GBBD for October 2009, Late but Flowery

"GBBD for October 2009, Late but Flowery" was written by Annie in Austin for her Transplantable Rose blog

Look out the front door and see the butterfly garden awakened by rain (photos enlarge when clicked)

The native Gregg's Mist Flower looked as if it would die in August but it's full of bees and Queens in October. The Blackfoot daisies should show up if you click.

Walk to the flower bed at the end of the porch and see the white Salvia greggii reblooming... did you guess that those emerging leaves are narcissus? Even while summer lingers the garden is thinking of spring.

As you cross the driveway, notice the usually sedate Salvia leucantha is throwing a party under the garage overhang
The Pink Entrance Garden really is pink now - 'Belinda's Dream' rose, 'Champagne' minirose, pink gaura, rosy ice plant, pink skullcap, lavender pink angelonia and white lantana rejoice that they lived through summer 2009


Next to the garden gate a tall white abelia hangs blossoms, its clusters full instead of sparse. In quantity they are lightly fragrant.
Walk through the gate and look left - after sulking through the summer, the Salvia madrensis swallowed the rain, had a growth spurt and quickly made buds. But those flowers weren't open for GBBD - the rascals tried to fool me by staying close until the 17th. I fooled them by being late. The two triangle beds and the long borders don't look too bad at a distance, and some flowers can stand a close-up...but this month we're not displaying our bedraggled and raggedyfoliage in any medium-close photos.

The walk to the door is pretty interesting right now - the Meyer's lemon has some wicked thorns and the 7-foot yellow brugmansia blocks the sidewalk while dropping little green spiders on anyone approaching the back door. The clematis still has a few unopened buds.
Blue goes with everything - Mistflower goes with Black & Blue salvia and a pink butterfly bush passalong from Lori likes the Salvia guaranitica hanging over its shoulder.
Above left, more Salvia 'Black & Blue' works with Yellow bulbine in the front butterfly bed while at right the Blue Butterfly Flower/Clerodendrum ugandense cavorts with Mexican Mint Marigold in the larger triangle bed in the back yard.

The two flowers below earned closeups: Pineapple sage/Salvia elegans and Scutellaria 'Dorota Blue' - one of the Skullcaps. Any "Gossip Girl" fans out there? I just learned the show has a character named Dorota
The 'Julia Child' rose looks good once again - and so do the clematis flowers. If you're interested in the botanical names check back at Annie's Addendum - eventually the full list with botanical names will appear.
As the finale here are two little white lookalike flowers, both having a very good October.
Please go to Carol's blog to see the other gardeners taking part in GBBD for October.


"GBBD for October 2009, Late but Flowery" was written by Annie in Austin for her Transplantable Rose blog

Garden Bloggers Bloom Day, June 2008

Garden Bloggers Bloom Day for June, 2008 was written by Annie in Austin for her Transplantable Rose Blog.

When temperatures hang near the hundred degree mark, it's tempting to hang out near the disappearing fountain in the garden we view from the breakfast room window...

But it's Garden Bloggers' Bloom Day for June 2008 - time to show the front gardens, too.

We Divas of the Dirt planted this 'Mutabilis' Rose when we made the new front garden in March. It's doing quite well in spite of the heat - and so are those white bedding geraniums in the hypertufa containers near the steps.

Some of the plants in the Pink Entrance garden have stood up well to the weather - the pink gaura and skullcap are still blooming, now joined by the 'Purple Stars' coneflowers.

From the other direction we see the old-fashioned self-seeding petunias, the Mexican oregano and Platycodon 'Miss Tilly' - those blue balloonflowers.



We're through the gate now, and looking at a white coneflower that finally struggled up in the long fence border. A yellow daylily is in its second bloom cycle - that's Hemerocallis 'Happy Returns', along with lambs ears and the yellow snapdragons first seen last December. I wish there had been a variety name on the tag!

The last post had many photos of the back borders - those flowers are still blooming so rather than show them again, here are a few floral close ups instead.

The 'Blue River II' perennial hibiscus with its 9 to 10 inch flowers that last one day.


A second 'Mutabilis' rose, growing in its patio container. This is how the flowers look when they're newly opened- later changing to ever-darker shades of pink.

One bloom appeared on the back door clematis - this photo was taken in late afternoon when the sun had moved to the opposite side of the house and the color seems more true to life...the photos looked too red when it's appeared here in spring.

Here you can see the strong line between sun and shade on the patio - such severe light can fry a delicate plant, but the red bedding geraniums in the pot near the rocker can tolerate the changes.


There's one more flower I'd like to show you - it's up in front in the shade of an Arizona Ash.
Yes - this is a hydrangea ....not a sensible plant to grow in Austin perhaps, although in amended soil, with shade and attention from the watering can this one is growing and now flowering. I hadn't planned on buying a hydrangea last summer - but when it appeared on the 'rescue table' at the home center the price had been reduced from over $30.00 down to $5.00. And then I saw the name of the hydrangea on the tag.
This is a hybrid beauty, a Hydrangea macrophylla/seratta cross - and its name combines two of the most famous and honored garden bloggers. Take a close look at the tag.My plant is a Bliss Hydrangea x 'Sweet Carol' - it made me think of both Yolanda Elizabet and May Dreams Carol, so I just had to bring it home!

Enjoy visiting all the participating gardens at Garden Blogger's Bloom Day, hosted by Sweet Carol in Indiana.


Garden Bloggers Bloom Day for June, 2008 was written by Annie in Austin for her Transplantable Rose Blog.