GBBD: January "Blooms"

It's time for Garden Bloggers' Bloom Day once again, and even though I am late, I certainly didn't want to miss it, especially after missing it last month, the first time in nearly seven years that I didn't participate in this monthly celebration of what is blooming.  But what is a Midwestern gardener supposed to show in mid-January after a week of sub-zero temperatures and the garden buried under snow?

I know many in this region will be showing off their houseplants for this GBBD.  But I am not much of a houseplant person; I've killed more houseplants than I care to remember.  Usually I bring in a few annuals to overwinter, but I procrastinated too long on the geraniums, and the coleus cuttings I potted up mysteriously died.  Well, it really isn't a mystery--some lazy gardener forgot to water them regularly.

The only successful overwintering this year has been a dragonwing begonia that was just too pretty to leave to the cold this past fall.  Not only is it growing like crazy, but, as you can see in this not-so-great photo, it is still producing some blooms.

I usually also pot up some bulbs for forcing in the winter.  But I was so busy during the holidays that I didn't even think about it until I started seeing so many pretty amaryllis blooms on blogs and Facebook pages.  I finally remembered the amaryllis bulbs sitting in the cold garage and brought them in last week, just before we left for a week in Texas.  When we returned, I was amazed by how much they had grown already.  Last year these bulbs grew huge leaves without a single flower, however, so it remains to be seen whether they will actually bloom.  The one on the left does look promising, though.

My collection of "blooms" for this Bloom Day is obviously pretty paltry.  But that's okay.  Winter is the time when I finally get around to some indoor projects I put off during the gardening season, and it's the time when I enjoy looking through gardening books and getting new ideas for the coming season.  The garden isn't much to look at this time of year, but I do enjoy the 'Limelight' hydrangea blooms still hanging on outside my living room window.

The grasses are also pretty this time of year though most of them are weighted down by snow at the moment.

Frankly, gardening hasn't been on my mind very much for the past month.  We had a new grandson born just before Christmas, and last week we were finally able to make the 800-mile drive down to see him.  Nothing like cuddling a sweet baby for making you forget anything else!

I have not been very active with blogging in the last month or more, and here is one of the main reasons why.  I am not much of a quilter, but I do make a quilt for each of my grandchildren.  Since new Baby B arrived two weeks early, I was frantically sewing in every spare minute I could find, finishing this just days before we left.  My daughter loves elephants, so when I found this material with Dr. Seuss' Horton, I knew it would be perfect.  Among the many wishes I have for my grandson, I hope that he will grow up to love reading as much as his Grandma and Mommy do.

And so another Bloom Day passes--who knows what February may bring?  Last year we were in the midst of a snowy deep freeze, but the year before, a few crocuses were already popping up through the soil.  We'll just have to wait and see what Mother Nature has in store for us.  For more blooms across the world, be sure to check out our hostess Carol at May Dreams Gardens.