Sure. Here is Camellia 'Cecilia', with the berries of Ilex ciliospinosa, that is considered distinctive mainly for its berries turning red in early to mid September instead of late October like most hollies. Also a last weedy H. syriacus, I've killed at least 40 this year but missed that one! If there was one thing I wish I could convince my neighbors to do, it would be to cut down those ugly, trashy, self-seeding plants. (in my climate anyhow)

A Rhododendron 'Horizon Monarch' blooming in the fall. Undesirable but probably inevitable with our weird pattern of rainfall this year.

Here we go again! There's still a lot of gardening season to go out here in Z8b, it never ends, really.

Sorry, these aren't the greatest photos. Pennisetum 'Desert Plains', Bracteantha, and Pelargonium sidoides.

It has been -2C/28F but we still have a few things doing their best:

Golden Arrows Persicaria:

Ozawa Allium:

Not much going on here, but I was pleasantly surprised to see a few roses in bloom!

Iceberg

Teasing Georgia - not a great shot or a great bloom but it's hard to approach this plant lol. In an awkward spot and lots of thorns! So I got the closest bloom I could get to!

Callicarpa Pearl Glam berries

Some annuals:

Tithonia

Salvia Big Blue

foxglove Dalmatian Peach

Calendula - grown from OLD seed I figured I'd try. Didn't expect much but I'm really enjoying the blooms. Kind of hard to get photos because I shoved them in a holding bed and the shrubs kind of overgrew them. Still beautiful though!

Some backlit liatris stalks. VERY windy day so a bit hard to get the shot!

:)

Dee

Citrus Sudachi fruit are ripening! (Not that you want that, they're usually used unripe in savory dishes, but I don't see me getting that done). Nice to look at in the autumn garden though. They'll be great in cocktails🍸.

Most of my autumn foliage photos are going on the other thread, but this thread needs some love. Hydrangea quercifolia Little Honey with Chamaecyparis obtusa Confucius.

It's 62F today (November 9) and Leonotus menthifolia Savannah Sunset has decided to bloom again. And Fatsia japonica Camouflage is near peak bloom and the honeybees are taking advantage. If you look carefully you'll see one.

More chrysanthemum

I meant to post a picture of our potted Ajania Pacifica (I love this plant) as it was close to full bloom but clearly I waited too long.....

Oh no! Wow rouge, was this unexpected? I know *I* certainly didn't expect any snow pictures so soon. So sorry your AP didn't get to fully bloom. It IS a beautiful plant!

:)

Dee

rouge we got hit too! This was a pretty broad storm considering we are a few hundred miles apart.

I had been cutting back the garden and most is done behind and to the right of the arbor where you can't see. I will continue cutting back but I sure hope it melts.

Snow! We've been getting so little snow for the past few years, that I look forward to it. Looks very pretty! And such a nice coverup for the end of the season garden.

Last week we got about 4" of rain which was much needed. A few years ago we had snow in Nov. and it did not melt until April plus no Jan. thaw, that was such a long winter. Many years lately we do not get snow for another month. Snow is a great insulator and it is pretty but over all I really hate the cold lol!

Amazing to see snow this time! Keep warm folks in the north

We had a light frost last night, which did not seem to bother most of the blooms

Mexican Sage and Jefferson Park chrysanthemum

Pineapple sage still blooming strong

Rose Desdemona

No perennials but a buch of annuals and non-hqady "perennials" a brought indoors.The heavenly blue had set buds was refusing to bloom outside in the cold. So, in it came. Bringing in the Jasmine grandiflorum and polyanthum on the arch from the tiny balcony was a bit of work. The piont pelee mum is in its 3rd year. It is fun that it is orange red and yellow bicolor petals in one pot (plastic) and red petals in another pot (terracotta). I think cooler temps make it more red and less yellow. The ice and roses hellebore is a new addition from the grocery store.

This fuschia survived the summer. The other mum. And a gocery store orchid.

No full freeze here yet. Just touches of frost in exposed areas. This misguided Rhododendron 'Horizon Monarch' is sheltered by conifer branches, so is still fine. I probably wasn't planning to cross on it in the spring, but it's a shame that it got confused into flowering now. The majority of autumns here I've gotten to around the week of Thanksgiving before a freeze, but they have sometimes come much earlier. OTOH, my relatives on the other end of the Bay, just south of Cape Henry on the North End of VA Beach, often get to Christmas with no freezes.

Here's an interesting 'fall color' display - the senescing needles of Abies pindrow. Easily one of the most exotic looking firs.

This cute little Osmanthus ‘Kaori Hime’ seems to be the last Osmanthus to bloom. The O. x fortunei are all done. They have a sweeter fragrance. This is still sweet, but is maybe about 1/2 way to the 'soapy' odor of many autumn blooming Camellias. (even Camforest's 'Scented Snow', truth be told, is nothing to write home about...but it's a pretty plant anyhow)

Here is the later stages of Glyptostrobus pensilis fall color. Earlier, it was even closer to a pinkish-red shade.

The background is an Ilex 'Venus', in full berry mode.

Here's a bad pic of the very exotic looking leaves of the rare Ilex purpurea. They are incredibly glossy, even more so than Ilex latifolia. The source plants of this at National Arboretum are, in my humble opinion, some of the most subtropical looking trees in the entire garden. (<- actual hyperlink!) You can easily imagine seeing something that looks like them planted in Hong Kong or Taiwan. It was totally undamaged by the drop to near 0F last winter. Some clones circulating in the south seem in some way inferior and might be hybrids. These came directly from Chinese government supplied seed in the 1970s.

A very November walk.

That looks very isolated and English, floral. I can just imagine a UK procedural set there, in which a body is found off that path! Although in terms of what's imported to the US, I feel like there's a tendency for such shows to be set in the extra forlorn North of England, like Vera, and a few years ago, one of my favorites of the genre, DCI Banks. The Fall was great, and set in Northern Ireland. There was even a police drama set in the Orkneys, wasn't there? Although I found it forgettable so don't remember much about it. I can't think of any procedural, murder mysteries, or even cozy mysteries (that I know of, I haven't watched many) set in the southwest of the UK, barring a handful of Agatha Christie adaptations, for obvious reasons.

OK here's some pics!

Lantana 'Chapel Hill Yellow', one of the hardiest. It's been blooming a solid 6 months at this point.

Here is my taller, thinner larch...that turns later, and turns yellow versus orange. It's been coning for a few years now.

Lastly, a Phygelius that blooms for a very long period, too. I can't remember but this is one of the new US west coast cultivars (I think), not one of the old English ones like 'Devil's Tears'. It's been more resilient for me.

Finally, based on my comment above, I did some scientific sniffing this afternoon. I forgot I had a couple other O. heterophyllus cultivars. 'Sasaba' and 'Goshiki' are, again, not as nice as O. x fortunei, but definitely better than ‘Kaori Hime’.

Camellias seem to need warmer weather so even 'Scented Snow' is barely noticeable at the moment, even though the flowers haven't been frosted at all.

Not so isolated. It's a 20 minute walk from home.

Iris unguicularis, winter flowering iris, early this year.

Interesting. Our winter bloomers are also early this year, like Darley heath. Mahonias might start by the end of the month, and if so, would be the first time they've started before December for me.

I've officially given up on I. u. after trying it maybe 3 times. It can sometimes survive a year or two, but overall I think our winters are just a little too cold for it. They easily grow down in NC and SE VA though. With the new Dream series camellias, there are now plenty of reliable winter bloomers in my garden.

Our Mahonias have been blooming a month already. Winter flowering cherries are well under way too.

I'm quite surprised the Iris keeps going in my heavy soil and shady garden. I got them from my dad who had sunny fast draining ground.

We've had a colder November here than the last two years, so most stuff is gone. I do have a few blooms of feverfew, foxgloves and a few salvias hanging on, and calendula is looking quite well. My annual patio pots have pretty much bitten the dust earlier than last year, and surprisingly (to me at least) it is the petunias that are hanging on.

Yesterday I was out in the cloudy damp chill continuing to dig up my dahlias (which by the way, may not survive winter as well as years past - several mushy tubers out there!) when I was very surprised to see not one but TWO buds on my Iceberg rose! I was surprised enough to see a bloom back on November 1st, but now to see two buds...! I wonder if they will get a chance to bloom?

Sorry, bad photo but wanted to show both buds!

Funny thing - I almost yanked this rose. Last year was it's first season in my garden and it was nothing but a few sticks by midsummer, due to blackspot. It was only THEN that I heard all about how badly it handled blackspot and I almost pulled it. Gave it another chance and this year it has done better. More blooms, less leaf loss, and I am loving the late blooms and buds - even if these buds don't make it, it's still wonderful to see them!

:)

Dee

You could cut and bring them in for the vase if they don't get a chance outside.

Happy Thanksgiving Day🦃🦃🦃

Wow! @forever_a_newbie_VA8! That is a beautiful shot! Happy Thanksgiving everyone. I was just outside poking around looking for bits of color. Dome highlights:

Adding Colorguard yucca was one of my best garden decisions. I love the splash of sunny yellow with the daffs in spring that is still going strong after the rest of the garden has gone to bed for the season. I think I need to add more if these.

Harvest Memories Re-blooming Iris will once again freeze before all the buds open, but I am thankful for it’s beauty in the gray of late November.

Speaking of pops of color… The roses, no matter how tattered, spotty, and defoliated they are, continue to deliver.

more…

Yellow Submarine is one of my favorites.

The poppy mallow is still going…

Fragrant Angel reblooming.

Salvia Wendy’s Wish

Still no freeze in Portland: Fuchsia Golden Herald, Echinacea Cheyenne Spirit, Fatsia japonica Camouflage, Camellia Crimson N Clover, Fuchsia Cardinal, Camellia Yuletide.

From 11-5-25:

11-26-2025:

Picea densata: First real precipitation in ~3 months (enough said). ;-)

I've seen a lot of fall blooming camellias recently and I'm glad I bought this 'Ashton's Pride' years ago. One of the best in my opinion, it's a tasteful rather than showy bicolor. (I am still glad I have the others though. 'Dream Angel' is my favorite of the Bobby Green hybrids)

We finally had a < 31F freeze last night, but only to 29F. I'm too lazy and cold to go outside and see what it did to camellia blossoms - this picture was just before I left my house the day before Thanksgiving! Some of them might be ok.

/Update: silly me, I could have just looked out a window! Open flowers damaged; if we went into a mild spell the rest would start opening, but it doesn't look like that's in the forecast. Still it's been a great year for fall blooming camellias.

Update 2...

oops, I was wrong, camellia out in the most open part of my yard were a bit burnt, but those in a sheltered spot closer to the house were still ok.

Here are a couple of 'Dream Angel'

With the berries of Holly 'Longwood Gold'

Here is a parent of various Bobby Green hybrids...'Yume'. A cross between a fall/winter blooming vernalis camellia (sasanqua X japonica and backcrosses), and a super cold resistant late winter/early spring bloomer, C. yuhsienensis.

One more of 'Cecilia', considered a pure sasanqua. This has been in bloom for about a month.

The old leaves on the Loropetalum behind it are all gone now.

Not a whole heck of a lot to show here. Even most of my berries are gone lol. My berrying shrubs are still small so the birds get to them pretty quickly.

My daughter still has a few rose blooms going. Her garden is mainly in front of her house, and she gets full sun there (although the wind at her house can be brutal) so even though she's just 8 houses down the street from me, we have different little microclimates.

Some nice hips

Beautiful camellias, UBG!

:)

Dee

My roses didn't bloom this season (wily rabbits) so no hips.

Got them protected for this winter.

The winterberries seem better this season. With the longer than normal warm season, I think they matured more (?). Other years, one or two frosts does them in (some shriveled this year too).

11-30-2025:

///////

@Markay MD-Zone 7B, amazing to see Iris this time of year!

Love all the camellias blooms!

Red Winterberries with the snow are so beautiful

"... Red Winterberries with the snow are so beautiful..."

Agree 100%!!

I can't wait for my winterberries to mature. And while I plant berrying shrubs for wildlife, I do wish they'd leave a few for me to enjoy lol.

:)

Dee

December is here but the heavenly blue MG is going strong indoors. So are campanula, fuschia, and cyclamen.

Omg, getgoing, I can't even get HB morning glories to grow OUTSIDE lol! Yours look great inside, as well as your other bloomers too. Must be so nice to have flowers in bloom indoors in the cold weather.

:)

Dee

Great photos from those in the warmer zones! it's been in the teens here and nothing more to see, our garden is sleeping for the winter. :-)

Foreveranewbie - What is that pink flowering shrub with the mantel of fallen petals under it! It's gorgeous!!

Also hard to believe someone grows Morning Glory indoors! Are those in a Southern exposure window?

Oh, i didn't grow the HB indoors. And they are against a north facing window that gets no sun. I have a barrilla 20w 4ft led growlight hanginging vertically along the trellis. I started them oudoors in june and they did set buds late sept or october. The buds just stagnated and a handful bloomed because of the cold. So, i just had to salvage what i could by bringing it in eatly november. The vines were interwined with a jasmine and a couple of other MGs (granda ott and a pink one) on two other trellises. But where there is a will there is a way. In hindsight, it was worth the effort.

GetGoing.... it does seem it would take a good deal of effort to move a Morning Glory vine, especially one that was entertwined with 2 other vines, [g] and move it indoors and attach it to a trellis indoors. That is something I would probably decide to skip. lol But you're right, having those indoors blooming longer seem worth the trouble. Great job! It will be interesting to see hwo long they bloom.

A Barrilla 20w 4ft growlight. 20 watt, 4ft light...Vertical on the wall. That is enough to keep the MG blooming? You have it close to it? And are the windowsills enough light to keep the Campanula, the Fuschia and the Cyclymen blooming? You weren't growing the Cyclymen outdoors were you?

prairiemoon, to clarify, this HB MG did have its own obelisk trellis, the current one. The other two MGs had their own obelisk/flat trellises, and the jasmines had their own arch/ pergola. But once they shot off their trellis, they all intermingled on the arch, and to some extent on the adjacent MG trellises. These were large fake wine barrel pots. There are a good 6-10 HB MGs in this pot. Anyhow, I had to disentangle, and chop off the other two MGs to extricate the arch (which has two different jasmine on opposite sides) and separate it from the MG trellises, so I could bring it in, separate from the HB MG. I know it is all very confusing and I am sure it was confusing for the vines. These trellises were meant for clematises, which unfortunately and unexpectedly did not survive last winter. So, I found other uses for them and did not think it through. Basically, I was not expecting the HB MG to hold off doing its thing until it became too cold to do it. The plan was to chop off the MGs and bring the jasmines in.

Yes, the HB MG is living off a single 4ft 20w barrilla led strip hung strategically on the back leg of the obelisk so it lights up the vines 180 degree from the inside. I have 8 of these strips hung along the arch, and the window frames on a timer so they are lit up when daylight is gone. A couple of windows do get sun till noon when there is sun. The cyclamen et al. are under an identical barrilla strip on a north facing windowsill and get no sun (I have dozens of those and only 3 facing east and one facing SE). The east and SE windows are reserved for high light orchids and such).

Here, you can see light strip/tube in white hanging in there.

GetGoing - Yes, I can see the light strip tube. Does it have a hook on the end that allows you to hang it vertically? Where did you find that light? You have the light strip along your window frame? That I would like to see. How did you hang it? Did you have to screw something into the wood frame? Why did you choose this particular light strip, there are so many choices out there it is confusing?

Do you have any West Facing windows? If so, what do you grow there?

Thanks for the clarification, Sounds more doable the way you describe it. Wow, you do a lot of containers and vertical growing. I hardly do any…lol.

I haven’t grown MGs in awhile but when I did, they were late to bloom but not that late. I did have that trouble with the white flowered vine… Moonflower Vine? I only grew that twice because it wouldn’t bloom until too late.

Sorry about your Clematis. Hope you can find one that will last through your winter, in the spring. :-)

Sounds like you had a lot of fun with your containers and vines this year. Bringing Jasmine in, sounds like a lovely idea, but you weren’t able to? I haven’t tried growing that, but I have grown gardenias in containers in the summer and I found those to be very rewarding. They are often blooming when you buy them and keep blooming all season. The fragrance can't be beat! Then you can bring them in the house and if you baby them, you can grow them indoors over winter and put them out again the next spring.

Prairiemoon, i had just hung it by winding the wire on the obelisk top, and followed ip with a welcro fastener when it staryed slipping out of socket owing to its weight (it is pretty light though). The welcro doesn't seem to need a grip beyond the strip iself but there is a switch on the strip that can be used to keep the welcro from slipping off.

The lights are not screwed to the frame. My windows are Andersen composite wood ( with plastic i suppose added to wood), not easy to drill and i didn't want to drill them either. The strips in the middle of the window are strung tightly to the clasps that lock the windows in place (the window is two panes that slide over each other , the lower can be pulled up and the top pulled down). This way, they are not noticeable, merging with the frame. The upper strips need something to hang onto. I have used the little s shaped metal hangers, that aee like over the door hanger but slide onto the window frame between the gap of the wall and frame. Now, i have more plants on stand and some hooks on the wall for hanging plants so i am just using those for hanging lights and not the window frame so much. See pics.

I have used all kinds of lights over the years. The purple lights are just not suitable for living spaces and i light the yellow full spectrum better than white as they will be on all evening in front of me. I have used bulbs (both purple and full spectrum) and strips and i just find that the strips are more efficient un providing the most light to the most plant with least electrcity consumption. My highly rated sansi bulbs lie unused. This particular choice is inspired by long time hobby orchid grower you tuber, who has all the high light cattleyas, dendrobiums and vandas blooming (proof of efficacy). And these lights are relatively cheap unlike some highly rated grow light system. There is too much options oit there and it can be hard to choose. My aim is to spend as little in my winter lighting system and upkeep as reasonable.

I have no west facing windows and the one nw facing one (it is part of an octagonal windowed bit jutting out at NE corner) gets no sun in winter as it is blocked from the sun by other walls jutting out west of it. I have dipladenias, pentas, pelargonium, lisianthus and gardenia in front of the SE window, besides the orchids.

I replaced the clematis but the loss of my huge HF Young and sweet autumn will be felt for a long time. HF yong is alive as a twig, so is Westerplatt and i got rain dance, venosa violaces (again) and Rebecca. I have lost too may rossa and clematis to count and it is the rain rather than the cold that kills them (and overconfidence in neglect).

I did bring in the jasmines. The grandiflorum has been blooming and the polyanthum has set a few buds.i do have a gardenia, that i bring indoors (they may not be the same ones each ywar as many many have succumbed in my care). It has set small buds in the dall but we shall see...

You probably missed that my entire garden is my little balcony so i have no way to not use pots. :)

Get Going -

I had forgotten that your garden is your balcony! That makes sense that a lot of it comes in for the winter. So, in addition to a great balcony, you have great windows for plants! I do remember all the photos of your beautiful balcony garden I just didn’t make the connection. LoL You do an amazing job with your balcony. Did you choose your place for the gardening potential of the balcony and windows?

Thank you for the photos. I’m looking at the third photo of the close up of the windows It looks like the light is not so much a fixture but it’s a bulb? With a wire and you’ve wrapped something around the bulb and attached it to the window hardware? I’m very surprised that installing it that distance away from the plants and such a skinny bulb is doing the job. Do the bulbs/strips throw off heat? Wondering about whatever you have wrapped around it touching the bulb, if it gets hot. I’ll have to look for the strips to compare to the bulbs. I like the full spectrum as well.

Looking at the top of your window…you screwed hooks to hang plants from, into the wall above the window and spaced them in such a way that you could lay another bulb along the hooks, is that right?

I didn’t realize the orchids need so much light. Isn’t YouTube great…lol. I find a lot of information there too. I can understand needing to find the right light system, yes the lights get so expensive and you wonder why they charge so much for them. Then the electricity use when you have to leave them on so much of the time. But if you were gardening outdoors you would have other expenses, so six of one half a dozen of the other. :-)

You are able to bring a lot in and garden all winter and then in spring, you must be just itching to get them all outside again and start over. I’m sorry to hear you lost that beautiful HFYoung, I remember the photo of it. I’m sure you’ll enjoy your new clematis and watching them grow. It’s not easy to keep them all going, especially in pots over the winter.

No surprise that you’ve lost some gardenia along the way…they are challenging! Have you read the Gardenweb thread on Gardenias? It’s an old post that was pretty funny.

Thanks for sharing your beautiful winter garden. I’m considering using some lights over the winter, and this is very helpful. :-)

GetGoing - I had a couple of questions about your lights. I've been looking at the Sansi lights on Amazon and I didn't want to try the sticks you use. I see they have some lamps that clamp and I was going to try those, but the reviews talk about problems with the bulbs getting hot. I was thinking it's because it's full spectrum and wondering if that is safe to have something that gets that hot. I wouldn't want to leave the lights on when I am out of the house. I wonder if you've noticed heat from your strips and have you tried a clamp on lamp?