Hi Grant!

Awesome pics, you are my gardening hero!

As for my successes, my 2 strawberry plants seem very happy, even though they're not yet producing fruit(but they are producing those little white flowers, so I guess that's a start). I've also got several carrots and one lone spinach that I've grown from seed that don't seem to be bothered by the cold at all(but I believe that's normal for them?).

My poor Chinese Pistache survived a brutal summer in which I now believe I under-watered her a bit (crisp fringes of leaves), but now she's turned that gorgeous coral color that reminds me of why I brought her home in the first place! I just hope I can help her recover fully in the spring...maybe with some nice deep waterings to get rid of salt-soil-burn.

I've got a bunch of annuals that are of course very happy(pansies, petunias, calendulas, primroses, coral bells), and some huge osteospermums that actually survived the entire summer, are now over a year old(happy birthday!) and are blooming again.

The strangest thing happening right now is that I've got some dwarf Ilex Vomitoria(a type of holly?) that are actually growing new leaves, after not growing for almost a whole year! Odd little plant!

Hiya Xica and everyone,

Thanks for looking/commenting. This is such an easy time of year for gardening, it's fun to compare notes. Any pics of your Chinese pistache? I'm glad it turned a nice color for you. Sounds great! Congrats on the new growth on your holly too--neat!

I've got a strange mix right now of heat lovers that are lingering on and looking good (zinnias, vincas, etc) mixed in with typical winter things (geraniums, pansies, snapdragons etc), plus a smattering of the earliest winter blooming aloes. It may not be the best-designed garden the world (or on the street, LOL), but I'm really enjoying it.

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Take care everyone, and let us see/hear what looks good in YOUR December garden.

Grant

Here are a couple of additional pics. I've had this Cuphea for a couple of years and it blooms mid-winter to late spring. I've had these Thanksgiving cacti for several years too and they always put on a nice show in mid-winter. My one true Christmas cactus waits until mid-January. I hope you'll take a look and enjoy.

Cuphea ignea

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Red Thanksgiving cactus

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Thanksgiving cactus closer view of a single bloom

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White-flowered Thanksgiving cactus

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Pink/white Thanksgiving cactus

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Close up of pink/white Thanksgiving cactus bloom

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Here is a link that might be useful: My December 2010 garden pics

Grant I just love how your tennis ball gets around! Beautiful pictures.

Great pics, as usual, Grant!

The recent dose of rain and humidity has really perked up my tomato, pepper, and strawberry plants. One of my strawberry plants now has about 8 strawberries growing; I'm just hoping they'll ripen before we get another frost (although they suffered no damage the last time we had frost, so it seems they're pretty hardy). I also decided to protect them from critters by putting some of that bird prevention mesh over and around them. Hopefully it works.
I plucked one of my Big Jim peppers while it was still green and gave it to one of my co-workers who loves spicy things. I was a bit surprised to hear her say that it was the hottest pepper she'd ever tasted! I thought 'Big Jim' was supposed to be a milder variety? Maybe it was spicier because I picked it too soon? Hmmm...

Otherwise, my blue plumbago shrubs look happiest of all to be drenched...I mean, wet leaves, too! This doesn't surprise me since, when I visited my brother in South Florida, I realized that he had blue plumbagos in his front yard. Yikes. AZ is probably not the best place to grow them...but I saw them in the nursery and I couldn't resist those flowers! Oh well...

Thanks for the comments! Yes, that tennis ball sure gets around, LOL. Xica, it's fun to hear your plants are doing so well. Great job. Hopefully they won't get cranky with the cool weather we're expecting later this week. Ugh.

I love plumbago too. It does pretty well here, especially with some afternoon shade). It sounds like yours is off to a good start! If it gets yellow leaves in summer then it's having iron chlorosis so it will benefit from the same products used for other iron lovers, like acidifying fertilizer (Mir-acid) and/or iron chelate etc. Often they don't have any problem though. I bet yours is beautiful!!

Take care,
Grant

cucumbers
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This Coneflower refuses to go dormant.

{{gwi:426437}}Also my clarkias, salvia, and cape mallow are looking great this month. Oh, and my butterfly bushes are looking good too.

Love the cuke and the coneflower pics. Your beautiful coneflower definitely has some E. paradoxa in its ancestry. I love it! Glad to hear all of your other plants are looking so good too.

Thanks for the pics and updates. Hopefully the upcoming cold snap doesn't wreak too much havoc on our gardens!

Take care,
Grant

Here are some pics of my clarkias
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I love clarkias and yours are great! Thanks for sending them in! I need to plant some next year.

Take care and thanks for the fun updates!
Grant