EARLY SPRING BLOOMS

Our mild winter has been kind to many of my flowering blooms, although I have to admit I did protect the freesias during some recent nights when the temperatures fell in to the 20s. The same with some of the iris because they were in bud.

The purple iris were a passalong and came without a name which is often the case in my garden. The pretty little narcissus alongside this clump is also without a name, much to my regret.

Another passalong iris, known only as Peach, lives up to its name. It smells of peaches.

The naturalizing species tulips, or lady tulips, Tulipa clusiana, have not disappointed this year. Some years ago I read that the seed were not viable and I would pick off the seed heads after flowering. Then I discovered that the seed pots were attractive in themselves and allowed the seed to fall. Now there are many new plants forming.

Tulipa clusiana Lady Jane

Tulipa clusiana, Lady Jane with petals closed

Tulipa clusiana var. chrysantha, has yellow petals with red markings on the underside.

The species tulips, Tulipa humilis, Persian pearl was planted several years ago. It bloomed the first year and then nothing for 2 years. Now once again it is going to bloom. This is one of the shortest stemmed tulips, just a few inches tall.

I took the upper photo this morning and this one when the petals opened up when the sun came out.

All these tulips are perfect for the rock garden where they will receive good drainage.

The freesias have been magnificent, whether in pot or in the ground. They did receive addition protection from freezes but worth every cover I brought in and out.

And the same with pots of anemones.

I just wish they would all last just a little longer.

WHEN BULBS GO BLIND

Each Spring I look forward to seeing those first green shoots poking up through the bare soil. By the time they have reached this size I am looking for the flower buds appearing at the base.

Soon there will be a host of golden daffodils-or not it seems for this clump, once again, this year. That is because I have been promising myself for several years to divide the ever enlarging clump which have now, in horticultural terms, gone blind. Only 7 blooms this year and all that foliage. They were planted at least ten years ago and have never been divided.

But when to divide is the question I had to ask myself. Many gardeners believe in dividing once the foliage has died down and the bulbs have finished their growing cycle. But if I do that those bulbs are not going to grow any larger this year and I will only get the same number of flowers next year. The cycle will take two years for the bulbs to fill out and bloom again. Hence my decision to move them while they are 'in the green'. It is so much easier to do because there will be no risk of damaging the bulbs.

The ground being rather dry it was easy to dig them up. Not as deep rooted as I expected but easy to see why I only got a few flowers this year. Most of the bulbs were not big enough to flower. I am hoping to remedy that by replanting while they still have time to increase their size this season. They will get a good feeding at the same time.
Bulbs may go blind for several reasons. Overcrowding, planting too shallowly and not enough sun are the main reasons. There4 is no guarantee that once a bulb has gone blind it will grow big enough to flower again but I'm keeping my fingers crossed that next year I will see a host of golden daffodils.
And there is more work to be done as I have several clumps in need of dividing.

A COMPRESSED SEASON

I have decided that we are having a compressed season this year. I noticed that flowers that normally bloom in February did not bloom until March. I can't speak for the weather in January because we were traveling but February was much colder than usual, especially the later part. We had plenty of fall rain which germinated the wildflowers but that cold February brought an abundance of vegetative growth. My bluebonnets are much taller than usual.

You wouldn't believe that a dry creek runs through here and there are stepping stones leading to the front gate. The bluebonnets are hiding the downed live oak leaves for now!
And I definitely remember saying "No bluebonnets in the sunken garden next year" I daren't even show you a picture of the English Garden! Yes, you can have too many bluebonnets.

Or that the walkway around the side of the house to the side gate is impenetrable. That's Lady Banks' rose hanging over the wall.

Early March came brought a lot of weather ups and downs. Warm days followed by a killing frost, for those of us who garden on the edges of the hill country. Tender new growth, on lots of plants, was zapped overnight. No Mountain Laurel blooms over here this year and probably no pomegranates. But mother nature was ready to make up for it with a nice rain followed by day after day of 80° temperatures. All at once everything wants to bloom. Daffodils bloomed, were buffeted by winds and heat. They lasted only a few days.

These tiny rock garden daffs, with their string-like foliage are having a great bloom season but it is cut short by the heat.

Clumps of Crow Poison ( False Garlic) Nothoscordum bivalve, are attractive when in clumps but an intruder when they come up among other plants. Because they grow from a bulb they are difficult to eradicate.

Here's a new visitor to the garden. Scarlet flax, Linum grandiflorum. It's an annual but it is putting on a stunning display. I bought 3 small plants in the fall but only one has really thrived.

Here's its native cousin, the prairie flax, Linum lewisii.

Large clumps of Texas beargrass, basket grass, Nolina texana, are also flowering. Their creamy white blooms attract lots of bees.

Iris, California poppies, blue eyed grass, columbines, gaura, pink primroses are just a few of my later blooms making an earlier appearance. I just hope we get a little rain this weekend to extend the bloom time.

WARM DAYS BRING ON THE BLOOMS

Usually the first blooms of the season are the windflowers, Anemone berlandieri, and sure enough today I spotted the first blooms.

The recent warm days have brought on a flurry of spring blooms.

Clusters of daffodils.

Violets

Grape hyacinths, Muscari

Gopher plant, Euphorbia rigida. Spring is on the way. Hurrah!

GARDEN BLOGGERS' BLOOM DAY FEB 2014

The hard winter has left Texas gardens far behind how they would normally look at this time of year. It is a time when structure takes over from planting.

However there are signs that spring is on the way and with temperature in the 70s and 80s this next week it is going to come quickly. It is likely to be here sooner than we think.

Viburnum 'Spring Bouquet' is about to burst its buds. WIth its evergreen foliage, undamaged by many freezing nights it is a welcome addition in the winter garden.

A clump of paperwhites, always the earliest of the spring flowers.

With an 80° day promised these daffs will be open before the end of the day.

A pot of violas is a welcome splash of color. I planted these in November and left them to the elements. They needed no pampering.

My last flower is a patch of alyssum in the gravel of the vegetable garden path.
Is your garden still under snow? Do you see crocus and snowdrops pushing their way through? That will be a sure sign that a new gardening year is on the way. Please join Carol, at Maydreams for another Garden Bloggers' Bloom Day.

SUMMER YESTERDAY, WINTER TODAY

Yesterday the mercury on the thermometer registered 90°

Daffodils bloomed alongside gazanias.

 As the temperature climbed the first California poppy of the season unfurled its delicate petals.

By afternoon a clump were in bloom.

And more gazanias opened with their companion alyssum.

The Texas Mountain Laurel opened its blooms which immediately began to fade in the heat.

The dwarf iris, Iris reticulata, bloomed in the sunken garden.

The viburnum 'spring bouquet' flowers  changed from pink to white.

And tiny daffodils in the sunken garden bloomed amongst the columbine leaves.

Today is a different day. During the night a chilly wind blew in and this morning it is still there with the temperature hovering at 45° We are forecast a cold night tonight. I may have to return some of my plants to their winter quarters.
The little calamondin tree has blown over and oranges are scattered on the ground.

California poppies and gazanias are closed this morning. It is too unpleasant to work outside. It's just another day in the roller coaster ride of Texas weather.

SPRING BULBS

It is quite amazing that in less than a week all my spring bulbs have come into flower. I really thought spring was going to be very late this year. It is now catching up with every day.

It always leaves me wishing that I had started planting them years ago. Then I really would be able to talk about 'a host, of golden daffodils.'

Not all of them are golden. This one has a peachy center and is called Daffodil chromacolor.

I have always preferred smaller flowering plants and these small flowered daffs fit perfectly into the rockery in the sunken garden.

There are more to come; later flowering varieties with multiple heads and wonderful fragrance.

With the unseasonable warmth of the last few days I don't think they will be far behind.

'And then my heart with pleasure fills,

And dances with the daffodils.'

William Wordsworth

'IT'S OH SO NICE TO GO TRAVELING'

but it's so much nicer to be home! At least that's what my seedlings were saying when I removed them from the truck this afternoon. I'm probably the only crazy gardener who would load her precious seedlings into the truck on Thursday morning, drive up to Dallas with them and drive back Saturday afternoon. They spent the whole time in the back of the truck. I had planned to take them out but a strong, cold NW wind made me play it safe and leave them inside. Why would anyone in their right mind do this? Clear sunny skies and temperatures in the 70s at home. How could I leave them to fry in the greenhouse? Load 'em up and take 'em along. I also brought back some river rocks that were languishing in my son's garden.

I didn't even take them to the Dallas Arboretum to see the spring display of daffodils.

My grandson and I posed for a photograph in front of a colorful display of tulips and pansies. The gardens were in the first week of the annual Fiesta de Las Flores, with 500,000 blooming spring bulbs to delight the visitors.

There will be many sights to delight young and old alike over the next few weeks. Today we met Ferdinand the Bull. He was a character introduced by Munro Leaf in his book of the same name, published in 1936. This 12' topiary of grasses, sits among a garden of flowers surrounded by topiary bees.