despite drought and heat, some bright spots

Trailing lantana's thriving with a little supplemental water.

It's almost October, but Austin's drought and heat continue to break records. It's difficult not to get discouraged with this continued daily hand watering routine of both drought-tolerant plants--"tolerant", not "impervious"--and vegetable seedlings. I guess I'm just stubborn, but I keep plugging away. Small successes go a long way at this point.

Added some mulch to the Blackfoot Daisies, salvias, and a newly planted agapanthus.

Mexican feathergrass, purple fountain grass, and white ruellia are super troopers.

Two weeks ago we revived our raised beds with more homemade compost, and I planted green bean, cauliflower, broccoli, beet, carrot, snowpea, kale, chard, parsley, and cabbage seeds. I've been watering them around three times a day, and all are now seedlings, which I'll thin this weekend. Last week I planted potatoes, too. I'm holding off on seeding lettuces, dill, and cilantro until it's consistently cooler. If it ever does become consistently cooler...

The "Contender" bush bean (far left) seeds I planted two weeks ago have grown quickly.

red winter and dinosaur kale seedlings

Time to go water the seedlings again. 

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.

garden bloggers' bloom day

bougainvillea

Unfortunately, very little has changed since last month's bloom day except that it's even hotter and drier. If I'm counting right, today will be Austin's 61st day of triple-digit heat. Sigh. Be sure to check out other garden bloggers' blooms at Carol's May Dream Gardens.

leadwort plumbago groundcover

ruellia and artemisia

garlic chive and plumbago

I couldn't stand to leave this cute planter empty any longer, so I found this dwarf gomphrena and put enough rocks on top to keep the squirrels from digging it out.

Also occasionally blooming this month are white gaura, plumbago, prairie verbena, trailing lantana, pavonia, blue daze, and blackfoot daisy.

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!

August in June garden bloggers' bloom day

The coleus I planted in this cool planter was ripped out by squirrels  within hours.

Today is this year's 11th day of triple-digit heat. Mid-June! And of course, Austin's still in an exceptional drought. I think the term "exceptional" is a little too cute for what is the most severe level of the drought o'meter, but no one asked me. Please visit Carol at May Dreams Gardens to see other garden bloggers' blooms in more moderate climates!

My new favorite, bog sage. Thanks getting grounded! 

trailing verbena with a tiny bit of santolina (bottom right)

more trailing verbena

white gaura with a tiny dot of blue leadwort plumbago 

I don't care if plumbago is overused; it's a tough cool-colored winner.

White bougainvillea seems to love all this sun and heat. I do have to water it every other day.

Also blooming now (barely) are salvias, marigolds, zinnias, blackfoot daisies, lobelia, Turks' cap, and torenia

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.

front yard garden: always a work in progress

Sometimes these things just hit you. Why do we keep ignoring these overgrown, not-entirely-healthy rosemary plants? Suddenly, I'm almost blinded to the cheery larkspur and big pot of white bougainvillea because all I see are rosemary monsters.

Vitex tree is blooming and larkspur from MSS are hanging on.

I'm a big fan of rosemary, but not when it gets huge and woody and diseased. Although it's only 60 degrees (F) right now, it was 93 (F) this afternoon when DH and I removed the offending rosemaries.

before: huge rosemary in the middle on the left and mid-right in the sidewalk

after: both big rosemaries removed

Ahh! Full sun blank slate. I'm thinking I might just put a few Blackfoot Daisies on the right along the sidewalk to mask the ugly underbelly of that santolina. I'm not at all sure what to put on the left. Another plumbago? Something in a dark green?

Earlier this morning, I harvested several quarts of shallots and about a quart of "Tavera" delicate, (maybe) stringless green beans--yippee! Good thing we're big fans of both! I'll admit that washing and preparing the shallots is kind of a pain. The green beans, however, are easy.

shallots and "Tavera" green beans

Yesterday I harvested several quarts of "Contender" green beans, which are bigger than the Tavera, and sauteed them (in olive oil) with lots of chopped onions, some minced garlic, and canned diced tomatoes. I let that mixture simmer for close to an hour, adding a little honey, salt, and pepper. It turned out great, including today's leftovers.

I'd love to hear any suggestions for the new open spaces in the front yard garden. I don't mind putting a bit of trailing rosemary back in, but I don't want it to be the main focal point.