Garden Bloggers' Bloom Day - November 2017

Welcome to Garden Bloggers' Bloom Day for November 2017.

Here in my USDA Hardiness Zone 6a garden in central Indiana, I am as surprised as you might be to see a colchicum still blooming in the garden this late in the season.

We've had our fair share of frost in the last few weeks so I would not normally expect to see such a bloom this late. But I planted this Colchicum 'Waterlily', a hybrid, just a few months ago so I assume that is why it is just now blooming. I expect this colchicum to bloom earlier next year.

Though I will not command it to do so as I'm always looking for late bloomers for my garden.

I don't have to look far when it comes to hellebores and late blooms.

This is Helleborus niger, the Christmas Rose. I'm not sure which named variety this one is. It might be the one I bought in bloom from the grocery store last December and then planted out in the garden in the spring. I also have the varieties 'Potter's Wheel' and 'Jacob Lempke' but I'm sure this is not one of those.

Elsewhere in the garden, I'm relying more on seed heads for winter interest.  Early in the morning, the spent blooms of tall sedum provide a soft landing spot for frost.

Someday soon they will provide a soft landing spot for snow but hopefully not until I get some more of this garden put away for winter.

This isn't a great picture, but you can see a few seedlings of sweet alyssum blooming here and there in the garden. I leave them alone. They are tiny and may be the first blooms of next season if they winter over.

And apparently, those blooms will be accompanied by dandelion flowers if I leave those to over winter. too.

Elsewhere in the garden, you can still see a bit of purple from the fading blooms of the autumn crocus.

I was concerned earlier in the fall when I didn't see the crocus blooms and hoped the squirrels hadn't dug them all up. But then they showed up late in October and have been blooming brightly on sunny days, which are becoming scarcer as winter approaches.

I'll save the blooms indoors for December and conclude with another picture of seed heads left for winter interest.

I leave the blooms of all the hydrangeas, including this oakleaf hydrangea, standing until springtime.  I hope you do, too.

What's blooming in your garden on this fine November day? We would love to have you join in for Garden Bloggers' Bloom Day and show us.

It's easy to participate. Just post on your blog about what's blooming in your garden then come back here and leave a comment to tell us what you have waiting to show us and a link in the Mr. Linky widget so we can find you.

And now, we repeat together "We can have blooms nearly every month of the year." ~ Elizabeth Lawrence.