garden bloggers' bloom day

Previously undiscovered daylily

I was too lazy to post last month. Check out blooms from all over the place at May Dreams Gardens. We Austinites are now entering the it's-never-going-to-rain-here-again days, which combined with highs in the mid to upper nineties, makes me a little grumpy. But at least we've only had one triple-digit (101) day so far. And who could stay grumpy for very long with these cheery daylilies. Although they were probably planted more than 30 years ago, I somehow missed them because they were squished between fences, but husband Kurt recently took down the old chainlink and weeded that area. They appeared within a few days.

Forsythia Sage (salvia madrensis) passalong from Renee Studebaker

When Renee gave me some of her Forsythia Sage a year and a half ago, it was less than a foot tall. Now it's close to six feet. It's fairly drought-tolerant, but this week I've had to water it. It's quite melodramatic when it needs more water, very droopy. 

Bee Balm passalong from Daphne Richards

This is my first experience with Bee Balm, but I really like it so far, especially because it seems to need little water and keeps putting on blooms.

Three-year-old Skullcap resurrected itself.

First spring bloom on the very tough seven-year-old miniature rose, "Red Cascade"

The last of the lovely larkspur, whose seeds were given to me by MSS at Zanthan Gardens

And finally, the Society Garlic planted at the edge of the vegetable garden is getting enough water to bloom.

Also blooming now are Blue Plumbago, Turk's Cap, purple and white trailing Verbena, purple and white Lantana, purple and white Ruellia, and white Gaura. 

garden bloggers' bloom day

Grape hyacinth--so delicate--planted long ago by a previous homeowner.

Wow. What a difference a mild winter and decent rainfall make in my attitude towards my gardens and my gardens' rejuvenation. So thrilled to see thriving plants all over our yard, I even left the weeds alone to do their thing, something I'm sure I'll regret. But after last year's historic drought, I just couldn't bring myself to care about yanking out weeds.

Carol at May Dreams Gardens invites garden bloggers from all over to share their blooms on the 15th of each month for Garden Bloggers' Bloom Day. Make sure to visit her blog to see more blooms. 

young Mexican Plum tree 

I can't get enough of these Mexican Plum blooms. They remind me of my grandparents' photos of Japan in the 1940s. Exquisite.

Heirloom broccoli has bolted into airy wisps that attract beneficial insects.

My first-ever iris: thanks to Annie at The Transplantable Rose for passing it along!

Verbena and Blackfoot Daisies from a few years ago have now spread like crazy.

I thought this silver bush germander was dead last October. Shows what I know.

Crazy volunteer tomato--appears to be an heirloom?--is blooming far away from last year's tomatoes.

Happy bloom day.

warts and all

fall aster, basil, potatoes, chard, tiny lettuces, and plumbago in one of back vegetable beds

I was going to wait until I'd weeded the vegetable beds to post any photos, but since I've been such a delinquent blogger lately, I decided to post what's been going on here, warts and all.

at least they're taller than the weeds: chard, red winter kale, dinosaur kale, red cabbage, golden beets, Romanesco broccoli, parsley, dill, sage, cilantro, mustard green, volunteer tomato, and Thai basil

I started all my fall vegetables from seeds (except the mustard green) from Botanical Interests or Seed Savers Exchange. Because of our continued drought, I hand watered the seeds three times a day until they were 1-inch seedlings then cut back to a quick watering once a day. Now that it's a little cooler, I can give them a drink every other day and a once-a-week drip soaking. So far so good.

volunteer butternut squash (probably from our compost pile) and red cabbage seedlings

The ivy that's covered our garage shed finally died, so husband Kurt spent all afternoon carefully removing all those twisty vines intertwined in the beautiful old board and batten siding to reveal, what else? The beautiful old board and batten siding, circa 1941, although it's showing its age.

shed sans ivy

My first salvia madrensis is jazzing up the corner of the shed.

I'm pleased to have already harvested one big bowl of "Contender" green beans and to see a few beets almost ready to pull. The squirrels have been digging up various seeds, which has forced me to do successive seeding, something I've never had the planning or discipline to do before. Never thought I'd have a reason to thank squirrels. 

In the back beds, my potato, broccoli, cauliflower, snow pea, carrot, and beet plants are all doing okay. Now I just need to get to weeding them!

garden bloggers' bloom day, late again

Blackfoot Daisies

We finally have a 30 percent chance of rain today, but I'm not holding my breath. That it's only 90 degrees at 1 p.m. is a breath of fresh air, however! Austin has had 85 days of triple-digit heat this year, record-breaking. Mind-numbing. And continued exceptional drought and hideous wildfires. So please forgive my tardy post and lack of botanical names in today's post. Check out other garden bloggers' blooms at May Dreams Gardens.

Thank goodness the Oxblood lilies returned, even if they're a bit puney.

I forgot what kind of salvia this is. Uhm, a white one.

Cheery potted Gerber daisy

Rain (??) lilies from Annie at The Transplantable Rose

Also blooming are Turks Cap, plumbago, leadwort plumbago, white gaura, blue daze, torenia, purple and white ruellia, and rock rose.

exceptional drought-tolerant plants

cenizo (Texas "Silverado" sage)

Looks like tropical storm Don is not going to grace Austin with any rain on this dry 45th day of triple-digit heat, so I'm celebrating my truly drought-tolerant plants. Plants that are surviving in full sun in this exceptional drought with NO supplemental water. Amazing. 

artemisia "Silver king":

This artemisia spreads fairly quickly and ends up two to three feet tall. I like it better than artemisia "Powis castle" because its foliage is more delicate. This stand came from one four-inch pot planted three or four years ago.

soft leaf yucca and rosemary:

The yuccas and rosemary appear a little stressed.

abelia

Not sure exactly which abelia this is. In "normal" springs and summers, it puts out tiny white fragrant blooms that attract bees.

front to back: agaves, gray santolina, and yucca

Sorry, but I don't know what type of agaves these are. Same story for the yucca. The white blooms are trailing lantana that I've watered every other week.

unknown sotol with gray santolina and Mexican feathergrass

I need help identifying this one! I didn't keep the tag, but I could swear its common name had the word "leather" or "rubber" in it, but I can't find it online. It spreads medium quickly and gets almost three feet tall. It blooms these teeny flowers (smaller than a pea) intermittently spring through fall:

Anyone recognize it?  EDITED 7-30-11: Husband Kurt found it! It's Jatropha dioica var. dioica, commonly known as leatherstem, leatherwood, or rubber plant.

My salvias, gaura, lantana, and plumbago are doing okay with weekly watering. Having to hand water my potted plants, herbs, and cucumbers almost daily is getting really old, so I particularly appreciate the tough guys I'm able to ignore. 

another crispy garden bloggers' bloom day

zinnia from mislabeled seed packet

I really meant to post something between bloom days, but 32 days of triple digit heat have somewhat fried my motivation and creativity. Please escape Texas' heat and visit Carol at May Dreams Gardens to see less dusty gardeners' blooms.

I shot this four days ago: my beloved rugged spider lily, hymenocallis 'tropical giant'

Evolvulus glomeratus 'blue daze' with blackfoot daisies in the vegetable garden.

Trailing verbena loves full sun but still needs a little bit of water in this weather.

some kind of Gerber daisy--forgot to save the tag

Armenian cucumber flower

Also hanging in there today are the following blooms: white gaura, blue plumbago, white trailing verbena, white and purple verbena, various raggedy salvias, bog sage, potted white bougainvillea, leadwort plumbago, turks cap, potted torenia, and society garlic. Happy Garden Bloggers' Bloom Day!

happy tomato report

Black Prince, Green Cherokee, Lemon Boy, Black Krim, Sungolds,  Habanero, Serranos

Despite the fact that Austin's drought has returned to the most extreme level, "exceptional"--we had two 100-degree days last week--we've managed to grow some darn pretty tomatoes, peppers, and cucumbers. I'm thrilled, especially because the Sungolds are the only variety I've grown before.

The Black Prince tomatoes have been the most prolific and are fairly tasty, although their skins are a little tough. The less prolific Black Krims are my idea of the almost-perfect heirloom: juicy, rich, a little smoky, a little sweet, somewhat tangy, with tender skin. Green Cherokee is tied for almost perfection with the Black Krim, just a little tangier.

The Lemon Boys are prolific and more acidic, less sweet. Today I picked my first precious Cherokee Purple from a plant given to me by the tomato queen, Renee Studebaker. It's ripening in the safety of my kitchen.

Juicy, thin-skinned Armenian cucumbers

Contender and Tavera bush beans

first-ever okra flower

I'm tempted to plant more okra next year just because the flowers are so beautiful! The squirrels have discovered the newer tomato beds and stolen a few green Lemon Boys, so we'll try the bird netting again this weekend. The drought seems to have chased off most of the leaf-footed stinkbugs at least.

better late...garden bloggers' bloom day

Vitex tree

Yep, I'm four days late posting for garden bloggers' bloom day, but I did shoot these photos on the 15th. Carol at May Dreams Gardens invites bloggers to share what's blooming in their gardens on the 15th of each month, so make sure to check her blog to see blooms from all over the place.

I thought these balloon flowers were annuals, but these came back from last spring!

gray santolina

returning Mexican bush sage with new salvias and "silver dragon" liriopes  planted  in the huge old rosemary's spot

old faithful plumbago

another old faithful, Turks Cap

I think this is a hybrid annual salvia. Such an unusual color.

ornamental black pearl pepper and lobelia

Clearly this packet of mixed-color zinnia seeds was mislabeled, because I'm not a pink zinnia person.

Also blooming now are purple and white ruellia, bougainvillea, white gaura, leadwort plumbago, verbena, zexmenia, torenia, blackfoot daisies, and society garlic.