Many years ago Tony Venison, who for years wrote a gardening column for Country Life, told me that he went round his garden on Christmas Day every year and picked a posy of flowers, including just one of every variety he could find in bloom. He counted them and kept a tally from year to year. Christmas Day in my house is always rather busy, but for years now I have picked a Christmas Eve posy for the table. The number of flowers varies from year to year according to the weather, but even in the coldest years I am always surprised at how many blooms I find once I start searching. Hunting for flowers on one of the darkest days of the year is a lovely thing to do.
This year we have had ice and snow and there are not so many stray summer flowers lingering on, but still 17 is a respectable total and it should be more but I forgot to include a couple of blooms.
So here they are.
In the pink pot I have the last of the nerines and a sprig of Salvia ‘Love and Wishes’ from the greenhouse.
From the winter garden I picked some heather, Erica carnea ‘Springwood White’. The clematis is the winter flowering ‘Freckles’. There are a couple of sprigs of viburnum in there including the much maligned (by me) Viburnum tinus.
In the next pot is a rose and some fragrant Lonicera purpusii ‘Winter Beauty’ and winter jasmine, Jasminum nudiflorum with chunky rosehips and a sprig of Abutilon megapotamicum which is rarely out of bloom. The variegated foliage here is Eleagnus ebbingeii. This has lovely yellow and green leaves but the unvariegated part takes over quickly when you are not watching and grows strongly. The whole thing has got too big for its boots and has to go. The pink berries belong to Symphoricarpos, another Devils’ spawn plant which I spend hours trying to exterminate.
In the little pot there is a sprig of the deliciously fragrant Chimonanthus praecox with a snowdrop, Galanthus ‘Farringdon Double’ a primrose and a bit of Erysimum ‘Bowles Mauve’ with white winter Clematis cirrrhosa ‘Jingle Bells’.
In the other little pot there is a Christmas rose, Helleborus niger, the last of Mahonia x media ‘Winter Sun’, a pansy and a sprig of Coronilla valentina. The blue is lovely Iris unguicularis which I preferred when it was called Iris stylosa because I can’t spell ‘unguicularis‘. The red berries are Skimmia japonica which I have used for Christmas decorations as all the holly berries were eaten by birds three weeks ago. They don’t seem to like skimmia berries.
Thank you Cathy at Rambling in the Garden for inspiring us to cut our flowers to enjoy in the house all year round.
A very happy Christmas to all my blogging friends.
Chloris
What a good idea for those of us that have flowers this time of year. Merry Christmas!
I think there should be something in bloom even at the bleakest time of the year. It is fun to seek them out. Merry Christmas to you too.
How lovely, finding all those blooms. I am surprised to find that I still have roses, and other plants still blooming. Such a lovely post, especially at this time of the year, a good reminder to always go out and look. All the very best to you and yours, have a wonderful Christmas.xxx
Thank you Dina and a very happy Christmas to you and all your loved ones.
That’s a lovely tradition. Your garden doesn’t seem nearly as bleak in the face of winter’s advance as you’ve described it in recent posts. I’m not sure I could come up with 17 different species of flowers this time of year in my own more temperate garden, although I’ve had a couple of surprise appearances in the last few days too. Best wishes for a merry Christmas!
It looks quite bleak from the window but I do try and have something of interest all year round. I know your lovely garden is full of treasures all year round too.
You’ve collected an impressive number of blooms. Love the way you grouped them into the little white vase and the boots are adorable. Happy holidays to you.
The little boots are German Hutschenreuther, I have quite a few Hutschenreuther china bells and boots on my Christmas tree. I love them. Happy Christmas Susie.
A lovely tradition. It’s so refreshing to see your beautiful posies in small vases. Our garden blooms are few now, but roses keep giving. I wish you a happy Christmas and a good new year.
Thank you Linda. Happy Christmas to you too.
That is impressive. I doubt that I could find that many flowers in our much milder climate. I dislike Viburnum tinus too, but the snowberry is sort of cool out of the way. I do not think of it as aggressive. Ours are all white, without pink blush.
I have devoted part of my garden to winter interest. It goes on too long and I can’t get excited by topiary or seedheads rimed in frost but it is amazing how much colour there is to enjoy as long as it is not too frosty.
I can’t believe how many flowers you still have blooming at Christmas! Must be wonderful!! MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!
Thank you Joanna and merry Christmas to you too.
Quite a collection, with a Nerine and you cut a Snowdrop! I am always amazed by what comes out of your garden. I like the arrangement and the tiny vases, I have some Santa boots from my mother, I will have to use next year. Happy Christmas, I hope Santa brings you some mad succulents.
I love my little china boots, they always come out at Christmas. I have quite a few snowdrops out now so I could spare one for my posy.
I have spent Christmas day with the family and a greyhound called Sam who I thought your Alan would like.
A bold move, I am sure the greyhounds would be happy to see each other. My Nerines are tormenting me.
I found a Viburnum tinus the other day, lurking in a previously uncultivated part of the woodland. The jury is out. It fills a hole.
Not sure I could come up with another 16 blooms though.
Have a very Happy Christmas Chloris.
The trouble us that Viburnum tinus smells of wet dog when it rains. I had to get rid of one right next to my kitchen door which was horribly smelly in wet weather.
Happy Christmas Jessica.
An impressive and beautiful array of Christmas blooms and a sweet tradition! A very merry Christmas and the happiest of new years to you, Chloris!
Thank you Peter and a happy Christmas to you and yours.
Merry Christmas Chloris – lovely vase. I can’t believe how many flowers you’ve got blooming in December. I’ve got none in my soggy North-facing Salford garden so I had to improvise from a local hedge for my vase 😉 My mum has bought me winter flowering jasmine for Christmas so hopefully things will look brighter next winter. Love Bec xx
Thank you Bec. Winter jasmine is reliable for blooms all winter long. You could add some early flowering snowdrops and hellebores.
ah thank you 🙂 I’ve got one helibore which isn’t flowering yet. I’ve never planted snowdrops so I’ll investigate for next year 🙂
I so enjoyed reading through this post Chloris and finding out what you had blooming – the tradition you have taken on is such a lovely idea. A few years ago I began counting blooms on Boxing Day and I think I will stick with that although I could of course combine the two – you have done far better than me this year, anyhow! As you say, the process of tracking them down is quite an adventure in itself! The two little wellies are especially floriferous for late December. Thanks so much for sharing and I hope your busy Christmas Day went well
Do share your Boxing Day blooms with us. I would love to see what you find.
We had a wonderful Christmas thank you, I hope you did too and I hope you got to spend some time with your Poppet.
Merry Christmas and a very Happy New Year too!
Thank you Gillian and I hope 2018 is great for you too.
Wonderful vase Chloris, 17 is very impressive. Best wishes for 2018.
Thank you Brian. All the best to you too.
Lovely. And the Skimmia berries are even better than holly. And I like the boot vases!
Thank you Jason. I use the skimmia in decorations and on my wreath, they are shinier than holly berries.
What skills you have Chloris. To have so many blooms at this time of year is incredible. Wishing you a happy healthy 2018 and happy gardening!
I love winter flowers Dorris and I have dedicated quite a large area to winter interest.
All the best to you for 2018.
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That is an impressive haul and the range of colours is magical. My last nerine was in a vase until a week ago, but that is gone now. Your Abutilon is v. pretty and makes me think of the pantomime (maybe Aladdin). Great vases too! Best wishes for the New Year.
This pot of nerines is in the greenhouse. I’m not sure of the variety but it is very late flowering. The Abutilon is in the garden and it is hardly ever out of bloom.
Happy New Year to you Allison.
You have a very, lovely collection and they all look in much better shape than my cuttings. It’s so cheering isn’t it? I love the little boots.
Yes, winter flowering treasures are extra special. I love the Christmas boots too.
A lovely tradition Chloris and what perfect seasonal decorations. I hope that you had a good Christmas.
Christmas was lovely thank you Anna. I hope yours was too. I am looking forward to seeing more of your snowdrops.
I agree it’s a lovely thing to do–I might borrow this idea for Easter. For Christmas, I’m trying to get in the habit of using mostly natural items for my outdoor arrangements. There really are some interesting evergreens and berries (and dried materials), even in a cold climate. There’s something special about Mahonia–both on the plant and used as cut flowers. Yours is a beautiful vase for Christmas. Happy Holidays!
I agree, there is so much material we can use even when flowers are scarce, (evergreens, coloured twigs, fir cones, berries and seedheads.)
Happy holidays to you too Beth.
At Cliffe we used to count the flowers in bloom on midwinter’s day, it was great fun looking for them, like a treasure hunt. I was thinking about you earlier, looking through the Van Meuwen catalogue at the Nerine undulata. I am very very very tempted ….. Happy Christmas my lovely, thanks for sharing xxx