The Latest Blooms

Just a quick update as it'll be a busy week. The first of the lilies has bloomed and several others have buds on them. Can't wait to see the rest of the bulbs I planted several last year since the drought dried them out before the buds could completely form.

Planted this pretty little Passionflower vine yesteday. I'd been looking for a white one for a few months.

My favorite little pink Rose of Sharon starting blooming yesterday too. Wish it would get taller than 4 feet.

The first Rudbeckias I planted are blooming and the multiple colors are a nice surprise.

And finally, the queen of the garden is enjoying her sunny naps on the royal garden bench.

Let It Rain!

Today we in West Texas have been blessed by a day of measurable rain. I think I have received more rain today than any other day this year. The little sparrows and morning doves have been enjoying the moisture as they feed at the bird feeder and root around in the grass and flower beds. The plants seem to be loving the rain too as they are all standing at attention, such as the holleyhocks in the back corner.

 Since today is the last chance for rain for the next 10 days I set out a bunch of buckets to catch what extra rain I could. There's no point in buying a rain barrel right now since rain is such a rarity. Buckets will work fine.

Little by little the rain is bringing West Texas out of the sever drought from next year. Most of Texas has gotten out of the sever range and here's hoping that West Texas will achieve this by the end of the summer.

Happy Mother's Day

Happy Mother's Day! We're having another lovely cloudy day with a few sprinkles that I keep hoping will lead to actual rain. The cooler weather has had such a good effect on the garden. The Cleveland Pear tree, whose branches bough down somewhat like a weeping tree, wasn't doing so well two weeks after being planted and I though it might be dying. But the cooler weather and the little bit of rain we've received this week seems to have revived the tree. Yay! The other tree I planted at the same time, the peach tree, is doing just fine too. It has four tiny little peaches on there so hopefully at least one of them will survive and ripen before the end of the summer. Meanwhile, here are some lovely flowers blooming in the garden today:

A fragrant daylily I purchased from Home Depot two years ago. The tag that came with it said it would be pink, when in fact it's a creamy beige with purple and yellow eye. It's doing really well and has spread.

The Scabisoas are all pale pink so far. Not a dark burgandy in sight, unfortunately. That color was the reason I planted the seeds two years ago. The pinks are cheerful though.

Fertilizer Friday, May 11, 2012

Here in West Texas we have been blessed to have several chances of rain in the last two weeks. In my area we've reach above 3 inches in rain to date this year. One of the local weatherman announced last night that we would have to get 30 inches of rain before the end of the year to make up for the several drought from last year and barring a major flood before December that's just not going to happen. We will be very lucky if we hit 15-18 inches before the end of the year. However, today I'm just going to celebrate the beautiful abundance that the rain has brought to my strolling garden.

My little book fairy statue tucked under a miniature rose bush, which is actually around 3 feet tall, and by lilies and daylilies.Growing on the trellis behind is a yellow Lady Banks which frankly hasn't seemed to have grown in the three years it's been in the ground. Fast growing rose my foot.

Larkspur Lane gone amuck. Beautiful though. Pulled up a bouquet of them from the walkway to take to a co-worker today. Three of my colleagues have asked for larkspur seeds from my garden. Can't wait to see what color the hollyhocks are that are towering over the garden bench in the background.

The Shasta Daises are loving the gentle rain we've received over the last two day. I'm loving it too!

The Gaillardia seems even brighter this cloudy day.

The Zebrina Mallow is blooming their little hearts away. They're shorter than I expected at less than 2 feet tall but their flowers are so abundant right now.

The Yarrow is spreading like crazy in the front bed. It's popping up everying in the grass. I knew the plants were hardy but I had no idea they would fast spreaders and crowd out the roses and salvias. The silvery dusty miller looks striking against all the shades of green.

The black of Nigra Hollyhocks is eye catching on a cloudy day but looks washed out on a bright sunny one. I plan to pull these out at the end of the year to put in some more colorful ones. 

The Ditch Lily, the tallest of my daylilies, is the first to bloom this year. The middle of last month I was noticing that all the daylilies were going into stress and showing signs of dying back but the cloudy days and gentle rains over the last two weeks seemed to have made a difference. Hoping this keeps up for the next two months as May and June are our raining month.

Visit Tootsie Time to see who else is participating in "Fertilizer Friday" and showing off what's blooming in their gardens.