MY GARDEN HAS INSOMNIA

When I lived in Eastern Canada gardeners were well assured of having a respite during the winter. It was a time when browsing through seed catalogues and placing an order was the highlight of winter gardening. Seed starting came next, geared towards being able to plant frost sensitive flowers and vegetables outside by May 24th. The garden slumbered under a thick layer of snow.

Now here I am in Texas with its unpredictable climate and often mild winters. Because I knew there was to be no winter travel this year it gave me the opportunity to be more diligent about planting a winter vegetable garden. It has been a great success.

 

 

We have had an unusually mild fall, although frost has made an appearance on several occasions necessitating the covering of my peas.  I was  determined to keep them going in order to get an early spring crop, but because of mild weather was rewarded with a winter crop. 

 

We have already devoured two crops of broccoli, pak choi and a succession of chard and kale not to mention peas, carrots and beets. All these plants are contained in beds in my vegetable garden. Even so there are many intruders in those beds chiefly larkspur, California poppies and the most successful seeder of all Love-in-a-mist. Known as hardy annuals this is their time to germinate, growing over the winter in time to flower in the early spring. I regret I have allowed them to take over. 

Those spaces between the pavers create an ideal spot in which seeds from last years flowers settle and particularly with Love-in-a-mist it seems every one germinates.  

And they found an even better home in the vegetable beds among the cilantro.

And poppies too.
 

And bluebonnets. Knowing how they can cover a diameter of 3' I may need to remove the one in the center of the path.

Every year I vow to keep those paths free of these opportunists and every year I relent which means even more will arrive every year. 

Blanket flowers, Gaillardia pulchella give me great difficulty. That is because they behave like perennials and these rather shop-worn plants are beginning to flower again. Soon they will have to go because they make a tripping hazard but I will leave them in case the bees come by looking for nectar or pollen. There are hundreds of seedlings just getting going.

It is my firm intention this year to reduce their numbers before they make it impossible to walk down the paths. 

Some plants don't seed quite so prolifically  so I am happy to see a few rose campion, Lychnis coronaria, just beginning to develop. I plan to remove them from where they are growing at the edge of the path to a more prominent position.

 Those that are a little larger will have to stay. A happy trio of rose campion, Lychnis coronaria, Gulf coast penstemon Penstemon tennuis,  and alyssum, Lobularia maritima. They are in the herb garden and will stay there.

Verbena bonariensis by the hundreds! I have already shared many and have potted some up in case of a some weather mishap. Last year's plants are looking strong and healthy but there is much winter to come yet. 

 Larkspur seedlings in the sunken garden. A little thinning required. They won't grow as large as the ones in the beds because the soil is poor. The same being true of love-in-a-mist.

Here is a plant that hasn't slept in 2 years, Scabiosa. One of my favorites in the rock garden becaseu its foliage is never touched by insects.

Someone once said my weeds were a lot different from theirs. The fact is a weed remains something that is growing in the wrong place and I have plenty of those.

MAY IN THE SUNKEN GARDEN.

I am often surprised by the continuation of flowering in the sunken garden into May and June. As I remove the spent blooms from early flowering annuals such as Nigella, bluebonnets, poppies and last years blanket flowers there is a whole new cast of characters waiting in the wings, some perennial some annual.

The red in the foreground is the native Rock Penstemon, Penstemon baccharifolius, which I cut back early this spring. It's another red flower I have come to love and a favorite of there humming bird. It absolutely demands dry calcarious soils which is just what it gets in the sunken garden. No amendments necessary. 

Another pretty red annual is the scarlet flax, Linum grandiflorum, seen here with coreopsis and gulf coast penstemon. 

Last year there was a lamb's ear plant about 6 feet away from here which withered during the summer. This one seeded here and grew over the winter and I hope some of its seeds will find a happy place to grow.

There are sprinklings of this coreopsis in just about every garden I have. The original was from a packet of seeds planted nearly 20 years ago. It does get a little tall and floppy so I had to stake it up. 

Keeping the trailing winecup, Callirhoe involucrata, under control is not easy. It will run across the paving as well as climb as much as 4' among taller plants.

Square-bud primrose, Calylophus berlandieri, with a few seed heads of Nigella and one of two stragglers.

There are several dwarf day lilies including these two which do well along the edges of the rocks. 

And scabiosa, which blooms all through summer and even during a mild winter.

And the common mullein, Verbascum thapsus, of which there are 5 in the sunken garden, is just beginning to flower. It is an invasive species having been introduced from Europe.

It gives me great pleasure to walk out there in the morning and see the new blooms of the day. Any yes it is constant work and will they all be there next year-probably because I just love them too much not to allow them to seed.
And who will be up next? The gauras, coneflowers, small flowering coreopsis and the prickly pear cactus. 

SUMMER BLUES

Blue plumbago, Plumbago auriculata,  is one of my favorite summer plants. This tender perennial is native to South Africa dying back to the ground every winter. In fact I want it to die back so that it has to start from scratch every year.  That way it stays manageable until the end of the year. It waits for all those spring bloomers to leave the garden before it begins growing back and flowers constantly throughout the summer and fall.
It is a happy companion for this Yucca rostrata. For those of you wondering why I haven't trimmed up the grass skirt.... probably not going to happen.

Bearing a similar name, Leadwort plumbago, Ceratostigma plumbaginoides, also has blue flowers but its growing habit is quite different. It makes a great ground cover blooming from May to October and disappearing over the winter. Never fear its roots with be spreading underground during the winter and it is necessary to keep it in check.

I am only just becoming to appreciate how well scabiosa does during our hot summers. It has been flowering non-stop since spring and shows no signs of letting up. I have one plant that is 4 years old and ready to be divided in the spring. I picked up another 3 plants this spring and all are doing well despite the heat and humidity.

Ruellia! Don't let its self seeding nature prevent you from having this plant in your garden. When little else blooming ruellia will, pumping out new flowers every day. Just make sure you cut off the seed heads as soon as the flowers finish blooming. I have two kinds, both the dwarf and taller variety. They both require a little work to keep them under control but their bloom more than make up for that.

Yes, I have the summer blues and they are good ones.

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.