It's about time sylvia - I've been waiting for somebody to open....spring!!! Here it is the white candytuft and veronica georgia blue with some yellow campernelle jonquils - and oh yes the loropetalum beginning to bloom. Ah - my purple is the purple oxalis beginning to break ground. Won't be long now!!!

Four nerve daisies here, not purple but a lovely yellow when everything else is pretty brownish. They bloom sporadically through winter, but they are all busting with big fat yellow buds and more flowers now :). Also have some daffodils that are about ready to pop open. Oh wait....I DO have some purple, well lavender but that counts too, right? Scabiosa, blooming it's little head off.

Of course, the henbit is a lovely shade of purple too ;).

Kristi

My henbit is blooming it's little head off also, Kristi -- that does count, doesn't it????

"that does count, doesn't it????"

I think when you are as color starved as Texas gardeners are at the end of Winter....EVERYthing counts ;).

Of course, you South Texas gardeners out there, just don't understand, sniff! LOL!!

Kristi

"South Texas Gardeners" indeed, Kristi:

remember when we were all running in circles like Chicken Little, squawking about the falling sky, I mean the falling temps, & what we were all doing to protect our plants & Talley/beachplant said she *brought the orchids inside*?????

still have a little bruise where my forehead smacked the desk...

You know, there are daffodils here, too, but I guess it's been such a wacko season that I didn't pay any attention:

Here the paperwhites bloomed in the autumn, & I guess I just took it for granted that the daffodils had lost their minds too...

Purple is the only color that is blooming in my yard (except for coreopsis that was just purchased).
Redbud, scabiosa, prairie verbena and several sweet little wildflowers that I don't know the name of
jolana

I've got daffodils blooming and coming up all over my yard. I have Helleborus blooming, Phlox subulata, and a workhorse of a May Night Salvia that's had one little bloom or 2 on it all winter long. Oh, and I just noticed that my Loropetalum is blooming. It's so sad looking, though. I should have whacked it back and moved it last year, but never got around to it, so it kinda looks like one of those spiderwebs where they experimented with giving spiders LSD - limbs going out here and there with no rhyme or reason. But it's bloomng.

Sally

Sally, my Maynight salvia freezes all the way to the ground - I'm envious that yours is still blooming. It is sticking it's head out, however, so it will be blooming before too long. As will the blue bedder, the black and blue and others. I am so starved for color.

You probably don't want to hear from someone in zone 9, but if you really want to hear about bloomers........ Verbena( red, lavender, pink, purple, peach, white, burgundy ), dianthus, May Night salvia, Mystic Spires blue salvia, Black and Blue salvia, Coral Nymph salvia, Forest Fire Red salvia, Carolina Jasmine, Coral Honeysuckle, Coreopsis"Baby Moon", Salvia Miniata, gazania, Pandora vine( Southern Belle ), geraniums, violas, azaleas, red shrimp plant, stalked bulbine, larkspurs, petunias, klanoche , yarrow, and the few daffodils that returned. The buds on Coreopsis Early Sunrise and Black-eyed susan are showing color, but not quite open yet.
Jim

Jim, this is for you and your zone, LOL
jolana

Here is a link that might be useful: surprise

Jolana, that's the best raspberry I ever got! Ha!ha! By the way, I forgot Alyssum, Aster ( Bluebird ), Begonias, and Snow hill salvia.
Jim

I didn't mean to cut your thread!
Jim

and I have a trailing geranium blooming too.

also, marigolds, and Mutabelis is blooming.

I can't imagine that y'all think you alone have a terrible winter.

Winter is just awful for us in zone 9 too. We usually have about 3 days of winter, usually not consecutive, but still very harsh. This year has been the longest, coldest, most miserable winter we have had in a long, long time. I am hauling a whole truckload of burned/frozen foliage that I cut yesterday. Can't even put it into the compost pile, DH says. Haul it to the dump.

Our only consolation is that a few things do bloom a little earlier for us. NOT our fault, we are suffering too.

Oh, yes, the primrose jasmine has started to bloom. Very pretty, little double yellow flowers.

Janie

LOL, I don't like hearing about any dead stuff in anyone's garden.
I think it's wonderful y'all have bloomers everywhere, it's just harder here because most everything dies to the ground, lol

and I have a trailing geranium blooming too.
also, marigolds, and Mutabelis is blooming.
LOL

Well, hey, Jolana - I have daffs blooming ---LOL.

Hehehehe, good for you. I don't have daffs anymore, don't offer them, lol I know you.
They are way up on the gopher Menu, lol

I thought yellow was the color of spring. I've just got daffodils and forsythia blooming. The redbud and mexican plum aren't far behind. They are covered with little nubs.

Noticed yesterday that the grape hyacinth are blooming.

Kristi

Not purple, but my Bradford Pear trees are blooming like MAD! So are all the other ones in the neighborhood -- they are so pretty. My neighbor has two redbuds that are gorgeous right now, too . . . I really want to plant one in my yard.

My grape hyacinth are blooming too, my first year with them.
I saved these from my grandparents house.

I found this shy little weed in my yard and didn't spray kill it with vinegar. I checked online and found nice things said about it (for a weed). I think I'm actually going to transplant it into an empty bed up front and let it do what it wants for a while (since it's reportedly NOT agressive or invasive). Although the name says pink, it's actually a light purple.

Pink Wood Sorrell (Oxalis crassipes)
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I like wood sorrell. I actually transplanted some from my son's house.