A PACKET OF SEEDS

I love growing things from seeds. There is nothing quite so uplifting as seeing those first seed leaves poking through the ground. It has always been a favorite winter pastime, first looking thought seed catalogues and then setting up seed growing areas-usually in the house. I treated myself to some grow light stations this year which found a home in the laundry room. Both greenhouse and potting shed were full to bursting with overwintering plants so my gardening has moved into the house.

In the past trying to seed cosmos directly in the ground has met with failure. They just never appear or maybe they appear overnight and are munched by snails and pill bugs. So this year wooed by the pretty photos on the seed packet I decided to try them inside. And I am thrilled with my success, not just the fact that they are flowering but that the illustration on the seed packet was fulfilled. Take look.

It's only spring right now so we'll if they bloom summer to fall.

PLANTS BEGIN TO SIGNAL WINTER IS ON THE WAY

My garden is beginning to signal that winter is on the way. Sometimes it seems as though it is never going to arrive  and when it does happen is is usually overnight with our first good frost. But there are subtle changes in the garden. The plants look more colorful because of cooler days and nights.

Among the whites and oranges of the narrow leaf daisies a new flower begins to bloom.

It is the Mexican mint marigold, Tagetes lucida.  The leaves make a good substitute for French tarragon, which cannot withstand our hot summers, and is therefore often called Spanish tarragon. This herbaceous perennial dies back during the winter but and spring and summer the plant is green, before bursting into flower in October. It flowers only where winter comes late to the garden.

Another late bloomer is the Philippine violet, Barleria sp. Pest free and seemingly no diseases it also dies back during winter but has been a reliable returner even giving me a few new plants from seed.

The orange cosmos, Cosmos sulphureus, has been in non-stop bloom throughout the summer. It is both heat, drought and pest resistant. I threw a few seeds into this bed less that a month ago and they are now flowering.

The citrus fruit are starting to ripen. The bitter Calamondin, which I make into marmalade. No other marmalade comes close to the tangy orange flavor of this fruit. Not even the Seville marmalade.

The Meyer lemon. The fruits aren't quite so big this year. Maybe because of our dry summer.

Rusty seedheads appearing on the dwarf papyrus, Cyperus papyrus.

Plants spill over the low wall completely covering the pathways. The last to flower will be the Copper Canyon daisy, Tagetes lemmonii.

There are changes among the succulents too.

Echeveria Devotion, Hana Bay flowers, with its velvety leaves takes on more color with the cooler nights. When I bought it it was like this and then lost most of its color during the summer. I am so happy to see it back again. It should enjoy being in the potting shed for the winter.

Kalanchoe thrysifola, the flapjack or paddle plant is also coloring up with the cooler nights. I am on the lookout for its cousin K. luciae, which gives more brilliant color during winter.

It is also the bloom season and several are starting to send up a boom stalk. The plant is monocarpic so these plants will die after flowering but leave plenty of pups behind.

Euphorbia lactea cristata form. Possibly Grey( white) ghost with cresting.

Today the heat and humidity are back again.

TO LOVE TEXAS YOU NEED TO KNOW TEXAS

This is never more true than when it comes to gardening. I have lived and gardened in many places around this great country and gardening here is a whole other country, and it's not England!

For one thing, we can garden year round, our best seasons being spring and fall. It's that period from June to October when the heat of summer takes its toll on all our plants that makes us wonder, "Is it worth it?"  How are you are feeling about your garden right now, after these endless 100+° days with a lot more to come? Did someone say 107° tomorrow? And, no rain.

My return from a 4 week vacation was just in time. I have spent the last week both with hose and pruners in hand giving the ground some much needed water and cutting back lots of dead vegetation. Strange how when you leave for 4 weeks there is more than 4 weeks of work to catch up on. That 'Month of Sundays' that my mother used to go on about will not be enough.

The areas above are my sunken garden and vegetable garden. All the plants you see are self sown. This is a particularly good year for the narrow leaf zinnias-I'll never know why because we had several very cold nights this winter. But one of the reasons the plants in these areas do so well in the summer heat is the cool root run they enjoy under thick paving stones. They survived a whole month without water. Mulch is one thing but solid stone is quite another.

Gomphrena 'Fireworks' can also take the cold and heat. It seems to be one of the hardiest of the gomphrenas with the plants surviving winter cold to burst with their 4th of July display just in time for the celebrations. They can be a bit weedy but I'm not going to complain about that. I just cut them back and back they come. They may benefit from some water from the vegetable beds but other than that they get no additional water.

There's not much going on in the vegetable beds right now so I am leaving the Lindheimer senna, Senna lindheimeriana and orange cosmos, Cosmos sulphureus, which seeded there, until fall vegetable planting time.
The blanket flowers just keep on flowering and that is just fine with me and the goldfinches. I particularly like the darker colored ones that appear.

And this surprise yellow one.

But that aside one thing you have to know about summer in Texas is that it is more than worthwhile helping your plants get through the heat because they are sure to give you a fine display during our much anticipated fall. And if you don't want to spend too much on water then collect every drop you can. A bucket in the shower, a bucket under the AC fall out, wash your vegetables into a bowl and water your plants with it. There are lots of times we just let water run down the drain when it could be collected for the garden.

GARDEN BLOGGERS' BLOOM DAY November 2015

Some much needed rain has brought many flowers out of hibernation in time for May Dreams November Bloom Day.

Rosa Felicia

Roses a re booming again and a cluster of blooms on the musk rose Felicia has me stopping to inhale her wonderful fragrance.

Not nearly so fragrant is Molineux, but with more of a tea rose fragrance, a new addition this fall.

Rosa Monineux

Called pink crystal by some and ruby crystal by others I am beginning to understand why. Pink seed heads in the spring and with the cooler weather a much deeper ruby-colored seed heads.

Melinus nerviglumis

Other flowers have a greater depth of color with the cooler nights. Mealy blue sage, Salvia farinaceae.

Salvia leucantha blooms were quick to fade during the long warm dry days of October, but the rain bought a flush of new flowers.

The first flowers on the rosemary.

Still plenty of color from the narrow leaf zinnias, Zinnia linearis. Soo I will be collecting their sees for next year.

Society garlic, Tulbaghia violacea

And the generous seeding common orange cosmos, Cosmos sulphureus.

Clouds of pink and white gaura, Gaura lindheimeri

A cluster of blooms, with Dicliptera the main player.

We are winding down for the winter but signs of spring are already popping up all over the garden.

GARDEN BLOGGERS' BLOOM DAY, OCTOBER 2014

Finally the gorgeous fall days have arrived. Sunny skies, dry air and a flurry of fall flowers. I'm joining our host Carol at Maydreams and the rest of the gardening world who share their October garden flowers.

Salvia Leucantha, in two shades. The purple and white and the all purple. Although I like the all purple one the best, the hummingbirds have a clear preference for the original purple and white variety.

This is a large plant which spreads rapidly and when I need to divide I plant outside the walls. Here you can see them coupled with another fall bloomer Mexican mint marigold, Tagetes lucida. Sometimes called false tarragon, mint marigold can be used in place of French tarragon.

Out in the front the golden eye, Viguera dentata,  and native lantana, Texana urticoides, are in full bloom.

Native Texas skullcap, Scutellaria wrightii, 

And blackfoot daisies, Melampodium leucanthum, among the green leaves of ruby crystal grass.

Alyssum seeded along the edges of the potager beds and Gregg's blue mist flower, Conoclinium greggii, below. 

The show in the sunken garden goes to the seed heads of the Ruby crystal grass, Melinus nerviglumis, caught in the morning sunlight.

A cluster of native cosmos offset by the grey-green of sage.

I love gayfeather, Liatris spicata mucronata, but wish it would't flop so.

Our fall in central Texas is about the purples and yellows.

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.