January Bloom Day

Here in south Austin, we got our first real freeze on Tuesday night. But fear not, ye alle, for there's still some color to be found in my garden.

First up, Marilyn's Choice abutilon, which is hands-down the best abutilon I've tried:




















Second up, we have winter-blooming germander, which I am shocked to report I did not kill in the 12 months since I planted it. It doesn't look spectacular like the one along Lady Bird Lake, but it's alive, so I'm proud:























Next up, some surprise bright-red hips on the Rainbow Knockout, the only one of my 5 varieties of Knockout to develop hips. This is one Knockout that definitely looks its best and grows the most in cooler weather. In the summer, it looks like a pox-ridden and jaundiced version of its winter self.























And blooming like crazy on the east-side fence is a whole bunch of white potato vine.



















And here's the last of Narcissus tazetta 'Ziva,' stinking up the late afternoon garden:























No flowers here, but I'm amused by how the leaves on the far right of canna 'Australia' survived the freeze and look fresh and glossy. Actually, everything right along the house looks pretty good, which only proves how incredibly fond of insulation homebuilders were in the 1970's:
























And saving the best for last, I cut a bunch of late-blooming roses to bring in as a GBBD insurance policy. Here's Gruss an Aachen in my extremely classy vase:












Stay warm, everyone!