Coral Bells...

Ah, well, this is new. A first, in fact, for Muscari Musings. Ruth, this blog's authoress, is remarkably busy, and no, she is not referring to herself in third person. This is her daughter, Julie. She has mentioned me from time to time, as I have a garden of my own.





Anyhow, as I was saying, she is very busy, so I offered to write her blog for her. And she let me do it.




She had already taken these lovely pictures of her Coral Bells with the evening sun gleaming on their beautiful leaves.




And I am glad that the post that I was given to write was of these, for they are much more my style, if you will, than her usual pictures.




Do not take me wrongly, dear reader, but I quite honestly am far more fond of leaves than of flowers. But, I like my dear mother's Coral Bells (They are Coral Bells Heuchera, if you wanted to know. ) very much, for their lovely leaves and for their little flowers.



The Coral Bells, they are such wonderful plants. And truly wonderful colors, green, red, almost burgundy, gray, and white. Their shape, also, is so very glorious.




And I believe that here in these pictures they are at their very best, with the sun shining on and through them, for, sunlight and leaves is one of my favorite things.


Have a beautiful day!

Colors of Winter...

It is too cold to write. It is too cold to take pictures. But I am forging ahead any way. (I was just informed that if I was a sculptor, I could forge a head.) I braved the freezing temperatures and the frigid wind and ventured out to capture the colors of winter.

{Buddleja davidii var. nanhoensis 'Nanho Blue'}

I think of winter as being a grey, colorless time of year. Except for my Johnnies, of course. But the past few days, I have been noticing subtle colors.

{Hydrangea macrophylla}

These are definitely not the bold, dashing colors of summer. Or even the sweet, enchanting colors of spring. They are wise, subdued colors, beckoning closer inspection.

{Gaultheria procumbens ‘Red Baron,’}

The leaves of the Creeping Jenny trailing over the edge of an abandoned birdbath have bronzed.

{Lysimachia nummularia 'Aurea'}

Shifting shadow patterns have sun-burned the camellia's leaves.

{Camellia}

One lone periwinkle bloom hangs on despite the cold.

{Vinca minor}

The underside of the leaves of one of my coral bells shows an astonishing purple.

{Heuchera}

Sunlight glows through the new leaves of one of my pitcher plants.

{Sarracenia}

Delight! Oh, delight! I was thrilled to discover a bud forming for a bloom to come in spring.


Have a beautiful day!

Volunteers...

One of the things I enjoy about plants is the different ways in which they multiply. I love it when they reseed! (Except, of course, when it is the weeds that are reseeding!) It is so exciting to find a little plantlet, like this coral bells (Heuchera) that has reseeded itself in a container near the original plant.




I am careful when I am weeding, always looking to see what else may have reseeded itself. Maybe I will have to move the seedling to a different location, but I always try to keep the plants that have volunteered themselves. Free plants! Can't beat that! In this pot full of weeds, there is a little Johnnie seedling, waiting to be transplanted.



You never know where a seedling will appear. And often they show up in the most charming places. The columbine (Aquilegia) plant my mom gave me several years ago (I tried so hard to kill that plant, but that is another story) has reseeded itself and should bloom this spring.



Have a beautiful day!