January 2011 Bloom Day

It's a drizzly cold day in San Antonio, but surprisingly I have quite a few blooms to share on the first Garden Bloggers Bloom Day of 2011.


The broccoli has bolted. We have been so busy lately that we haven't actively managed the veggie beds since Thanksgiving.


We noticed the heads starting to turn a few weeks ago and decided to let them flower. They look like bouquets, a gift to the bees.


This month is the best bloom period I've seen for the salvia greggii. The plant is in a nook where it's hard to get good pictures, but trust me, every stem has blooms.


New blooms are continuing to open on the shrimp plants, but the plants aren't anywhere near as prolific as the greggi are right now.

The shrimp plants are very valuable to me because they bloom where and when few other plants do: in the shade, in the winter. They are hardy in zones 9 and warmer. I'm in zone 8b, right on the edge of their comfort zone. I desperately want these plants to thrive and spread in the shady part of the front yard so I've been covering them every time we have a freeze. I've been using old sheets to protect them, but I need to get some N-sulate since the sheets are a little heavy and sometimes positioning them causes shrimpy's segmented stems to snap.



The potted petunias and pansies are pinch hitting for the perennials. They're doing a great job providing a colorful relief during the off season.


Nandina gives me a guilty conscience. It's an invasive species, but its foliage and berries are so beautiful right now. My five nandina and three variegated privet are the plants that keep me from applying for designation as a Certified Texas Wildscape. I know I should dig them out and plant something noninvasive, but they grow so well in part shade. [Agonized sigh]


After a month of rest, the sweet olives are back in bloom. Still, I have yet to catch a whiff of their signature fragrance.



My recently repotted aloe vera has sent up its annual bloom spike. A few weeks ago the spike was yellow. Today it's peach. In a few more weeks, it will be orange.

Excuse the blurry picture. These esperanza blooms were tucked around a corner and I could barely balance myself on one foot to take a picture. Last year my esperanza froze to the ground so I'm surprised to see it blooming in January.

If you're curious what else is in bloom across the globe this month, check out the the other bloom day posts listed on Carol's May Dreams blog.

Winged Guests

Since the summer flowers have come into bloom, butterflies and bees are everywhere.

Any time I go out front, I see at least three or four of these Border Patch Butterflies enjoying my lantana.

Here's the same species with its wings closed. This is by far the most common butterfly in my yard. I photographed this one on my climbing rose bush in the backyard.

I've only see the Hummingbird Moth visit my garden once so far. But they're so willing to let you watch and photograph them up close that the time you get to spend observing them leaves you feeling very satisfied.

By contrast, I never get to watch the huge Swallowtail Butterflies for more than a few seconds, and, as soon as I turn toward the house to grab my camera, they're gone.

However, I did get a good look at the Black Swallowtail Caterpillars enjoying my parsley. I let the parsely flower because I was hoping to attract these guests. Today was the first day I noticed them.

It seems like you can see his litte face in this picture. These caterpillars were so photogenic. I have a few more shots in my flickr Bugs set.

Finally, near dusk I saw this fuzzy caterpillar chomping on my nandia. I saw another one on my front porch a few nights ago. I know they will turn into moths, but I am not sure which kind. Giant Leopard Moths maybe?