The fruitless pear tree that was in the yard when I moved here (would never plant one of these) is going to bloom. It is pretty when in bloom AND some birds and squirrels do eat the little ill-formed pear balls during the winter.

If you have not already planted your onion bulbs or transplants in February, you can plant them now. They can be planted 3/4″ to 1″ deep and 3″-4″ apart in a sunny to partially sunny location. These are just an assortment of red, yellow and white onion bulbs.

I am letting two of my tatsoi plants make flowers and then seeds. When the seeds are golden brown they will be harvested, put in a paper envelope and stored in a dark, cool place until we are ready to plant our 2021 fall/winter garden.

All the holly berries were eaten by large groups of robins during the snow storms. This picture was taken through my bedroom window.

Kalanchoes are blooming in our kitchen window. It is nice to have some indoor flowers in the winter.

Here is a pic of the lemon flower that was hand pollinated on February 1st. It has developed into a very small green lemon. The petals will be shed and the lemon will grow to a full size over the next few months. Then in the fall, it will ripen and turn yellow.

This little arugula plant survived with no blanket or other cover under 6 plus inches of snow for several days with low temperatures of 3 and 5 degrees. Arugula is a hardy plant.

Holly berries served as food for flocks of robins once the ground was covered with several inches of snow. They ate every berry on seven holly bushes. They migrated here to escape the cold over the winter.

This mockingbird lives in this holly bush by my window. He was not amused when a large flock of at least 100 robins appeared today and wanted to dine on the holly berries. He ran all the robins away. He even dive bombed into a cluster of about 30 robins on low oak branch nearby.

The holly is even prettier in the snow.

The first peek inside my lettuce bed after it was covered with blankets for 9 days,. Six of the days it was covered with 6+ inches of snow with record low temperatures of 3 and 5 degrees on two nights. All of my vegetables are alive.

All of my winter vegetables survived our record low temperatures in Texas. This bed of lettuce was covered with a blanket for 9 days, 6 with 6 plus inches of snow and low temperatures of 3, 5, 11, and 13 degrees.

I have to share these Puritan Valentine’s Day cards again this year .

A Rene Magritte inspired photo of David holding a Tronchuda Kale leaf in front of his face. The leaves are so beautiful.

I harvested two larger Thonchuda Kale plants that would not fit under easily under my plant blankets. The leaves have been washed and are drying. I will be making kale and white beans, or kale and white bean soup this weekend.

We emptied and disconnected our rain barrels today in so they would not crack during the low temperatures this weekend. If a rain barrel is full it has a better chance of cracking when the water turns to ice and expands. Pic of my 65 gallon barrel in summer.