In this part of the country, turning the calendar to February signals the impending arrival of Yardwork Season. The days are starting to get longer, and the temperatures are getting warmer. That's what I like about living in Northern Georgia. My friend, Heather, in Wyoming was still dealing with temperatures below zero at that moment. And my brother in Pennsylvania wasn't faring much better. My low-60s looked positively dreamy from their perspectives.

My winter experience this year seemed to be colder than usual. But I'm not actually sure if it was. It could just be that I'm getting older and despise the cold more with each passing year. With today being as nice as it was, the time had come for me to make my initial pilgrimage around the yard to see what I'm working with this year.

The daffodils are making their appearance right on time.

I've got daffodils throughout this area. Most of them seem to be awake.

I'm going to spread these daffodils out after they bloom. They look uncomfortable sandwiched in that corner.

I"m starting to see some activity at the Japanese Maple. The Vitex behind it is still sleeping.

The crape myrtles are still sleeping. The irises are becoming visible. Also visible is the fact that I've got a lot of cleaning up to do.

Each year, I make a comment about how the Windmill Palm tree I planted here in April 2014, while alive and green, never seems to "grow." I did some research through my old photos and can confirm that it has, indeed, grown. It hasn't grown much. But it has grown even though its sure taking its time in doing so.

The Cleveland Select Flowering Pear tree, however, has grown like wildfire since I planted it in April 2013.

The Chinese Snowball has recovered from my poor judgment a few years ago. I see a lot of potential blooms on deck this year.

The Reeves Spireas are beginning to wake up.

My intent with these plants was to duplicate the wonderful sight I have at my mailbox each spring in this location.

The Eleanor Tabor Indian Hawthorn hasn't been happy with me for a while now. This location by my front walk is home #3 for it. I moved it here in August 2017 in order to keep it from getting smothered by the Pampas Grass by the mailbox. The fact that I still see some green gives me some hope.

I've got A LOT of spring cleanup to do this year.

The Goldmound Spirea are still sleeping. I planted five of them in April 2015. One had an unfortunate encounter with fire ants. But the others have done well.

The large twig visible in the center of the photo above is a volunteer Japanese Maple tree I found buried in the backyard. I moved it here in September 2017, after which it hasn't done much. Maybe this year will be different.

I moved this Silver European Fan Palm tree to this location in April 2015 after two years in the backyard. Like the Windmill Palm tree I mentioned earlier, this tree is green and apparently alive, it hasn't grown much.

This Windmill Palm tree was given to me by my neighbor in February 2018. She noticed that I had two other palm trees and asked if I could find a home for another one. I planted it away from the main design with the intent of eventually connecting it later on.

The Coronation Gold Yarrows have bloomed beautifully each year since I planted them in April 2015. The blooms last year were beautiful, but much less intense, which makes me wonder if I need to do something like divide them. I'll have to do some research.

The area seen in the photo above that looks bare actually contains a bunch of mystery bulbs that haven't awakened yet. Originally, this area was home to five Super Blue Lavender plants. After the last one died last year, I moved a bunch of the bulbs I had planted near the rose bushes to this location to see what would happen. At the moment, that would be nothing.

The Husker Red Beardtongues have done well since I planted them in April 2015.

The photo above shows several large Pink Muhly Grass plants that are flanked by a bunch of Mexican Pony Tails Feather Grass plants. While the Pink Muhly has done well, the Mexican Pony Tails have not. It looks like some of them may have died over the winter.

The Bridal Wreath Spirea is one of my favorite sights in the yard. It delights the senses each spring with its beautiful bouquet of white blooms. As long as Mother Nature cooperates with the temperatures, it should look great in a few weeks.

The driveway azaleas have done well in recent years. There are eight clusters of azaleas along the driveway ranging in size from one small individual plant, (number 5 in line), to the large mass next to the street that contains several individual plants.

The Japanese Camellia cluster is actually three individual plants that have grown together to give the appearance of one large shrub.

Two of the Camellia plants bloom in pink.

The Japanese Camellia is always the first plant to wake up each year and starts to sport blooms in January.

The Buckeye Tree in the backyard is another plant that has never really done much of anything since I planted it in April 2014.

This is the second location for the Buckeye tree. I originally planted it in the center of the backyard in April 2014 with the intent of eventually designing something around it. I moved it to this location a year later to see if this location would be more agreeable. So far, it has awakened and turned green each year, but has never bloomed.

It looks like I've got a few more mystery bulbs growing in the grass in the backyard.

This area doesn't get a lot of sun. Any flowering bulbs won't do so back here.

I'll gather them up and move them out front later on.