Significant ice and sleet accumulations are expected. Extra caution on runways and feeder locations is strongly advised.

Well lets see: One that is drought tolerant, blooms beautiful orange flowers all year – even after a 15 degree day of ice and sleet. One that the bees just love and crowd over since its the only thing that is blooming in mid February. And one that the deer do not touch. Well I was lucky enough to find one just like that. Tada!!Its the Globe mallow! Also called Desert Globe mallow. (Sphaeralcea ambigua)

Now bear in mind this picture is taken in the middle of February. The grass is dormant and an ugly brown, and the pond needs some serious work.
We’ve had a rough winter (for Texas!!) of 15 to 20 degree days, hence the net hanging over the pond for cleanup in the background, and the dead foliage everywhere. But when I looked closer at this plant it was covered in bees.

I think there are three bees in that one flower. Ladies! There are plenty of flowers to go around…The silvery green hair covered leaves of this mallow is what makes it so cleverly drought tolerant. Thick hairy leaves prevent water from evaporating and trap moisture when it is in the air.

You can even see the pollen packs on the back of the girls’ legs in this closeup shot. These girls know how to pack!

This must be the yellow pollen deliciousness the bees are after:It was a wonderful 70 degree day and my bees were out scouting for some pond water and this beautiful, tough plant. Bees will come out of their hive when temps are in the 50’s. This was one of those days. We’ve had quite a roller coaster ride of weather here in Central Texas. Some days we have 70’s and others it is closer to 25 with sleet. Alas, no significant rainfall, and we’re already seriously lacking in soil moisture. Considering our average rainfall at the end of March is closer to 8 inches and we’ve had about 0.66 for the year. Anybody sick of snow and rain? We’d gladly welcome your leftovers. 🙂

It seems that winter is seriously dragging for me this year. We’ve had many severe freezes (for central Texas!) and most of the foliage in the gardens has been burned and killed down to an ugly, ratty mess. But even though everything is so bland and dry looking, there is always one thing I can count on to bring some cheer and color into my life. That is the visiting birds. I always appreciate them, but this winter when everything else is just dull, they really light up the sky – and my yard. I am glad I left the seed heads on my grasses and flowering plants for them to browse on, and I see them flitting through the shrubs to get at them. Here are some of the pretty colors that made my day:

Some Lesser Goldfinches and House Finches sharing the seed.

A whole hoard of Lesser Goldfinches literally hanging out. I love these guys. Such bright color during the grey, gloomy days.

A little scufffle going on here!

And as for this Ladder-backed Woodpecker, I caught him in a quick grab…and go.

A little Eastern Phoebe hanging out in the reeds of my pond, what with everything else being frozen, my pond is providing the only liquid form of H2O around.

Peekaboo!

And a quick chew (of seed).

This bird feeder is usually clear glass, but this morning it was covered in a layer of ice.

What a pretty couple those two make!

Sometimes pretty man-made objects help with the winter blues too. 🙂

And for an unexpected visitor we have a duck. I’m not sure where it came from, but what with the water running low around here, I guess my pond was an attractive option. It was until my dog Sadie spotted her….. And then off she went.I am ready for spring and some rain. Time to clean up the planting beds and get things looking more tidy. Watching the plants come out of dormancy – the ones that didn’t get scorched by the freezes that is – is my favorite thing to do. It’s always a little miracle how these plants and the resident insects survive winter hibernation and begin the growing cycle all over again.

As a parting shot I have my first broccoli plant ready for harvesting. I guess there are some great things about winter. Growing your own cold loving vegetables and then eating them! This guy was delicious!

Happy New Year Everyone!

Well, it’s been cold outside…. Over half the country is below 0 degrees Fahrenheit, and its just miserable. The gardens look dead and leggy and I am hoping that at least some plants will make it through these frosty temps. Most of the plants and shrubs I planted are zone hardy to 8a, which means they will survive if temps dip down to 10 degrees. But there are some that are a little more sensitive that may just be a pile of dead sticks come spring – good only for the compost pile. Also our windchill has gone down to a brisk 5 degrees and I am not too sure about a lot of the plants out there. I guess its just a wait and see kinda thing. And while things are so bleak outside it is hard for me to go out with my camera. But there is a beauty in different forms out here, and as an added bonus I even found some interesting stuff today while snuggly hiding out inside, behind my living room window:

Here is a picture of my sadly wilting Mexican Honeysuckle (Justicia spicigera) with its stems covered in frost flowers. This happens when the plant is exposed to a hard frost, but the ground around it’s roots is still not frozen. As plant sap or water freezes inside the stem, it expands. This creates tiny fissures in the plant stems and as the liquid freezes and expands further, it is forced out of the cracks in the plant stalks. Nature brings so many incredible surprises.

Birds have been swarming our bird feeders, but once the birdbaths froze over my particularly drab and dreary pond (what with all the waterlilies having wilted and hibernating in the deep end of the pond) has become the latest big attraction. Even with temps down into the teens the pond and bog did not freeze, to the delight of all the neighborhood birds. I gleefully welcomed the Pine Siskins coming in from the north today. They landed in huge flocks in the surrounding fields, covering the ground, looking for seeds and playing in the bog and gentle waterfall of the pond. (Click on the picture below to see a bigger image in which one bird is hanging upside down from a reed to take a drink. So resourceful!)I was delighted! Up until now the only birds that used to frequent the pond for late afternoon bathing and thirst quenching were the White Winged doves. I am glad it served a purpose but I had been hoping that some other wildlife (besides all the toads, frogs and dragonflies of course) too would take advantage of the pond.Today it seemed everyone came for a visit!The bluebirds bejeweled my otherwise drab pond and its dead reeds. I was honored to see them gracing me with their presence. I deliberately leave these dead stalks in the pond till February as I have seen the Eastern Phoebe hanging out on them, scoping out the waters and diving in to fish some insects out of the pond. Evidently the bluebirds like them too.

Bluebirds were sharing the space with some bully House Sparrows. I don’t really like House Sparrows too much. They tend to bully the Bluebirds and steal their nest boxes and peck at their defenseless eggs during the spring nesting season. Besides, they are an invasive species, brought to the New World over 200 years ago. I have yet to find a way to get rid of them though. Bluebirds are a gentle species and I try my best to protect them.

Although hard to see in the picture below there’s a bluebird, house finch and lesser gold finch scuttling around the rocks in the picture below.Of course the cardinals had to get in on the action too:The female cardinal so elegantly blending into it’s surounding.Peekaboo! I see youuuu, can you see me?

The weather report says it’s supposed to warm up tomorrow and I am ready! Hopefully more fun things to photograph will appear along with the more seasonable temperatures.

Frog on the frog?