Here in Seattle we’ve had sleet and snow and frost and rain—so much rain. But astonishingly the flowers in pots on our decks are still valiantly flowering. It is strange and delightful to see so much natural colour during what the Norwegians call Mørketiden—the days when daylight barely exists. Obviously it’s much brighter here in Seattle than in Norway, or even Yorkshire where I grew up (which is on the same latitude as Denmark).

Anyway, here for your delectation and delight are the fuchsia and salvia, still feeding the hummingbirds (though of course we’re now supplementing the natural food with sugary water, as we do every winter). I’m taking it as an omen for 2021.

Hanging basket filled with bright red fuchsia blooms and no-longer-flowering veronica

The veronica is no longer flowering but the fuchsia is

Big blue ceramic pot on a rain-wet deck filled with jasmine (no longer flowering) and fuchsia (which is flowering bright red)

The jasmine’s no longer flowering but the fuchsia is, and next to it our Flaming Lips salvia is still bravely red

several flower pots and basket holding herbs, no-longer-flowering annuals and perennials, and still bravely flowering fuchsia and salvia

Some herbs have given up the ghost but many haven’t, and wow, that fuschia is the energiser bunny of flowers