Red Hot

Posted on August 15, 2016 by Tina

It’s hot, hot, hot! That’s a common, though tiresome, refrain this time of year here in Austin, Texas as we’re all incessantly whining about summer’s heat.

Or maybe it’s just me who’s whining?

Handling the heat better than I are some heat-loving perennials, currently blooming, and instead of whining, they’re shining. The Firecracker plant, Russelia equisetiformis, scoffs at summer’s heat and humidity, putting on a red-hot bloom show–with no intermission–for months at a time. This one, which is situated in my shady front garden,

…softens a corner between a pathway and sitting area.

The red-orange tubular flowers attract tiny native metallic bees, though photos of such are hard to come by–the bees fly too fast and disappear into the floral tubes, rich in nectar and pollen.

You can catch a glimpse of purple-foliaged Purple heart augmenting the cheery red cascade of Firecrackers.

A different clump of Firecracker plant in my back garden adds to the tropical look around the pond.

Like the front garden Firecracker, this one has bloomed continuously since winter, because neither specimen froze to the ground due to the mild winter of 2015-16.

The pond Firecracker also enjoys a purple neighbor in the pond waterfall perennial called Ruby Red Runner.

Flame acanthus, Anisacanthus quadrifidus, a heat-loving native Texas shrub with petite, bright red-to-orange blooms, is in full bee and hummingbird attracting mode.

This single bloom plays peek-a-boo through the foliage of a companion Plains goldeneye, but you can see some of its flaming partners in the background.

Another garden buddy, Firebush, Hamelia patens, in keeping with the theme of red-hot beauties, is a real garden hot-shot.

Like the Firecracker plant, my Firebush never froze to the ground and has grown quite tall (almost 4 feet) because of this year’s non-winter. My parents planted one many years ago in their garden in Corpus Christi, Texas (along the Gulf of Mexico) which has a more tropical climate than Austin. It’s rarely been pruned and is–I kid you not–nearly two stories tall and easily 20 feet wide. My measly little shrub has a lot of growing to catch up with that!

The scarlet blooms with their yellow throat make this an attractive source for hummingbirds.

Another blazing beauty in bloom is a surprise Spider lily, Lycoris radiata.

Typically, these stunning bulbs push their flowers up and out, seemingly overnight, in late August or September. But this one decided to grace the garden a little early.

A flamboyant, red-hot late summer treat!

As this is posted, our triple-digit heat wave is broken. Rain is falling and is forecasted for the next few days. For Texans, rain in early August is a gift–and tremendously appreciated. Oh, it’ll toast up again, rest assured. But the long, dry Texas summer is being shown to the door and autumn’s second spring blooming cycle arrival is eagerly awaited.

I thank Carol at May Dreams Garden for hosting this monthly bloom bonanza known as Garden Bloggers’ Bloom Day. Join in, share your garden pretties, then click over to her lovely blog to see and learn about blooms from many places.

Change

Posted on August 10, 2016 by Tina

It may be 100° F in the shade with heat indexes pushing even higher, but autumn is definitely squeezing its way into the garden. Sunset is earlier–by a minute or so each day–and though many plants are hunkering down to get through the blisteringly hot next weeks, there are some plants changing into their fall wardrobe.

The American beautyberry, Callicarpa americana, is slipping from summer’s green, unripe berries to the autumn–and edible–metallic purple yummies.

If this gardener is lucky, the Mockingbirds and Blue jays have plenty of other berries to eat for now and will let me enjoy the visual beauty of the berries, if only for a short while.

Bird snacks notwithstanding, autumn is just around the corner.

Still Green

Posted on August 7, 2016 by Tina

Often by mid-August ( I realize it’s not “mid” yet, but, close enough), summer’s heat and dry is stressing my American Sycamore, Platanus occidentalis.

It’s a tough tree and hard to kill, but it likes a river bottom situation with plenty of regular moisture. In droughty times, the Sycamore will shed leaves as a survival mechanism, though mine has never gone completely nude. But Sycamores are also subject to some disease problems which can hamper growth and beauty.

The upper canopy of my Sycamore looks healthy to me–green and lush–though that might simply be a result of distance, rather than reality.

Two lower branches (which I plan to remove soon; then again, I’ve been saying that for a while) demonstrate foliage damaged by one of Sycamores’ various banes–anthracnose.

According to the Missouri Botanical Garden website, Anthracnose is caused by a fungus, Apiognomonia veneta, and is common in urban Sycamore trees. The brown spots show a tell-tale “V” shape and the fungus can eventually cause the whole leaf to brown and drop prematurely.

The article also mentions tiny black spots which are the “fruiting bodies” of the fungal spores and, sure enough, they’re visible on the undersides of some of the leaves.

My Sycamore shows some anthracnose damage almost every summer, but it’s usually worse in wet years, which 2016 certainly qualifies for. Spring saw deep, soaking rains and that set up a situation for fungi to flourish. Additionally, there have been some heavy rains this summer, no doubt continuing the stage for fungal spread.

What to do? Well, I probably won’t do anything. I’m certainly not going to spray with a fungicide, but as good garden sanitation practice, I should rake up the fallen leaves.

There aren’t many leaves dropped this summer,

… just enough that one or two hitch a ride on the the dog’s fluffy tail or for some to whoosh into the house when the back door is opened. My Sycamore stands in a work/storage area, and I tend to procrastinate in regular tidying of this area. Plus, as a wildlife gardener, I’m prone to leave limbs and leaves on the ground as cover for a variety of critters. I suppose a little compromise is in order: picking up potentially diseased foliage to protect the tree’s viability, while avoiding the sterility brought on by obsessive weeding, raking, and “cleaning” of garden areas.

During prolonged drought periods, I soak the soil around the tree once or twice a month, which prevents massive leaf drop, but with this year’s summer rains, that hasn’t been necessary.

I’ll keep a watch on the tree as August progresses into September, but unless I see significantly more damage, I won’t fret about this tree.

There seem to be plenty of other things to fret about!

Thanking Pat of The Squirrelbasket for graciously hosting this fun and interesting meme about trees. Check out her blog to learn about trees from all over the world.