December week 2

We finally got our first freeze, but somehow spring is in the air!

Forsythia's blooming,

and daffodils are peeking up. Boy are they in for a shock!

Thankfully, there are more seasonally appropriate plants elsewhere. At the Colonial Williamsburg nursery there were lots of fall vegetables to be seen:
London flag leek (Allium porrum),

lettuces including imperial (below), brown Dutch, and aleppo,

and purple top turnips

and in another corner of the garden, Indian currant (Symphoricarpus orbiculatus). It's not a vegetable, though the bad tasting fruit is apparently edible.

There's still color to be found around town:
the cheery yellower flowers of mahonia,
and lots of reds:
firepower nandina,
dwarf burford holly,

and pyracantha.

I also came across some plants that would be good for an autumnal goth garden:
the dark blue lugubrious fruits of ligustrum,

the dark twisted fruits of honeylocust, looking like hanging bats,

and the dramatic black leaves of a sweetgum.

Out in the countryside, we'll be seeing a lot of these coppery beech leaves. They'll be hanging on the trees for another couple of months.

You can see my other December week 2 pics here.