GARDEN BLOGGERS' BLOOM DAY, MAY 15TH 2012

Please join Carol at Maydreams and gardeners everywhere as they share what is blooming in their gardens in May.

If my garden plants were in the least bit sensitive they would be a little put out by the fact that such a recent newcomer to the garden was being given top billing in the photographs today.  But how could I not. I picked this cactus up, for what I thought was a song, at Lowes yesterday. It is an Echinopsis, Echinopsis subdenudata,' dominoes' and with flower buds it was an easy pick. I had no idea that it was to open this morning. David spotted it when he went outside. We enjoyed its brief bloom on our breakfast table. There are more to come. It's getting very crowded on the cactus and succulent fireplace!

With spring blooms winding down in the pool garden I am out there daily pulling the spent stems. Even so the planting remains quite full as others take their place.

In the sunken garden dahlberg daisy, Thymophylla tenuiloba, and wine cup, Callirhoe involucrata.

And my simply gorgeous, purple skullcaps,  Scutellaria wrightii 

With just  a few statice, Limonium sinuata, blooms remaining the yarrow, Achillea millefolium, along with Coreopsis tinctoria, is blooming alongside the  Berggarten sage. It has a more rounded leaf and low growing compact nature than the culinary sage.

Blackfoot daisies, Melampodium leucanthum, and rock rose,  in the English garden paths.

And a pretty pink yarrow.

Salvia coccinia.

And a mullein peeking through the clusters of daylilies and purple coneflowers.

Flax, Linum lewisii.

Liatris, Liatris spicata with blanket flowers, Gaillardia pulchella.

Bee balm, Monarda fistulosa, 'Peter's purple' given to me by Daphne Richards our Travis County horticulturist to test in the garden. I am thrilled the plant bloomed as promised because I tried for years to grow a bee balm. I had foliage for many years and then one year it flowered and died. Let's hope this one will put on a shoe for many years..

Fragrant mistflower, Eupatorium havanese. This plant usually blooms in the fall but there are many fall bloomers blooming right now in the garden. The plants are having another confused year.

Vitex Agnus Chaste on the driveway.

Pink Skullcap, Scutellaria suffrutescens with Ruby crystal grass, Melinis neviglumis.

Blackfoot daisy, Melampodium leucanthum.

Daylilies with Engleman's daisy, Engelmennia peristenia. 


It is a beautiful blooming May in Austin Texas. happy Bloom Day everyone.

VASES OF TEXAS WILDFLOWERS

Every Thursday a dedicated group of ladies meet in the volunteer room at the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center. Their job is to arrange our beautiful Texas wildflowers into arrangements to be placed throughout the buildings.

Wanda Lancaster has added her magic touch to thousands of arrangements, over the years. Although now in her 80s she comes to the Wildflower center every week along with Anne Linville. Several other ladies including Carol Cole, Carol Curry and Kimberley Tortorice also help design the floral arrangements.
I was totally wowed this morning by the large buckets filled with all kinds of Texas native flowers. There was horsemint, basket flowers, hesperaloe, yucca, basket grass and rudbeckias. I was wishing I had my camera along with me. By the time I came back from giving my tour most were already in vases and out on display.

At reception.

In the hallway.

In the bathroom. Fortunately Anne takes photos every week so am I able to share them with you.

I came home and went straight outside to pick my own native Texas beauties.

WILDLIFE COMES OUT OF THE WOODS

So far this week I have seen deer, turkeys and this morning a fox. The cooler weather has brought them out during the day. I was in the bathroom when he walked by the window. He stopped, turned around and waited. I was sure he was waiting for his mate.

Five minutes later, giving me time to get the camera and remove the screen, he turned around in a circle and settled himself down for a fox nap. No doubt one eye open and ears still pricked.

I had to leave before he did so have no idea if his mate showed up. I am happy to see the foxes survived last summer as I really like them. It was such fun to have them move into the garden several years ago. My 2G grandfather would not be amused. He was huntsman to the Badsworth Hunt. A 'crack' rider by all accounts. Fox hunting caused his death at the age of 40.

BLOSSOMS ON THE TABLE

How many years does it take to actually do something you have been planning to do for years. Yesterday was the day!

 Early in the morning the blossoms on my zucchini and patty-pan squash were looking so inviting that I picked eight of them. The first step in my plan to try stuffed squash blossoms. I remember 6 years ago someone on the garden tour asking me if I had ever done this. It has taken me all this time and I can tell you I will be doing this again soon.
I brought the blossoms into the house along with a number of cucumber beetles who were hiding deep down in the blossom! The first job was to clean the blossoms and remove the stamens. I left them on paper towels until dinner time.

I happened to have a small piece of feta cheese which I mashed with some milk to make a soft cheese. To this I added chopped parsley, chive, sage and oregano from the garden which I spooned into the squash.
I made a batter from ¼cup flour, ¼cup cornflour, ½tsp baking powder, ½cup sparkling water and 1 egg, dipped the squash blossom in the batter and fried in canola oil. Drained on paper towels and sprinkled with salt. Delicious.

SUNRISE OR SUNSET?

It was sunrise this morning, taken with the sunset setting(on my camera).

We may have thought it was going to be another one of those Texas hotter than hell days. As it happens the rain began ( one of those drizzly English rains) and it didn't let up. No sunset tonight and no moon.

WE GOT RAIN AND MORE

If you were lucky enough to get rain on Saturday night, as we did in Central Texas, then you will already be noticing a big difference in your gardens. It wasn't just due to the big drink of water they had but to what was in the water.

For one thing we had quite and electrical storm and it went on and on for over 2 hours. Those nitrogen molecules created by the storm combined with the hydrogen in the water and gave the plants a much needed shot of fertilizer. Also the rain picked up dust, containing trace elements and micro organisms, which gave an additional boost to the soil.

Like them or not the pink evening primroses, Oenothera speciosa, are clearly here to stay. I love it when they drape over the pathways.

And the chocolate daisy, Berlandiera lyrata, that I am so longing to cut back just won't stop blooming. How could I cut it back when it greets me with that wonderful morning chocolate fragrance.

Now the Coneflowers, Echinacea purpurea, are in full bloom.

The mullein has shot up overnight. It will flower this week but will be removed before it sows seed. See the Tick seed, Coreopsis tinctoria, doing its best to get in the picture.

And I had to remove the cover off the squash as their growth was restricted by the netting. I haven't seen an egg on my other squash for several days. That one was a trap squash on which the squash vine borer really went to town.
With more rain promised this week and some cooler nights the garden should quickly spring back to life.

SHOW ME SOME YELLOW

We always had nasturtiums in the garden when I was a little girl. They were either orange or yellow and they were a favorite of caterpillars. We never thought of eating them ourselves. But you can.

They are a peppery addition to a salad and imagine how pretty they would look among the green. Unfortunately for us in Central Texas their bloom time is short. As temperatures have slowly increased into the 90s, even growing in a pot with afternoon shade and daily watering, the leaves have become mottled and blotched. They are not the only thing suffering.

On the upper part of our property I came across this graveyard of prickly pear cactus. It was not a pretty sight. This was probably the result of our brutal 2011 summer.

You can see how dry and burnt the vegetation is. Even the cedars are drying out.

And yet, at the edges of the pile of dead pads there are new pads growing and flowering; bees and beetles rolling around in the stamens.

And yet another yellow blooming cactus. For now the cactus flowers do so much to brighten the drought stricken land.

THE PARKING LOT

When the builder left he left us with a mess. A huge blot on the landscape which we decided to turn into extra parking space. Yesterday morning after I had emptied the shower water buckets and the air-conditioning buckets I went out to clear the 'parking lot' of bluebonnets, weeds and oak leaves.

It was a good place to park for about 2 years. Then suddenly bluebonnets started blooming and when they left there were a few more plants had seeded themselves in there. Two Texas sage showed up and when I realized I could no longer move them then suddenly I had a new planting area.

I'm not sure that anyone would call it curb appeal. However, it certainly fits in with the surrounding terrain. There are a few plants here that survive quite happily on what nature gives them although even they are not looking their best this year. Feather grass does not do well with no rain and even the spineless prickly pear cactus is sulking. The vitex, however, must be tapping into some deeper reserves because it is pleasingly green and will soon be in flower. My neighbor was dividing his Webers agave so I found a place for them.

A few mullein are struggling to survive alongside a blackfoot daisy.

And a tough Texas lantana is just beginning to bloom. I think plants might do better here if the ground wasn't so compacted. Just as soon as we get some rain I will loosen up the soil and hope for a better look next year. For now I am happy with the tidier space and happy that for once I completed the task that I set out to do.

OH MY DAY LILIES

The day lilies begin to open their blooms with perfect timing. Greeting me every morning with a fresh new bloom.

They appear overnight and in such a timely fashion. The spring garden is just beginning to wind down and I am ready to pull out the poppies and larkspurs.

There never was a more neglected plant than these and yet every year here they are with their gorgeous blooms. Is there a day lily that is not loved I wonder.

These plants came from an old colleague of my husbands who have a ranch down near Gonzales where they breed their own lilies for enjoyment. The names are long lost but their generous gift goes on for ever.

THE MANFREDAS

Wander around my garden at the moment and your eye will be drawn way up into the sky.

Siler's tuberose, Manfreda sileri, is in flower and the flowers are borne on a stem over 6' tall.  The plant is native to south Texas.

The stamens are neatly packed inside of the perianth lobes just waiting to burst forth.

At ground level the plant has long strappy pale green leaves splattered with brown spots. An interesting  feature plant in the landscape.