ABC Wednesday ~ ‘Scarlett O’Hara’ Winterberry Holly
Winterberry Holly
Ilex verticillata ‘Scarlett O’Hara’
(EYE-leks) (ver-ti-si-LAH-tuh)
Synonyms: Black Alder
This week brought a wealth of ‘O’ photos. I actually had a few extra that I didn’t use. Those will probably be popping up here and there over the next few weeks. I am the only one that is thinking about next week’s letter right after this post? ‘P’ should be easy. I am thinking of something already.
We pretty much wrapped up the gardening season here this week. Both Monday and Tuesday featured killing frosts. In one way I am sorry to see it go, in another it was a fairly terrible season to grow things around here. We had a late Spring, cool summer, drought in late summer early fall and all that really didn’t add up to a great growing season. I guess some plants liked the conditions and flourished and some didn’t and didn’t do well. All in all Connecticut’s climate is fairly amazing because of the amount of plants that find the conditions to their liking during the season. It is a broad based bunch that hails from around the world. This year a lot of things didn’t thrive like they have in the past. In general I would give the year a 6 out of 10 and that maybe a little generous. As a gardener though I am pretty much an eternal optimist and will be out there again next year, with high hopes.
‘Scarlett O’Hara’, which is of course named after the heroine from ‘Gone with the Wind’, is a deciduous Holly. The plant has become quite popular and there are numerous named cultivars available. I hadn’t seen this one before but have been growing some of the others like ‘Winter Red’, ‘Sparkleberry’ and the smaller growing 'Cacapon' and ‘Red Sprite’. The cultivars are better than the species in almost every case. This Northeastern United States native likes moist soil and can grow in wet areas. It also can grow on drier soils but I like to use it in tough areas. The striking berries are really showy when the leaves fall off and the birds like them.
Oxalis vulcanicola “Molten Lava’
This ‘O’ is growing at work in the Conservatory. It is a funny little plant that flowers from time to time. The foliage color is interesting and it doesn’t seem to need much care. I just found out the foliage gets a deeper and richer color in the sun. I will have to move it. If you want to know more about the Wood Sorrels refer to this page of Oxalis.org
and the Wikipedia page on Oxalis
This last ‘O” is for ocular. I took this picture at a local nursery. When I went up there last week they already had the Christmas stuff out!
Here are some of the other blogs that are participating in ABC Wednesday. If you want to join let me know and I will add your link. I took out a few people that haven’t been posting the last couple of weeks. If you want to get back on the list leave a comment. We also have some new people and to them welcome!
mrs nesbitts place
hin's photoblog
tech the man
a bit of this a dash of that
Little Rock Daily Photo
photoxication
Kissing the Dogwood
strolling through Georgia
Ruth's Garden Blog
kate isis
photography by kml
AVCR8TEUR'S Blog
Salty Dogs
The Modern Goddess
Simply Sage
author blog
kai
Mollitudes
ten forty
Neva
Ackworth born, gone West
Secluded Habitat
katch photo
Mr. Mapper
The Max Files
Oswegan
Watch me, No Watch me
Oh yeah, I am sure someone else though about this, ‘O’ is for Orange.
24 comments:
You always have the neatest pictures on here. Happy Halloween!
Thanks, dot, though I don't know there are some really great photographers in our ABC group.
Happy ABC and Halloween to you. Don't eat too much candy ;-)
Great work, Chris. I am in awe.
What a gorgeous collection DFP. The delicate oxalis, the vibrant red and the warming orange. Your page is always delightful.
What a great batch of "O" photos!
Your Ocular is very nice.
I love the oxalis, I have a wild varitey here in Va that has the most incredible reddish foliage with beautiful purple flowers, i have only seen it growing in one place.
I also love the orange pump
Happy Halloween! Have a nice day.
Ornamental oxalis are nice tough the weedy ones we have in the garden are a persistent pest. Very nice photo of the flowers.
I had to laugh at the Scarlet O'Hara moniker.
LOL I so wished this week had been P for Pumpkin but you're so clever thinking of it as Orange. Lovely range photos as usual but I too think of this particular Oxalis as a weed in my garden.
The pumpkin is way cool.
I did orange as well....thanks for listing all the ABC participants. I have a list on my blog and I see I need to add a few, remove a few! Your pictures are wonderful!
What beautiful photographs!
Great work
Great pictures. I like the way you have captured Scarlet O'Hara
DFP, your O photos are each spectacular. I particularly appreciated the winterberries and yellow flowered oxalis - two beauties I'd like to have in my garden or home.
I love the first photo. The short DOF really makes the foreground berries stand out.
Thank you to everyone. I guess I am lucky that it is too cold for the Oxalis to become a weed around here. It is nice inside a container.
Berry good photos you have there, colourful, sharp and I love the quality from the 50mm Nikon
Gorgeous photos and I love the idea of abc wednesdays, I may start participating. I love garden blogs, neat to find yours.
You had quite a few O pictures. Neither orange nor ocular occured to me. Good ideas to use for next time. ;)
You've really made an impact with this post, Digital Flower Pictures - lovely images and some new plants to check out.
We grow the Yaupon hollies here in Austin, and the berries are a more orange red. They're attractive but the Scarlet O'Hara color would be fun to use.
Annie at the Transplantable Rose
what a blog.
very nice blog.
Post a Comment