This Lesser Goldfinch greeted me when I parked my truck. I took it as a sign of good things to come.

This Mocking Bird was singing up a storm right in front of the gates.

This area is always my first stop. Last time I was here right before the freeze, they were covering these beds up. Now they are barren, except for some tiny white flowers where those green clumps are in the front corner.

These are the flowers I mentioned in the last shot. This is zoomed in a lot!

These ornamental vegetables are really pretty. There are lots of different kinds, and they seem to thrive in the winter adding color.

This is some kind of purple kale.

more of those tiny little flowers

I saw more moths today than butterflies. They were desperately searching for food.

This cool bug was walking all over this wall. I don't know if it was finding food, or what?

This photo took me forever. My camera would not let me focus on it. It kept disappearing, and I only got what was behind it. I was too stubborn to walk away.

This is a piece of a great big orchid display they are building for their February Orchid Month. The building with the orchids in it was a hot mess. They had buckets of orchids all over the place, and workers were super busy putting them in place. I was glad they still let folks in. I can't wait until next week's visit!

This is a giant fly trap of some kind. I must have missed it before. It is right next to the bottle plants.

I got a better view of the fly trap.

I wish you could see this in person. The inner leaves go from white to a beautiful pink in the very middle. It doesn't really show up on camera.

This was one of about 5 butterflies I saw. They were kind of slow moving compared to the last time.

I only saw one of these. It seemed out of place.

I was thrilled when a bee got interested in it just when I was taking my shots!

Almost everyone of these orange flowers had a bee in it.

I think this is a martin house. The doors are closed and there were several of these beautiful house sparrows perched on it.

I just can't resist taking shots of bees. I absolutely love then.

Look at that face. This guy leapt off the flower and somehow stayed in focus. Like I always say, my best shots are pure luck!

I am also a sucker for personification. Doesn't this cutie look bashful

Wow, y'all. Remember my beautiful photo of these pomegranates from one of my first visits? They are still there, but the are shriveled and black.

This squirrel was up there chattering like a lunatic. He was clearly agitated. I kept scanning the trees looking for a snake or something, even though it's not that time of the year.

Then, I saw what he was bothered by! It was this cute little skunk.

That face! He is so cute.

The sign said these are coral berries. I say they are pretty. I love the contrast of the dead leaves curling around the branch.

It was a turtle jackpot today! I guess the water was too cold to jump into. They stayed on that log the whole time I was taking pictures. Maybe these guys are more used to people.

I took this shot. I liked it. Then I noticed the reflection of the turtles and took the next one.

This one is so much better!

This is a mating pair of Northern Shovelers.

They are so gorgeous that I couldn't pick just one photo.

I saw this awesome little building through the trees and found a trail to get to it. I have no idea what it was historically.

I like the way you can see the old construction method.

This cluster of cypress knees looked like a fairy-tale castle to me. But the photo makes me think of a cluster of wise men. (Maybe there was a fourth.)

I like the color of Virginia Creeper in the winter.

I have no idea what this is. iNaturalist gave me a ton of choices. Two were birds! These where the only pink leaves in the area. They really caught my eye.

There was one area that was covered with these young bluebonnet plants.

This caught my eye and screamed to be photographed. I had no idea what kind of flower it had been. There were several of them.

This one is AMAZING! Such intricate details. This would make a beautiful golden broach.

After studying on the situation, I realized that they were the remains of the caps on these burrs. Nature always amazes me. God put so much effort into making beautifully detailed things.

Okay... I can explain this. I couldn't decide if this thing looked like a Muppet or a shark jumping up out of the water. Something compelled me to take a picture.

I usually stand right here for about thirty minutes taking bee and butterfly shots. Now all the flowers are gone.

I was focused. He was in a perfect pose. I could see the glint of his eye. I was sure I got a great pictured. Then, I got home and saw this. I was majorly disrespected by a bird!

This beauty was perched on this plant. The plant was in a pot by the gift shop and marked for sale. I considered buying it, but decided to leave this guy alone.

He stayed like this for a long time. Usually they close their wings. I think he was apologizing for that rotten cardinal!