November Blooms

Posted on November 15, 2020 by Tina

Here in Austin, Texas, zone 8b, my late season garden is more about foliage and seed heads than petals and pistils. That’s especially true this year as we’re in a moderate to severe drought–we could use some rain! Even so, I’m fortunate to enjoy a few things in their last (?) blooms of the year.

This Mexican honeysuckle, Justicia spicigera, flowers-up as it feels like it: in spring, summer, autumn, and winter, this is a plant with a mind of its own! As long as we don’t have a hard freeze, this hardy shrub is truly a perennial bloomer.

The flowers appear, bloom for a time, followed by a rest period, and the cycle repeats. When bloom time is nigh–regardless of season–I eagerly await the cheerful orange blooms nestled in lush foliage. Especially now, with limited flowering plants, I’m glad that honeybees have these blooms available.

This particular Mexican honeysuckle bush is large and growing at one part of its base peeks out Purple heart, Tradescantia pallida. The tangled green, orange, and purple medley is nice.

In another spot of my garden, the Purple heart showcases charming three-petaled pink flowers. No bees here, but these dainties are popular with the bee and small butterfly crowd.

Rock rose, Pavonia lasiopetala, is past its blooming time, though three individual flowers remain in my garden, defying expectations,

…and providing for pollinators, like this Sleepy Orange, Abaeis nicippe, more hungry than sleepy, I think. It enjoyed a yummy nectar breakfast.

The small, year-old patch of Blue mistflower, Conoclinium coelestinum, growing at my garden’s edge has performed well this year. Without missing a beat in spread and bloom, it ignored heat from the Texas sun, aided by the human-made cement driveway and asphalt street which borders the plant. Blue mistflower is a tough and lovely groundcover.

This nymph Assasin bug, Zelus longipes, patiently waited for its meal. I imagine the hungry nymph moved in for the sip after I was out of the picture.

A consistently late-blooming perennial, Forsythia sage, Salvia madrensis, brings sunshine to a shady garden.

Each August, as the stalks of the lanky plant grow ever upwards, I promise myself that I’ll prune those tall things to half their size, ensuring that the blooms–when they come in late September–don’t weight down the stalks and branches. Some years I’m better about completing this chore, some years, I forget or succumb to August’s heat. Well, this year I didn’t prune by half, indolence as my main excuse, August’s heat as my backup excuse. Forsythia sage blooms beautifully, but the flower load is too much for floppy the stalks and they’re now lying near to the ground, draped dramatically on and over one another and other perennials. Nevertheless, the flowers are available for a nectar buffet, though photography is a bit trickier. Next year, I promise to keep this wayward thing in check.

Right. We’ll see about that!

There’s always something interesting in the garden and that’s something to cheer about. Today, we celebrate blooms with Carol at May Dreams Gardens. Pop on over and enjoy blooms from many lovely places.

July Blooms

Posted on July 15, 2020 by Tina

It’s hot. Really hot. It’s the kind of hot where all you want to do is pull up a hammock and nap in the shade, not unlike this Horsefly-like Carpenter bee, Xylocopa tabaniformis. I observed this sleepy-head as I worked in the garden, pruning a bit of spring’s overgrowth. The bee chose a pretty-in-pink spot for its rest, curled up in the pinky petal of an open Rock Rose, Pavonia lasiopetala, bloom.

I stopped by from time-to-time, taking a break from my hot work to check on the bee’s movement and there wasn’t any. Who can blame the bee for wanting a snooze in the heat? Here in Austin, zone 8b, record breaking heat–108°F on Monday–has rendered everyone somnambulant. Well, it is July in Texas and even the bees need their afternoon siestas. The flowers are still going strong, even if the rest of us need our rest.

This bee, another Horsefly-like carpenter bee, is as busy as can bee, working the heat-loving blooms of the Henry Duelberg sage, Salvia farinacia ‘Henry Duelberg’. Bee and blooms are a productive pair.

As August approaches, I’ll prune the ‘Henry Duelberg’ salvia to the ground and let it rest. When the early autumn rains arrive (fingers-crossed!) and the days shorten, the ‘Duelberg’ salvia will bloom up again, providing for pollinators throughout the fall months.

Grey Hairstreaks, Strymon melinus, enjoy nectar from many different blooms, but as with lots of other pollinators, the Purple Coneflower, Echinacea purpurea, is a fan favorite. The little charmer crawled around the center of the flower, taking in what it needs, while adding beauty to the garden.

As summer drags on (and on…), the coneflowers will fade and seed out, assuring plenty more new coneflowers and blooms for next season. Pollinators rub their wings together in satisfaction–and cheer!

A majestic Giant Swallowtail, Papilio cresphontes, regularly visits the stunning, intricate blooms on my Mexican Orchid tree, Bauhina mexicana. The ice-white flowers appear on and off throughout the growing season, to the delight of the big pollinators and the tiny ones too. Snowy blooms cover the small tree, visually cooling, if not in reality. I look forward to temperatures following in suit–in October.

Nothing says SUMMER like sunflowers.

Always cheery and comfy in the hottest of hot weather, these bright blooms are the perfect summer flower: easy to grow for the gardener with plenty to offer for wildlife. Pollinators love the nectar and birds enjoy the eventual seeds. It’s a wildlife garden win.

This Southern Carpenter bee, Xylocopa micans, nectar steals from my magenta gorgeous Big Red sage, Salvia penstemonoides. It’s fascinating to watch the shiny, brilliant black bee buzz from bloom to bloom, searching each for the sweet stuff. The bee dips its proboscis in some blooms, remains for a time–sipping. Other red receptacles are checked, then ignored, having already donated their goods to some passing pollinator.

Originally, this stand of four individual plants grew in my back garden, but as that area has become increasingly shady, I transplanted the sage to the front garden, where it thrives, enjoying blasting west sun. It’s a tough, Texas plant and a beautiful addition to my garden.

Celebrating mid-summer blooms, I’m linking with May Dreams Garden’s Garden Bloggers’ Bloom Day and also with Flutter and Hum and Wednesday Vignette because blooms are the protagonists of garden stories. Check out both lovely blogs for blooming stories.

Hot. Pink.

Posted on May 31, 2018 by Tina

Central Texas bounced through spring, skipping over late May and June, and landed, smack dab, in July. Or so it seems when venturing outdoors. It’s hot here, hotter than it should be in late spring, and hotter than this perspiring gardener prefers. Don’t get me wrong, I don’t mind the heat–in July, August, and I’ll even tolerate it for some of September. But as the temps creep ever closer, day-by-day, toward 100F / 38C (in the forecast for the next few days), this toasty trend heralds the coming of the The Long Hot of summer here in Austin.

The heat is a little early for my taste, but as the saying goes: Everybody talks about the weather, but nobody does anything about it.

These Rock rose, Pavonia lasiopetala, are also hot, hot, hot, but in the pink sort of way. I’m certainly not complaining about them.

The sunflowers nod their approval of Rock rose.

Most of my Rock rose began blooming toward the end of April and are still pinking-up the garden. I’ll prune them in the next few weeks as they bloom best on new wood. They’ll continue to flower in our hot weather and with minimal water, but the flowers will close in mid-afternoon to conserve moisture.

We all hunker down in the heat.

Rock rose mix nicely with other early summer bloomers, like Big red sage, Salvia penstemonoides, and Yarrow, Achillea millefolium.

I transplanted the Big red sage in the fall from my increasingly shady back garden. They’re much happier here. The Yarrow is also blooming better now that the front garden receives more sun.

This little guy looks like he’s waiting for me to leave, so that he can enjoy his breakfast of petals or leaves.