Wildflower Wednesday, May 2014

Posted on May 28, 2014 by Tina

Here in Austin, Texas, May is quite pleasant and we’ve enjoyed some rain. Yipppy! Even better, our lakes have received some of that rain. Double yippy! We’re still in drought and the lakes are low, but at least we’ve had some relief. Central Texas wildflowers continue their seasonal segue into summer bloom. Thanks to Gail at clay and limestone for hosting Wildflower Wednesday to encourage and celebrate gardeners utilizing regional wildflowers in their home gardens.

My Yarrow, Achilliea millefolium, is especially beautiful this year.

Yarrow is an excellent perennial for Central Texas. It sports pretty white flowers which will fade to an attractive tawny brown as summer progresses.

Pigeonberry, Rivina humilis, is a small, delicate looking ground cover with sweet flower spikes at the top of the stems.

Luscious red berries will develop after the blooms fade and those berries are favorites with many birds, including their namesake pigeons.

The combination of pink Hill Country Penstemon, Penstemon triflorus, sunny Engelmann’s (or Cutleaf) Daisy, Engelmannia peristenia, and deep blue ‘Henry Duelburg’ Sage, Salvia farinacea, continues its happy riot of color this spring.

Heartleaf Skullcap, Scutellaria ovata ssp. bracteata,

is a gorgeous, cool season ground cover. It spreads prolifically, but is easily controlled by pulling up individual plants as needed. With beautiful blue blooms and soft, grey-green leaves,

it fills in the late spring/early summer garden. By mid-to-late July, Heartleaf Skullcap will be dormant, reappearing with cooler fall temperatures.

And always in my gardens: Purple Coneflower, Echinacea purpurea.

I don’t think a garden is complete without some variety of this endemic American perennial.

Planted with Engelmann’s Daisy,

or Heartleaf Skullcap,

or Zexmenia, it is a perfect companion plant in full-to-part sun conditions.

It’s a favorite flower for pollinators.

Purple Coneflower is the bomb.

The xeric Zexmenia, Wedelia texana, begins its long bloom cycle in May.

It’s another wildflower that pollinators prefer.

Even without a dinner companion, Zexmenia are lovely and tough perennials.

Planting native plants and wildflowers is the easiest and a beautiful way to a fabulous, regionally appropriate perennial garden. Rip out your grass, plant native wildflowers and perennials and celebrate your sense of place in our world.

Happy Wildflower Wednesday!

Foliage Follow-up, May 2014

Posted on May 16, 2014 by Tina

We’ve received a little rain here in Austin, Texas and so continue our verdant spring before the summer heat fries everything in the garden. I particularly like this lush threesome of the glossy, dark green-leafed Star Jasmine vine, Trachelospermum jasminoides, fronted by the soft, graceful Inland Sea Oats, Chasmanthium latifolium, further fronted by an arching American Beautyberry, Callicarpa americana.

I’ll remove the Inland Sea Oats next year to give the Beautyberry room to grow. For now, I like the array of foliage these three plants provide in this shady spot.

Sedum, Sedum potosinum, is delightful in the garden; its delicate, fleshy foliage hugs the ground and rocks as it spreads. It is attractive before it blooms,

and during bloom time.

All of the Fennel plants in my gardens are still gorgeous this May.

I’ve seen a few butterfly caterpillars chomp, chomp, chomping, but apparently not enough to eat the Fennel to the ground.

This Pale-leaf Yucca, Yucca pallida,

echoes the yellow of its home with stripes along the edges of its leaves.

I fell in love with the Corkscrew Rush, Juncus effusus, when I visited another garden.

It requires more watering than I typically tolerate from my plants (twice/week during our summers), but I don’t consider that onerous and this sedge plant is a fun addition to my gardens.

I enjoy the play of late afternoon light on this Soft-leaf Yucca, Yucca recurvifolia.

I have several of these non-native yuccas in my gardens and appreciate their tolerance of my somewhat heavy soil.

The pairing of the bright green, tropical foliage of the not-yet-in-bloom Turk’ s Cap, Malvaviscus arboreus, with the gray-green, fuzzy Heartleaf Skullcap, Scutellaria ovata ssp. bracteata, was a gardening serendipity that I’ve encouraged.

Finally, there’s little but foliage going on here–and such a nice variety of shape and form, if not color.

At the far left is the soft, silvery Mexican Feathergrass, Nassella tenuisima, with spiky Iris flanking its right. A tiny-leafed, ground-hugging Thyme completes the trio. Two plants from the Malvaceae family, Lemon Rose Mallow, Hibiscus calyphyllus, and Turk’s Cap fill the center/right section of the photo. The foliage of those two are similar–wide and heart-shaped. To the right and front of the photo, Fall Aster, Symphyotrichum oblongifolium and Texas Craglily, Echeandia texensis, both sport foliage which contrasts with the tropical looking Malvaceae plants: the Craglily’s slender grass-like lily leaves and the perennial aster’s narrow leaves.

Actually, if you look closely, you can see some blooms–at the top-center of the plant group is a cluster of Heartleaf Skullcap–its blue/purple flowers and fuzzy, gray-green foliage in total contradiction to everything else.

Thanks to Pam at Digging for hosting the May salute to foliage.

Garden Bloggers’ Bloom Day, May 2014

Posted on May 15, 2014 by Tina

As we roll into our long warm season here in sunny Austin, Texas, perennials segue from the early cool season blooms to heat-loving (or at least heat-tolerant) late spring/summer blooms. Several different native yucca plants grace my gardens this May, such as a Pale-leaf Yucca, Yucca pallida.

Another native yucca, Red Yucca, Hesperaloe parviflora,

will bloom continually until fall. The flowers are delicate looking and favored by hummingbirds.

Another native yucca, Twistleaf Yucca, Yucca rupicola, shot up a bloom stalk this spring.

Heat-loving Zexmenia, Wedelia texana, begins its long bloom cycle in May. This hardy perennial blooms prolifically throughout our hot summer and into the cooler October.

A favorite spring and summer bloom for butterflies, bees and people is the Purple Coneflower, Echinacea purpurea.

Here it resides across from patch of cheery Zexmenia.

The Heartleaf Skullcap, Scutellaria ovata ssp. bracteata, is a beautiful, spreading ground cover which develops stunning blue/lavender flowers, blooming April through June.