What is flowering this time of the year?

We have already had three or four nights in the 20's so most of the regular stuff has shut down. There are Pecans all over the yard but only the small native trees produced this year. The large paper shells only gave us a few since the horrible drought last year. Here are some of the plants that are still chuggin along despite the weather. Sorry for all the night time pics. I had cabin fever.

Ground Cherry:
I brought it inside and it will continue to produce heavily all winter as long as it doesnt get exposed to weather below 30F. There is a berry inside all of those lanterns.

I just started seeds from the Cape Gooseberry variety of Ground Cherry. Here are the fruit I got from the store.

The Jamaican Cherry is still producing berries everyday but it is about to poop out and the fruit is lacking in flavor since it is getting less sun. It tastes like rum and watermelon.

The Kumquats have still not finished ripening some of their fruit. They have been producing all Autumn. Different varieties yield at slightly different times. I believe this is a Chang Shou.

Here are the flowers of a Silverberry. It is one of the few non-invasive plants of the Elaeagnus family. The flowers smell kinda like an obnoxious vanilla. It can carry quite a bit when the wind blows. The fruits will come around Feb to March.

Here is the bush. It is an evergreen shrub.

Here are some of the fruit from last year. They taste melon-ish but can be horribly astringent if eaten too early.

The Wilma (Brazos Belle) Avocado is getting ready to flower to my horror. I hoped it would put off until spring. This variety of Avocado should be able to take 14-16F. I am not sure about the flowers and fruit. There will even hardier varieties coming out of south Texas next year. Oh joy!!!

If you are not sure if the Avocado you are buying is cold tolerant, pick off one of the leaves and crunch it up. If it smells like licorice, it should be hardy down to 22F or lower.

This is one plant that I baby because it is soooooo delicious. It is a White Sapote. They are basically vanilla ice cream in a fruit. They can produce incredible yields and are very adaptable. However, they will freeze around 23F so you have to protect them. It just started to make baby fruit and I am desperate to get them through the winter.



Finally, the Loquats are in bloom. These are reliable producers every year. They are hardy to below 10F but they flowers can freeze around 23F. Once the fruit set, they can take temps down into the teens. We easily get 30-70 pounds a year from the big tree. The taste is like an Apricot and citrus.

Here is the tree last spring. We are getting early blooms this year so we hope to have fruit in late February to early March.