Happy New Year!

We are starting out this new year with a little freezing rain. The temperature is hovering around freezing, so we are not expecting a major ice storm like the one from December 2013. Click the link for more info on that icy event.

A few little icicles like the ones on this possumhaw holly are enough for me.

Retrospects on the previous year are common as we enter a new year. I have done those on this blog before, but I have not had the time lately. You may have noticed that I have only had holiday posts since November.

For those that like retrospects, Google automatically created a Year In Photos using my garden photos from 2014. It is 45 seconds of photos that I added to Google in the last year. And it is set to music! Google did not make sharing easy. When you click the play button, the movie may open in this window. If it does, you will need to click the back button on your browser to return here. (After much tinkering, I think I got the link to open in a new window.)

I am not sure how they chose those photos. Maybe they were the most viewed? The one of flea beetles eating coreopsis reminded me that I need to put out some beneficial nematodes to try to control some of the pests as they overwinter in the soil and mulch. Up until the last couple of years, I did not have any problems with insect pests on my ornamental and vegetable plants, but it looks like they have added my garden as a favorite destination in their fine dining guide. I hope 2015 brings some balance to their populations and a lot less destruction.

Although I am not doing a full blown retrospect of 2014, I could not resist a few pictures from the front garden on a sunny afternoon last week. As far as I am concerned, the dried stems and seeds, backlit by the late afternoon sun, are just as attractive as the garden when it is in full bloom in the spring or the fall.

The copper stems of little bluestem with the fuzzy silver seeds stand out in the garden.

Normally, I remove the gayfeather seed stalks as soon as the flowers fade to curb excessive reseeding. 

At the moment I am glad I did not remove them. I may be regretting that decision in a few months if I am plucking out thousands of little gayfeather seedlings. 

Pine muhly and gayfeather surround a spineless prickly pear.

Here is a wider view.

And a close up of the many dried seeds on a gayfeather flower stalk. This stalk branched out as it grew, rather than growing as a single stalk.

More little bluestem with a few coneflower seed heads.

Variegated Yucca gloriosa in the background and Yucca pallida in the foreground. The second photo in the Google Year In Pictures shows the Yucca gloriosa from last January. I was surprised at how much it had grown and how much healthier it looks now. 

This last picture is of bushy bluestem and more gayfeather. 

Coming up for 2015, the Plano Garden Club asked if my garden could be on their tour this year. I agreed, but did not find out until later that it is a two day tour. I have lots of preparation work for this one since there is a paid admission. I just gulped hard because I realized that the tour date is less than four months away. Yikes! I have a week of vacation time scheduled for mid-March so I can prepare for the late April tour. I hope the weather cooperates that week and for the tour.