When we came on our house hunting trip to Austin, in August, all the Texas sage were in bloom. 'I must have that' I said, and I do. We call it Texas sage, although it isn't a member of the sage family.
Leucophllum frutescens also known as the barometer bush just put out a major flush of flowers following last weeks rain. It is gorgeous.
It seeds itself sparingly, but these bushes are all from little plants that started their life as a seed in the decomposed granite in the parking area in front of our house. The three original plants are alongside the garage wall. If I caught them early enough, and the conditions were right, I moved them. This one out by the road.
I always meant to move these two in the granite but never got round to it and now they have to stay. No one can park here any more. If you look closely at the flowers you will recognize them as belonging to the Scrophulariaceae family.
Another one I moved to the berm at the back of the house and outside the fence. Give them rain and high humidity and they burst into flower.
What a treat.
It seeds itself sparingly, but these bushes are all from little plants that started their life as a seed in the decomposed granite in the parking area in front of our house. The three original plants are alongside the garage wall. If I caught them early enough, and the conditions were right, I moved them. This one out by the road.
I always meant to move these two in the granite but never got round to it and now they have to stay. No one can park here any more. If you look closely at the flowers you will recognize them as belonging to the Scrophulariaceae family.
Another one I moved to the berm at the back of the house and outside the fence. Give them rain and high humidity and they burst into flower.
What a treat.
Stunning cenizas! Leucophyllum is one tough genus, and the few species or cultivars here all came back from winter. I bet you can grow them all! And reseed, too? I was unaware they did that there...very cool!
ReplyDeleteAnd thanks for showing that part of your garden - very interesting.
Aren't the great right now? The ones in San Antonio are blooming too. I passed a business that landscaped with two layers of these bushes, one taller and one smaller. They were two different shades of purple. Very eye catching.
ReplyDeleteHave you tried the Green Cloud variety? It blooms just before the gray variety and very heavily. Beautiful!
ReplyDeleteThose are beautiful! I love that powdery lilac.
ReplyDeleteI've seen multiutdes in full bloom down around three rivers. majestic. Love them in the xeric garden. I wish the dwarf was dwarf. They were selling them at the big box in northern oklahoma last year. ha. zone 8 isn't it? tough as a boot. sometimes over used however. Nice photos.
ReplyDeleteYou've got some beautiful specimens! We have very few of these in Houston. We should have more. I've never heard of them coming up as volunteers here in the blacklands. I think the granite gravel might be the key. My grandmother had one long ago on her farm. The leaves were downy soft. It was one of her favorite plants.
ReplyDeleteDavid/ Tropical Texana/ Houston :-)
Have you ever heard of "Green Cloud" Texas Sage. The leaves are a real pretty light green with pinkish flowers. I looked for one this past spring in the garden nursery here, but they didn't carry them. It is on my list of shrubs to obtain in the fall. Yours are really gorgeous with all the blooms.
ReplyDeleteDesert dweller- The original plants I had were green cloud. These ones may have reverted. They are beautiful though. I saw one more growing in the dry creek. Not a good place for it but too late to move it.
ReplyDeleteAbbey- Yes, I see them all over town and they are stunning. Too bad the flowers fall so quickly. I am hoping for some more seedlings.
Ann- The original ones were green cloud. Can't say what these re though.
Sweetbay- Glad you enjoyed our beautiful blooms.
Greggo- I wish they were dwarfs too. I do try to do some selective pruning but never into balls as I saw in our neighborhood. These shrubs need to be airy.
David- Yes, the granite is perfect for seeding. My whole garden would be nothing without those plants that seed. Unfortunately you can't achieve this with mulch.
As I told Ann- these came from green cloud plants but don't know what they are. Pretty, whatever. Keep on looking.
They are so beautiful in bloom. Do you prune yours ever? They can be so badly butchered, but yours look lovely and natural.
ReplyDelete