Garden of Lights

In honor of the holiday season we accompanied the Sweet-Granddaughter and her parents to the Quail Botanical Gardens' Garden of Lights.
It's unfortunate that I am not a better photographer because the gardens were magical with Christmas lights among the bamboo, palms, bromiliads and ferns, as well as hundreds of temporary poinsettias.
The Walled Garden was transformed into the Poinsettia Garden for the three week event.
The Children's Garden was lit as well and featured Santa as the driver of the regular train set. If you click on the photo it will enlarge enough to see him waving even as he was speeding past.
We visited Santa and roasted a marshmallow then decided to escape before one of us got in the way of one of the flaming sticks being waved about by overenthusiastic seemingly unsupervised miniature roasters.
We made our way to the parking lot by way of one last well decorated path...this was truly a fun experience for our group giving us a very different impression of the garden than we ever got from day time visits. It was a festive beginning to our holiday celebration!

GBBD December 2008

I came home from a weekend trip to visit my dad on a dark and stormy night. It didn't bode well for my plan to take photos for Bloom Day this morning. The first foray into the garden ended when the clouds began to empty on my camera and head...not a good photo taking situation. However, by about 10:00 this morning the clouds had parted enough for me to run and get a few shots and I decided to be happy with what I had and not worry about more or better or anything.
I'm a sucker for cyclamen at Christmas time. I often buy a plant or two (or more..) for the porch and front door garden. I like the red burst here and there when it's foggy or dreary out. After the holidays I usually tuck the plant in the ground and right around the next Christmas they begin to bloom again. The first bloom of the year is out just in time for Bloom Day, growing right next to some wax begonias beginning to go dormant for the winter.
Pansies are blooming happily in the back yard brightening the view from the back door.

The unknown pink Abutilon against the front of the house has grown over the years to about 15 feet tall. It's not the most lush plant but every time I think about cutting it back I can't make myself deprive the hummingbirds of their treat or myself of being able to see them almost everyday. Although it's leggy it blooms almost year round so there never seems to be a good time for pruning.
The wax begonias in this pot are fairly protected so are hanging in there better than the ones in the ground in the front yard. But eventually they will die back also, to return next spring.
The blue marguerite, Felicia amelloides, continues to bloom, although not as prolifically as in the heat of the summer.

Dwarf Carnation Evermore is one of my favorite plants. Rightly named, it blooms pretty much all year with only a few breaks. And it smells wonderfully reminiscent of my childhood.

Every month garden bloggers worldwide respond to Carol of May Dreams Gardens invitation to share what is blooming in their gardens (or right now, for those in more northern cold climates, in their houses!)

The more or less complete list of Davis bloomers is as follow~

Allysum
Anisodontea Very Cranberry
Anisodontea Elegant Lady
Pansies
Pelargoniums
Bush Mallow
Lavandula Pinnata Bucchii
Abutilon Pink Parasol
Unknown pink Abutilon
Solanum jasminoides
Solanum rantonnetii
Pink Pandorea
Garden peas
Salvia dwarf Indigo Spires
Salvia Victoria Blue
Salvia Dancing Dolls
Salvia Autumn Sage
Cyclamen
Red Christmas cactus (indoors)
White Christmas cactus in bud (indoors)