Red, I'm seeing red

Sometimes the color of plants you think you know well can be shocking.

 

New growth on this old hybrid tea rose is particularly striking, especially in contrast with the bleached old canes, but the stems and scleropyllous leaf margins on the Protea cynaroides aren't bad either.

By the way I finally caved and paid flickr to become a "pro," which won't make me a good photographer, but will allow you to see more detail in the mediocre photographs I've taken with the new camera. This Bilbergia's worth looking at larger than life.

Winter

There's not much flowering these days, but the rosemary was utterly unconcerned with the frost. Oh, and: behold the new camera. Suddenly I seem like a semi-competent photographer. In fact, I am realizing that I need more winter flowers. For starters, the Agave attenuata I failed to protect from the frost is going to be replaced with an aloe -- I'm thinking A. cryptopoda but taking suggestions: think compact and floriferous.

Actually, I went to the botanic garden this wekend to check out aloes, brought the new camera, and forgot to photograph anything. Sorry.

The only other flowers in the back right now are the camellias and the Double Delight rose, which I'd much prefer dormant so I can cut it back. The other rose got pruned hard, went dormant, and awaits its dormant spray which I haven't got around to because I dread the smell so. I'm also procrastinating on putting in some Dahlias.