At the Green Garden in Zilker Botanical Gardens this past week, I was leading a group from Keep Austin Beautiful and as we were touring the gardens, I noticed a blooming Cedar Sage (Salvia roemeriana).

There are only one or two boom spikes on these Cedar Sage at Zilker, but in spring, this plant is full of brilliant red blooms.

As with the Columbine of my last post, this plant is a spring/early summer bloomer.  Personally, I’ve only had Cedar Sage bloom from March into June–I’ve never seen it bloom this late in the growing season.  According to the NPIN:Plant Database page on Cedar Sage, the plant blooms during the spring and summer.

This is what my Cedar Sage looks like, accompanied by acorns and prematurely fallen oak leaves.  Not quite as exciting…

The Cedar Sage in the Zilker Gardens receives regular water and maybe that, coupled with the deluge of two weeks ago, spurred the bloom cycle.   My Cedar Sage only get water when I remember. Still, for there to be any blooms on Cedar Sage in October is not something I’ve seen before.

Pam from Digging and Jenny from Rock Rose commented after my Columbine post that they’ve seen other spring bloomers currently in bloom around Austin.

After the hot and dry summer of 2009 (not as bad as summer 2011), I observed an Anacacho Orchid Tree (Bauhinia lunarioides) loaded with gorgeous blooms. The page from the NPIN: Plant Database about Anacacho Orchids states that this plant blooms in spring and “sometimes after heavy summer/fall rains.”

Perhaps the extremity of our current weather patterns, (warm/dry springs, very hot/very dry summers and limited rain in the fall), cause more occurrences of the formerly “rare” blooming cycles of early season bloomers during the fall months.

In any case, it’s a treat to enjoy these lovely blooms again this year.