Bluebonnet massacre

I love the look for the Four Never Daisies nestled in among the bluebonnets!

After a warm winter ending with two very late, very cold days, my garden is a bit confused. I was getting ready for a beautiful early spring; there were blooms on the mountain laurel and my Jerusalem sage was putting up stalks, even the first wisps of Esperanza were sticking up... and then two days of freezing temperatures killed it all :o(

So, the garden is even further behind then last year, which was further behind then the previous year.

But the bluebonnets have shown up in force. The section of our front yard devoted to bluebonnets is gorgeous.

However, they have basically taken over my front garden bed. In order to keep my existing plants from being strangled, I wound up pulling up dozens of bluebonnets today. I put some in vases and jars inside, to enjoy the spring flower. But eventually I just wound up composting them.

The bright pink of my Apricot Globe Mallow is the only non-blue flower in the whole garden.

Here are a few photos of the beds - just starting to sprout out. 

You can see the sections of bed where I pulled out lots of bluebonnets.  It felt wrong and sad, but necessary.

The Brazilian Rock Rose and Regular Rock rose are both alive.  The three Shrubby Purple Skull cap (I think that is what they are), are alive, though very small. One of my new Mexican Mint marigold has some tiny leaves, giving me hope that the other two will be close behind. No sign of the Cigar Plant or Esperanza, and the Purple Fountain grass, which looked like it might be alive after such a warm winter, died in the last cold snap.

And one last photo of the bluebonnets

Spring cleaning and planting

Spring cleaning - I can wait to get it done, to get into my beds and clean out all the dead debris.  But I know I need to wait until the chance of freeze is over... but I know in Texas, that we can get freezes until the last week in February.  Ahhh, the spring time dilemma :o)

Butterflies abound!

I absolutely adore this time of year.  Everything seems to just burst into bloom.  Of them all, perhaps my favorite fall flower is the White Mistflower.  Most of the year, it looks like a pretty ugly bush.  In fact, I must admit, I sometimes just ignore it, watering everything around it.

Fall Rains

This has to be one of the most unusual Septembers in my memory.  It started raining on Labor Day, and has been raining pretty much ever since. And since I planted a bunch of new plants on Labor Day weekend, I have been feeling like a champ!!

This is probably the prettiest my side bed has looked, since I first planted it.  The Salvia gregii has burst into bloom, what with all of the rain, and the Henry Deulberg sage in the back is also in bloom.  It is in the hottest, driest part of the garden, and limps its way through August.  But it is really shining right now.

You can see the new Anthony Waterer Spirea I got from my freebie Lowe's sale is filling in.  The bottle brush, that died back to nothing after this cold winter, has a few stalks going.  No blooms this year, but I am happy it is alive.  

Heart Leaf Skullcap Revival

This past Spring, I went on a quest to find and grow some Heartleaf Skullcap.  it proved to be somewhat difficult to find, and even harder to grow (for me).

Birthday Plants

For my birthday this year, Dave gave me another gift card to the Natural Gardener.  He saw how much I enjoyed last year's, and thought I'd enjoy it again this year.  And he was right :o)  

Despite my birthday being in July, I couldn't really purchase anything immediately.  I knew I was leaving for a week to head up to see my mother, and new plants need to be watered every day.  So I waited until after I get back.  Which turned out to be a good thing, because Natural Gardener is having a 25% off all plants sale.  Woot!

August really isn't a good time to be planting in Austin, but I figure since I will be home, I can water the plants in every day for the next few weeks, and then when the fall weather comes in September, they will be ready to take off.

Because it is the summer off season, the selections at NG were slimmer than normal.  They had more variety in the two inch plans then in the larger size, so I wound up only getting a few of the larger plants, and lots of smaller ones.  

I also wanted a bunch of shorter plants to fill out the front of the bed, but wound up coming home with only two shorter varieties.  But - the sale goes on through next weekend, and I still have some dollars left on the card, so we'll see what I can pick up next weekend.

Here is what I got:

Desert Willow "Bubba", Chilopsis linearis "Bubba"
Size:  15' - 20' Full Sun. Deciduous shrubby tree with long narrow leaves and dark purple, white throated orchid-like flowers on and off spring thru fall.  Drought and deer resistant. Fine in any well drained soil.  Apprecitaes supplemental water in summer.

I went to a NG class a few weeks ago, and discovered the tree that I loved, and thought was either a Mimosa or Mesquite, was actually a Desert Willow.  Since then I have been wanting one.  This one had some blooms on it, so it already looks nice!

Originally, I was planning to place this in a back corner of the front yard, but after seeing the flowers, and how much I lvoe it, I decided to give it a more forward spot in the front yard - where I will be able to see it on a regular basis.  Truth is, one day, if this one grows well, I may purchase another to put in the spot I was originally thinking of.

Compact Pomegranate, Punica granatum "compactum"
Size: 6-7'  Exposure:  Sun to Part Shade
Compact deciduous shrub with frequent bright orange blooms followed by medium sized ornamental fruit.  Drought and heat resistant.  Very showy and adaptable to most soils as long as it is well-drained.

I have had the dwarf pomegranate in the back yard for many years, and have always loved its bright orange flower, and how incredibly durable it is.  I wanted to add one to the front bed.  

I pulled out the existing American Agave and put this in its place, hoping to add some color and foliage to the area in the garden.

Yarrow Red Cassis, Achillea millefolium
Ht: 2' Sun
Vigorous grower, salmon pink flowers.  Spreads by stolons

I am thinking about putting these where the sunflower annuals are currently growing.

Mexican Mint marigold, Mexican Tarragon

Ht: 2-3ft Full sun / Part Shade

I am thinking about putting this in the back side garden near the bird bath

Shrubby Purple Skullcap, Scutellaria wrightii

Height: 6-10 inches Full Sun

I am thinking about putting these in the south upper portion of my front garden, in front of the rock roses.

Mexican Oregano, Poliomintha Longiflora

Height: 2- 5ft, Spread:3-6 feet Evergreen, Full Sun to Part shade

Dallas Red Lantana

Ht: 3 - 4 ft Full Sun, Part Sun

Purple Moss Verbena  Glandularia pulchella (Verbena tenuisecta)

Ht: 12 - 36 inches, Hardy to 15 degrees  Growth:  fast
Exposure:  Full sun
Spreading perennial ground cover.  Lavender flowers spring through fall.  Extremely drought tolerant once established.  Attracts butterflies and bees. Native to S America but very well adapted throughout the Southwest.

I love the vibrant purple of these flowers.  They are one of the first to bloom for me in the spring.  They are tough as nails.  Perfect!

Henry Duelberg Sage 

I have been wanting to fill out the garden bed with the existing Sage, so I purchased two more, to fill in that area.

Skyflower Duranta

This has been such a powerhouse for me in the front bed (and on the back porch until the super cold winter killed it this year. During the summer, when all of the plants are looking limp and weak, this plant blooms and has fresh green leaves. I have wanted to add one more to the front bed.  

I think I am going to move the existing mealy blue sage - which is really too small for the spot it occupies, and put the skyflower duranta in its place

David Verity Cigar Plant

Ht: 2-3 ft, full sun I wouldn't have purchased these, but in their Butterfly Garden, NG had three of them that really shined, so I decided to pick one up for $2.50.  Why not try something new?

Mexican Bush Sage - purchased with Birthday money, though much later then all the others.  Driving around town towards the end of September, early October, I saw lots of Mexican Bush sage in bloom, and they looked so beautiful, I had to purchase two.  I didn't know quite where I was going to put them, but found two nice spots in my front garden.  I bought large one gallon sized plants, and I am so happy with how big they already are.  I need to start purchasing larger plants from now on - especially in the fall.  That way they can make it through the winter... of course, when if they die, it makes it all that more painful...  See the Diamanita that I purchased, and then immediately lost.

The hot, hot days of July

We have just entered into the hottest part of the year.  For the next eight weeks, we will be counting the number of consecutive days over 100 degrees, and number of days without rain.  I can't even whisper to my little plants, "Hang on a little longer", because we still have a long way to go!

But, that being said, we were also very fortunate to get a nice wet, cool week right after July 4th, so the plants are entering this time of year strong and healthy.

Here are some beauties that are doing well despite the most recent hot spell.

This night blooming cactus is always a joy to see when I first walk out in the morning!

Esperanza is one of the summer's true work horses, dark leafy greens with brilliant yellow flowers.  My huge one in the back won't bloom until the fall, but most of the smaller ones will bloom all summer.

The Texas Sage spends most of the year as a nondescript silver-grey bush. But after a summer rain, it bursts out in the most gorgeous of color!!

This photo doesn't do justice to my Skyflower.  Come July, it seems to just drip in purple blooms.

And I love how the gaura drape over the edge of the stone wall. They bloom for a week or so, then go dormant, but in another month, they seem to be back to blooming again.  For some reason (probably water and a little shade from the rose bush behind it), these gaura do much better than the ones more to the center of my garden.

My Ruellia are my water gauge.  When the soil gets dry, the will lose their flowers and shrivel up their leaves.  Given them some afternoon water, and the quickly pop back up again.

The Morning Glory has become more of a weed, than an appreciated flower.  It seems only to grow where it shouldn't.  I have tried transplanting it to its own space many times, but it never roots.  But I can't seem to pull it up from around the garden and porch!