Christmas Flowers and Berries 2022

Bitter cold was forecast for Christmas eve and Christmas day, so when I woke on December 24, and saw that there would be no thawing for at least another day, I decided to walk through the garden and list the plants with flowers or berries frozen in place.  Nothing had changed when I completed the walk the next day.  When the thaw finally came, I was most surprised by the daffodils whose flowers maintained their color and form, while their stems had collapsed onto the ground.

8° Fahrenheit

Fruits or Berries

Belamcanda chinensis 

Berberis thunbergii

Cornus sanguinea (for bright stems)

Danae racemosa

Hedera helix ‘Poetica Arborea’, Hedera helix “tiny form” in rock garden

Hollies: Ilex vomitoria, I. x attenuata, I. decidua ‘Finch’s Yellow’, I. opaca

Mahonia x media ‘Charity’, ‘Lionel Fortescue’, ‘Winter Sun’, ‘Underway’, ‘Arthur Menzies’

Nandina domestica 

Rohdea japonica

Rosa, several with rose hips (red & white garden, along Moonlight Walk) 

Ruscus aculeatus

Symphoricarpos orbiculatus 

Viburnum fragrans, pink

Flowers

Chaenomeles x supurba ‘Crimson and Gold’

Chimonanthus praecox ‘Luteus’

Crocus sieberi

Cyclamen coum

Erica x darleyensis, E. x ‘Silberschmelze’, E. carnea white

Galanthus elwesii, G. e. “Sandra Lutz”, G. e. var. monostictus

Helleborus foetidus, H. x hybridus, H. niger

Phlox subulata

Primula vulgaris, P. v. hose-in-hose

Narcissus romieuxii, N. r. ssp. albidus, N. “old yellow trumpet”, N. panizzianus, N. bulbocodium 

Verbena canadensis, pinky purple, white

Viola cornuta