Spring rises from Texas

Coming back from a recent late winter’s jaunt to the West, I took the opportunity to stop off at the Fort Worth Botanic Garden to check for signs of spring. I wasn’t disappointed. This botanic garden sits on 110 acres practically in the heart of the city and is the oldest in Texas. Founded in 1934, it now contains thirty-four specialty gardens, including a seven-acre Japanese Garden that ranks among the best in the world. The Rose Garden is also a show piece but its heights are a bit later in the season than late February. Along with a number of other early bloomers, the magnolias and flowering quince were just starting their displays at Forth Worth. It’ll be a few weeks more, as spring slowly takes its time rising north across the continent from Texas to New York, so it was cheerful anticipation of what’s coming my way.

Margery Leonard Garden Court behind the Tropical Conservatory at the Garden Center.


Parsley, pansies and ornamental kale.


More ornamental kale and pansies.


Walkway through the still-dormant grass lawn leading to the Adelaide Polk Fuller Garden.






Loropetalum chinensis ‘Plum Delight’.


Mahonia bealei and Drummond Red Maple, Acer rubrum var. drummondii.


Magnolia x soulangiana at the Texas Gardens Club headquarters.






Bank of flowering quince, Chaenomeles japonica ‘Jet Trail’.


Chaenomeles x superba ‘Texas Scarlet’ and Chaeomeles japonica ‘Jet Trail’.


Chaeomeles japonica ‘Cameo’ and Chaenomeles x superba ‘Texas Scarlet’.


Herons splash in the fountain at the Perennial Garden.


Saxifraga stonifera.


Helleborus orientalis ‘Winter Queen.’ Aspidistra eliator and snow drops (cultivar unlabeled).

Purple oxalis, Oxalis triangularis, and Daphne ordora ‘Aureo Marginata’.

The Fuchsia+Blog Tags — botanical gardens | spring | travel