A few weeks ago the weather finally made its exit from the long, hot (seemingly) interminable Texas summer to a most welcome and agreeable autumn. As part of that climate morph, rain chances increase and native plants give thanks, opening their hearts with blooms galore. None do this with more flowery pizazz than Cenizo, Leucophyllum frutescens, also called Texas Barometer Bush. The purple blooms grace gardens throughout Texas and natural landscapes in West and Southwest Texas.

Some years ago, having always wanted this glorious shrub in my garden, I planted a Cenizo in the one spot that, in my otherwise too shady space, I thought would work for this sun lover. The shrub has done well, providing lush evergreen foliage where birds take cover and hunt for insects, and showy purple blooms–when weather conditions are amenable–for pollinators’ delights.

These outer limbs are covered with clusters of pinky-purply, bell-shaped goodness and appear to reach for the cool, blue sky!

For most of a week, my honeybees were all in for the nectar and pollen of the flowers.

I watched this little gal hang on to the bloom for several minutes.

I’m guessing she was just starting her bee work, as there was no pollen packed in her corbiculae, or pollen baskets, or (as I like to call them) pollen pantaloons. I moved on with my day and I’m sure that day she filled her pantaloons.

My Cenizo is a cultivar and I don’t recall its name. The true native grows silver foliage, along with the signature purple flowers. This plant, true native and cultivar, is a hardy grower, needing little water and providing for wildlife. Of course I wanted it in my garden!