Autumn Sage, Salvia greggii, is a lovely hardy shrub endemic to Texas.
It blooms all summer untill frost and takes the Texas heat with no problem at all.
You can find it in a few different colors, but my favorite is the red. I have a few of them,
but this picture was taken at the Veterans Park Wildscape here in Arlington.
It is easy to root and propagate, and many nurseries offer it.
The hummingbirds and butterflies love the flowers, you just can't go wrong with this shrub.
A closer view of the flowers.
A closer view,
Dessert Honeysuckle, Anisacanthus wrightii, another lovely shrub with the same attributes, easy to grow, blooms all summer, takes the heat, the hummingbirds are really crazy about it, and I am too.
It is also endemic to Texas, and a must have. Very easy to propagate, and easily found at the nurseries.
Turk's Cap, Malvaviscus drummomdii. Another wonderful native shrub. This one needs to be cut to the ground in north Texas, but comes back bigger and stronger every year.
I have many of these, and they can easily be found at the nurseries too. It also the has all the attributes as the other two, a must have also.
A close up of Turk's Cap.
Wow they are all great shrubs. Thanks for the info and heads up on these.
I will surely add these to my garden.
Angela
You are welcome, I just love the wonderful plants of Texas.
My autumn sages have seasonal mixup disorder--although they are huge, its blooming away now and actually does much better in the cooler weather. Which is nice--always good to have something blooming when not much else is!
Josephine, I looked up desert honeysuckle on the plant files and found almost no info. I was really surprised. Is this also called the hummingbird bush or something like that? It looks like something I have.
Hello Mary Lee, you are wright, it can be confusing with all the common names, I have allways called it Dessert Honeysuckle, but it goes by many other names, so the best thing is to go with the scientific name if you can.
Here is a link to the plant files http://davesgarden.com/pf/go/60921/index.html
If you dont have one and would like to have have it, I could root one for you.
Josephine.
Keep your ideas and suggestions coming!!! I love learning about new plants
for my area. All the pictures have been wonderful and looking forward to
adding some of the plants to my garden areas.
Angela
Thank you Angela, I will do my best to be of help.
Josephine.
Josephine, thanks for clearing that up. I do have that one. I planted that one last year as part of my arsenal to attract hummingbirds. I sure hope it comes back
Mary Lee
It should, they are hardy even up here, although they lose their leaves the wood survives. I hope yours does well.
How are the seeds you planted coming along?
Josephine.
I don't know about my seeds yet. I've been so busy at work I don't think about calling them until I get home and then I can't. He did say to come back in 2 weeks and atleast some should be germinated and ready to transplant. I need to call Chip and see if I can go down there and work on Sundays because I usually work on Sat.
Mary Lee
I have all three of those! And the Flame Acanthus (AKA Desert Honeysuckle) hosted caterpillars of the pretty Janais Patch butterfly last year! (see pic)
BTW, my Aromatic Sumac and Agarita look like they're going to bloom!
This message was edited Feb 15, 2006 11:40 PM
Congratulations on your great choice of plants, what is also very nice is that, when you have the right kind of plants. you don't have to work so hard to maintain them.
That is a beautiful butterfly, thank you for showing it to us.
Josephine.
