Winter

As I have said before, winter here is a moving target.  We have had temps below freezing already but this week we have highs in the 70's. It's been cloudy and overcast with the nearly constant likelihood of light rain although it's been mostly dry so far and today is sunny.

As you can see, the outer yard is still a little green.  The pecan trees have all lost their leaves but the live oaks towards the back still have all of theirs's.

I took a drive around the property this afternoon and this is what I found. The large grasses have turned brown and are showing off seed heads. They will be pruned back next month to sprout in the spring from the roots.

The cyclamens love the cold so they are doing very nicely.

The elephant ears in the back garden were hit pretty hard by our first freeze.  They should come back nicely in the spring but look pretty terrible right now.

Many of the plants, like the ferns in the back garden, just look old and tired.

The roses will all be pruned next month. They look pretty bedraggled right now although some are still blooming.

There are bright red berries for the birds and satsuma oranges still waiting to be picked.  These trees will also get pruned this winter but not till we get more oranges to eat first.

The "winter color" is still doing great in both the front and back gardens and we are seeing our winter mushrooms popping up.

There are signs of spring coming along with the signs of winter being here.  The large bushes planted along our road are just starting to bloom.  Give it a little while and they will be awash with wonderful small blooms.