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.