It’s still January, right? Whew! I am very late with this chronicle but wanted to slip it in under the wire and give you a quick peak around the garden before February creeps in (tomorrow, oh my!). There isn’t a lot going on, although I do see a few signs of spring. Mostly there are bare patches where plants are enjoying a winter’s nap.

Back Garden – Jan 2022

A few plants are making statements.

Melianthus major

One of the weirder common names for Melianthus major is the peanut butter plant, give it a sniff and you will quickly see what I mean. It usually likes sunny well-drained spots but these are happy with glancing sun under redwoods. I don’t usually give it much summer water, another selling point. It has the most interesting saw-toothed leaves. It can die back in winter, although not so far this year.

Winter blooming hellebores are putting out their first flowers.

Helleborus argutifolius, commonly called Corsican hellebore

Helleborus orientalis, commonly called Lenten rose

There are buds on my flowering current shrubs.

Ribes sanguineum, flowering current

This vining pea plant is native to Australia. Although it can wander over the ground (hence the name happy wanderer), this one is happy climbing a short trellis near our front door.

Hardenbergia, also purple coral pea or happy wanderer

The calla lilies are showing new growth. I hope to have some flowers this year. They were planted at exactly the wrong time a couple of years ago and didn’t bloom in 2021. I was shocked to learn that flower stems go for over $5 each in New York. Here they grow wild.

calla lilies

The pollinator garden just looks sad, but if I look closely I can see the promise of spring emerging.

Pollinator Garden

Here are Shasta daisies and yarrow.

Shasta daisies

This baby oak tree was started from a hitch hiking acorn in a pot I brought from our old Oakland home. It’s now about 2 ft tall and showing new buds. I has yet to product a single acorn, but seems happy.

Baby oak

The dogs are doing well, thank you for asking. Shanna has entered her crazy teenage phase but we are all weathering it well. I included these pictures from the ‘day after’ our New Year’s Day chili party in the In My Kitchen post from earlier this month. But perhaps you didn’t see them. Our Shanna loves ice and found the pile of dumped ice cubes from the ice chest containing the beer and wine. Whenever the other dogs would pass by, she would lay on top of the pile to protect it.