Although winter is on its way, there is still plants growing and blooming in my garden.
Would you like to take a walk with me through the garden and see what is happening in December?
Alongside my petunias, green and purple leaf lettuce grows with garlic and parsley. I snip off the outer leaves of my lettuce to enjoy in salad.
One of my favorite plants in the garden is my Pink Trumpet Vine (Podranea ricasoliana), which grows next to one of my vegetable gardens. It will bloom until our first frost, later this month.
In one of my vegetable gardens, located just off of my patio – lettuce, carrots, parsley and radish are growing. I started my vegetables from seed, but my lettuce did not come up very well due to an irrigation problem so I had to use transplants this year. My garden is still young, but my vegetables are off to a good start.
I love the tiny, fragrant flowers of Alyssum, don’t you? I planted the alyssum from seed among my carrots. Alyssum is a great companion plant for the vegetable garden and attracts good bugs and repels bad bugs.
My tomato plants are still flowering, but any new tomatoes won’t likely form because frost is only a few weeks away.
I do have quite a few young tomatoes growing on my San Marzano tomato plants. These plants are over a year old. They were volunteers that came up from seed from old, fallen tomatoes the previous year. I protected them from frost and they grew beautifully. These young tomatoes won’t make it through the coming frost – I haven’t used green tomatoes before. Maybe it’s time I tried?
I recently divided my Pink Oxalis plant and planted a new one here. I am happy that it is doing well. In the background are the large leaves of Hollyhock. In the foreground are the leaves of Nasturtium.
In my front garden, my Pink Bower vine is covered in light pink flowers. I love using vines because they cover bare expanses of fences, walls, etc.
Trailing Lantana is a popular plant to grow where I live in Arizona. It is also widely grown in California. I even saw quite a lot being used in China along roadways. Although it can be invasive in tropical, humid climates – it isn’t in drier climates.
My favorite variety of Trailing Lantana is called ‘Lavender Lace’ and has both purple and white flowers. Trailing Lantana makes a great groundcover. It will turn brown and crispy due to frost, so I had better enjoy their beautiful flowers while I can.
Another one of my favorite Lantanas is ‘Radiation Desert Sunset’, which is a Bush Lantana. I love the multi-colored flowers. Bush Lantana grow taller then the trailing species. They too, will die back when temperatures dip below freezing in my zone 9a garden.
Delicate white flowers cover my White Gaura (Gaura lindheimeri), which is also known as ‘Whirling Butterflies’ due to the fact that their flowers resemble butterflies.
While I like my vines to grow upward, part of my Queen’s Wreath vine (Antigonon leptopus) is growing along the ground. I really don’t mind – it is still pretty.
I hope you enjoyed our walk through my garden. Many of my flowering plants will soon stop for the winter, but I have some winter-flowering plants that I can’t wait to share with you next month. Also, I will show you what is happening in my side vegetable garden filled with lettuce, broccoli, carrots, garlic, radishes and more…
What is happening in your garden this month? Is it tucked in for the winter? Or do you still have plants blooming and growing?
Please share with us 
