Texas Mountain Laurel (Sephora secundiflora) surprised with early blooms despite a couple of deep freezes and a long run of cloudy days.
Love those grape-scented blooms.
Still emerging
Cooler weather should help the blooms last for a while. Some years the heat does them in.
Covered with bees ....
.....even though the camera could only get one at a time!
More blooms on this pretty February day
Blackfoot Daisy is a reliable survivor of hard freezes. It barely slows down and begins blooming quickly again. Even better is seeing this native plant shrug off our summer heat while blooming away through July and August.
Golden buds on a red barrel cactus promise the first blooms on this plant since I planted it about three years ago.
Succulents kept under wraps during the coldest nights bloom early like this Echeveria.
Kalanchoe daigremontiana blooms on a stem so large it dwarfs the plant
Rosemary thrives in my garden and commonly blooms through the winter
Suprisingly similar to Rosemary are these Silver Germander blooms
Bougainvillea were stuck in the garage during the freeze.
Mexican Honeysuckle is another plant that seems to have powered through the freeze on the northeast corner of the garden. Sparsely blooming, but still it counts.
Purple Oxalis hiding under stems of perennials
The first wildflowers are Prairie Verbena (Glandularia bipinnatifida)
and Greenthread
Buds forming on the Texas Bluebonnets mean blooms will be here soon. You might have to look way down in there to see it.
Turns out there are quite a few blooms this February. Garden Blogger's Bloom Day is hosted on the 15th of each month by Carol at May Dreams Gardens.
I've never seen Sophora secundiflora in person, or not one bigger than a seedling, yet I've still fallen in love with them. I always love seeing photos of them.
ReplyDeleteI love that Mountain Laurel. Beautiful flowers, clean foliage, pollinator-friendly and it's scented! I can't remember ever seeing it for sale here and it doesn't even appear in my western garden guide; however, I found it referenced on-line as suitable to zones 8-11 - I wonder what's up with that. I hope your summer will be as mild as your winter has been.
ReplyDeleteIt should grow for you. I did a search and found some in photos from the LA County Arboretum. https://selectree.calpoly.edu/tree-detail/sophora-secundiflora
DeleteWow you have a lot of beautiful blooms in your garden at this time of year!
ReplyDeleteGreetings, Sofie #26
http://sofiecreates.blogspot.be/2017/02/garden-bloggers-bloom-day-february-2017.html
Love the Texas Mountain Laurel. Someone once tried to freeze a bloom so I could smell it later. I can now testify that the scent doesn't stay once frozen. Thanks for sharing it and all your blooms for bloom day!
ReplyDeleteThat's so funny! Open a grape soda and that's exactly the scent. It sounds so odd but they really smell like that.
DeleteLots of nice blooms, Shirley. Ooh, your Mt. Laurel is gorgeous--mine has just started opening up its purple blooms. Yay!
ReplyDeleteLove the Texas Mountain Laurel (and all the other beautiful blooms)! We are already seeing signs of spring here in the north, believe it or not. The local botanical garden had Snowdrops blooming in January, and my Daffodils are emerging. I'm worried about all the plants that will flourish during the next week (highs in the 50s and 60s) and then face a setback in the week after that. Such a joy, though, to see spring on the way. :)
ReplyDeleteThank you Shirley! I do love purple color of your Laurel! All winter blooms are precious! I also love the blue sky in your pictures!
ReplyDeleteHaven't the blooms been wonderful on the Mountain Laurels?? Maybe they were this plentiful last year and I just don't remember but they have been amazing this year. Beautiful post!
ReplyDeleteFunny that I re-read this today - this weekend here most Sophora are starting to bloom, especially in the lower parts of town. So, about a month after your area. Very true on the early nature of Blackfoot Daisy and our related versions of Four-nerve Daisy and Verbena.
ReplyDelete