What's blooming over the holidays?

This time of year is called "dearth" by beekeepers because of the lack of blooms to feed the bees.  Fortunately, in Southern California, this isn't such an issue.  In my garden there are chrysanthemums (on 3" stems - the leftovers of the fall cut flowers), camellias, stock, roses, snapdragons, and a variety of other flowers.  Not as many as there will be in February when days are longer but enough to keep the bees happy.  It's also a time where future flowers are forming in the bodies of bearded irises, rice flower, and many spring blooming geophytic plants (those that survive as starchy underground storage stems to bloom at the very start of spring).  If pollination and pollinators are important to you, find some plants that bloom during these short days. Dearth means short days but it doesn't have to mean an absence of flowers!