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The Observations of John Larkin - January 1997
Bloomed from mid-November to heavy frosts of Dec. 19, 20, 21, 1996
With temperatures of 23 ,17 & 26 degrees: ( * ) indicates number of months in bloom

• Acer drummondii, Swamp Red Maple - Not in bloom now, but are showing their bright red samara (seed with two wings that spin and drift when they fall).
  
  
• Bidens aristosa, Sticktight - Called Sticktight because of four little projections on the end of each seed that sticks to animals or people's clothing. 1 ½ inch yellow, daisy like flowers.   Will grow in wet locations.
  
  
• B. pilosa, Shepherd's Needle - More of a spreading plant than above with one inch single flowers. Have white petals and yellow discs (centers). Will grow in drier locations.
  
  
• Gelsemium sempervirens , Carolina, Jessamine - Saw a few blooms along roads, but saw thousands of them in pots with small trellises, at Windmill Nursery, all were in bloom.
   
• Houstonia patens , Bluets - Saw my first one on 1-12-97. This cute little plant will prosper in your lawn grass. It bears ¼” lavender/blue flowers about 2-3" tall, and this tiny plant is a perennial.  Last year we had thousands in our lawn.
   
• Ilex decidua, Deciduous Holly - The only holly I’m familiar with that loses its leaves in winter, but the red berries still hold on & it will thrive in wet situations.
  
  
• I. opaca, American Holly - This is an evergreen tree, which is being used widely as an ornamental landscape plant.   After coming across thousands of small plants without berries (male), I wondered where they came from. Just couldn't find any with red berries (female). Finally while exploring an abandoned home with my great-granddaughter, there it was, a beautifully formed 40' American Holly covered with red berries. It was quite a specimen.
   
• I. vomitoria, Yaupon - Don't have the symmetrical growth of American Holly, but do have attractive berries. But they are usually a pest. They come up where you don't want them to .      
   
• Lantana montevidensis, Trailing Lantana (Introduced) - Has finally stopped blooming. It succumbed to the three straight days of heavy frosts. It will come back from the roots.
   
• Lobelia siphilitica, Big Blue Lobelia - These plants didn't get to be as tall as the ones growing from last year's roots. They were seedlings. They did manage to ripen some seeds before the frosts.
   
• Lonicera fragrantissima , Winter Honeysuckle (Introduced) - Winter blooming white flowered Honeysuckle. It's a shrub. Got this plant from Linda Chance.
   
• Mahonia bealei, False Holly, Leatherleaf Mahonia (Introduced) - Evergreen shrub, upright stems, 8' high and 8' spread. Very showy clusters of yellow, fragrant flowers, birds eat the blue-black berries.
   

• Viola primulifolia, White Violet; V. rosacea , Lavender/Purple Violet; - Both were blooming before and after frosts.

• Cornus florida, White Flowering Dogwood
• Lirodendron tulipfera, Tulip tree
• Sassafras albidum

• Drytopteris ludoviciana, La. Wood Fern
• Asplenium platyneuron, Ebony Spleenwort
• Polystichum acrostichoides, Christmas Fern
• Adiantum pedatum, Northern Maidenhair Fern

Printable Januarly, 1997 Blooms (Adobe PDF)