Bloom Day - January 2021

This Bloom Day compilation was the result of a scavenger hunt.  While there are still some splashy blooms in my garden, most of what's out there is little bits of this and that.  As I usually gather those in collages organized by color, this month I thought I'd organize the entire post according to color.

I'll start with the reds for no other reason than the fact that Grevillea 'Scarlet Sprite' is suddenly covered in tiny red flowers.

The flowers of Grevillea 'Scarlet Sprite' always strike me as more rosy-red than scarlet but maybe whomever named the plant was fond of alliteration

As you may know, Leucadendron"flowers" are actually colorful bracts surrounding cones but I wouldn't have much of a January Bloom Day post without Leucadendrons like 'Safari Sunset' shown here

The rest of the red flowers include, clockwise from the upper left: Calliandra haematocephala, Grevillea 'Ned Kelly', Metrosideros collina 'Springfire', Grevillea lavandulacea 'Penola', and burgundy Pelargonium peltatum

I'll follow with the pink flowers as they're the largest group at present.

The foliage of Argyranthemum frutescens 'Giant Angelic Pink' is literally smothered in blooms

The Hong Kong orchid tree (Bauhinia x blakeana) is loaded with flowers this month too

At a glance, the tiny flowers of Coleonema pulchellum 'Sunset Gold' may look white but they're actually a very pale pink

I needed two collages to cover the rest of the pink blooms.  Clockwise from the upper left: Arbutus 'Marina', Arctotis 'Pink Sugar', the first bloom of Cistus 'Grayswood Pink', noID Camellia sasanqua, and Camellia x williamsii 'Taylor's Perfection'

The rest of the pinks, top row: noID Alstroemeria and Correa 'Sister Dawn' Middle row: noID Cyclamen, dwarf Grevillea rosmarinifolia, and Leptospermum scoparium 'Pink Pearl' Bottom row: noID Pericallis (aka florist's cineraria) and Persicaria capitata

Next up are the oranges.

Aloe vanbalenii x ferox (I was alarmed when I noticed what looked like white blotches on the Aloe's foliage but thankfully these were simply effects of sunlight when the photo was taken)

This is another of the small-flowered Grevilleas in my garden, Grevillea alpina x rosmarinifolia.  Like the other small-flowered varieties, it blooms for only a couple of months each year.

In contrast, large-flowered Grevillea 'Superb' blooms continuously year-round

Other plants with orange flowers include, clockwise from the left: Dermatobotrys saundersii, Osteospermum 'Zion Copper Amethyst', Bryophyllum (Kalanchoe) fedtschenkoi, and Cuphea 'Vermillionaire'

Yellow flowers are up next.

Grevillea 'Peaches & Cream' also blooms year-round

This Leucadenron salignum 'Chief' is another of those that produces flower-like bracts

but, in my opinion, the winner in the floral imitator category is Leucadendron 'Wilson's Wonder'

Clockwise from the left are: Aeonium arboreum, Leucadendron 'Summer Red', Argyranthemum frutescens 'Beauty Yellow', and a mix of Gazania, most self-sown

The closest thing to a star among my white-flowered plants are these noID paperwhite Narcissi that came with the garden

Clockwise from the upper left, in the also-ran category are: noID Antirrhinum majus, Argyranthemum frutescens (returning to bloom a second year), Dianthus 'Dash White', Pennisetum advena 'Rubrum', and Westringia fruticosa 'Morning Light'

I have a lot of rosemary in other areas but this variegated Rosmarinus 'Gold Dust' in my back garden is my favorite

Gomphrena decumbens 'Itsy Bitsy' is another year-round bloomer here

Top row: noID Ceanothus, Felicia aethiopica, and Hebe 'Grace Kelly' (which has lost much of its variegation) Middle row: Osteopsermum '4D Silver', noID Scaevola, and Polygala fruticosa Bottom row: Teucrium fruticans (from a seedling collected from a friend's garden in January 2019), Trichostemma 'Midnight Magic' and noID Viola