FRIDAY FLOWERS

I never expected my sunken garden and its surrounds to be a wildflower meadow but it seems that is exactly what I have. Does that disappoint me? Not really although I would love the wildflower meadow to be outside the main garden. But I love the profusion of blooms that greets me every morning when I step outside the door. Each new flower aiming beat the heat and fulfill its destiny-seeds.

And those seeds, wherever they fall, will create next year's garden. The coneflowers, Echinacea purpurea, are beginning to bloom alongside the gaura, Gaura lindheimeri. I have two varieties one pink and one white which seed around the garden and once they start blooming they bloom all summer long. And hidden among them I see the new leaves of the Mexican Bird of Paradise. It will be many weeks before that plant begins to bloom.

I didn't pull out as many of the mulleins as I said I would but they will not be long in the garden as they will soon enter into their rather messy phase. How I wish we could get the perennial kind that I see in English gardens. This one is my favorite although it is taking up more than its share of the sunken area.

Blue flax, Linum lewisii, with it long arching branches.

And scarlet flax, Linum rubrum, native to North Africa but naturalized in the USA. Always there is a plan to have more but always just a few develop.

Seen here with coreopsis and California poppies.

I grew this achillea from seed 2 years ago. It was supposed to be a much darker color. Sometimes the seeds will surprise you.

And also this foxglove, Digitalis purpurea,  which has taken it three years to flower.

On a rather humid morning the chocolate flowers, Berlandiera lyrata, filled the air with its delicious fragrance. They can't help but draw attention to themselves.

Bee balm, Monarda 'Peter's Purple' enjoys far too much success in this garden to the point of crowding out other plants, including the iris it has surrounded.

And under the shade of the Yucca rostrata the shrimp plant, Justicia brandegeeana has been blooming for several months.

 And a surprise shrimp plant which suddenly appeared has been identified as the native Montell bractspike, Yeatesia platystegia,

And finally Brazilian verbena, Verbena bonariensis with prickly pear.

 I rely heavily on the sunken garden to seed itself so never know what will be growing there from year to year. Unfortunately last year I lost all but one pink skullcap and all the purple skullcap which had been a staple in this garden for nearly 15 years but gardeners learn to move on and like Wilkins Micawber I rely on the fact that "Something will turn up" and it usually does.
Have a great weekend.

THUMBS UP. SCARLET FLAX, Linum grandiflorum rubrum

Every year new plants appear at the nurseries and we are tempted. Sometimes our temptation is rewarded and sometimes not. Two years ago I was tempted to buy some seedlings in the fall labeled scarlet flax, Linum grandiflorum rubrum. I have grow blue flax before and it is a lovely plant but scarlet flax was new to me. What a success it was. A delicate foliage with delicate scarlet flowers.

What made them so delightful was the slightly darker tinge of red around the center and edges of the flower. This and the blue pollen colored stamens.
So when fall came this year I went back to the nursery searching for those same 4" pots. Nowhere to be found.  Isn't that often the way with nurseries? But, they told me, we have the seeds. And so I bought a packet and started the seeds myself. Some illustrations on seed packages can be a little fanciful but these are true to their illustration.

 I'm pleased to report that I have several clumps of scarlet flax this year and a few blooms began to open this week, a full month earlier than last year. How I wish I had done more. How I wish they would last forever. It does say they are good for hot dry gardens so maybe I will sow the remaining seeds and get a later bloom.

The plant is native to Algeria but has naturalized in Europe and in North America.
Thumbs up on this plant.

A COMPRESSED SEASON

I have decided that we are having a compressed season this year. I noticed that flowers that normally bloom in February did not bloom until March. I can't speak for the weather in January because we were traveling but February was much colder than usual, especially the later part. We had plenty of fall rain which germinated the wildflowers but that cold February brought an abundance of vegetative growth. My bluebonnets are much taller than usual.

You wouldn't believe that a dry creek runs through here and there are stepping stones leading to the front gate. The bluebonnets are hiding the downed live oak leaves for now!
And I definitely remember saying "No bluebonnets in the sunken garden next year" I daren't even show you a picture of the English Garden! Yes, you can have too many bluebonnets.

Or that the walkway around the side of the house to the side gate is impenetrable. That's Lady Banks' rose hanging over the wall.

Early March came brought a lot of weather ups and downs. Warm days followed by a killing frost, for those of us who garden on the edges of the hill country. Tender new growth, on lots of plants, was zapped overnight. No Mountain Laurel blooms over here this year and probably no pomegranates. But mother nature was ready to make up for it with a nice rain followed by day after day of 80° temperatures. All at once everything wants to bloom. Daffodils bloomed, were buffeted by winds and heat. They lasted only a few days.

These tiny rock garden daffs, with their string-like foliage are having a great bloom season but it is cut short by the heat.

Clumps of Crow Poison ( False Garlic) Nothoscordum bivalve, are attractive when in clumps but an intruder when they come up among other plants. Because they grow from a bulb they are difficult to eradicate.

Here's a new visitor to the garden. Scarlet flax, Linum grandiflorum. It's an annual but it is putting on a stunning display. I bought 3 small plants in the fall but only one has really thrived.

Here's its native cousin, the prairie flax, Linum lewisii.

Large clumps of Texas beargrass, basket grass, Nolina texana, are also flowering. Their creamy white blooms attract lots of bees.

Iris, California poppies, blue eyed grass, columbines, gaura, pink primroses are just a few of my later blooms making an earlier appearance. I just hope we get a little rain this weekend to extend the bloom time.

GARDEN BLOGGERS BLOOM DAY APRIL 2014

Welcome to my April garden for Garden Bloggers' Bloom Day hosted by Maydreams Gardens. It is a gorgeous day here in Texas after yesterday's lashing rain, wind and hail and the threat of a frost last night. Thankfully it never got down to 32°. There is a mighty clashing of colors going on out there.

Eyes down to the Claret-cup cactus, Echinocereus coccineus.

Eyes up to Zepherine drouhin. Both are putting on a spectacular show.

Of course the Lady Banks rose is also in full bloom right now although somewhat smaller in bloom size this year.

 My yellow Rosa banksia 'lutea' is enormous compared with the white one.

I purchased this white one at the Rose Museum in Tombstone, Arizona, which boasts the largest Lady Banks' rose in the world. It came originally from Kew gardens as a cutting and this is a cutting from the Tombstone rose. I have it planted on the fence behind the pool; not the best place as I have to continuously cut it back.

While on the subject of white roses this white Knockout lights up the English garden.

Along with the lovely fragrant Felicia.

There are lots of native plants. The yellow Missouri primrose, Oenothera macrocarpa.

And the square-bud primrose, Calylophus berlandiera, along with bluebonnets in the sunken garden.

Gulf coast penstemon, Penstemon tenuis.

And my ever blooming chocolate daisy, Berlandiera lyrata.

Rose campion, Lychnis coronaria.

Mock orange, Philadeplhus X 'natchez'

The sweetest smelling stocks, Mathiola incana.

The cross vine, Bignonia capreolata back again on the greenhouse.

Beautiful heads on my multiplying onions, Allium cepa.

Blue flax, Linum lewisii

 An unknown tiny rock daffodil with wiry stems. Planted several years ago this is the first time it has bloomed. It must have liked the extra chilling.

Orange mallow, Sphaeralcea ambigua.

There are poppies galore, and columbines and so many more flowers in bloom. Come back again later this week and take the long tour of all the gardens enjoyed by a visiting garden group today. In the meantime visit other garden bloggers sharing their blooms on the mid April day.

SKY BLUE FLAX

The other morning I was out in the sunken garden when I spotted flax, Linum lewisii, in bloom. The pretty sky blue flowers were peaking out from underneath my 'prize' Scutellaria wrightii.

Not the perfect place for the plant to seed itself as the skull cap has increased it's diameter by at least another 12" this year. I am glad to see lots of small flax seedlings in other parts of the sunken garden. It really is one of my favorite flowers.