Bloom #1 for 2023

It looks like we should get close to ten of them this year! I can't wait till my bees visit.

There are a lot of Mealy Blue Sage blooms today. I saw one butterfly on it, but missed my shot.

All of the read rose bushes have buds on them again.

I can't get the correct color to show through. There are much more red in person.

This was orange yesterday. As it bloomed more, it lightened up.

If you look to the right of the blossom, right next to the tallest leaf, you will see another bud growing.

Looks like the Pride of Barbados is going to make it. It is the last one to come up.

The leaves on Jared's Redbud tree are bigger today.

This is Jared's yaupon holly tree. We used to have it all over the patio, but it was taken out when we landscaped. I didn't know it was a Texas native. It is the only caffeinated plant native to North America. It absolutely invades ranches. There is a group of ladies who visit ranches, clean out the yaupon, and run a tea business. This is a link to their website. Visit it to learn more about the history and uses of yaupon. https://catspringtea.com/

It was a little chilly today, but not in the sun. This is Mr. Vinny's favorite spot to sunbathe.

Miss Olive came to see what Vinny was up to, but something distracted her...

She went into the patch of Mealy Blue Sage sniffing for something.

The Mealy Blue Sage looks good next to the roses, even though these roses are nearly spent.

Here's and up close view of the Mealy Blue Sage.

The Pistache Tree gets these fluffy bunches of male flowers on it. They aren't the leaves.

This is a closeup of the flowers on a male Pistache Tree. They fall off before the leaves actually bud out. Rachel hates them because the get all over the patio. The female trees get actual blossoms.

This little Chickadee kept going to the feeder, grabbing a seed, and hiding in the tree to eat it.

female Northern Cardinal

The clover-like plants are sorrel. I am not sure what the vine is. They grow all over the house.

That is a tiny little Mountain Laurel growing. The snail shell is about as big as a ping pong ball.

Geranium

Blackfoot Daisies

We have these beautiful new-growth leaves all over our rose bushes.

Rachel and I planted a third one of these sage plants today. Now we have red, pink, and purple.

The bird on the left is a lovely female Brown-headed Cowbird. The one on the left is a handsome male House Finch.

a beautiful White-winged Dove in full make-up

Here we have (going clockwise from bottom) the female cowbird, female house sparrow, male house sparrow, and dove that decided to photo-bomb my shot.

This rather skinny male Northern Cardinal was singing at the top of the neighbor's tree. His song goers 2-2-whip-whip-whip over and over.

White-winged Dove

Makes you want to hug a tree, doesn't it?

And finally... Let's play SPOT THE HAWK! This guy was not much bigger than a dove. He was terrifying my birdies off and on all day. I tried to get a shot of him sitting in my tree, but it didn't turn out.