I'm delighted to announce the return of guest blogging with someone who is enthusiastic, inspiring, and lucky enough to be gardening in Zone 7b: Helen Yoest from Raleigh, North Carolina. Helen is a garden writer and coach and runs the business and the blog Gardening with Confidence. She also blogs for the North Carolina Nursery and Landscape Association, as well as for Moss and Stone Gardens. Somehow she manages to find time to serve on the board of the J.C. Raulston Arboretum, represent Garden Conservancy Open Days in Raleigh, and squeeze in a guest post for us, wherein she shares the glories of the late-winter/early-spring garden and her tips for success:

As others eagerly embrace the arrival of spring, I’m still saying good-bye to my winter blooms. I’m not ready to let winter go. In my garden, Helen's Haven, located in Raleigh, NC, winter gardening rules. Raleigh has what I think of as a neutral hardiness zone; Zone 7b. We can grow a wide range of plants. If a plant isn’t hardy enough to winter-over, we can treat favorites, such as tropicals, as annuals. We also have enough of a cold period for growing most spring blooming bulbs. Our zone weakness can most notably be found in our inability to grow lilacs well. We make up for this weakness, however, with a healthy range of plants, blooming in the winter:

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1 Winter aconite (Eranthis cilicica) and Iris reticulata ‘Pauline’ blooming together in the garden.

2 Daphne odora ‘Aureo-Marginata’ begins forming flower heads early, opening in February, just when you don’t think you can take the wait any longer.

3 Camellia japonica ‘Governor Mouton’ provides evergreen cover for overwintering birds.

4 On a warm day in winter, a bee finds pollen on this Mahonia hybrid introduced by renowned Texas nursery Yucca Do.

5 Chaenomeles speciosa 'Contorta,' a dwarf cultivar of flowering quince, is perfect for many home gardens.

6 Hellebores range from white to nearly black. They're a wonderful addition to our year-round gardens, with particular interest in the winter when they bloom.

7 Winter would not be complete without the sweet-smelling bloom and architectural interest of Edgeworthia chrysantha ‘Gold Rush.’

8 Aptly named ‘Valley Valentine,’ this pink Pieris blooms around Valentine's Day.

9 In early winter, the flower heads of spike tail, Stachyurus praecox ‘Issai,’ form. As the weather warms, the flower heads open. I think of this as a bridge plant connecting winter with spring.

10 Japanese apricot (Prunus mume ‘Dawn’) against a Carolina Blue sky in winter.

Winter is so good, I’m sad to say good-bye. So while others are saying hey to azalea, redbud, and dogwood, I’m still marveling at the Mahonia, Helleborus, and Camellia.

During late winter, many magnolias bloom alongside the quince. Why look to spring when winter regales? Try the quince, Chaenomeles speciosa 'Contorta,' for it’s smaller statue, perfect for most home gardens. You’ll appreciate the peachy-pink flowers, blooming throughout the winter season.

Cover your ground plane with Trillium maculatum, Iris reticulata ‘Pauline,’ Iris unguicularis, Eranthis cilicica (winter aconite), Galanthus nivalis or perhaps a few hundred Crocus tommasinianus, naturalizing in your lawn. To compliment the blue hues from your crocus, meet the lawn at the bed’s edge, with a swath of Veronica peduncularis 'Georgia Blue.'

As with many winter blooming flowers, scents soar. Place the most fragrant ones in an area of your garden to pass by or to rest next to; this way, you don’t have to go out of your way to enjoy. In my garden, I have a paperbush (Edgeworthia chrysantha ‘Gold Rush’) on the back patio where I can sit and relax. Daphne odora ‘Aureo-Marginata’ rests along the front walk to waft my way inside, and I have a Prunus mume ‘Dawn,’ positioned in a spot in the garden that calls my name to come out and play.

If you want to bring your winter garden to new heights, plant one of the many winter-blooming clematis, such as Clematis cirrhosa, where white, bell-shaped flowers will charm you.

Got a hill, ledge, or slope? Try Jasminum nudiflorum ‘Aureum.’ Often mistaken for Carolina jasmine (Gelsemium sempervirens), Jasminum nudiflorum ‘Aureum’ blooms with hundreds of yellow flowers in February. For more yummy yellow winter blooms, grow daffodils or forsythia. In the South, forsythia not only dazzles you with color, it’s also an indicator plant to do pre-spring garden chores, such as applying a pre-emergent for crabgrass. Growing daffodil Narcissus ‘February Gold,’ won’t remind you of anything other than that happy place you like to go; daffs will take you there.

Why wait for spring to have a dogwood blooming in your garden, when Cornus officinalis 'Kintoki' blooms in February. These perky, yellow flowers are the beginning of a long dogwood season.

Don’t forget some flowering shrubs. Try Pieris japonica ‘Valley Valentine,’ a heavenly smelling sweet shrub (Chimonanthus praecox), or one of the witchhazels, such as Hamamelis ×intermedia ‘Jelena.’ Each is unique in producing winter flowers that will beg you come outside.

As I say good-bye to winter, I usher in spring with a blooming "bridge" plant, spike tail (Stachyurus praecox ‘Issai’). Oh sure, the azaleas, redbuds, and dogwood are cheerful, colorful, and bright, but the spike tail is architectural, intriguing, and intricate. I marvel at its dripping racemes, holding tight buds in the winter and opening in early spring.

As the winter blooms fade from memory and pedicel, I will look ahead to embrace spring where I will, no doubt, once again announce a new season as the best of all seasons.

You may recall that we ask our guests to fill out our guest blogger questionnaire so you can learn a bit more about their gardening life. Click below to read Helen's responses—you'll be as surprised as I was to find out her least favorite plant is a longtime darling of container gardeners!

What is your favorite plant? That’s easy, it’s the oakleaf hydrangea (Hydrangea quercifolia). This native works well in sun or shade, and in most soil types, including clay. Conical, creamy white flowers fade to a dusty rose in summer and precede excellent fall foliage colors. Even though it’s a pretty plant, I actually grow it for its benefits to native bees and birds as food and cover sources.

What is your least favorite plant? It’s never a good idea to show your weakness, but since you asked so nicely, I’ll share. It’s Strobilanthes dyerianus, also know as Persian shield. Did I really say that out loud? To all those who love this plant, and there are many of you—it’s been popular since the Victorian times—my apologies. I have no good reason for not liking it. It’s purple and excessive, two of my favorite things; but, try as I might, I just cannot seem to warm to it.

What is your worst gardening experience? It’s hard to have a bad experience in the garden; as we all know, the worse day in the garden is still better than the best day in the office. But one does come to mind all too clearly. When I garden, I am rarely without gloves on. It’s been a long-held preference for me. But one day, walking to the car on my way to pick up the kids, and thus, not wearing gloves, I spied a giant weed. I couldn’t imagine how I missed that monster before. Without thinking, I reached down to pull the weed. Up came the weed along with 100s of fire ants! Yikes! The weed was growing on top of a fire ant hill.

What inspires you? Nature inspires me. As a wildlife gardener, I want to add more of what protects, feeds, and sustains wildlife. Watching how wildlife interacts in gardens tells me what they prefer. Large swaths of nectar-rich flowers; red, ripe berries, layers of dense cover from ground covers, vines, annuals, perennials to shrubs and trees. When building a garden for wildlife, the results are my inspiration.

Describe your dream garden. A habitat where my kids can play among the birds, the bees, and the butterflies, with no fear of reprimand if their ball lands in the flower beds. A place where a bee can find nectar on a winter’s day, where bluebirds nest in early spring, where frogs serenade us on a summer’s eve, and where hummingbirds fuel up in the fall for the long journey south. It’s a place I call Helen's Haven.

Thanks so much for blogging with us, Helen! Please check out Helen's blog for more inspiration and information, whether you are a Southern gardener yourself or just have the occasional bout of Southern garden envy.