Texas Gardening: The Bittersweet blooms of Fall Part II, 1 by UniQueTreasures

UniQueTreasures wrote:
Pretty butterfly Pod. I've been seeing more and more of them in the back yard these days. No cats yet though. I guess they KNOW that I still need to fix the top screen on my BF house where a (literal) cat fell through it.

There is quite a bit blooming out there, though nothing like it has been all summer long. I know... for everything there is a season.... I'm counting my blessings every day that I get to enjoy them all. We had a cool front blow in this afternoon. I'm such a wuss that I had to change from shorts to long pants and even put on a jacket! HAHAHAHA

It won't be long that I'll have to move all of my potted plants to the deck and cover them up with plastic. That worked well for me last year. Connie's going to take the coleus and put them in her greenhouse this year, so hopefully we'll have a bunch of those to start out with next spring. I've become a coleus fanatic this year and have now about 75 different coleu(i?) The folks here at Dave's just keep sending them and I am loving every one of them! Thank heaven's most are already potted up. I'll take cuttings of those that aren't and have to watch them go to coleus heaven. I am SO not looking forward to that. Having watered both front and back yards by hand (with hose) each and every day, I AM looking forward to not having that to deal with any more.

It was here on Dave's that I first saw the Love Lies Bleeding Sylvia. I wanted that plant so bad I was seeing red! HAHAHAHA One day Connie and I went to Betty's Bloomer's up in Silsbee and there it was! Pretty as could be. Little 4 inch pots for $1.00. I snagged a couple of them, to go along with the other goodies I had already picked out. I just can't go there without spending $50. But Man oh Man do I get a ton of plants for that $50. Anyhow, when I got them home, I planted one of them into my little topiary truck. And the other into a big pot of miscellaneous stuff. They did rather well in both places and every time I'd pass them I'd smile really big. They bloomed for a long time. Then when the weather got really hot, they just bit the dust. Evidently, a seed must have dropped into that little pot of succulents. I knew right away when I saw the red stem what it was. It's been slowly coming on up. It's about 4-5 inches tall now and has the cutest red hair! HAHAHAHA

I did pick up one from RJ in Houston in July that has gotten pretty big. The "love" isn't laying over though like the other one did. It could be a different variety. Or it might just not be big enough to hang yet.

I'll watch for seeds and collect them. I'll be happy to share them if I get them.

Here's my little truck with the love lies bleeding.