Garden Blogger's Bloom Day February 2017

What blooms in South Texas in February?  Quite a few plants, especially this year with above average temperatures most days.  And this year one of my favorite plants that usually doesn't bloom until March is already in full bloom.  That's why I'm joining in with Garden Blogger's Bloom Day this month.

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.

 Ditto Four-Nerve Daisy

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

Meyer Lemon blooms forming fruit already.  I made a Lemon Cheesecake in December with last year's fruit.

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.

Friend's Gardens: Linda and Alan

When I posted about my great yucca quest, I mentioned my friend Linda volunteered to drive 150 miles round trip to Austin to pick up two large yuccas in her truck.  I asked Linda if I could post on her garden and she agreed!  A native of upstate New York where water is plentiful, Linda has embraced the San Antonio style of watersaving gardening since moving here in 2007.

Linda and her husband Alan purchased their new home in north central San Antonio in 2007 and started with a blank slate.  I think it's interesting to see how no-lawn gardening works in their newer development with smaller lots.  Linda is a garden designer who has written several articles on gardening with native plants.  The current Spring 2016 issue of the Native Plant Society of Texas magazine News includes her article on interesting Texas native plants not commonly sold in nurseries.

One of the biggest challenges in writing any blog post is what to leave out and, as usual, I decided to include as much as I could fit in.  We'll begin at the sidewalk with a sweep of raised-bed gardens filled with colorful native and adapted plants.  No deer problem means she can plant roses in the front yard.

Preparing for the big freeze

Will it freeze or won't it?  We've been playing that game for the past few days.  The predicted Saturday morning freeze didn't happen, then Monday morning we had a light freeze that wasn't predicted.  Yesterday afternoon with predictions of a freeze headed our way I decided to go ahead and cover my most vulnerable plants.

The preparations are pretty simple.  With most of the container plants already stored in the garage we pull out old sheets purchased super cheap at the end of an estate sale.  You can see why they didn't sell early on.  The winds that blew in ahead of the cold front have died down so the sheets stay put. When the wind is blowing we have plenty of rocks available.  Sheets bring up the temperature just a few degrees but it's enough for most of our usually light freezes.

Garden Bloggers Bloom Day: March 2013

Gardens Blogger's Bloom Day sponsored by Carol at May Dreams Gardens is special day for garden bloggers to share what's blooming in their gardens on the 15th of each month.

March in Texas is bluebonnet season when our favorite native wildflower, Lupinus texensis, takes center stage.  A few years ago we planted a patch in our back yard and they have begun blooming right on schedule this week.  This is a preview and they will get their own post next week.