Foliage Follow-up, August 2014

Posted on August 16, 2014 by Tina

Thanks to Pam at Digging for hosting Foliage Follow-up, the monthly fanfare of foliage in the garden. As much as I love flowers, a plant’s foliage is often a deal-breaker when choosing for my gardens. Especially in August when Austin blooms are a little scarce, the plant parts that are not flowers can lend beauty and definition to a garden space.

While not exactly foliage, seed heads certainly aren’t blooms either. Ex-flowers, I guess, but I’m including them because in mid-to-late summer, seed pods produced by former blooms impart interest to perennial gardens. This group of seed heads of the Gulf Penstemon, Penstemon tenuis, are just about to POP open and spread their glory!

The Gulf Penstemon is a lovely lavender spring-blooming perennial. I keep the seed heads as long as possible to give the seeds time to develop for propagation of new specimens for this short-lived perennial and also because I find them attractive.

Little, tawny turban-hats, the hard shell will burst open, spreading the seeds to nearby areas. Or, the gardener (that’s me, folks) can prune the stems, crack open those turbans, shake out the seeds and in doing so, appear to evoke some pagan ritual while waving the stalks over the gardens. I wonder what the neighbors think?

The Hill Country Penstemon, Penstemon triflorus, sports a larger, darker turban-capped seed head.

This year marks the latest I’ve ever left these seed pods on their bloom spikes. Usually, this plant topples over by early summer, I lose patience with the mess and cut it to the ground.

This seed pod of the Retama, Parkinsonia aculeata, hangs from the tree’s slender branch like a pea ready for pickin’.

Retama is a member of the pea family (Fabaceae), so the pea analogy works.

This combination of varying foliage pleases me: Mexican Feathergrass, Nassella tenuissima, Globe Mallow, Sphaeralcea ambigua, and Goldeneye, Viguiera dentata.

This trio includes some of the premier hardy perennials easily available for the Austin gardener.

If you have, have had or have ever seen a teenage boy of that certain age when the hair is long and a bit shaggy, close your eyes and visualize that in this Damianita, Chrysactinia mexicana.

I love the swoosh of the “bangs” framed over the decorative stone. Just imagine the teenage boy-head, constantly swooping his hair back to keep those bangs out of the eyes, in that annoyingly cute, but insolent way.

The wide, heart-shaped and deeply veined foliage of Coral Vine, Antigonon leptopus,

suggests a tropical lushness that is welcome this time of year.

I’m enamored with strappy, striped foliage, like that of this Dianella or Variegated Flax Lily, Dianella tasmanica ‘Variegata’,

…and this Color Guard Yucca, Yucca filamentosa, ‘Color Guard’.

Those banded beauties work nicely in concert with each other and with another pairing I like, the native Columbine, Aquilegia chrysantha var. hinckleyana, mixed with the cultivar Katie’s Dwarf Ruellia, Ruellia brittoniana, ‘Katie’s Dwarf’.

The evergreen Columbine, with its soft form and graceful foliage, blooms yellow in spring. Conversely, the deciduous Katie’s Dwarf Ruellia has dark, lance-like leaves and sports sprays of deep purple from July through October. Opposites attract and work well together–at least that’s true of these two plants.

Head over to Digging to check out other accolades to the leafy among us.

Bloom Day, July 2014

Posted on July 15, 2014 by Tina

The sun is blazing, everyday, all day. It’s hot and it’ll be that way for a while. This gardener may be wilting, but her blooms are fresh and lovely. Here is a quick view of a few heat-lovers in my garden this mid-summer in Austin, Texas. Thanks to Carol at May Dreams Gardens for promoting this monthly bloom-palooza.

These daylilies that were pass-alongs to me many years ago are reliable June-July bloomers.

Double-blooms with a shorter scape than some other daylilies, I like them because they flower well in part shade.

My pond plants flower well year-round, but are in full bloom-mode during the hot months of summer. The native Pickerel Rush, Pontederia cordata, grows quickly and produces lovely spikes of blue.

It’s a flower that dragonflies, butterflies and bees regularly visit.

The Colorado pond lily, Waterlily Nymphaea ‘Colorado’ is a gorgeous lily for the pond garden.

As is another pond lily, the ‘Claude Ikins’ lily. It blooms in tandem with the ‘Colorado’ during the long growing season.

This particular specimen of Yellow Bells, Tecoma stans, blossoms earlier in the growing season than any other of this species in my gardens.

All of the Yellow Bells froze this past winter, so blossoms started a bit late this year.

A beautiful native tree, Retama, Parkinsonia aculeata, flowers throughout summer.

Each bloom has four yellow petals, with one orange/red petal. This is a very drought-tolerant small tree with few requirements from the gardener–except to enjoy.

Another great small native tree is the Desert Willow, Chilopsis linearis. Related to the Retama, it has an open, airy form with lush, trumpet-shaped flowers.

The Pride of Barbados or Dwarf Poinciana (which is what I grew up calling it), Caesalpinia pulcherrima, blooms magnificently in the hottest spots of any garden.

I have two of these beauties, neither of which grows in full sun. Each one produces 2 or 3 stalks with attendant flower clusters,

but the show is muted in comparison to Poinciana which grow in blasting sun. Those Poinciana develop multiple branches with masses of blossoms–like this one.

Wow!! That is an absolute showstopper! My bit-part Poinciana are nothing compared to this diva. This one (and a partner Poinciana) star in the full-sun garden of some lovely neighbors who live down the street.

Sniff.

I have Poinciana envy.

My Globe Mallow, Spaeralcea ambigua, sports blossoms this summer, which is unusual, but what a treat!

Typically, this woody shrub blooms in spring and fall, taking a rest during the heat of the summer months. Flowers this July are likely due to our earlier summer rains.

What’s blooming in your July garden? Share your bloom-palooza by visiting May Dreams Gardens for Bloggers’ Bloom Day!

Foliage Follow-up, June 2014

Posted on June 16, 2014 by Tina

As The Warm settles in for the duration here in Austin, Texas, interesting and lush foliage positions well alongside flowers in our early summer gardens.

Yes, summer in Texas is hot. But here in Texas reside tough, tough plants that shrug off the heat and the dry and are magnificent to behold. One such is the Retama, Parkinsonia aculeata. Retama is a small, airy tree which grows along highways receiving no care and yet is stunning: in form, bloom and foliage.

The leaves are tiny, delicate and bright green. They form on a long leaf stalk and are paired opposite one another.

The Retama is a Texas beauty. I’m glad it graces my garden.

The pairing of a not-in-bloom Goldeneye, Viguiera dentata and Turk’s Cap, Malvaviscus arboreus, provides lots of lushness.

The Mexican Orchid Tree, Bauhinia mexicana, returned after our cold winter. It hasn’t bloomed yet, but the leaves on this little tree have always reminded me of ungulate hooves.

Really, how often does one have an excuse to use that word?? Ungulate

The American Agave, Agave americana, in the container provides a striking contrast with the Cast Iron Plant, Aspidistra elatior.

If you look closely at the photo, top right, you can see The Husband’s bicycle, wheel a whirl, as he pedals to work. That’s a brave man in Austin’s traffic.

The unfurling of new Agave growth.

Beautiful.

The Mexican Feathergrass, Nassella tenuissima, is lovely with the Yarrow, Achillea millefolium, in the background.

Both plants have delicate-looking foliage, but are hardy choices for our challenging soil and climate.

Another look at the Yarrow, a summertime favorite of mine.

I love this shot of the Sparkler Sedge, Carex phyllocephala ‘Sparkler’, behind (and above!) the Uruguayan Firecracker Plant, Dicliptera suberecta.

The spiky, variegated ‘Sparkler’ looms over the soft, gray-green Firecracker Plant–they are opposite in the foliage spectrum, but a nice combination. The Firecracker doesn’t bloom often, though it’s pretty when it happens. I chose this plant primarily for its lovely foliage. The ‘Sparkler’ is relatively new for me and so far, I love it. It was evergreen during the winter and seems like a winner for summer as well.

Thanks to Pam at Digging for hosting this festival of June foliage!

My Gardener Says…

Yeah, it's work, but it's less work than grass and far more interesting.

Category Archives: Retama

Foliage Follow-up, August 2014

Bloom Day, July 2014

Foliage Follow-up, June 2014