Plants I'm Growing: First Blooms—White Flowering Plum

I've been lazy so far this year about recording the first blooms of the year in the garden, but I did note the date the white flowering plum in the side yard starting blooming—January 14. Although this tree began blooming on December 30 one year, it normally starts blooming around the second week of January. January 14 is a typical date. 

Elsewhere in the garden, miniature cyclamen (Cyclamen coum) and camellias are in bloom, as are a smattering of other winter-blooming flowers (candytuft and mustard mostly). Daffodils are on the way. Spring will not be too far away, but much-needed rain forecast in the coming days will slow things down a bit. Looking forward to the rain. The more the better. 

Plants I'm Growing: First Blooms—Cyclamen Coum and White Flowering Plum (First Week of January 2019)

I've become lazy about keeping track of first blooms in the garden. I think this is because, having taken fairly careful notes, for several years, I've satisfied my original curiosity about the consistency of bloom dates. At first I recorded the first blossoming of virtually every plant in the garden. More recently I've limited by attention to a smaller sampling and missed a few dates I would have liked to have recorded more carefully.

As usual, Cyclamen coum, a dwarf cyclamen variety, was the first flower to bloom in the garden in the new year, several blossoms were already open on the 2nd or 3rd of January, but a single blossom had already opened on December 16--which is quite a bit earlier than every before. Probably an outlier, not part of a trend. Last year this plant bloomed first on January 4. So, aside from the one early bloom, this is in line with its usual pattern.

The white flowering plum on the side of the house began blooming almost a week ago, but I missed the exact date. Probably around January 4. Always pretty, always delightfully fragrant, the bees are already swarming it, probably mostly to collect the abundant pollen. We lost our bees this past summer, so these are bees from hives the neighbors keep. The plum first bloomed last year on January 14, so this is comparatively early, although not unusually so. The tree has had its first flowers as early as December 30 in the past.

Plants I'm Growing: First Blooms—Cyclamen Coum, White Flowering Plum

On the first day of 2018, the white Japanese flowering plum in the back yard started to bloom. It has bloomed as early as December 30, but it typically blooms in the middle of January (about now, today being January 14), so the flowers opened somewhat early this year.

On January 4, the first blooms appeared on the delicate dwarf cyclamen we have growing in back of the house under a Japanese maple--Cyclamen coum. The flower stalks stand only about two inches high. This tiny cyclamen typically blooms anywhere from late December to early January, so, that was in line with its usual pattern.

Plants I'm Growing: In the Garden (January 2016)

I'm always happy to see flowers blooming mid-winter. Our camellia (Camellia sasanqua, a variety called "Chansonette"), which reliably starts blooming as winter comes on (sometimes as early as early October) is finished, but we have a white flowering plum, a dwarf cyclamen (Cyclamen coum), and Manzanitas blooming now. Especially pretty among the Manzanitas is Arctostaphylos pajaroensis, which I sought out for its pink blossoms and orange-tinged new foliage. The cyclamen started blooming on or about January 15 this year. The flowering plum is in full bloom.

 

Plants I'm Growing: White Flowering Plum (December 22, 2014)

The white flowering plum tree (Prunus mume) behind the house and the tiny cyclamen, Cyclamen coum, are always the first plants to bloom in the new year (I count late December flowers in the following calendar year). This year the plum began blooming on December 22,  just before Christmas. It is wonderfully fragrant. I love the scent as much as the blossoms. The little  cyclamen--the flower stalks stand only about 3 inches high--began blooming on December 30. Happy New Year.

Plants I'm Growing: First Blooms--Flowering Japanese Plum (December 30, 2013)

For several years now I've been keeping a record of the first blooms of the year of various plant species in the garden. Usually our dwarf cyclamen (Cyclamen coum) has the first blooms of the new year, in very late December (I count these December flowers as new blooms because they're the first blooms in the new cycle of flowering each year). This year (thinking of 2014) the honor goes to the white Japanese plum behind the house (Prunus mume), which starting blooming yesterday, December 30--quite early for this plant. It typically blooms in the second or third week of January. In 2012, it bloomed on January 14. In 2011, it bloomed earlier than usual, on January 4. It bloomed on January 19 in 2010 and on January 21 in 2009. I don't seem to have a record for 2013.

Plants I'm Growing: Pink Flowering Plum--Prunus Mume (January 24, 2013)

I belatedly note that the pink flowering plum at the front of the house started blooming on January 20. This little tree has been suffering from an infestation of scale, so it produced very few buds, but the buds that are there have mostly opened. The white plum (same species, Prunus mume) is now pretty much in full bloom.

Plants I'm Growing: Outliers (December 25, 2012)

Recently I noticed a couple of plants in the garden blooming earlier than usual. First blooms on the dainty little cyclamen Cyclamen coum under the Japanese maple at the back of the house opened the day before yesterday (December 23). This is usually the first flower to bloom each year. Typically the earliest buds open in the first week of January. They bloomed on December 23 also in 2010 (which I counted as 2011), so this is not unprecedented, but on January 8 in 2009 and January 3 in 2010, so still earlier than usual (photo above).

The white flowering plum (Prunus mume) began blooming on December 21 or so, which is considerably earlier than usual. This plant bloomed on January 4, 2011, January 19, 2010, and January 20, 2009. Perhaps early because of all the rain this year?

  

Plants I'm Growing: First Blooms--Pink Flowering Japanese Plum Prunus Mume (January 23, 2012)

I belatedly report that our pink Japanese plum has started blooming. The first bloom appears to have opened on about January 22, although I didn't notice the flowers until a day or two after that. The tree bloomed on January 19 in 2011, yielding a year of 368 days. I don't seem to have earlier records for this flower, probably because the tree is still small.

Plants I'm Growing: First Blooms--White Flowering Japanese Plum Prunus Mume (January 15, 2012)

January 14 brought the first blossoms of 2012 on the white flowering Japanese plum in the side garden. This is Prunus mume, a wonderfully fragrant plum that can make half the garden smell like spring. It's usually among the first plants to flower in the new year. Last year, in 2011, it bloomed earlier than usual, on January 4. Thus, the tree calculated a longish year of 376 days. It bloomed on January 21 in 2009 and on January 19 in 2010, for years of 350 days and 363 days. So far, a year as viewed by this particular tree, has averaged 363 days--a little short of an actual year.

Plants I'm Growing--First Blooms: White Japanese Flowering Plum (2011)

Two or three blooms opened today on the white Japanese flowering plum behind the house. This is Prunus mume, a wonderfully fragrant plant when in bloom. It's usually among the first plants to flower in the new year, but this is earlier than usual. The plant first bloomed on January 21 in 2009. In 2010, the plum first bloomed on January 19, for a year of 363 days. A year according to Prunus mume was was considerably shorter this time around, at 350 days.

[Update: The pink-flowered version of this plum bloomed January 19, 2011. I don't have a record for the first blossoms of the tree in earlier years.]

Plants I'm Growing: Manzanitas and Japanese Plums

Blooming in the garden now are Japanese plums and manzanitas (Arctostaphylos sp.). The top two photos are different varieties of flowering Japanese plum, Prunus mume, usually among the first flowers to bloom in the new year. They smell soooo good.

The next photo shows flowers on Acrctostaphylos pajaroensis, a comparatively rare variety that it has taken me several attempts to get established. It's hard to see from this close-up photo, but the plant is striking for its deep (for a manzanita) pink flowers that are set off against blue-green foliage. New leafy growth appears in an orangey-red hue that is particularly pretty.

The bottom photo shows Arctostaphylos densiflora "Sentinel." As its Latin name suggests, it becomes densely covered in blossoms at this time of year. It's one of the primary early nectar sources for the bees.

Plants I'm growing: Daphne Odorata, Prunus Mume

The first Daphne odorata blossoms are open in the garden today. They appear to have opened yesterday, January 18. Last year the Daphne bloomed on January 20, so a year (corresponding mostly to calendar year 2009) was 363 days, according to this plant. Buds on Prunus mume, the fragrant Japanese flowering plum behind the house, are swollen and ready to burst. The first one opened today, January 19. The first blossom last year opened on January 21, so a year, as calculated by this plant, was also 363 days.

Plants I'm growing: Prunus mume (Japanese flowering plum)

The first bud on our Japanese flowering plum opened today, on an overcast morning promising rain. I hope it pours. 

The cherry blossom gets all the attention as a blossom for viewing, but I've always preferred the plum for its wonderfully spicy scent, its compactness, its reserve. The flowering cherry seems a bit vulgar by comparison.