Bloom Day, June 2015

Posted on June 15, 2015 by Tina

Thanking Carol at May Dreams Gardens for the opportunity to share blooms, I’m joining in with a few of my own June picks and pics! May was a wet month in my garden–17 inches wet–and many of my plants have enjoyed foliage growth, but are lagging behind in flower production.

Additionally, this week of June 15–21 is Pollinator Week, which is promoted by Pollinator Partnership, a nonprofit educational organization dedicated to the advocation and protection of pollinators. Pollinators of all sorts–bees, butterflies, moths, bats and birds–are required for much of our food production and are vital to a healthy ecosystem. Of course home gardeners know this and those of us who honor blooms are keenly aware of the synchronicity of those blooms and their pollinators.

This Horsefly-like Carpenter Bee, Xylocopa tabaniformis, is a common visitor to my gardens.

Here, she contentedly works the bloom of a Engelmann or Cutleaf Daisy, Engelmannia peristenia. Most of the blooms in my gardens attract something in the pollinator category–whether I get it in photo form, or not.

Heartleaf Skullcap, Scutellaria ovata, a great friend to the above bee species, maintains its grey-blue garden invasion, though it’s past its blooming peak for this year.

It combines well with other blooming perennials, including Turk’s Cap, Malvaviscus arboreus var. drummondii.

Turk’s Cap has grown tall and the foliage is lush. The flowers are finally appearing in great numbers–tardy for this long-flowering native shrub.

I’m so glad it’s blooming and I’m sure the hummingbirds are too.

Coral Honeysuckle, Lonicera sempervirens, are gracing the garden with a second flush of tubular beauty on this hardy vine.

With lots of rose action for this June Bloom Day, the Knock-Out rose delivers its usual stellar standards of bloom quality.

Subtler blooms open on the old Jackson and Perkins pretty-in-pink, Simplicity rose.

There are two Simplicity shrubs remaining from the seven planted before I moved into this house in 1985. Tough and beautiful roses, I thank the former owners for their choice. While I’ve never observed native bees at either of these two rose plants, honeybees, butterflies, and moths are frequent visitors.

Continuing the pink parade are the blooms of the Red Yucca, Hesperaloe parviflora, flower stalks, which are not red at all,

… and Rock Rose, Pavonia lasiopetala,

… and Winecup, Callirhoe involucrata,

…and Four O’Clocks, Mirabilis jalapa,

…and the pink-to-my eyes, Purple Coneflower, Echinacea purpurea.

Coneflowers are convivial and play nicely with everyone in the garden. They are constantly friended by a variety of butterflies, like this skipper.

…and make good garden buddies to many other plants, like lavender.

I wish I could remember the name of the lavender variety. It’s a wise gardener who keeps plant labels. Alas, I’m not always a wise gardener and sometimes lose my labels to the jumble of my supply and equipment shelves–or to the compost pile. The lavender variety that grows in my garden accepts the twists-n-turns of Central Texas’ extremes of drought-n-flood.

Shaking up the pink and adding some orange crush to the garden is the unknown passalong variety of daylily blooms that are now unfurling their glory each morning.

Welcome to summer!

What gorgeous flowers do you have in the garden this June? Please share and then pop over to May Dreams Gardens for a look at blooms from around the world. And if you don’t have flowers that attract a variety of pollinators, check out your local nursery and purchase some plants or seeds–herbicide and pesticide free–to give pollinators a place to thrive.

Texas Native Plant Week–Rock Rose, Pavonia lasiopetala

Posted on October 20, 2014 by Tina

In keeping with my native plants manifesto which you can read about here, I’m celebrating Texas Native Plant Week by profiling some of the native plants in my own gardens. The information reflects what I’ve learned from the transformation of my traditional maintenance-heavy “yard” to a no-lawn, water-wise garden, featuring beautiful Texas native plants– which were the drivers and are the stars of that metamorphosis.

I grow lots of Rock Rose, Pavonia lasiopetala, in my gardens.

I say “grow”–Rock Rose grows itself and mostly, I let it.This small “evergreen” perennial blooms late spring, throughout summer, and into fall and is a Texas tough plant. Rock Rose flourishes in a variety of light situations, from shade, to dappled shade,

to full sun, though it blossoms more in full sun.

The pretty-in-pink flowers open early in the mornings and close for business by 3 or 4pm during the heat of summer. The closing of those blooms is the plant’s response to heat and is a natural conservation measure.

As cooler autumn months arrive, the blossoms will stay open until sundown.

Rock Rose will seed out–really seed out, so if you don’t like that, it may not be the plant for you. I simply yank up the seedlings I don’t want and give them away, compost them, or transplant them.

Rock Rose is one of those plants that I pop in difficult situations where I’m having problems figuring out what would work; it’s a staple plant in my gardens–good in so many situations.

Rock Rose flowers on new wood, so after bloom cycles (which start in May) you can “deadhead” or prune the stems (6-8 inches) and the plant will flush out with new growth to start the next bloom cycle. If you object to pruning, you can let Rock Rose continue to grow and it will bloom, but slightly less because it’s placing its energy toward seed production. If left unpruned, the branches arch over, heavy with seeds and blooms. Rock Rose is evergreen, though not a lush evergreen–green leaves remain on the shrub during winter; the plant is more woody than green.

When I prune my Rock Rose plants, I tidy and shape them a bit,

…but Rock Rose is loveliest in its casual form, meaning that this is a perennial you don’t want to shape too much–let Rock Rose, be Rock Rose.

Rock Rose attracts bees, butterflies, and hummingbirds but isn’t a specific host plant to any particular critter. It is moderately deer resistant and very drought resistant. Native to Central to South Texas, I wouldn’t guarantee winter hardiness in the northern parts of Texas. It probably acts as an annual.

Don’t worry if it croaks during the winter though, I’m sure it will seed out.

Bloom Day, October 2014

Posted on October 15, 2014 by Tina

Summer has been reluctant to release its toasty grip on us in Texas, but the cool of autumn has mostly arrived. We’ve enjoyed a couple of refreshing cold fronts, dropping our temperatures into the ’50’s, with highs in the 70’s and ’80’s. The lingering warmth of September and early October didn’t damper blooms in my gardens, though. Joining Carol at May Dreams Gardens, I’m celebrating blooming stuff on this 15th of October.

There is no shortage of blooming native Texas plants in my gardens. Let’s take a tour, shall we?

Barbados Cherry, Malpighia glabra, has blossomed its dainty, pink clusters for a month or so now.

Soon, cherry red fruits will replace blooms, feeding a whole different crop of critters. Barbados Cherry is lovely in tandem with Turk’s Cap, Malvaviscus arboreus.

A cultivar of the native red Turk’s Cap, the Pam’s Pink Turk’s Cap, Malvaviscus ‘Pam Puryear’, blooms as heartily as the red,

…but with softer pink swirls perched atop the long branches. In my gardens, the Pam’s Pink is planted with Frostweed, Verbesina virginica,

….and it’s a successful pairing. Frostweed is an excellent wildlife plant. Attracting butterflies, like this migrating Monarch,

…and bees,

…and this guy, a Tachinid fly,

…who you can see again on Wildlife Wednesday, a fun little wildlife gardening meme I host. The next Wildlife Wednesday is November 5th. Frostweed a stalwart native perennial; it’s drought hardy and works well in either shade or sun.

The Goldeneye, Viguiera dentata, is photogenic in the fall garden.

Another perennial which attracts its share of pollinators,

…these pretty yellow flowers evoke glorious autumn sunshine.

They work and play well with other natives in my gardens,

…like the Rock Rose, Pavonia lasiopetala and Barbados Cherry. And who doesn’t love the tried and true combination of yellow and blue?

This Goldeneye’s companion is the non-native Blue Anise Sage, Salvia guaranitica.

The roses in my gardens are awake again after the heat of summer. I grow only water–wise antique or cultivar roses in my gardens. If a rose can’t shrug off the heat and dry of the Texas summer, it’s out! The Martha Gonzales Rose is one such beast.

Named after a Navasota, Texas gardener, Martha Gonzales,

…this rose is beautiful, fragrant, and tough. Martha grows in USDA zones 7a to 10b so it it’s appropriate in a wide range of situations. If you only grow one rose, make it the Martha!

The Belinda’s Dream Rose, which is appropriate for USDA zones 5a to 10b,

is the quintessential elegant pink rose. Fragrant and downright luscious, Belinda isn’t quite as hardy as the Martha, but still performs well for me. Belinda gets a little peeky in summer, but picks up again with rain and softer temperatures. Caldwell Pink Rose,

looks dainty, but it’s no wilting beauty. This poor thing, I’ve moved it four times–I think I’ve finally found its forever home.

A migrating Monarch finds this Old Gay Hill Rose delightful,

…and so do I. Similar to the Martha Gonzales, the shrub is larger and the petals slightly (but only slightly) more pink than the Martha’s fire engine red petals.

I’m not a grow-only-native purest and host a number of non-native perennials in my gardens, like these Four O’Clocks, Mirabilis jalapa. Considered a staple of the Southern garden, these are new to my gardens and were gifted to me by a gardening friend, TexasDeb at austin agrodolce.

These lovely trumpets open late in the day, bloom all night, and close in the morning. Four O’clocks are fragrant and are such lovelies–I’m tickled to make room for them in my gardens.

Jewels of Opar, Talinum paniculatum, are another new-to-my-gardens perennial from TexasDeb. Jewels are also an old-fashioned flower of the Southern garden.

I love the teesny flowers, the “jewels” seeds, and chartreuse foliage. Both Four O’Clocks and Jewels of Opar are potentially invasive, so I’ll keep them in check–ripping out uninvited extras who crash my garden party!

It’s now that my Coral Vine, Antigonon leptopus, shines,

…or is that a sparkle? Whatever it is, the bees love this bloomer.

After each rain, the Almond Verbena, Aloysia virgata, flowers and its fragrance graces my garden. Shown here in partnership with Turk’s Cap blooms, the Almond Verbena is favored by honeybees.

My Almond Verbena is the anchor plant in a group of native shrubs and perennials.

It fits quite well, I think.

Quoting another garden blogging buddy, Debra of Under the Pecan Trees, we enjoy a “second spring” in Texas–a lush blooming autumn gift, after the heat, when all, including gardeners, perk up anew.

What’s blooming in your gardens this October Bloom Day? Check out May Dreams Gardens for blooms from everywhere.

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Tag Archives: Rock Rose

Bloom Day, June 2015

Texas Native Plant Week–Rock Rose, Pavonia lasiopetala

Bloom Day, October 2014