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Welcome to my zone 9a habitat garden near Houston, Texas.

Tuesday, February 14, 2012

Garden Bloggers' Bloom Day - February 2012

Can it really be mid-February already? Where did January go?

Winter here in Southeast Texas, zone 9a since the new USDA hardiness zones map was published, continues to be a relatively mild affair. and now spring is in the air. The birds are already in their courtship phase. The males are trying to entice the females with their spring songs.

Even the male green anole lizards were out in the sun today displaying their colorful throat pouches. This one had picked a spot on my vegetable garden fence to strut his stuff.

 A few daffodils have shown their pretty faces in my front yard garden. Truthfully, though, I never get very good results with bulbs, even Southern garden-acclimated ones like this one.

 I do have a little better luck with the leucojum. I'm glad because I love these delicate little blossoms.

The trailing purple lantana has been in full bloom since the autumn and continues to attract my winter butterflies.

The Carolina jessamine is at its height of bloom on this Bloom Day.

That's a good thing because the butterflies really love it. A pair of beautiful Pipe-vine Swallowtail butterflies were sharing these blooms today.

In the vegetable garden, the arugula has bolted and started blooming. The bees swarm all over the blooms, but they'll have to find other flowers to sip because the arugula is being pulled out this week to make way for the spring garden.

Purple oxalis thrives in the relatively cool temperatures of winter. It poops out when things start to heat up.

I love antique roses in general. They are mostly the only kinds of roses I grow in my garden, except for some Knockouts. One of my favorites is 'Old Blush.' It is full of blooms now and has been in bloom since mid-January. It will continue to have flushes of bloom sporadically throughout the year. It is never completely out of bloom for very long.

 The loropetalum adds its colorful fringy blossoms to the garden scene in February.

February is also the time that the blueberry shrubs start to send out their dainty little blossoms.

 Several of the roses, like this 'Ducher' are almost ready to bloom.

On the other hand, the Turk's cap has been in bloom since last summer and hasn't missed a beat in blooming all winter.

By the time Bloom Day rolls around in March, spring will be well under way here, even if it hasn't officially arrived, and my garden should be a much more colorful place. In the meantime, for more color, don't forget to visit our hostess Carol at May Dreams Gardens and check out the list of all the gardens participating this month. Thank you for visiting my garden today.

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P.S. This upcoming four day weekend, February 17 through February 20, is the time for the Great Backyard Bird Count. All across North America and in the state of Hawaii gardeners and birders and people who just like birds will be counting the birds that they see and reporting them on the GBBC website. I hope you will join me in participating in the event. It's fun, it's free, and it's easy. Just go to the website and get your instructions, register your site and get ready to count. Happy GBBC/Presidents Day weekend!

One of the birds I'll surely be counting this weekend is the beautiful Pine Warbler, a frequent visitor to my feeders.

20 comments:

  1. Your blooms look lovely and the photos are great.
    Cher Sunray Gardens

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  2. We have some plants in common even if our climate is much much hotter. However, here that malvaviscus you call turk's cap is blooming throughout the year.

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  3. Your blooms are a good month ahead of mine! I am envious that you have butterflies in winter too~!

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  4. Bird counting here! But the sparrows are going to be hard to count for their sheer numbers. You have many pretty GBBD blooms. The roses are my favorite and that was a pretty image.

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  5. Thank you, Cher. Blooms are still a bit scarce. I'm hoping for a better showing in March.

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  6. Isn't it amazing that plants can grow in such vastly different places as the Phillipines and Southeast Texas, Andrea? However, I suspect that Turk's cap would grow and bloom on the moon!

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  7. We were almost without butterflies last year during the drought, Karin, but they do seem to be making a return.

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  8. I'm so glad you'll be counting, too, Donna! GBBC is really one of my favorite citizen science projects.

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  9. Oh, snowflakes are one of my favorite. Your photo is just lovely. I also adore antique roses, but I only have a few. Between the SC humidity and our very shady garden, roses just don't do well here. The photos of the swallowtail is stunning as well! Thank you for the reminder about the Backyard Bird Count--we'll definitely be participating! Happy GBBD!

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    1. I'm delighted to hear you'll be participating in GBBC, Julie. The more participants, the more data that are gathered, so much the better for the birds.

      I love the little leucojum, too. They're one of the few bulbs that I have any luck with.

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  10. Love the blooms on loropetalum! I walk past a fringeflower hedge every morning, and it's just stunning right now. Glad to see the butterflies.

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    1. The loropetalum blooms are a treat, Amy. They make me happy just to look at them. So do the butterflies!

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  11. I always love your photos!! Splendid and beautiful indeed! I don't know what happened out here in Waller today, but we had rain again most of the day!! You shall not hear me complain LOL but I really need to get my Iris and Horseradish back in the ground and the potatoes need to be put in. It is soupy here.

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    1. Soupy describes my garden, too, Pammy. It looks like we may have a bit of a break today but more rain on Friday and Saturday. But as you say, I shall not complain! (Not yet anyway.)

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  12. Lovely blooms...I have that Purple Oxalis as well...and mine also sulks during summer...although mine don't emerge for months yet!

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    1. The oxalis comes out in early winter here, Scott, and gives us a long bloom period. Unfortunately, the wild oxalis does the same. It is a real pest in my garden.

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  13. Nice to see the butterflies back after their absence this summer. I just put in an Old Blush climber a few weeks ago...I can't wait to see it spilling over the back fence! Your blooms are lovely...can't believe your Turks cap is still going strong!

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    1. It has been a delight to see some butterflies drifting back into the garden, Cat. We really were butterfly-deprived all of last year.

      I hope you enjoy your 'Old Blush' as much as I do mine. It really is a wonderful rose.

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  14. My daffodils are just now poking their leaves above the soil, so you're ahead of me there. You have so many lovely blooms, I really don't have anything at the moment, although I bought a Carolina Jessamine last weekend (just haven't planted it yet)

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    1. Well, my blooms are pretty sparse, too, Jayne. When I look at some of the other "Bloom Day" gardens, I am filled with envy.

      The Carolina jessamine will be a great addition to your garden. It does give us blooms at a time when not much else is happening and it has a wonderful scent.

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