Bloom Day, August 2014

Posted on August 15, 2014 by Tina

Celebrating August blooms, I’m thanking Carol at May Dreams Gardens for hosting this fun flower meme. With sporadic rains and relatively mild temperatures this summer, there are fewer burnt-toast blossoms in Austin’s August.

My Mexican Orchid Tree, Bauhinia mexicana, has bloomed on and off all summer.

Elegant, snowy blossoms cool a shady spot on hot Texas afternoons. These flowers are a favorite of Black Swallowtail Butterflies.

In stark contrast with the white Mexican Orchid, but also favored by butterflies, is the Pride of Barbados, Caesalpinia pulcherrima. Tropical-hot orange and yellow,

… these drama queens thrive in the heat.

Royal Sage, Salvia guaranitica, blooms stunningly in early and mid-spring, but not as commonly though summer.

This year though, a smattering of midnight blue gorgeousness has graced the two royal specimens in my gardens.

With multiple flowers opening everyday, the Lemon Rose Mallow, Hibiscus calyphyllus dances through August.

Flouncing her petals open in the mornings, sashaying during afternoon breezes and bowing to heat at the end of the day, this mallow is a consummate performer.

The blooms of Coral Vine, Antigonon leptopus, form on lacy loops along climbing tendrils.

I’ll replace its trellis next winter when this tropical, but hardy-for-the-Austin area herbaceous perennial freezes to the ground.

The trellis is a bit wonky, even for me. The honeybees and I eagerly await the apex of Coral Vine’s blossoming period–soon, very soon!!

A close-up of a coral Autumn Sage, Salvia greggii, flower,

…it belongs to a woody shrub native to Texas which produces a variety of colors. I like this soft coral pink–it’s the best blooming salvia in my gardens this year.

The bright red Martha Gonzales Rose, Rosa ‘Martha Gonzales’, flowers throughout summer.

I wish mine received a little more sun–it would bloom even more. This is a terrifically tough antique rose for Central Texas.

The Mexican Honeysuckle, Justicia spicigera, returned full-force after our hard winter.

It’s orange clusters await early fall visits by butterflies and the occasional hummingbird.

The shrub is covered in tubular goodness now and that’s likely to continue into the fall months.

This pairing of pink and blue is too sweet!

The creeping groundcover, Leadwort Plumbago, Ceratostigma plumbaginoides, produces sky blue florets,

…which beautifully complement the small periscope blooms atop the stems of Pink Skullcap, Scutellaria suffrutescens.

And still screaming: Summer! Summer! Summer!–is the sunflower de jour.

Or rather, sunflower de l’ete.

While new flowers open daily,

…those spent blossoms that have gone to seed are providing yummy munchies for the local finches.

Happy finch!

Visit May Dreams Gardens for more blooming beauties this Bloggers’ Bloom Day.

Garden Bloggers’ Bloom Day, June 2014

Posted on June 15, 2014 by Tina

It’s June and that means warm and sticky, but full of blooms here in sunny Austin, Texas. Thanks to Carol at May Dreams Gardens for hosting the June jubilation for blooms in the garden.

The pretty, small flowers of the ground cover Leadwort Plumbago, Ceratostigma plumbaginoides, lend a sprinkling of blue in my gardens.

I planted four-inch pots of these several years ago and they’ve been slow to develop and spread. I think this will be their year.

I’ve grown another ground cover, Pink Skullcap, Scutellaria suffrutescens, for several years as well.

A hardy, evergreen perennial, it’s unknown whether this plant is a native to Texas. It’s a great perennial in my gardens though as it sports its bright fuchsia blooms throughout our long, hot summers.

The native shrub Autumn Sage, Salvia greggii, is a staple in my gardens.

There are a variety of bloom colors for this perennial shrub, but the red is a favorite of mine–and of the hummingbirds as well.

The spring and early summer blooms of Zexmenia, Wedelia texana and Purple Coneflower, Echinacea purpurea, continue showing off–both have a long bloom cycles.

Another beautiful red-flowering perennial is the Rock Penstemon, Penstemon baccharifolius.

There are several types of penstemons in my gardens, but the Rock is the only summer flowering penstemon that I grow.

The Mexican Honeysuckle, Justicia spicigera, died completely to the ground this past winter, but is resilient in foliage growth and blooms.

Finally, there’s nothing that shouts “summer!” like the common sunflower.

I don’t know which one this is and I don’t care. It grows from the sunflower seeds that I feed the birds throughout the growing season. As I’m weeding up the seemingly millions of spring seedlings in my pathways, I curse myself for setting out the sunflower seeds,

but I’m always glad that I allow a few seedlings to mature. Pollinators like the flowers and finches like the seeds.

Happy June Blooms! Pop over to May Dreams Gardens to see what gardeners around the world have blooming in their gardens.

Game On, Spring

Posted on February 25, 2014 by Tina

As February races toward its conclusion, this Austin garden is ready for spring. I started pruning in late December, after the first of the freezes lay waste to the herbaceous perennials in my gardens. I’ve been pruning since. Seven garbage cans full of garden detritus every week, for almost two months.

Plants like Turk’s Cap (Malavaviscus arboreus var. drummondii) are whacked.

The luscious, sunny-blooming Goldeneye (Viguiera dentata)? Nary but sticks protruding from the ground.

The Martha Gonzales Roses are reduced to a fifth of their full size.

Some Variegated Flax Lily (Dianella tasmanica),

fared better than others in my gardens.

All I pruned from the Flax Lily were the freeze damaged straps. It’s the one plant (I have four groups of them) that I dutifully covered with each freeze forecast into the 20s.

And the Autumn Sage (Salvia greggii) and other evergreen native shrubby plants are pruned into tidy balls,

or spindly bits of green perched on woody stems, waiting for the just right light and breath of warm spring air to burst into new growth.

I still have more to prune, but I’m almost finished for the year.

I didn’t lose any established plants this winter and that gratifies me and validates my garden choices. I choose natives or hardy non-natives, with the occasional splurge for the newest, cheap thrill plant that everyone (okay, just gardeners) is talking about.

I always think of the winter landscape as barren, but it isn’t, even in this winter which was colder than any of the past 19 years. With most of the flowering perennials in my front garden temporarily gone, I’m reminded how nice my ignored-most-of-the-year evergreens are during their winter concert on this sunny February day.

And in my back garden, I like the clearly defined garden and pathways. The iris and yucca straps dominate,

while the Heartleaf Skullcap (Scutellaria ovata ssp. bracteata) insinuates its soft green carpet anywhere allowed.

I have a clean pond, which will make pond maintenance easier for the rest of the year and appeals to my aesthetic sense. I don’t think the fish care whether I clean the pond or not.