Wednesday, July 16, 2008

Late July garden bloggers’ bloom day entry

I’m a day late posting (because, of course, yesterday I was busy attending a high-profile murder pretrial hearing) but I did take the photos yesterday. I confess I shot mostly close-ups to help me pretend I’m in a friendlier environment without endless days of triple-digit heat. Thank you again to Carol at May Dreams Gardens for hosting.

Part of front yard xeriscaped garden, looking west by front curb


Part of front yard xeriscaped garden, looking west from corner curb


Gaura


Spider flower, which I now have a name for thanks to Annie at The Transplantable Rose


Verbena


Plumbago


Bicolor iris


Society garlic


Indigo spires salvia


Leadwort plumbago

Still blooming as well are the ubiquitous Turk's cap, lantana, and ruellia.

6 comments:

Sue said...

Thanks for identifying my mystery flower! I love your garden, that spider lily reminds me of southeast Texas and Louisiana, where I've seen them blooming in the ditches by the road...which I found bizarre, since they look so exotic, like they should be rare and hard to find. They are so pretty.

Iris said...

Thanks, Susannah! Our front-yard garden is still a work-in-progress and I appreciate encouragement.

I was so excited to finally be able to be the first one to identify a mystery flower since I've always been on the inquiring end and also because I'm still learning and have a limited scope of drought-tolerant plant knowledge.

I was so happy that Annie identified my spider flower! I also thought they must be some exotic tropical thing (& I saw bigger versions of them in northern Australia), but apparently they're fairly tough and would bloom more here if I watered them more. I've got a couple more I've ignored, but now that I know how pretty they can be, I think I'll give them some extra water!

Carol Michel said...

That's the first time someone has used that reason for posting late for bloom day.

Great blooms, considering how hot and dry it's been in Austin.

Thanks for joining in for bloom day.

Carol, May Dreams Gardens

Iris said...

Carol,
I almost spit out my Mimosa just now reading your comment! (In a good, way, I mean.) Thanks for making me laugh and for the compliment about my hot blooms.

chey said...

Wow, beautiful garden! Love the soft grasses.

Iris said...

Thanks, Chey!
Considering it all used to be solid, plant-free flat grass yard, I'm pretty pleased so far with our hard work. There's always more, of course.

I had to be talked into adding the grasses & now I'm so glad I listened!