This last week of January 2026 has been foggy and wet and berry-and-leaf colourful.

Seeing the two leaders of a tall (60 to 70 ft.) northern catalpa (Catalpa speciosa) outlined by the fog was awesome. Meanwhile, the fog horns blew all night for a couple of nights.

Moisture clung to this grass one early morning.

And the same morning, moisture still speckled the silvery leaves on this silver ragwort display assembled in planters outside a condo. I learned from Missouri Botanical Garden’s plant finder read more

Now in January 2026, with the days getting longer, plants are waking up. Sequoia sempervirens, also known as coast redwood, is growing male cones bearing pollen for the wind to blow on to female cones on the same tree. This particular tree grows in Stanley Park, between the Ted and Mary Greig Rhododendron Garden to the west and Lost Lagoon to the east.

Camellia sasanqua is the smaller of the two camellia species; its native home is the mountains of China and Japan. This blossom photograph read more