The trees know it is spring. It may be the second week of February but here in Texas it is warm and enjoyable. The sun is setting later, the bees are buzzing, an occasional hummingbird comes our way. These are the days to savor.

Back in Florida I grew a pineapple lily, I think I got in a trade, in a pot for several years until we sold all of our plants when we moved away. I’ve been drooling over some that I’ve been seeing lately at a few local nurseries and finally last weekend I broke down and bought one at Arbor Gate when we went to their fruit tree sale (got an apricot….and a magnolia, I know, not a fruit tree but we need to replace a tree we cut down). I have no idea which species or hybrid of Eucomis this is as the pot wasn’t labeled. I’m not sure as…

Between one of our neighbors and our property is a raised flower bed lined in brick. Part of it is falling down and it straddles the property line. Eventually we’ll remove the bed—another project for another month—but several clumps of bulbs came up a month or so ago and now they are finally blooming. Turns out they appear to be paperwhites. We’ll likely relocate the ones that are on our side to another part of the yard. Aside from some other random plants in the bed there’s also a dogwood which is unfortunately not on our side. I bet it’ll be pretty come spring! So happy for warm weather and…

We finished the compost bin last weekend which is a nice weight off our shoulders. Slowly, slowly, the gardening side of the yard is coming together. Our next big projects will be amending our future flower bed and then building our raised vegetable beds out front. Those will take up the next several weeks at which point we’ll return inside to renovate our laundry room and finish putting our baseboards in the downstairs living and dining areas. And then we’re going camping in March and April ’cause I’m tired of being cooped up.

Yesterday our beehive arrived! Yep, we’re going to delve into the world of beekeeping! A couple of weekends ago I went to a beekeeping forum at one of our local nurseries and it really set us off about getting our bees set up for the spring. We put our order in with R. Weaver Apiaries and we can pick them up in Navasota, Tx on April 13th! Chris put the hive together yesterday and will be adding a few things to make it nicer over the coming weeks, including building a stand for it. As for what else is going on around here, nothing that I can think of worth…

Parsley Easter egg radishes Olive leaf broccoli The leaves in the garden are creating a second layer of mulch throughout. I poked around this evening, still dressed in my work clothes. The snap peas are coming up, a few radishes were ripe for picking and found themselves cooked into our stirfry tonight. A day of rain on Tuesday produced good conditions for the fungi to grow. I’ve gotta start learning to identify them better as our yard seems to proliferate fungus after a good rain or several dewy mornings. We’ve had rather warm days lately with a couple of cooler nights interspersed, but my brother is warning of a real,…

The leaves are falling in droves now. When gusts of wind come through the leaves rain down covering the grass in some areas rather thickly. Sometimes there are ducks on the pond, lately there is a lone great white egret hanging out. The feral cats still follow us around the yard, entertaining us with their antics. Our newly planted almond verbena is offering up delicious smells in the side yard. Isis (the muted tortie) and Ruby (or it could be Fred, her dad. They look similar from a distance) on a downed pine log, followed me while I watered the azaleas. Fred Momma makes an appearance every now and then,…

They’ve taken their time getting plump and ripe. But the pink spheres of peppery goodness are starting to come in. Garden happiness.