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Sunday, September 17, 2017

THE SEPTEMBER GARDEN

When hurricane Harvey slammed into the Texas coast, 200 miles away, it brought some much needed rain to Central Texas. Along with that we saw a significant drop in daytime temperatures but more importantly night time temperatures in the low 60s. Warm days and cool nights. For a few days it was like being in California. The plants showed an immediate response; the sickly yellow leaves greened up and the flowers colors brightened. It was glorious but not to last. Still, for those brief few days I enjoyed every moment in the garden.
Sometimes I think fall is better than spring. Everything in the garden has become more blousy. There is barely a scrap of earth or gravel to be seen.


I never know from one year to the next how this will look or which flowers will be present-except there will always be plenty of rock roses.


The Salvia leucantha I have been planning to move for years is still there. The hummingbirds are very adept at flying in through the window in the high wall that separates the gardens.


A week ago there was but one bloom on the butterfly pea, Clitoria ternatea. Now there are many. The blackfoot daisy, Melampodium leucanthum, continues to spread across the step.


Ruby crystal grass, Melinis nerviglumis, is flowering. There will be plenty of those again next year.


  Globe amaranth, Gomphrena haggeana, 'Strawberry fields' is everywhere.


As are the purple and pink varieties growing in the pathway of the vegetable garden.



The spider zinnia will eventually be evicted from its home in the vegetable bed but I will save the seeds for next year.


In the sunken garden it grew where the white California poppy once grew.


In the sunken garden there are gomhrena, pink and purple skullcaps, aura, mealy blue sage, white Salvia greggii, and an errant member of the cucumber family which came in on the compost.


As well as zexmenia, Wedelia texana,  chocolate daisy, Berlandiera lyrata,  and returning alyssum.


But the absolute show stoppers of the moment are the liatris in the front courtyard. Purple is definitely the color of the moment.


Last year I removed many of the bulbs and planted them outside the walls. It seems that every seed germinates but they are silent all summer until their bloom time in the fall.


Phlox paniculata John Fanick, After the first flowering I pruned it back and here it is again. Smells wonderful.


Trailing Snapdragon vine, Asarina procumbens is a native of Mexico but seems to do well here as an annual.


Tradescantia sillamontana with its cobweb leaves and pretty pink flowers, easily grown from cuttings.


In the spring I bought a hanging basket because it looked simply gorgeous. I repotted it into a larger basket with baby diapers in the bottom. It was an impulse buy. It has been watered all summer on a drip system twice a day, and received an occasional fertilize. I have cut it back completely about 3 times. It took a beating on one side during the hurricane but is recovering.


The mandevilla vine is into its second year. I cut it down and put it in the potting shed last winter. It dried out and went dormant but started to come back after a good spring soaking. I will try to keep it for another year.


It is wonderful to see so much color back in the garden and there is still the Philippine violet yet to bloom. Soon it will be fall and these icky-sticky days will be a thing of the past!

10 comments:

  1. Your September garden is marvelous, Jenny! I can almost breathe in its freshness through your photos. I ordered blackfoot daisy plants from a mail order nursery last week as I've never found them here - I hope they'll like my climate as well as they like yours. I recently obtained ruby crystal grass from a different mail order nursery and I have my fingers crossed that those plants will do well here too. We've been enjoying fall-like weather here and I'm in a planting frenzy at the moment, while all too aware that we could still get an October heatwave (or 2).

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  2. It looks wonderful. Glad for the silver lining of additional rain.

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  3. So nice (as always -- vacation neglect withstanding) -- are any of these bloomers annuals? I need to get more blooming things reseeding in my garden.

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    1. The rock rose is perennial but I usually pull it out after the first year because it gets rather large and there are always hundreds of seedlings to take their place. Same with the ruby crystal grass. Gomphrenas are all annual but the 'fireworks' which I didn't show here is a perennial. If you are looking for a good perennial then I think the Salvia leucantha might work for you. It dies to the ground in winter. If you want some seeds of rock rose I can send them to you. Just message me on Facebook.

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  4. Your garden looks great! I bought some Tradescantia sillamontana this summer to plant in our Barrier Garden. First we need to move some plants around and put in the rest of the new stepping stones. Yours looks great, and hopefully mine will to soon.

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  5. Delightful...Love stopping by to see what garden beauties are blooming.

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  6. Looks glorious! We enjoyed 6 cool mornings as well here in Houston. I'm looking at the weather maps 'looking' for more cool weather on the horizon. They don't hold out any promises until October. So sad.
    Question: Do your gomphrenas reseed on their own? Mine don't and I'm wondering if they need bare soil/gravel to do so. I love that 'Strawberry Fields' color. I've never seen it before. David/:0)

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  7. My gomphrena do reseed by themselves and seem to do better when in gravel. The gravel may protect them in the winter. There is another gomphrena called fireworks which seems to be perennial. In any even I always collect seed in the fall. They will not germinate until the ground is really warm which means they can be sowed quite late in the season. Most don't appear until late June/July and I seeded some about a month ago which are now starting to flower.

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  8. Incredible how quickly the garden responds. That liatris is wonderful, and I've been looking for something slim to fit among succulents. Making a note of baby diapers in the hanging basket (!)

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