Winter is cruel on the Gulf Coast of the United States. Most of the time, we can expect chilly nights and pleasantly cool daytime temperatures. But January brought several hard freezes that decimated our more tender plants. We’re bouncing back with some lovely days now, and I’ve put my heavy coat back in the hall closet. But all was not lost.

Although the blooms on my early front camellia turned brown, I think most of the buds on my later shrubs are fine. I’m thrilled to show you the top-featured photo of my little La Peppermint camellia. I’ve watched its few buds slowly swell for weeks, seemingly taking forever to fully open. I’m seeing its delicate red stripes on pink petals this week for the first time.

I enjoyed my vigorous bleeding heart vine all through autumn. The red clusters were spectacular from October until January. Then, when the nighttime temperature dropped into the teens for a few nights, this semi-tropical couldn’t take it. You see the before and after effects here, but I’m confident the root system survived and will flourish again.

Anticipating that would happen, I made a little bouquet of the last roses in January with some of those bleeding heart blooms. Truthfully, that vase of flowers is still on my kitchen window sill, and after a month, they have turned into a nice dried arrangement. My husband says it’s time to throw them away. LOL.

Lots of bulb foliage has pushed up all around the garden. I often forget they’re there until I see those green shoots appearing out of the ground. So far, the only ones blooming are narcissus and snowflakes.

Violas and pansies are beginning to really show their stuff. I overdid it on the white violas this year, as that was the only color I bought. (You know how I love white flowers.) But my neighbor gave me this lovely purple and white one that I’m keeping on the deck for a bit of cheer among the other things there.

I’m glad the foliage of pansies and violas can take the cold weather. They provide some much-needed color splotches here and there.

Winter weather may not be over yet. We’ve had a freak snow shower in March in years past. I’m planning for Spring but resisting even setting foot in the garden stores for a few more weeks. We’ll see how I hold out on that resolution.

I satisfied a bit of that itch for Spring by getting new bypass pruners and garden gloves. Now I need to get out there and use them since there’s lots to do to prepare for the season. I’ve gotten to where it’s much more fun to think about gardening than actually doing it.

That’s true of many of our good intentions. Isn’t it?