THE NATIVE SNAPDRAGON VINE

Today I am highlighting a lesser know Texas native snapdragon vine, Maurandya antirrhiniflora. It belongs to the Scrophulariaceae family, like the common garden snapdragon. You might have guessed that from the species name being similar to antirrhinum, commonly used for snapdragons.  Last year I tried to grow snapdragon vine on the trellis outside my kitchen patio. After a great start it failed miserably, but it did leave behind seeds which have germinated in several places in the garden.

It seems the vine would like to grow the way it wants to, which is by sprawling across the ground and entwining its petioles around anything in its path. Here it is prettying up the oregano. It is a delicate vine and once it has coiled its petioles around a stem there is no letting go.

A second plant I am now training onto an arched bamboo trellis, although it doesn't help to twist its stem around because that is not its method of climbing.

As I mentioned earlier it is the petiole stem that does the twisting and support as opposed to the stem itself. As a temporary hold I taped the stem to the bamboo using velcro garden tape. In the wild the flowers can be found in all shades of purple to an infrequent white.
The first time I saw this plant growing was in the garden of Pam Penick. It was twining its way up some fine wire twisted around the pole of her dovecote. This dovecote now resides in my garden but I have not been successful in getting the vine to twine up the existing wire. Maybe next year I will have success.
I shall be saving seeds this year in an attempt to ensure it grows in a more suitable place next year but undoubtedly it will show up in lots of other places too.

IT'S A SMALL MIRACLE

Today I turned my attention towards the garden. My poor neglected garden. How could I have left it for so many weeks to endure one of the coldest winters we have had in a long time. The blankets that I use to cover cold sensitive plants lay in a pile in the potting shed. I had to trust my greenhouse heater to a never-yet-tested thermocube which is supposed to switch on the heater when the temperature dips to 34°

Maybe it did switch on because the Kalanchoe, Mother of Thousands is in bloom. Admittedly it is growing in the cactus bowl and was sorely in need of water, but after a day the flowers have perked up and I can enjoy their welcome burst of color for a few days.

There are, however, many losses in the garden. This Agave desmettiana, for instance, is only hardy to 25° and I know it went way lower than that.

There is damage on the Mangave, 'macho mocha' which is a surprise as it is in a sheltered part of the front courtyard. Hopefully new growth in the summer will hide the damage.

But I am even more surprised to see frost damage on Agave parryi.

I never have known the name of this agave but apparently it shrugged off the winter cold. I have a larger one in a pot that I will plant in the ground this spring.
But casting aside the damage there is much to look forward to. I see seedlings popping up everywhere.
Outside the potting-shed door I have a seedling nursery with Rose campion, Lychoris radiata.

They are now potted up so they can grow on ready for planting in the garden.

And there are larkspur,

bluebonnets,

California poppies,

columbine,

snapdragon vine, all waiting for someone to move them into a garden bed!

and today a real sign that spring might be on the way after yet another sub 32° temperature tonight.

WHAT A GOOD RAIN BRINGS

Although I am still thinking about all those glorious gardens we saw in England, I am spending plenty of time in my own garden, making reparation for all the weeks away. The rain last week really helped put new life back into the garden.

One of the first plants to respond to the rain is the rain lily.

And this spider zinnia, Zinnia tenuifolia, suddenly has bright red blooms again. It isn't in quite the right place alongside the vegetable beds but thats where it seeded. Already seeds had formed and I am hoping they will sprout in a better place.

The little native cosmos can be relied upon to bloom now through the late fall. It will just keep on coming wherever the seeds fall.


Of course, the morning glories are popping up everywhere. This one is threatening to strangle the life out of a native persimmon tree, which is itself a seed sown by a bird alongside the potting shed.

The other morning a hummingbird came to these flowers even though I was standing but a few feet away.

I am now becoming concerned that the little snapdragon vine, Maurandya antirrhiniflora, will take over the garden.
One day lily is still in flower. This one grew from seed. The flowers are much smaller than the parent plants around it. Perfect for the front of the bed.

There is no substitute for a good rain.

PUMPKINS GALORE

I've been taking a week off from gardening as we have visitors from England staying with us. I wonder how many other people take their visitors to the grocery store! Not that Whole Foods is the average grocery store. We popped in there on Friday to pick a couple of 6 packs of different beers and were met with a fantastic pumpkin display. If only the weather was the kind you expect at pumpkin time.

I couldn't decide which ones I liked the best there were so many varieties. To my eyes the plain old orange ones couldn't hold a candle to the others.




We met our friends the first time we were here in Austin in 1968 so they had a good memory of some of the places we visited back then. Mount Bonnell was one. Aside from the view of downtown and Lake Austin the flowers up there took me by surprise. I think recent rains were responsible.

There was a sweet fragrance on the air from the flowers of the shrubby, many branched, Texas kidneywood, Eysenhardtia texana.

Snapdragon vines, Maurandya antirrhiniflora, twining through many of the bushes which grow along the edges of the escarpment.

Dayflowers, Commelina erecta, beneath them.

and of course Texas sage, Leucophyllum frutescens, in all its purple glory.

Amazing how quickly plants respond to the rain.

I was so busy tripping around town that I almost missed my own flowering.

The Texas fishook cactus,

A second flowering took me by surprise. A quick response to the recent rain.

GARDEN BLOGGERS' BLOOM DAY JUNE 2010

Summer is well and truly underway in every part of the USA and the northern hemisphere. We are all invited to share our garden blooms with gardeners everywhere, as part of Garden Bloggers Bloom Day hosted by Carol, at May Dreams Gardens.

Sometime back in the year 2001, at a Newcomers' garden club meeting, I took some cuttings from the above plant. Photographs showed a beautiful stand of pink blooms among green foliage.

For the last nine years I have tried to rid my garden of this plant. It spreads by underground runners and pops up all over the place. It is rather smelly when you rupture the stems. One runner finally made its way into the corner of the front garden. It is rather a no man's land where I just allow columbines to grow. However, this plant was softening the corner so I let it stay. Lo and behold it has flowered and I remembered why I was so taken with the plant when I saw its photo. I would love an identity if anyone can help me out.

The pink rose, Felicia responded to recent rains by growing a long stem clustered with pink fragrant roses.

Verbena bonariensis along the edge of the dry creek.

In the background a glimpse of the Texas fish hook cactus which bloomed especially for bloom day. Another plant responding to the recent rains.

Along with rain lilies and

Texas sage, Leucophyllum frutescens, our barometer bush.

Gazanias and native cosmos are reliable bloomers in any heat.

As are the rudbeckias. Behind is the snapdragon vine, Maurandella antirrhiniflora.

This delicate vine resembles the snapdragon in looks only. It produces a mass of flowers in late summer, dying back to the ground in winter.

The garden snapdragon, is a very late bloomer this year.

Lurking behind the blanket flowers is the red spider zinnia, Zinnia tenuifolia.

I couldn't be without the zinnias, especially the narrow leaf zinnia, Zinnia linearis, seen here in the orange and white forms.

Gomphrena globosa returns from seed for another year. This plant is a favorite of the hispid cotton rats. They will sit and pick at the seeds for hours on end leaving behind a mass of snowy litter.

This little plant is Texas tough. Ruellia, the Mexican wild petunia took root in a crack along the wall. Cut it back and it will bloom on and on into the fall.

HAPPY JULY BLOOM DAY GARDENERS.