I have been in the DFW for 30 years and yes, the ornamental trees you mentioned will indeed bloom first. Things will come to life when things warm up, until then they will remain dormant.

I, for one, am enjoying the cold weather. I just moved into a new house and am trying to get the house in order before I begin gardening. I can't wait to start on my "blank canvas" though.

My only fear is my 3 newly planted Red Oaks, I hope they are not receiving to much water.

I've been seeing buds on my bradford pear trees for the last 2 weeks. Mind you, I don't know if they were trying to leaf out or if they put out flowers first. This is our first spring in this house.

Seems to me Feb is the hardest winter month to get through for us gardeners.

Bradford Pears bloom, then leaf ....... I am not a cold weather person, so I have not checked my trees for buds. I should check my flowering quince as it is the first thing that blooms at my house.
Since this has been such an unusual weather season for us, I am for waiting and seeing what does or does not survive. Stay tuned for results when it comes to life again.

Well, this has been the coldest winter that I've experienced since I moved to Dallas area in 2002 or 2003. That being said, I have no clue what to expect. However, do expect the temperature to stay below average this month. Maybe even in March too if El Nino stays strong. It's responsible for colder than usual winter.

I am seeing new growth on my roses, abelia shurbs and I guess that's about it. I noticed that Montezuma cypress at my neighborhood park (more evergreen sister of bald cypress) have started to form new buds but that was before 12 inches of snow came...

I'd say 3-5 more weeks before most of trees start leafing out. Lawn won't be really fully green until May.

Well, y'all will certainly see signs before I do, but I do have buds on the Bradford Pear (much as I dislike the thing). The Hellebores are beginning to show signs of life finally, and the daffodil foliage is growing. The blueberries have buds, too.

Someone said the Purple Martins will send their scouts soon, so if any of you guys see them, I'd appreciate a heads up. I don't have a PM house but they are another sign that spring is around the corner.

Here's hoping none of us have to wait too much longer. Meanwhile I am still putting out seeds.

Susan

I do have crocus and daffs coming up too, and new growth on roses.

There are some signs of spring, but just barely.
So far as I'm concerned, 'tis normal.

I've been here since 1980 and have seen some winters when we didn't get above freezing for days. I seem to to remember 2 spell of 14 days and temps hoovering just below/above freezing. Its happened at least twice.. cuz I was in different houses for each one.

Well, since I was born and raised in Texas, I won't share with you how long that has been, BUT .......... I will share that I checked on my flowering quince, and it is full of buds with a few already opened. I think with this week's sunshine, it will be beautiful by next week. Yeah, Spring will come again to North Texas !!!

I just looked at my Montezuma cypress and it has a few buds forming, but it buds out earlier than my other trees. I don't have the pears or fruit trees. My newly planted Forest pansy redbud doesn't really look too excited yet. I'm with all ya'll - COME ON SPRING!! '
I'm putting out my hummingbird feeders on March 1, but that will likely be 10-14 days early.
J.D.

February is one hard month to get through for us gardeners. I keep looking at the calendar and Easter. We generally have one last cold snap right before Easter, which is late this year - April 4th. Guess the groundhog was right this year.

Didn't it snow first weekend of April a couple years ago. That was pretty unusual seeing it snow while everything were green... Fortunately that didn't get cold enough to cause much damage to plants that have already been growing for 2,3 weeks...

I saw purple martins yesterday while visiting a friend near Plano. My hydrangea was budding last week before the snow, but I haven't been out since it melted to see if they froze back. For all the snow we got it actually didn't get colder than 30 here. I'm still not seeing the daffs that I planted in December, maybe the squirrels ate them. The hyacinths are up and I can see bloom buds.

Pam

Will someone please confirm that the group of robins I saw on the ground when I went out to feed the donkeys is a sure sign of Spring????

My pear trees and my lone peach tree are at the point of blooming. The buds are swollen to the max. I take this with some trepidation because last year my pears were fully leafed and my peach was in full bloom and BEAUTIFUL! This was I believe mid-March. Then we got a late freeze. (It will be easy to find when that was,it was last year, it did happen, and it was recorded.) Anyway, I lost all of the peach blooms and only had 4 stunted peaches. As for the pears, they suffered all year with a black edge around the leaves and the few pears were stunted, small and mishapened ...sp... I am hoping that this last blizzard will harden these trees for a late freeze.
Most of the birds I see are Cardinals, Blue Jays, Finches, Sparrows, cowbirds, one crazy woodpecker,lots of roadrunners, and a couple of real timid doves. No Robins yet....Billy

Carrie,
no can do re the robins.
I had a huge flock of them here the day before the snow hit. I'd never seen a flock of robins before, so I googled it.. seems its a pretty common winter thing for them.

But I did read that their song changes come spring, so listen for it.

These weren't singing, Mel, they were eating .......LOL>

See? :) Listen for them to sing. I think they'll do that just after the flock breaks up and they establish their territory. Then it will be spring.

If you hear them first, let me know !!!

I just finished dumping kitchen scraps in the compost bin, and a quick poop patrol.
It sure is nice outside right now. (11am)
I didn't hear any robins, but I'll let EVERYONE know as soon as I do. I'll bet our more southern gardeners will notice it before we do.
I'm almost motivated to get my winter sowing stuff out and organized. Maybe tomorrow, too many things on today's list anyway.

Soon we'll be filling the hummer feeders and watching for their return!

Melvalena - You're right - it was nice out today. I went out and pulled a few weeds. It was so nice to work in the yard. Noticed that my rose bushes have little swells all over them! Yeah!

Signs of Spring in NTexas:

Several days of nice warm sunny days.... then we get hit again with freezing temps and rain.

Check the forecast: We're going to get hit again. /sigh

Yep, and I am still digging out from under the last onslaught ..........

Well, I was at the Dallas Arboretum yesterday afternoon looking for an answer to my own question and here is what I found:

Tulips green tips starting to poke up through the ground.

Flowering Quince just barely starting to flower.

Winter Honeysuckle blooming like crazy.

Gingko and Cherry Trees with swollen buds.

Other than that, nada! And now there is snow in the forecast again for Tuesday...but I see a quick warm up within two days, so this is better that the nasty weather is more short lived by this point of the winter!

Gotta look for those positive things at his point !!!

Good grief, I cannot even type a short sentence correctly..........should have read at THIS point...LOL>