Zinnias are going crazy. Huge flowers in all colors.
I have a question, the first MP has very narrow long leaves like my pinks. However, all my other blue ones have leaves that are shorter and fatter, the last pic.
Are there different varieties of blue?
I know there are dwarf varieties (less than 12" tall) in addition to the standard 3-4', and they have blooms in varying shades of blue, purple, pink and white. Sorry I can't be of more help.. Sure are pretty :)
My pow wow white echinacea, darn grasshoppers ate off the other two buds, but at least I got to see one.. I was sure she was a goner after this icy winter! Anyone been getting rain today? I collected 100 gallons in less than half hour!! Woot
No rain here Becky, but glad you got some.
No rain here today, but it's humid enough that you could wring out a good downpour. Glad someone's getting some rain! Some pretties from my flower bed today.
The fame flower I got from Cheryl (Newtonsthirdlaw) at the spring RU. It's been blooming like crazy for the past several weeks. Thank you, Cheryl!
My Esperanza has started blooming! This is always such a cheerful sight in my garden.
I thought I'd pulled out all the Pink Skullcap, but I must've missed some.
John Fannick Phlox--love this stuff!
My Esperanza never blooms until fall.....I have 2 plants and they are in very different spots but they always bloom at the same time. Weird.
There are different esperanzas- mine blooms fall too, and is 12'tall from the ground every season. Some newer cultivars bloom all season...
Mine is a newer cultivar, not the original one that gets huge. I cover it with extra mulch in the fall and pray like crazy that it comes back in the spring. So far, it's survived massive snow, ice, and drought, so it's doing pretty good.
Both of mine are the average size ones but always bloom late.
Maybe because you're in a little cooler area?? Just trying to figure it out.
What is the name of the cultivar Stephanie? How big does it get?
I have three of the same type. One is in a protected location and did not freeze. It began blooming 2 months ago. The two that froze are just now beginning to bloom.
Cheryl, it's Tecoma stans "Gold Star" and it gets 3'-4' tall.
http://www.texassuperstar.com/plants/esperanza/index.html
I didn't even know there was more then1 type. After this winter I'm just glad they came back and didn't freeze to death. Every year, just when the blooms really get going, it freezes. I'll enjoy yours from here.
I have some esperanza seeds to start, can they be sown in situ? Anyone experience reseeding with theirs?
Mine's never set seeds or sent out any kind of volunteers. I've heard that if you have seeds you'll get the really tall one.
I dug up and threw away my tall one last winter. It was a space hog, growing five to six feet tall and wide with no blooms till mid September. I had it planted in the back of the bed hoping it would be a focal point but it always looked like a simple bush for 90% of the time. Others around the town bloom all summer long.
I have one of the new reds and an orange that is a small bush and has been blooming continuously for the last month.
Where do you get the smaller varieties? I want one but had the same experience, too large with too short a bloom time. I would like to try a smaller bush that has a longer bloom time.
While I am here, any ideas about an upright but not too wide bush or perennial that will tolerate part sun and rich soil? I have a flame acanthus that just gets too leggy and I need to replace it in the fall.
My first passion flowers
I got mine at Weston Gardens in southeast Fort Worth.
Joy anyway I could get cuttings off of them?
Esperanza? Sure.
Joy yes the red and orange ones. Please
N3L, I adore those passiflora blooms!! Something about them screams "flowers from Mars"! Just love them!
Eustoma is finally blooming! I so love these flowers! So big and bright.. hubba hubba 😍
I love the Bluebells too, they are so beautiful!! Are they on your land?
Josephine, I wish they were on my property. We have the bluebells growing along some of the back roads here. The shots above are of a private property along I-20, I took it from the service road. Last year the road crews mowed them down before they had a chance to go to seed, so only a few places where there are more than a few plants left. I'm happy to see them even if I have to admire from a distance. I should start some of the seeds I collected last summer, but they're so tiny I'm a little chicken I'll waste them direct sowing.
How difficult are they to grow?
They are very difficult to grow, I tried them once and the plants were very weak and flimsy, only two or three bloomed and they didn't survive for the next year.
There used to be a wonderful patch of them here in Arlington, in an empty field behind a drugstore, but they went and built a fracking site there and destroyed most of them.
The field was amazing when in bloom, they were fresh and lovely even with great big cracks in the soil, they were in the blackland prairie and it is incredible what will grow there even when it is dry as a bone.
Here is a picture of me in that field, there were purple pink and almost white, I must say it was an amazing experience.
Wow! Too bad its gone.
In bloom today...
Very lovely Cheryl, but that Heart leaf Hibiscus is my favorite.
It seems all my favorite natives are a real pain to have in a cultivated garden. Well for me at least. Blackfoot daisy, rock rose, blue eyed grass, four nerve daisy.. they do fine in the fields, but not in my garden :(
Josephine that is a great picture, and that variegated bluebell is amazing!
N3L, pretty flowers, I didn't know the name until Josephine said it, heart leaf hibiscus. That's a new one for me, I love it! ❤️
Well Becky, I have basically given up on Blackfoot and Four nerve, they just don't like my soil or my sun situation, but rock rose does fairly well, and I don't mess with blue-eyed grass.
I guess we have to find what works for us and stick with it, although a little adventure once in a while is a good thing.
Why fight them! If it doesn't grow here, I put in something else.
The more I read about black foot daisy the more I think its just not a long lasting perennial. My plants come and go and rarely last more than 2 years. It does self seed here so that gives me plants to move and replace with.
I love my pink Luna Swirl! I planted into the ground last spring & it's very happy.
My clem is having a big second burst of blooms.
Very lovely hibiscus and clematis Bariolio.
Finally found some time to snap a few pics of the blooms going on in my garden right now.
Western Ironweed
Passiflora foetida
Four Nerve Daisy
Texas Betony
Pink Turk's Cap
Native ruellia (Love these things! Thank you Josephine for getting me hooked on them.)
Rock Rose blooms
Rock Rose and Ironweed
Blackfoot Daisy
You are doing great Stephanie, lovely flowers all of them.
Oh sure Steph, rub my nose in it! LOL!! You have all my misbehavers, and they are stunning :))
I really like that rock rose! I had a dozen seedlings, fungus gnats killed them all!!
I can bring you one at the Fall RU. I had this plant in my front flower bed about 5 or 6 years ago. I moved it to the backyard, but still get volunteers in its original location. My husband potted up a couple of them last week.
