The pomegranate leaves weren't out at all a month ago, but they're mostly green already.
The citrus trees are adding to what made it through winter. Our Ujukitsu lemon is winning so far:
And our new roses seem to love their new home. In addition to the Reine des Violettes in my Bloom Day post, we have a new fortuniana, now also in bud.
Our prickly pear, which I think is an Opuntia engelmannii, shriveled up during the winter but is "turgiding" back up again. You can see where the folds were while it was temporarily crumpled.
Wade at Yucca Do explained to me that many cacti expel most of their fluid before they go dormant to help them survive freezing temps.
Just in time for Garden Blogger's Bloom Day, wildflowers have started blooming around the bayou by our house and in our garden.
I haven't been able to identify these two:
Is this a tree that sprouted from a paddler's picnic apple?
The lizards are out again too.
We have anoles in our garden, but they've been to fast for me so far. Their more patient cousins like the one above were willing subjects on sunny Sunday as we kayaked on Armand Bayou.
Back at home, our blue curls are unfurling.
I first became familiar with blue curls last year and was determined to have some of my own this year.
Our "Forest Pansy" redbud, which we planted about five years ago is blooming more than ever before.
Close by, verbena is firing back up again.
And Formosa azaleas are just beginning to open.
The spirea too seems to have timed its flowering just for Bloom Day.
These azaleas have been blooming since last month:
The strawberries started blooming soon after last month's Bloom Day.
And the pansies are still going, snapdragons just hitting their stride.
A new addition to our garden that is just about to start blooming is a "Reine des Violettes" rose. We got it at the Antique Rose Emporium last month while we were up there.
There are seven buds in all so far.
Am I silly to be nervous that the sliver of color on this one looks more red than purple? I'm a rose newbie but have purchased mislabeled camellias before.
I'll post new photos when it finally opens, but please let me know your thoughts in the meantime.
I'm coming to the party a little late here. This is my first time to participate in Pam of Digging's Foliage Follow-up, and I'm even posting on the wrong day. But I'm definitely feeling "better late than never." I was having a very bad day today until I decided to take a look around the garden to check for progress among the leaves.
For Garden Bloggers' Bloom Day I posted, among other things, photos of two types of azaleas that have begun to bloom. The one other type we have in our garden, Formosa, hasn't started to bloom yet, but at least one of our Formosa plants is putting out new leaves already!
Our azaleas weren't damaged by this particularly rough winter, nor was our gardenia. It's putting out new leaves also.
Other plants experienced freeze for the first time and took it pretty hard. Many are just now letting me know they lived through it.
How subtle is the green of the new hydrangea leaf buds. They could easily be confused for flower buds, like those on our "Forest Pansy" redbud, which are starting to loosen up in this week's sunshine.
Elsewhere, agapanthuses are emerging from their dens:
And pineapple sage is proving its survival skills.
Old-timers more accustomed to spring returns, like spirea, refuse to be outdone by winter novices like sage.
Most delightful of all for me though was to see great use made of shed leaves from last season. A pair of Carolina wrens have been carefully selecting weathered leaves for their nest in our new birdhouse.
It's not a simple matter to get the leaves into the gourd, but they're dedicated workers; I expect great things from them.
While I was out this afternoon looking at foliage I also caught glimpses of these fairly infrequent visitors:
This bloom day happily finds one of my Christmas plants still flowering:
We bought this Dendrobium C.K. Oka x canaliculatum just before Christmas to help make up for the fact that we had a tumbleweed instead of a Christmas tree because we had just moved back from New Mexico. I never expected its blooms to last past Valentine's.
In addition to the tumbleweed, I brought these corn husk flowers from out West. I found them at a fair trade market in El Paso called Mercado Mayapan.
They are still blooming too ( :
For Valentine's Day accents, I didn't travel very far. I found these prolifically blooming New Guinea impatiens at a nearby grocery store.
I don't buy plants at groceries very often, but every once in a while I come across great and unusual things there. I found this wonderful succulent at a different grocery last week. It, like the impatiens above, was completely alone in a sea of commonplace plants like pothos. I haven't identified it yet, so if you know it, please tell me. It's about the size of a large grapefruit.
Not very much is happening out in the garden yet, but there are some signs of spring. Two varieties of azalea have begun to bloom.
The strawberry plants have begun to bloom again since the last hard freeze, but I've also been enjoying the reddened leaves left by the cold. They're as bright as the fruit to come.
We've also been enjoying the cold weather standbys of pansies and snapdragons, though the latter have been slow to open their mouths fully.
On Valentine's Day, my husband and I were treated to more bright colors that weren't in flower form. We went kayaking in the bayou near our home and found these wonderful birds.
The roseate spoonbills seemed to have made friends with a snowy egret and tricolored heron. We'd never seen these species traveling together before, but after they left this perch, the four hunted together further upstream.
It had been cold and rainy for many days before this, so perhaps they were just goofy on sunshine like we were.
After the last hard freeze, I found this leaf among the the many discarded by my crotons. The other leaves are all simple rather than split. It was a nice parting gift before their dormancy -- they are well established, I and covered them, so I think they'll come back.
Last week, I shared with you a boat tour of Aransas Bay, but in that post, I didn't include all of the birds we saw that afternoon. Below are a few more shots.
If you looked at the video, you may have noticed these lovely pelicans:
I have never seen one do that with its pouch before!
We also saw some lovely ibises that moved a little too fast in the fog for my camera to capture them at their best:
On the same trip, elsewhere in Aransas and Calhoun counties, we saw many more amazing animals.
Further inland, we found this loggerhead shrike perched next to its
favorite plant features: Thorns. Shrikes are known to impale their prey
on them.
And a juvenile white-tailed hawk, the first I've seen:
We also saw many of the same birds we found in the Bosque del Apache at the end of last year, such as
When we got back to Clear Lake at the end of the weekend, we had a wonderful surprise too:
A flock of ibises right next to I-45! We usually have them in this area now, but I've never seen them taking advantage of improperly planned construction next to a major highway before. I'm glad poor drainage can at least create a habitat for the prey of some cool birds. (I don't want to embarrass the business next to this mini wetland, but it is new construction and the area didn't flood in previous years.) Is accidental habitat restoration inherently bad?
Tens of thousands of ducks darkened the sky last Saturday afternoon in Aransas Bay.
Last weekend we traveled to South Texas and went on a boat tour around Aransas Bay. This time of year, it's generally a good idea to make reservations ahead of time for such excursions. We didn't see any "snow birds" -- visitors from the North that like to flock to the relatively inexpensive and warmer coasts south of Houston -- but the boat was to capacity.
A downside to planning ahead is that you can't be certain of the weather. It was very foggy for us in the early afternoon, but the water and winds were calm. If I were to choose between low light and wind, I would choose low light. It gets so windy down there that the sturdy oak trees along the shore bend away from the water.
After leaving the dock at Fulton, our captain made a bee line for the marshes near the Aransas Wildlife Refuge where whooping cranes can be found. Even on our way there, as we sped down the Gulf Intracoastal Waterway, we saw some astounding sights. At one point a large squadron of pelicans emerged from the horizon and flew above our heads. The captain said he'd never seen such a large grouping before.
American white pelicans in the sky, egrets along the shore
It wasn't easy finding the whooping cranes. They don't group together like sandhill cranes. Whooping crane pairs are territorial and only found dispersed across their winter habitat here. We were fortunate to see this pair with their chick (and a great blue heron):
The adults seemed to maintain the same distance between themselves and their chick as they moved along looking for food.
Whereas sandhill cranes will feed on grains, whooping cranes primarily
feed on invertebrates. Tragically, their primary food source here, the
blue crab, is very scarce again this year because of a lack of fresh water,
from drought and upstream usage. (Read more.)
We saw other pairs from a distance but were not able to get close, and this was the only chick we saw. Even so, it was such a privilege to get to see them. Fewer than 20 of them existed when my grandparents were my age.
Other birds we saw that were once on the brink but have since rebounded are the brown pelican and peregrine falcon.
Scroll down for more photos from this spectacular day.
Double-crested Cormorants and a Brown Pelican
Snowy Egret with Skimmers and Sandpipers
American Oystercatchers
Long-billed Curlews
Belted Kingfisher
Great Blue Herons
The last planned sight on the tour was a nesting ground for peregrine falcons. I don't know what the structure they're using was originally built for, but it looked like a contemporary architect had designed it for them. They even have a native-plant garden.
But that wasn't the end to the fun. On the way back to the dock, a pod of dolphins played joyfully in the boat's wake.
The first full moon of this year will be tonight. It is called the Wolf Moon, and it will be at its perigee, which means it will be closer to Earth and appear larger and brighter to us than at any other time during the year.
Despite the recent freeze, our garden is alive! Last Sunday we had an astounding number of visitors.
The Cedar Waxwings coordinated well with our oak trees.
But the Yaupon Holly was what they came for.
It was delightful enough watching them enjoy the berries, but their "Don King hair" definitely added flare to their entertainments.
Our first Robins of the year and a Yellow-bellied Sapsucker came through at the same time to partake in the berry eating.
Elsewhere in the garden, Yellow-rumped Warblers sought insects.
And Carolina Wrens went house shopping?
Below is video my husband took of the Waxwings, Robins, and Sapsucker. You can hear the Wrens and other birds, such as Blue Jays, in the background.
The other background noises are my camera shutter and the resurfacing of our nearby water tower. I thought the water-tower work had been scaring off the birds, but this crowd didn't seem to mind it.
