The warmth of October leaked into November, but finally, FINALLY, Central Texas feels like autumn.  From ground-cracking dry to frog-drowning rain, we’ve seen it all this past month or so.  Blooming continues though and will until our first hard freeze, which will be…whenever it will be.   Today I join with Carol at May Dreams Gardens in honor of blooms in gardens–let’s take a quick and colorful tour, shall we?

Opening with the autumn white of the  White Mistflower,  Ageratina havanensis,

…which is on the downside of its flowering cycle, though still providing for pollinators and with puffs of soft breeze, blanketing the back garden in sweet fragrance.

Flame Acanthas shrub, Anisacanthus quadrifidus var. wrightii, sport tubular scarlet blooms and remain perky and present for whomever happens by–insect or gardener.

Texas Craglily, Echeandia texensis,  is a native lily dressed in autumn-glow yellow.

The Salvia species in my gardens really strut their flowering stuff during the fall months, those  like this Autumn Sage, Salvia greggii.

Also, the red Tropical Sage,

…and its kissin’ cousin-hybrid, the white Tropical Sage,

…both of which are Salvia coccinea. 

The West Texas native, Shrubby Blue Sage, Salvia ballotiflora, was a  spontaneous purchase when I saw it covered in honeybees at a local nursery about a year ago.

This beauty is finally attracting my honeybees to its sky-blue blooms.

There are always some Purple Coneflowers, Echinacea purpurea, which perform in fall, though with shorter stature and duration than during the spring show. This year there are fewer than usual, owing to our very dry September and early October.

But what is blooming is autumn eye candy.

The above are some of the native Texas bloomers active at the moment, but there are also some lovely and hardy non-native fantastic florals, too.  This Forsythia Sage, Salvia madrensis,  is new to my gardens this year.

A gardening buddy gifted to me two sprigs with healthy roots last spring. I planted them and then mostly ignored them, but they’ve rewarded my gardening irresponsibility by coming into their blooming glory in recent weeks.  A native to the Sierra Madre Oriental mountains of Mexico, this is a fabulous, shade-tolerant herbaceous perennial here in Austin.  I look forward to more of the same.

The never-stopped-blooming-even-for-a-short-time, Firecracker Fern, Russelia equisetiformis, decorates my autumn garden.

And it decorated my spring and summer gardens too.  Don’t you just love ridiculously long-blooming plants??

A big November surprise is the most recent and probably last set of blooms appearing on my Mexican Orchid Tree, Bauhina mexicana.  

It’s a beautiful little tree, even without its creamy floral gifts which appear on and off during our long growing season.  I’m amazed and tickled to enjoy one more round of the gorgeous orchid flowers for  this year.

Thanks to May Dreams Gardens for hosting; please pop over to view blooms from all over the world.  Better yet, share your blooms in celebration of November Garden Bloggers’ Bloom Day.