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We are so lucky to live in this part of the country! We get to enjoy beautiful color all year long - even in winter.
Pansies, snapdragons, dianthus, primulas, cyclamens and bulbs of all kinds provide us with splashes of bright color, fall through spring. Add to these a host of flowering shrubs such as winter honeysuckle, flowering quince, forsythia, deutzia, and bridal wreath spirea, and you have even more color.
Imagine a bright red quince surrounded by dozens of golden daffodils. Or a yellow forsythia and deep blue grape hyacinths underneath. Or winter honeysuckle with its heavenly scent on a warm day - and all in winter!
Other plants that rival any flower are trees such as lacebark elm, river birch, crape myrtle, and maples - all of which have colorful exfoliating bark or beautiful twig structures. Then there are the hollies with bright red berries. Our native possumhaw holly, decked out in fire-engine red berries and silhouetted against a bright blue sky is unforgettable.
Our ancestors appreciated the beauty of these kinds of plantings and we should, too.
Dee Bishop, Smith County Master Gardener
Texas AgriLife Extension Service