I live on the southwest coast of BC where the winters are mild. All panic will set loose with the prediction of slight flurries tomorrow. Grocery stores will line up so people don’t starve through  our 1cm of snow. Yes, I am dead serious. We don’t get snow often enough to have snow tires let alone know how to drive very well in it. That’s just the nature of living near Vancouver. Luckily for us the snow stays up on the mountains most of the time.

Today the sun came out after a miserable week of rain. My boots squished down into the soil as I walked across the lawn. Yes, the soil is saturated here but it’s normal for this time of year. What I love about November is the anticipation of blooms on the Viburnum bodnantense. I have been watching it produce its plump buds all month.

The flowers are a light pink with a delicate fragrance. They are just beginning to open.

Viburnum bodnantense loses its leaves before the flowers open. With our long summer I didn’t think they would ever drop. There are still many leaves on our trees here.

It’s a dense woody shrub which grows every which way. I made the mistake of pruning it one year and was left with ugly stubby branches in winter.

Now we just remove the eye pokers  from this shrub. Mowing the lawn can be a challenge in itself without dodging branches that hang at eye level. There are still many flowers to come on the shrub and they will last until the end of February.

The Heather is showing colour in the front garden. Don’t you love the glaucous blue foliage on this one?

In the greenhouse I have a few plants taking refuge from the cold. I cut back the Geraniums in October and brought them in the greenhouse. To my surprise they are blooming again.

The greenhouse is heated with a tiny heater that keeps it above freezing at about 5 C.  I am using a floating row cover to cover the plants when it dips below freezing outside. It seems to work well for me.