GARDEN BLOGGERS' BLOOM DAY, MAY 2017

It has been a while since I posted on bloom day. Suddenly it was upon me and I had no time to gather the photos.

Surely the opening photograph for this month's Bloom day post has to be the Monarda 'Peter's Purple' He's certainly King of the garden at the moment.

And Queen of the May garden is the blanket flower, Gaillardia pulchella. Not so easy negotiating the pathways at the moment.

And we have a princess too,  Clematis texensis 'Princess Diana'. What a beauty she is. Just a few weeks ago there was no sign of growth and I was sure I had lost the plant over the winter. In less than a month she has grown to almost cover the trellis.

So many bloomers. The spineless prickly pear, with two different blooms on the same plant.

I wonder why that is?

And all the day lilies.

All but the tiny orange one without names.
Echinacea purpurea, just coming into bloom.

The larkspurs, love-in-a-mist and poppies have finished already but blackfoot daisies, Melampodium leucanthum,  still keep going.

Among the other natives, the purple skullcap, Scutellaria wrightii.

Which pairs well in a rock garden setting with the square bud primrose, Calylophus berlandieri, and pink skullcaps.

Square bud primrose with ruby crystal grasses

Pink skull cap seeded in the dry creek

Scabiosa back for the third year. A rescue plant.

And Texas betony, Stachys coccinea, not a showy plant but the hummingbirds love it.

Another native, horsemint, Monarda citriodora.

The native chocolate daisy, Berlandiera lyrata, with its delicious chocolate fragrance.

And for the first time in a while success with Cleome.

These are just a few of the flowers that are blooming in my rocky Texas garden in mid May.

Thank you Carol at Maydreams gardens for hosting Bloom day. Find out what is growing in other gardens this May Bloom Day.

LINGERING AFTER LUNCH

One of the delights of having lunch outside is enjoying the garden. You couldn't possibly go back to work immediately after eating so why not linger a while and enjoy.

I have never been a great fan of Texas betony, Stachys coccinea, but I think it pairs quite nicely with this little groupling of artichoke agave, Agave parryi var. truncata,  Zexmenia, Wedelia texana, and purple skullcap, Scutellaria wrightii. I watched a hummingbird visit the other afternoon. It was busy visiting all the red flowers including this Claret cup cactus, Echinocereus triglochidiatus.

I just want it to keep on flowering but I fear the end of next week all the flowers will have faded. For now I think it is outright gorgeous. Behind the cactus are the seed heads of the Tulipa clusiana. I am told they are sterile and while I would normally snip them off they do have an interesting stripe.

Looking back towards the house is the Whale's tongue agave, A. ovatifolia, and the water feature and all kinds of self seeded Texas natives, including blackfoot daisy, Melampodium leucanthum, and four nerve daisy, Tetraneuris scaposa. Their blooms are a favorite because they keep on coming.

And a long shot of the garden looking back to the lunch spot.

A quick trip to the outside to look at the bluebonnets and it's back to work!

And a nod to this brown anole sunning himself on the cactus pad. Does he look a little old to you?