Perennials: 2013, 3 by Weerobin

Weerobin wrote:
The 2013 gardening season has now officially started, ready or not.
I was out today doing 'better late than never' burlapping of my marginally hardy plants.
But I took a little time out to do a quick check on some of my stalwart winter blooming plants.
It's so nice in the dead of winter to see things blooming outside!
#1 is hellebore foetidus. In about 4 years it has spread out to form a beautiful fine-textured foliage plant.
Fortunately (as you'll agree when you see the picture), it flowers in winter (now) so you don't have to see the flowers.
#2 is daphne odora Zuiko Nishiki, supposedly the hardiest of a not-very-hardy species.
The 'odora' in it's species name is apt - a wonderful heady fragrance when in bloom.
As you can see, it's just getting ready.
#4 is winter-blooming jasmine (jasminum nudiflorum). Flowers through the winter.
Individual flowers only last a day or so, but new ones form constantly.
So deep freezes only temporarily set it back and reblooms readily in warm snaps.
#3 is one of my japanese apricots (prunus mume).
It reliably blooms in Jan or Feb, but whether the blooms last before getting refrozen is always up to mother nature!
OK, so I guess it's not a perennial - come to think of it, the daphne & jasmine aren't perennials either...!
Oops - I guess I posted to the wrong forum... sorry.
But maybe it will get you perennial folks to broaden your gardening horizons!