A Very Sunny Weekend

The article on the main page of today's local paper was about the difficulty of predicting this year's winter season due to a late El Nino. This weekend is warmer than normal, - 90degrees in mid-October is odd - and appears to be a trend of what forcasters are predicting this winter will be. Personally, I don't mind the warmer winter forecast as long as it is accompanied by lots of rain. However, West Texas could use a cold, wet winter to kill bugs and help with next spring's crops. In terms of the drought scale, we have moved from last year's D4 rating (exceptional) to a D3 rating (extreme) thanks to the almost 11 inches of rain this year versus the 3 inches last year. Fingers crossed we'll get another 2-3 inches before the end of the year.

Meanwhile, last weekend was a little cooler and I was able to put in a good 6 hours in the yard on Sunday. First thing up was finishing off the bird feeder. Since the pole would not stand upright I placed cement blocks around the base, filled the centers with potting soil and relocated some yellow ice plant from another section of the yard. This should look pretty in the spring all cover with flowers and trailing over the cement sides. Penny the Pill gave her stamp of approval by walking all through the small planter and then bending over for a drink from the bird bath, which sadly cannot stay on its heavy cement base because somehow the strong winds keep flipping this heavy top off the base. So bizarre, really, but the birds do seem to enjoy climbing in and bathing in it.

Next up was removing the decayed base of the previous bird house from the top of the pole. Discovered the thin platform on the pole to attach a bird house is thoroughly rusted too. The hard water and winds do take their toll on everything here.

Managed to temporarily rig up the new birdhouse to the platform and will later buy a new pole. The bird house is a little too small in scale but works fine for now.

The expanded side bed that I planted this summer by the front gate is doing very well. The Cleveland Pear tree seems to be doing just fine and I can't wait for the shade and privacy it will provide in the future. The shades of pink and purple planted around it really have brightened up a dull area. I was thrilled to find an apricot Mullin this summer and it's sent up two rounds of tall stalks of flowers. The flower, in the center of the picture, looks pink but it's really a soft peach in person. Hoping this will survive our winter and come back next year with more stalks of delicate flowers. Other plants I tucked around it include pink geraniums, The Fairy Rose, pink gladiolas, pink caladiums, and purple salvia.

Speaking of pinks, the Veronicas are in full bloom thanks to the cool spells we've had over the last month. They're blooming better than in the spring amazingly enough. One should have spiked flower shapes in a cottage garden and Veronicas are excellent for this purpose. Just planted a red one under the pear tree and looking forward to seeing what those spikes look like.

October is a good time to visit local nurseries and scour for bargain plants. Scored two of the Flame Acathus or Hummingbird Bush plants for the price of one originally. I'd been looking for these for the past two years. The one pictured below is three years old and covered with red flowers that humminbirds and bees like. Beside it is a ruella that I planted at the same time that has grown almost four feet tall and is loaded with purple flowers. I'd like to plant more of these elsewhere in the garden next year.

The Angelonia that I got on clearance this spring looked pretty pathetic up until about two weeks ago when suddenly blossoms started to appear. The rain and cooler weather seemed to have done the trick. These are so pretty when planted en mass and when the three trees I've planted this spring fill in I'll tuck more of these into the beds.

And speaking of clearance plants, I bought this one at Sutherlands, which strangely enough at times has a really good selection of perennials from time to time. The tag said this was a delphium. I hope it is because it's doubled in size and has yet to produce any type of flower. Hoping I didn't inadvertently buy some invasive weed by accident.

Bloom Day for March, 2011

There's not much color yet in the garden to film for Garden Bloggers’ Bloom Day right now. Mostly everything's just green, which is much welcome after a winter that seems to have gone on forever. We're having summer-like weather this week in West Texas and the plants seem to be responding by doubling each day. The blue Scabiosas did so well in the small bed last year that I've already dug several up and planted them in the other beds. The only pink one I had died within the first two months.

A few of the Dianthus survived and this little one is the first to bloom.

About two-thirds of the Snapdragons croaked it seems.  This one plant is full of buds though so it will interesting to see if there's more colors than yellow on the plant.

 Candytuft is a plant I've never been successful in keeping alive to long. This one was planted two weeks ago. Hopefully it will still be alive a month from now. White is the main color I want to increase in the garden this year.

Finally got a decent shot of the yellow mini-rose I planted yesterday. Such a cheerful little thing.

The Daffodils are going to town in the garden. It was a bit hard to shoot them due to the breeze again.

There are lot of plants coming up everywhere that are announcing spring is here. The lilies are breaking through the ground and reaching for the sun. The Asiatics particularly are growing like weeds. I left a small portion of their stalks last year so that I wouldn't make the mistake of accidently digging up the bulbs again this year. In the background, the Irises and Daylilies are perking up too.

The Veronicas are leafing up and mounded up into small bushes now. Everyone should have these!

And the Morden Pinks (at least I think that's what it is, I have to find the tag for it) is coming up too.

And I know this isn't a plant but artwork adds color and fun to the garden. This piece caught my eye at Hobby Lobby and I plan to go back and pick up a few more of these metal flowers.

For more Garden Bloggers' Bloom Day, go to http://www.maydreamsgardens.com/

Surprise Sunday

Day two working on expanding the beds to make room for the new plants. Meanwhile, a few of the established plants decided to bloom for the first time this season. It was amazingly cool and cloudy [though a bit windy] for a good part of the day, the perfect weather for working in the garden.

Stella D'Or is a hardy daylily that can be easily found. I divided a large clump last year and all are doing well. Behind, the Russian Sage is sending up stalks and will probably bloom in two weeks or so.

This hollyhock was determined to survive. Some seeds blew into a crack between the patio and the circular side bed. I tried to dig it out twice but its roots had burrowed down so deep that I ended up cutting the stems off. After the third time I came up I decided to let to do it's thing. There are seven stems now, at least 5 feet tall. Sometimes you just have to let the plant have its way. The strange thing is that the plant that these seeded from were a double, while the offspring are only singles.

The first butterfly to visit came today and alighted on one of the Fairytale Veronicas. Poor thing was hanging on for dear life due to the strong winds [which also explains why this photo and the hollyhock one above is kind of shaky.

Score!

About two years ago I noticed a plant the backyard of my friend's new home. It looked like a striped minature hollyhock and the leaves of the plant also looked similar to a hollyhock. But no one seemed to know what it was and I couldn't find anything like it in my numerous gardening magazines or books. I went back to my friend's to collect a few seeds only to find out her hubby had cleaned out that whole bed, which had become overgrown. Some time later I saw this very plant in one of the gardening catalogs that came in the mail. It was a Zebra Mallow.

However, I have only had a 50/50 percent success rate with plants ordered through the mail. In fact, the bulbs I've bought from Sam's have proved to be larger and hardier than the ones ordered in the mail. Others must have discovered this since Sam's was wiped out of the large gladiolas very earlier on. There were none left when I stopped by. Good thing the ones I planted last year have survived and are coming up everywhere. But I digress as usual...

Last fall I discovered my school's greenhouse garden had a Zebra Mallow and I collected a few seeds, careful not to harm the plant in any way. The garden is a teaching garden and just a nice place to stroll to see what's blooming during the season. I planted the seeds this spring and got... nothing. They were kind of sad looking seeds but I was hoping for at least one seedling to come up. Then last weekend I visited a local nursery and there it was, tucked inconspicously between Stella D'Or daylilies and mixed verbenas. I was so thrilled I didn't even mind paying a bit more than I usually do for a plant. Since it's a perennial, it's totally worth the cost. And if it does well then perhaps its seeds will put out new ones next year. The pot label said it will grow up to 36" high with 2 1/2" spires and hardy to zone 2.

The Zebra got planted this morning, along with several new purchases. I managed to expanded a small part of the side bed before having to call it a day at around 12:30. It was miserably hot already, so it shouldn't have surprised me late this afternoon that the temperature had reached 100 degrees [according to one bank I drove past]. 

Edited post on 5/28:  When I went to check on the plant this morning I discovered that it had two different flowers blooming. Some of the flowers have a white background with the stripe while others are purple background with the stripe. Very cool!

In order to make room for some of these plants, I had to move others around. A few irises got moved, along with some small daylilies. Planted were 20 new purple and white asian lilies, two Margarite daisies [who have such nice scents when you rub on them] and my other great plant score - a "Goodness Grows" Veronica.  I have two other varieties of Veronicas and they are such good plants. Beautiful spires on hardy, strong stems. Again, I found this plant hidden among piles of other potted plants and immedately recognized the flower. And the best part was that I only paid $3 for it at Walmart. Usually Veronicas run between $6-7 a pot. Granted, this pot was about half the size what I normally see (1 gallon) but it'll grow and spread within a season. Still have one other to plant but need to expand the bed some more to plant it. The purple spires will contrast nicely next to the pink spires.