My first 17 years were spent mostly in Portland, Oregon, where it rained and snowed (a little), but since 1957 I have lived somewhere in Southern California. Therefore I expect flowers in the winter.
Now, of course, we have potted poinsettias. This is the one my front porch, it will last for a month or more if I remember to water it!
This unknown rose was here when we moved in and may have been here from the first homeowners. It blooms most of the year and if I don't prune it regularly it grows berserk.
When the flowers first open they are this very pale pink with a hint of lavender.
The blossoms are a wide flat shape and the lower petals start getting darker.
And finally they are dark pink before they start falling apart.
When I went to see my friend Liz her Cecil Brunner rose was in full bloom.
This is an old climbing rose introduced in 1881 and can grow up to 30 feet high. The flowers are very small, maybe two inches, but it blooms prolifically so that it is almost a solid pile of blossoms. In the front of this bouquet is an orchid that came on my plate when I went out to dinner the same day I cut the roses.
I wish I could send you the fragrance, it is almost overwhelming. Even after the blooms died and I put them in the mulch container (with lid) I could still smell them. Oddly this is one fragrance that doesn't bother me.
NOTE: I looked it up and the oldest known rose is on a cathedral wall in Germany and documented to the year 815AD.
Hibiscus seem to bloom most of the year, heavier at times and only about six flowers on this bush now in winter. I particularly like this orangey variety - kind of like a sunset.
And look at the cute shadow of the stamen!
And there are always geraniums and pelargoniums which grow like weeks here. They were my mother's favorite flower, even though in Portland they needed to be housed in the basement during the winter.
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