January 2014: Garden Bloggers Bloom Day

Welcome to Clay and Limestone's very small GBBD!  I am thankful that the delicate flowers of Hamamelis vernalis began to bloom a few days ago.

Ozark witch hazel's flowers are an unusual orange/yellow/reddish color with four crepe paper streaming petals that unfurl as the day warms and furl back up when the temperature drops. This is a marvelous adaptive behavior that insures that the spidery blooms will survive the fluctuating winter weather and be in bloom for almost two months. A plant like that needs to be in every garden! (I've written about them before: Must Bee The Season Of The Witch) 

They smell of spicy vanilla and on warm days perfume the garden. I planted them for their fragrance, their late winter bloom and for their marvelous fall color.

When they begin blooming, I know that Spring can't be far behind...

xoxogail

 
Inspired by the words of Elizabeth Lawrence, “We can have flowers nearly every month of the year,” Carol of May Dreams Gardens started Garden Bloggers Bloom Day. On the 15th of every month, garden bloggers from all over the blogosphere celebrate their blooms, so pop on over to Carol's and take the Mr Linky magic carpet ride to see what's blooming.
Gail Eichelberger is a gardener and therapist in Middle Tennessee. She loves wildflowers and native plants and thoroughly enjoys writing about the ones she grows at Clay and Limestone. She reminds all that the words and images are the property of the author and cannot be used without written permission.