The house is oh so cozy, and the garden is chilly and uninviting, but I’m about ready for some winter color to get me back in the mood for gardening. Portland weather seems to think it’s done with freezing temperatures, and garden cleanup chores are calling, so I’m procrastinating looking back on the year’s pictures for the plants that still look good now.

I usually have a reasonable memory for latin names, but I’ve been drawing a blank on a grass I picked up in fall. I came across the original tag, so I can finally share the details. Anemanthele lessonia – something about that name just doesn’t roll off the tongue. But it has all kinds of tricks up its sleeve. Evergreen, black/green leaves in summer, with fiery red fall color that sticks around through the winter. Yes, a winner.

A happy bright yellow Santolina virens lemon fizz. I can personally verify that, even if a 45 pound dog decides this baby plant is his bed, it bounces right back.

I can’t guarantee these are the colors in winter, since I snapped the pine cones last May, but pretty good color with a decent chance it also looks good this time of year, so it made the cut. I unexpectedly loved the color combination of this Bergman’s Japanese White Pine next to the following agave photo – they share the same blushed tones.

My first ever Agave crush, A. parryi truncata. There’s no time of year it doesn’t look good, but it’s fun to take a minute to appreciate now anyway. Mine is small, the size of a grapefruit, so cute!

I find there’s nothing like a plant that’s out of my plant budget + rumors that it’s difficult to grow to make me REALLY need it. Abies Nordman’s Golden Spreader fits the bill. The one in the picture was maybe 2 feet tall and wide, $175. That’s not plant experimenting money for me, that is firmly in the territory of coveting from afar.

Glossy evergreen brown (everbrown?) leaves planted next to something golden would make a lovely pair. The tag alleges it’s a Rhododendron ‘Northern Starburst’ but it doesn’t look much like the others I see when I look it up online.

I don’t know what they are, something in the display gardens at Cistus if my memory can be trusted, but I love the mingling textures, and the pendulous needles of the golden tree against the backdrop of the blue tree below it.

And so the color doesn’t steal the show, the form of the plants in the display garden at Cistus also deserve some attention as a planting with winter interest done especially right. If you’re really dying for some garden eye candy in the Portland area right about now, Cistus is the place to head. Nobody does January in a zone denial garden better.