THE DAY LILY SHOW

We were driving back from our morning walk around the lake when I happened to look at facetime and saw one of my gardening friends mention the annual Day Lily Show at Zilker Park. As we were close by and had never been before we decided to stop in. Maybe I could add to my own collection.

I heard the other day on the Chelsea Flower Show that day lilies are one of the easiest plants to hybridize. What fun it must be waiting to discover the color of your new plant. Judging by many of the lilies on display most are in the orange/yellow range of color but there are a few spectacular dark ones. Ten minutes ago I wasn't even thinking of day lilies and now I was on the hunt for a dark one like this one in the center or better still the one at the top.

I had already been forewarned that in order to get the 'unusuals' you have to be there when the show opens. I can imagine the doors opening and the crowd rushing straight to the sales table like the Harrods annual sale. Not my scene at all. I took a leisurely stroll around all the exhibits and then went into the sales room.

I did manage to find a dark red one. It was the only one left in the box so it was obviously popular and with a rather strange name "Passion District" Hybridized by Carr in 1997, this tetraploid stands about 28"tall with a flower 5.75" It is red with lighter red water marks and its parents were Midnight magic and Betty Warren Woods. I dare say that if my day lilies could talk among themselves there would be much complaining, not only about my not knowing their parentage but also their name. The only one whose name I can remember is Tiny Pumpkin.
My daylilies are all blooming so without further ado my Day Lily show.

Whereas the first two a tall, standing abut 24" this next one is much smaller. Less than 12" and quite obviously the pink layers of the flower are very tasty having been eaten by the snails.

And here is 'tiny pumpkin'. Tiny in flower only as she stand 24"

I call this a ditch lily. This common orange lily has a reputation for becoming invasive. In my garden I have had a problem even getting it to flower. It has been in the ground for at least 3 years and produced nothing but leaves. Maybe it has been spreading underground all this time and next year plans to make explosive growth. If so, it will join the long list of spreading perennials. For now I am more than happy to enjoy its May blooms.

All the hybrid daylilies were given to me by a colleague of David when he was working in Gonzales. The couple had a hobby farm and were breeding day lilies. They have brought joy to the garden every year for the past 12 years.

GARDEN BLOGGERS' BLOOM DAY MAY 2015

It's raining again this morning. After all the rain that has fallen on Texas over the past ten days I think the rain lily must have pride of place on the month's Garden Bloggers' Bloom day. Please join with Carol at May Dreams Gardens and share your May posts.

Rain lily

Day lily

Common ditch lily

Heart-leaf skullcap, Scutellaria ovata

Verbena bonariensis

Common tickseed, Coreopsis tinctoria

Pomegranate flower, Punica granatum

Blanket flower, Gaillardia pulchella.

Wine cups, Callirhoe involucrata

Confederate jasmine, Trachelospermum jasminoides

Chocolate daisy, Berlandiera lyrata

Happy Bloom Day everyone.

GARDEN BLOGGERS' BLOOM DAY JUNE 2014

Welcome to my garden on this special day of the month, when Carol of Maydreams hosts gardeners everywhere showing their June blooms. Here is what is blooming in my garden at the moment.

This day lily is a special bloom today. Among all the other flowers growing in the sunken garden I spotted  flash of color I had never seen before. It has taken 4 years and a move to get the plant to bloom. It was one of those sad looking plants on the sale table at Lowes. I gave it what I thought was a good home but when it failed to bloom year after year I finally moved it last fall. I think I have to do that with all my day lilies which have not done well this year.

The recent rain has been good for my flowers. The sunken garden is my most colorful garden with many self-seeding flowers.

Rudbeckia, Rudbeckia hirta, and cone flowers, Echinacea purpurea, and Monarda Peter's purple are among the most showy this year.

I think they are partly responsible for the day lily failure as they completely crowded them out.

My two jasmine plants, this first one on the pool wall, the white Trachelospermum jasminoides, and the second by the front door, with a more dominant yellow center, were badly damaged during that late spring freeze, when the temperature dropped as low as 18° Many of their stems split and the plant died back to whole wood. They have made a good comeback and are now blooming, probably the latest we have ever seen. Their fragrance fils the air in the early morning.

In the raised bed in the vegetable garden California poppies, both orange and white are blooming. Their blooms get progressively smaller as the plant ages but still make a welcome swath of color.

Wall germander, Germander teucrium is one of the few plants which I left along the pool edge when I cleaned and mulched this spring. I must remember to take more cuttings this winter.

In one of my hypertufa pots in the front courtyard, the balloon cactus, Notocactus magnificus, responded to rain by putting out 3 blooms. To bad this cactus is marred by the hail we had one day this spring.

Verbena bonariensis in the herb garden. Goldfinches love their seeds.

Clouds of pale pink blossoms on the showy oregano, Oregano pulchellum.

The Chaste tree, Vitex agnus-castus. There has been a lot of talk recently about this plant being invasive. It does seem to seed around my garden quite often so it is advisable to cut of the spent blooms.

Square-bud primrose, Calylophus drummondianus.

Water lilies are blooming in my stock tank water garden.

Wishing you a great bloom day, wherever you garden, and thanks for visiting.

NEW DAY, NEW BLOOM

This morning I was greeted by the opening of two blooms on my Echinopsis dominos. I knew it was going to happen and it was probably going to be today because just before blooming the flower buds elongate to about 6" With plans to leave the house at 8:30 am I left D with strict instructions to photograph if the blooms opened. But there they were at 7:30 am fully open. I think the blooms opened during the night. There are more buds but it will be a week or more before they bloom.

The rain this last week has worked its magic in the garden.

Everything looks fresh and green and the flower colors are vibrant. The greenhouse has lost its drapery of cross vine. Underneath the covering of vine, which had shaded the greenhouse all through the winter, the shade cloth had disintigrated. It will have to be replaced next year because it gets too hot in there without shade. I dare say the cross vine will be back!

Purple cone flowers, Echinopsis purpurea, is in full bloom. The unnamed day lilies are almost lost in their midst. I may have to move them to a more prominent place next year.

I think this one is my favorite. It deserves a more prominent location.

I have begun a big clean up in the potager. We can once more walk down the pathways.

IS IT BLOOM DAY AGAIN? GARDEN BLOGGERS' BLOOM DAY, MAY 2013

I can't believe the middle of the month is here again. I'm joining Carol at Maydreams garden for her special month.

Someone asked me recently what is in bloom in my garden when the early spring blooms leave. Coreopsis tinctoria is one.

A pot of one of my favorite early summer annuals, Brachyscome on the wall between the sunken garden. Is that Verbena bonariensis trying to get into the picture?

The day lilies begin to bloom. I wish I knew their name but the list is long gone. They were all grown and given to me over 10 years ago by a work associate of Ds who bred them.

This one has a little competition from the purple cone flower, Echinacea purpurea, which just started to bloom.

This one is in a more shaded location.

Love-in-a-mist, Nigella makes a big show in the Philippine violet bed, completely hiding it.

The Texas clematis, Clematis pitcheri.

Blackfoot daisies, Melampodium leucanthum, in the gravel English garden.

Creeping germander, Teucrium cossonii. I think I may add more of this plant next year because I have never watered it and it is not under irrigation and yet has survived.

Bee balm, Monarda fistulosa 'Peter's Purple" begins to bloom. Finally a bee balm that flowers in Texas!

The purple skullcap, Scutellaria wrightii.

Heart leaf skullcap, Scutellaria ovata.
What's blooming in your garden this May Bloom Day?