Garden Flowers in Bloom on Christmas Day

Happy Boxing Day Everyone,

Every Christmas Day, weather permitting, I take a stroll round my garden, camera at the ready, to record what, if anything, is in bloom. This year it was full of surprises. So many plants that should have taken a winter break are still flowering.

Red antirrhinums, blue campanula and euphorbia Ascot Rainbow. Even the daffodil shoots are appearing too early for this area of the British Isles though I have heard that down South they are already in bloom ... daffodils at Christmas!

Helleborus - the only plant in this line up that I would be expecting to flower about now - primulas, pansies and violas.

Wallflowers, roses - Elena and Pride of England - and more primulas.

The unseasonably warm temperatures are to blame for kidding the plants into still putting on a show - although not with the same exuberance they would show in Spring and Summer, their normal flowering time. And although it's lovely to have a bit of colour out of season it feels very strange. So strange, I'm hoping for a chilly spell. A fairly long frost would produce a spell of dormancy ... it would nice too if only to kill of the slugs and snails before Spring arrives ... or even snow. A garden shrouded in a blanket of snow is a beautiful sight.

Hope you are all enjoying the holidays.

Take care and stay safe,