drought, like you... Hopefully the season brings you more rain soon. Happy Bloomday!

Christina said...

We were in California and the weather pattern was just like here; cold nights and warm, sunny, clear days. As you say I hope we get some rain before spring or we'll loose some plants next summer. Happy New Year, Christina

HolleyGarden said...

Sorry to hear about your drought. We went through that last summer. I hope you get some rain soon. Rosemary, lavender and roses blooming - sounds heavenly! Happy GBBD!

Jane said...

Happy GBBD, Yvonne. Thank you for sharing snapshots of your Italian garden. Is the weather abnormally mild and precipitation free this winter? But to have those roses blooming still... something to brighten up the days!

Town Mouse said...

Glad you have a few blooms to share despite the drought. I'm a little surprised that the plants mostly seem to pull through even when it doesn't rain enough. But I expect that spring blooms will be nothing to write hope about unless we get a few good downpours.

Happy bloom day!

Larry said...

I know how discouraging the lack of moisture can be... here's hoping you'll get that needed rain real soon... Larry

Andrea said...

Hi at least you have blooms unlike other temperate climes which are buried in snow. I remember flying over the mountains of Italy seeing snow caps for the first time. At least after that trip to Rome i was able to see real snow caps in Turkey.

Country Mouse said...

We are also very dry on the California coast, and hoping for rain next week. I love the river through the grasses shot - very evocative.

Christina said...

well you certainly got your wish come true with the snow. i imagine you must have had a huge amount. We had about 35 cm which was less than Viterbo only 8 km away, but we were still snowed in for days! Go let me know how you're getting on, Christina