The Bradford Pears are finished. Cherry Trees were gorgeous last week, but thinking the storms yesterday knocked those blooms off. In our yard, the Encore Azaleas are covered. We have several large Cherry Laurel Trees that are covered, and I mean covered. I am going to miss the Oak Leaf Hydrangeas, Mahonia and many other plants when we move. :(

I think we’re past any frost, but ... Texas. :D

I just got this gorgeous lobelia. It’ll have to be moved to a cooler/shadier spot during the hottest months, and I’ll replace with a pot of portulaca. But I love it for Spring.

In my yard, a few crocuses are up and open. I see a few buds on the star magnolia. That’s it. Grey and cold day today. It was in the 60s a few weeks ago, right now it’s 35. I’m going back into hibernation.

Ordinary, lame stuff, but it still makes me happy, purple crocus.

I'm so eager to start getting back into the nurseries! Need to give it a few more weeks, though, as we have upcoming plans that will preclude any planting getting done right away. Our Vitex trees are just starting to put out buds, and our white clover groundcover is filling in nicely. Our azaleas are blooming, and are such a pretty pink. We may have lost a few mature shrubs in the front bed, but we'll worry about that later. Our tiny patch of grass in front looks terrible, and I don't know what we'll do about that, as we've tried to get so many things to grow in that spot. DH half jokingly said we'll just have some artificial turf laid down in what little space there is to fill. I half jokingly said I'd be on board with that.

Jinx, your lobelia is beautiful! What a cool color!

Ida, I love the deep purple! I just wish it more heat tolerant.

I so envy that you can grow azaleas ... our soil is too alkaline. We had them growing up in Arlington, I just love the flowers. :)

Can I get back to you next week? Our daffodils are shooting up but not in bloom yet.

@Allison0704, yes the cherry trees! Love them! They too are about past peak. And Encore azaleas, yes, those are what are blooming now. I have white encore azaleas and my later blooming ones are hot pink (my fav). @Jilly can you amend the soil for azaleas?

Jojo and bpath - yes, please report back. No hibernating!!

Tina, just if we did raised beds, but it’d be a lot of work and expense. Our Lowe’s and HD have big, beautiful displays of azaleas, gardenias, camellias every year ... when I see people looking, I just want to yell, “They won’t grow here!” But I might get kicked out of the store. 😄

My husband picked up a hyacinth-bulb-in-a-jar last weekend.I swear, it’s like Audrey II, it has grown a half-inch a day, yesterday we noticed a second flower emerging from the base. So, about to bloom not in my yard, but on my kitchen table. (May have to move it when it blooms if the scent is too intense.)

I moved in January, and the previous owners weren't into gardening, apparently. My small back yard is a blank slate, and I'm excited to get out there and get to work. There's something popping up in the front, but I'm not sure what it is. I'm in Chicago so it's still rather early here.

eta, Bpath, I was gifted a hyacinth bulb last month, and it literally got me through the month of February! Enjoy yours.

Nothing blooming here in MN yet but the ice on our pond has melted and the water fowl are back and nesting. And of course the snow is gone - hopefully until next winter but that's not a given. I love spring too - starting with disappearance of the last snow, more sunlight and the first opportunities to open the windows! Then the transition from brown to green begins, trees start to bud and plants start to emerge. It's definitely my favorite season - uplifting and energizing!

Feathers, did yours come in a carafe-looking vase, with plastic holding the bulb in place? Dumb question, but are you supposed to remove the plastic? Even though we turn it every day, I’m worried that the plastic is the only thing keeping the bulb in place.

The surest sign of spring around here is the landscaper trucks popping up and the lovely call of the leaf blower.

After yesterday's storms I figured the weeds would be easy picking and they are but it's 81 right now so that got old fast.

I have little stands of daffodils here and there and their cheery faces always make me smile.

The cherry trees at the creek are in bloom

Love this Mediterranean Heather and so do the bees!

Camelias are in bloom although why on earth we even have them is beyond me and I don't know how they survive. I made a horrible decision to trust a grower/landscaper because I was unfamiliar with plants for this location.

Oh, good grief, look what popped up in one of the back beds! You can’t control them!

Tabbicus stripus and Torticus spotus. They spread from the neighbor’s yard every year!

(Phlox coming up in front here and you can see tiny lantana leaves in front of Tortie Cat. Salvias coming up in far back. The lantana will spread across 2-3 ft.)

I have the autumn blooming camellias, so none of those now. Our forsythia in the backyard is almost past peak. Our Lenten Roses are so pretty! I think I already posted a pic of those but I’ll post again. No azaleas just yet. We have the Encore ones and they bloom a little later than the regular ones. Of course my hydrangeas won’t bloom until late May, but the leaves are popping out (makes me so nervous in case we have a late hard freeze!) My shrubby roses bloom in June. I’ve lost two peonies 😢 but they used to bloom on Mother’s Day, reliably. Oh! And the Confederate Jasmine will start in about a month. We have it growing on a wall mounted trellis and over an archway on garden path. Smells so good! I think that’s all...I don’t put out my annuals until a bit later. I just revive my pansies until it gets too hot, then I plant begonias or those heat-loving impatience.

Lenten Roses

And our forsythia (not a big fan of yellow, but it’s about all that blooms now, lol.)

The pics don’t look blurry if you click on them!

@nini804 where are you located? Here in my area (SE TN) lenten roses come up late winter and the camellias too. Our encore azalea have started blooming but our regular ones will bloom later. We're opposite! Beautiful pix you all! Thanks for playing along.

Nini, your house and yard are gorgeous!

Aw, thanks @Jilly! @Tina Marie we are in NC, close to Charlotte. I think there are three kinds of camellias (fall, winter, and spring blooming.) And I don’t know why our azaleas are so tardy...my hypothesis is that it seems like ours give a really flamboyant show in mid Fall, and I think they need a bit more time to re-group before getting ready for Spring! 😂 My Lenten Roses have been blooming since early February.

Our Lenten Roses have been open several weeks now. I don't have many here. Spotted Spiderwort blooming today. One of my favorites.

California is awash with the state flower, my personal favorite. My screen door is grateful and no longer feels like the neighborhood freak.

Bunny, that has to be a stunning curb appeal. Love it!

We had a hard freeze last week and the only thing leafing out are the Clematis and Hydrangea. I was so afraid they'd die in that subzero weather.

Oh! I need to go check on the Lavender! Off to do that now.

Oakley, thank you. Nobody in my neighborhood has mentioned my door, despite it being hard to ignore. I think they don't love it too much. I have been questioning my decision-making over this one, but spring has validated it some.

Bunny, I LOVE that door. It’s perfect. ❤️

Bpath, yes, that's exactly how it arrived. I kept the plastic on until it needed watering, after about a week. Then, I removed the plastic to be able to fill it. The plastic is just packaging. What's more important is that you keep the vase 75% or so full of water.

Bunny, wow, that door is wonderful, and I think I advised you against it. I was wrong--I love it. I hope you do, too. Don't worry about the neighbors.

We have had daffodils and that is about it. And weeds and onion grass.

OMG @gsciencechick that onion grass/wild garlic drives me nuts! I'd never seen it till we moved here. The land we bought and built on had been a farm pre-1950 but was left wild for a neighbor to hay ever since and we still leave most of it wild for him. The variety of weeds I battle in the more landscaped areas directly around the house are like something out of a nightmare for me - I won't live long enough to get any semblance of control.

Beautiful Maddielee!

Bunny, So pretty, I LOVE your door and I’ll bet the neighbors are now thinking how they can match their doors to their gardens. My friend did that at her house, the color is a deep red from her two doors to the being found in the green plants, and flowering plants, and trees, in her yard. It’s not all dark red, it’s just a recurring theme.

Last month my lime And Meyer lemon were a profusion of blooms. Fruit has set this month on both and now the honey tangerine is starting to bloom. As is my night blooming jasmine. I fed my anthurium last month and they really responded.

and I can always count on my heleconia

gardenia - sends out blossoms daily.

i‘m still waiting on my avocado to bloom. We had a cold winter and since it fed the whole neighborhood all of last summer, I suppose it deserves a rest. With all the fun stuff in my yard I still pine for cold weather plants. I’d love a Japanese maple and bulbs. I would love to grow bulbs of any sort.

So beautiful and vibrant, Honu!

Such gorgeous pictures!

I'm going to try again to share some of mine. Just submitted a long comment and it vanished.

I just stepped outside to capture the azaleas while they are in bloom, as the flowers won't last long.

The Vitex trees are slowly budding and will soon be lush with purple blooms with a heavenly fragrance.

The lemon balm has invaded this year, and I'll have to do something about it at some point. For now, I'll take delight in any little sign of new life.

And speaking of signs, I bought this one. I know I should probably feel some shame at having succumbed to the lure of the junk aisle at Michael's... but I don't.

😉

The Lenten roses have been blooming for quite a while and really put on a show this year. Daffodils are past Their peak but a few late bloomers are still out there. The viburnum was gorgeous and very fragrant in the evenings. Dogwood is just opening up and should be gorgeous next weekend.

Then I found this

@OutsidePlaying would you share a picture of your bottle tree?

We didn't get a profusion of tulips or daffodils here this year, and suspect our late freeze had something to do with that. Daffodils are my favorite flower, and I love to see them. Oh, and I still want a bottle tree. Outside's photo just reminded me of that.

Not a darn thing is blooming here yet. We just had a snowstorm here on Wednesday. Hopefully, the last hurrah of Winter!

Tina, here you go. I though I posted a photo from my phone, but obviously it didn’t post. I ordered this a long time ago online and don't recall the vendor. It is very sturdy, having rebar for the stems. Excuse the dirt. I don’t clean the bottles until after the pine pollen is finished falling.

Thanks @OutsidePlaying!! Love it! I have been toying with the idea of a bottle tree and my husband could easily make one. (I showed him the pic of yours.) BUT, just today I was trying to decide a good place for another tree and a large flowering bush, so not sure I can come up with a place for one. But I'm gonna try LOL.

We're in Zone 6b/7 near Philadelphia and the first of the hellebores have been blooming for at least a month. Two years ago I planted 4 varieties with slightly different bloom times and now they're all in full color. The daffodils are near peak as are the hyacinths and my neighbors forsythia.

These we brought inside to enjoy.

How pretty everyone's blooms are!

My chickasaw plum already finished blooming, and my macadamia tree did as well. Wild ageratum/blue mistflower has been blooming for weeks and I just love the scent. Bees and butterflies appreciate them too. Duranta is flowering a lot now and the butterflies also like that.

I have a red ground orchid that's blooming and another purple phalaenopsis is budding. Some walking iris just finished too.

My bok choy, wild arugula and some lettuces are bolting as well.

Our neighbor has an enormous kapok tree covered with huge red blossoms - a lovely sight, but they will soon become seedpods full of cottony fluff that drifts around like snow and covers everything with filaments, and spreads seeds to sprout everywhere too - not so lovely.

No good photos, sadly...

This is not my house. I passed it on my morning walk and don't think I've ever seen wisteria growing so prettily along the top of a fence. It's been in the low 70s here and spring is busting out everywhere.

Such beautiful pictures!

What do I have??

Weeds & clover, abundantly!

I like clover 🙂

In Maine for the weekend...

Not blooming in my yard, but blooming in a jug.

Today we drove past ocotillo bottle trees in the desert. I'm in love.

Love that, Ida!

Have a great trip! :)