This will be a Quick Six today for the end of December 2020. We’ve had a frost/light freeze every night this week, but there are still some flowers hanging on in the garden. The pansies and violas don’t count. They’ll be faithful until I pull out the last vestiges around April. I’ll save them for another SoS in the near future.

I’m showing flowers that have beat the odds against the cold, so far – or almost. A few more of these chilly nights will do some of them in, so that’s why I’m sharing them now. Sometimes perseverence can only last so long.

Let’s do this alphabetically today. This little ageratum, shown at top, has been determined to hang in there. It seems like those who volunteer have the most stamina to weather the adversities.

You’ve seen my bleeding heart vine before. I clipped a boquet for my neighbor on Christmas Eve and another for my kitchen window sill. This morning I took a picture of the last clusters hugging the warm south-facing wall of the house. Everything else on this plant has freezer burn.

The mexican heather is hanging in there nicely. It’s near some purple pansies, so they play well together in adding color to this flower bed.

This narcissus is the first of my bulbs to bloom most years. I picked it to include in my Christmas window arrangement with the bleeding heart flowers.

I thought this rose bud was determined enough to make it. If we get some warmer temps over the next few days, it just might open up still. Good try, little one!

Finally, I have two sweet olive shrubs at the back of the yard, by the fence. They’re dependable bloomers for five or six months. You might think these little clusters are insignificant. The visual effect is minimal, unless you are close up to the plant. However, they produce a sweet fragrance that is pleasing to my senses as I’m taking my daily walk around the garden. Even things that are not seen have their effect and influence.

I hope you had a Merry Christmas yesterday. All of us are united, I’m sure, in our hopes for a better year in 2021. May the Lord bless and keep you.

Shalom, Dottie

I usually forget to acknowledge The Propagator, twitter @cavershamjj who started this Six on Saturday gardening blog suggestion. You might want to check out his site: https://thepropagatorblog.wordpress.com