What's blooming in your garden now?

My salvias and begonias are really enjoying the cool temps. My poor Pride of Barbados got frozen to the ground. It's coming back from the roots, but it's gonna' be a little short thing this year. It really left a hole in the middle of my biggest bed. Iris are just finishing up and the roses, cannas, daylilies, pentas, dianthus, and cupheas are blooming. The vitex and butterfly bush are budded, but none open yet. I'm always surprised at how much difference just a little distance south makes to what's blooming when.

Wow, great yard, crowelli! I like the purples and pinks.

These are some pictures from my yard.

My Salvias and Sages are also enjoying the cooler, wet weather....and with the abundant rains that we've had...everything is making itself seen! The Texas Betony was the first to show off....along with my 4-Nerve Daisys....my huge lavender bush is covered in spikes.....and my bat-face is finally getting ready to bloom. My Vitex is also covered with wee buds...and the most showy of all, is my Bird of Paradise. It is almost to the ground covered with blooms. My Desert Willow is finally getting buds...and the Pentas are happily blooming away. Thank goodness the slugs don't chew on them....my poor Cosmos on the other hand, poor little guys.... My Pride of Barbados also froze to the ground what with all of the ice that we had this Winter...but is making a comeback. And my Rose Campion is also blooming away quietly along the fence...full of magenta flowers. :)

Melanie

this is another one of the arbor.

Melanie I like that Pr of Barbados. I have that in a pot because I was afraid it wouldn't make it through the winter. I am considering putting it in the ground. I just remembered there was a yard where somebody had planted that and it was a really protected place either. Ok, I'll plant it, but now I have to decide where. Oooooh. Decicisons decisions.

lol Silver....I know what you mean....but are you talking about the Pride of Barbados...or the Texas Bird of Paradise in my photo? My BOP made it just fine thru the ice....but my wee POB froze to the ground. But its coming back out again....slooowly... :) Here is my blooming Rose Campion....so pretty!

Melanie

I thought that was Pr of Barbados in the picture.

Nice rose campion. I don't have any of that. I have to look that one up on PF.

Well, I am totally confused. I just looked up Pr of Barbados and one entry says it's the same thing as Bird of Paradise. And another entry says there's a Bird of Paradise (also called Crane flower). Which one do you have?

I thought the Texas Bird of Paradise was the Pride of Barbados?

Great pics everyone.
Here's a pic of my Laura Bush Petunia....it blooms for months! It kind of is the same color as your Rose Campion, TxT.

Crowelli, your front yard looks so pretty!

Sivler, love the arbor! What is on it?

Flygirl, most of that is Cecile Brunner. That's on the back left post. The left front post is Zepherine Drouhin. The right front post is Joan of Arc. And the middle right post, which you probably can't see is Buff Beauty. It wasn't blooming when I took that picture.

I though Pr of Barbados was a completely seperate plant from Bird of Paradise. That's the confusion that results from common names, but I can't get my mouth around the latin names.

This is the Desert Bird of Paradise, Caesalpinia gilliesii
http://davesgarden.com/pf/go/2120/index.html

This is the Pride of Barbados Caesalpinia pulcherrima
http://davesgarden.com/pf/go/2247/index.html

Mexican Bird Of Paradise,Caesalpinia mexicana
http://davesgarden.com/pf/go/57631/index.html

Maybe that will help, Common names can be confusing.
Josephine.

Well, I think what I might have is the Mexican Bird of Paradise. I'll have to wait till it blooms again.

Thanks again for the clarification, Josephine....lots of folks..including myself, get these 3 plants mixed up.

Your arbor is beautiful, silver! I would probably put a bench right underneath it and read a book or two, lol. :)

Here is my POB from last year. Can't wait for it to bloom again... :)

Melanie

Thanks Turqoize. I imagine myself reading a book in my yard, but imagining it is as far as I get. :) As soon as I step out the door, I'm off to do something, planting or fertilizer or pullin' weeds. Sunday is my only day off and the only day I can get big jobs done. I got a lot done today, but there is still so much to do.

Thanks Josephine for those links. This is a very confusing plant to ID. It was blooming when it came out of the gh, but I forgot to take a picture of it. I don't remember seeing any orange on the flower.

I am glad I was able to help, they are all beautiful!!

I love all the beautiful garden pics. The Lady Banks rose on the arbor is great. Here's the first bloom on my Chorus Line daylily.

And here's Barbara Mitchell.

My daylilies are starting to bud, but haven't bloomed yet. I separated and moved a lot of them this winter - for the first time!, so I'm hoping they all come back. So far they look happy and green, anyway..

The roses that we moved into the backyard a few weeks ago are already blooming better than they did all last year on the trellis by the front door where they got very very little sun. Yayy!

The Brazos Penstemon I got from Josephine last year seems to be done.. What do I do with it now, Josephine? Should I cut it back or will it rebloom? Will it self sow if I ignore it and it pops out seeds? That would be very ok with me! :-)

When we bought this house, 6 years ago now, there was already a garden in the front yard but the back yard was just weeds and trees. Up to now, we've just been concentrating on the front for flowers and have been mowing the back and trying to encourage the grass. But over the past few weekends I've dug out the corner for the roses and the ancient beds next to the house and along the back fence that have only had weeds in them for years and years. It is VERY satisfying to see them look so clean finally! (But, oh, am I sore this morning! LOL) Now I have to figure out what to put in them, though... I can't afford bedding plants to fill all of that space, so I am going to try seeds - again. Seeds don't tend to behave well for me. I don't know if the birds get them or what. I did pull the Mexican Heather out of the front bed this weekend and put it back there. It looks a little stressed right now, but I'm hoping it will settle in. It will get a little more sun in the back than it did under the Texas mountain laurels in the front. We have two pecans, two magnolias, and a hackberry (that I think is developing issues :-( ) in the back yard, so "a little more sun" is still pretty shady. LOL

Do you need that hackberry? If you don't have to have it to shade the house, I would recommend taking it out. The limbs are brittle and break easily in a storm. They can do a lot of damage.

Nope, we don't need it and would rather not have it, but we can't afford to get it taken out right now either. It's BIG! On the good side, it isn't right close to the house - or anyone else's - so if it does drop big limbs it won't do any huge damage. The city came out this winter and "pruned" it away from the wires. If I thought it was an ugly tree before.... grrr..

Marylyn, you should let the Penstemon make seed, and when the seed capsules get hard then you can cut the branches down and leave the rosette. It will bloom again next year.
The seed capsules are very hard, and the seed is very fine, I usually put the capsules in between folded newspaper and hit them with a hammer, then you can scatter them or save them to plant in the fall.
Josephine.

Excellent! Thanks, Josephine. :-)

Crowelli, your front garden looks great, and I don't see any hole left by the Pride of barbados. Your daylilies look great; some of mine are budded and I am waiting. I am a zone behind you (8a)
TX Turquoise, does the Rose Campion bloom for you all summer long/ does it make an Ok cut flower? It looks nice. I'll look at the seed racks for this one.
Marylyn_TX, I also divided daylilies, held my breath, but all went well. I did not cut back the foliage like you see when they are shipped. I lost a few of the older leaves, but otherwise, they are going great guns. I also try to divide just before a rain, so they get the boost of no intense sun and the moisture.
silverfluter, your arbor is very nice! I like a climbing rose against wood, esp. weathered wood.
fly_girl, an appealing scene with the bunny, LauraB petunias. I love the way this area drifts higher in the back, drawing the viewer in...
I'll send along a few of my 'in bloom now' flowers. This one is an Amaryllis that I plunked in the garden about a year ago. It was left over from the holidays.
tosaho, AKA SandiO

This is Double Knockout. Really outdoing itself. This was on 4-22. I like the Double KO's as they take up less room than my other regular KO's, and they have a higher petal count. BTW, I should have stated that the particular Amaryllis above is from 4-17.
tosaho, AKA SandiO

The roses are really enjoying this milder weather. Let's hope they are this happy come mid-summer. This is Climbing Pinkie. I purchased it as a pathetic little plant with a couple blooms in the heat of last summer. It mostly grew taller, and I guess it set roots. I am so happy to have put this plant in my front garden to climb up a pillar. Supposedly, a good repeat bloomer, and I am looking forward to this. Climbing Pinkie photo from 4-22-07.
tosaho, AKA SandiO

Oops, I meant to put this photo in, not the close-up as above. Sorry.
tosaho

Tosaho, wonderful pictures! I like the Knock out roses, but I have no more room for roses unfortunately. There are so many I would like to have. Does your amaryllis do OK outside? What do you do for it in winter?
BTW we chose juniper posts for the arbor because I plan on never painting again - especially a rose arbor.:)

Love the roses Sandi! Maybe I could fit in the double KO in my yard, since it's smaller....yours is so pretty.

silverfluter, thanks for your nice words. My Amaryllis gets no special care and does great. Just hold over the ones from the holiday and plant in your garden in the spring. It will bloom in about a year, at this time of year. By then, it will probably have multiplied and give huge sturdy blooms. I dont' give it any special care other than planting it in the back of the garden near the brick, thinking it would be a microclimate. They also get the irrigation system like all my garden. Mom in Austin area just plants them out in the open, and she has a huge patch of them. I think she occasionally hand waters them but she doesn't do this on a regular basis. She claims they revert back to red over time. Not sure how true this is, if she lost the different color ones and the reds lived... or what. So give it a try. It is amazing how much longer the blooms last outside, and how much stronger and hardier they look when grown outside.

fly_girl, check out the Double KO's at the nursery. They can be given the normal space, unlike the regular KO's.

silverfluter, good idea on the juniper posts, keeping it low maintenance. At our previous house, we had iron arbors over either end of the pool, with Lady Banksia roses growing over. It was lovely and provided shade but not low maintenance. Then the arbor needed painting. A big chore with ladders in the pool, peeling back the roses, etc. I cannot remember how they reached the big peak of the arch. I'll attach a photo of one of the arches.

Tosaho, were those Dutch amaryllis? I always heard they weren't winter hardy here so I never tried them. I don't get enough sun in my house to make them bloom. BTW the way beautiful lady banks. Wish I had room for one of those.

Silverfluter, I am not sure what kind of Amaryllis they are. All I can say is that they are the pre-boxed cheapies available at HD or Lowes around Thanksgiving. There is usually a choice of 3: red, Appleblossom pink and I think white ones. Just remember to not toss out the Thanksgiving & Christmas Amaryllis and save them for the spring for the garden. I have yet another two big fat scapes coming up, I think red ones. And I only originally planted two bulbs. If my Mom can grow them in Austin with bad soil and minimal care (no offense Ma!) then yours should do as well or better in Fredricksburg. Does this help out?

tosaho,
My Rose Campion really shows off in the Spring...and early Summer...and then sort of takes it easy for the rest of the growing season, lol. This is the second year that I've had this particular bush and it really shot up with the rains that we've had. Those blooms are almost neon! It takes well from cuttings too... :) One that I would highly recommend.. :)

Melanie

Oh, y'all keep me inspired. I have the sweetest little surprise nasturtium tucked back in the corner -- I just thought this one was really charming --

My plants are going crazy! After the drought finally faded away, things are blooming like there's no tomorrow. Here's one view of a part of my yard I took last week.

Great picture Linda! What's growing there?

Brigidlily are nasturtiums hard to grow? Don't know anything about them.

TxTurquoise, thanks for the info on the Rose Campion. I don't know any gardeners locally who have this plant. So I will keep an eye out for it at a nursery or the seed. Some things are just fun to try and this looks like one of them. In my garden I like pinks, oranges and yellows. Course, the pinks range from light pink to cherry-red and the yellows/ oranges include the apricot daylilies. I am glad for all the rain recently, although intense, as the garden is really coming along nicely. Although I don't want winds, tornado warnings, flash floods, the moisture sure beats the drought last summer. Perhaps a few of the lake levels will rise, a good thing before summer.

That area is a native plant area (my "weeds"). The 2 penstemons are native Fox-Glove and Scarlet Penstemons. There's a rainlily, Blue-Eyed Grass, Prairie Verbena and the yellow and black primrose is the Squarebud Primrose that grows in this area. The plant with the big leaves is the Velvet-Leaf Mallow, which won't bloom until it gets pretty hot.

Nice, lush spot Linda.

Thought I'd throw in this pic of my Cosmos. I threw out a packet of seeds a couple of years ago and they've behaved so nicely. They've reseeded each year, but politely stayed in the area they were planted. I love having blooms for several years for the cost of one packet of seeds!

fluter, nasturtiums grow really well for me here, and would probably do better where you are. I'm not sure they'll survive the humid summer too well, but they might. They're blooming like crazy right now. They're very good companion plants. I have them around almost everything else I've planted. If you find a Burpee's seed stand (and I doubt you'll have to look too far) check out the ones called "night and day" -- it's a combination of cream and deep maroon blooms. I got some but haven't planted them yet. I may wait until fall, just to see what they do when planted at that time of year.

AND they're edible! Make a nice, spicy addition to a salad.