growLively

Whirling Butterflies...

Looking for a super hardy drought tolerant Texas native that is also beautiful and blooms FOREVER?? Ok, maybe not forever, but let's say April through fall. That's a pretty long time. Plus, it attracts butterflies. If that sounds up your alley, then Gaura lindheimeri needs to be on your garden shopping list. 'Whirling Butterflies' is a favorite white-flowered varieties, but it also comes in pink...'Ballerina Rose'...lovely!

Fragrant Echinacea

I'm still in love with all the new Echinacea varieties out on the market these days. It's prime conflower season right now with them all coming into full bloom. Most are highly fragrant, which you don't get from the standard E. purpurea. A few that are blooming in my garden right now are 'Mama Mia', 'Sundown', 'Summer Sky' and 'Tangerine Dream'. Sooooo lovely! What's blooming in your garden?

Echinacea 'Sundown'

Passiflora incarnata, Maypop!

As my chicken coop and chicken yard continue to evolve in their needs, I've started adding blooming vines to the fence we built to keep them out of the veg garden. I planted three of these Maypops, or Passiflora incarnata, (plus a couple of P. caerulea 'Blue Queen') along the fence to not only provide some shade for the girls, but also to camouflage the fence dress things up a bit with the showy flowers.

After an application of recycled chicken litter fertilizer, these beauties have taken off and are starting to throw off a number of blooms. Maypops also produce small orange edible fruits (hence the name), which will make great treats for the chickens!

Butterflies love passion vine so planting one or two is a great way to attract them to your garden. There are many different species and varieties to choose from. In mild winters they may keep most of their foliage...in colder winters they'll die to the ground, then re-emerge in spring. Passion vines are perfect for a sunny location, but they will tolerate some dappled shade or late afternoon shade.

A few of my spring bloomers...

Just a few of the blooming beauties in my garden as of last week. This front garden is a big work in progress, so more photos to come. I hit the garden early this morning planted a bunch of hardy perennials, native salvias, roses and tomatoes. Always good gardening policy to plant before a rain so you don't have to water!  I'll post some photos of the new arrivals tomorrow.

Ah spring...

'Bonfire' Peach blooms

'Plentifall' Pansy

A bounty of mixed lettuce in one of my veggie boxes

Orange Iceland Poppies

Citrus Mix Tulips just starting to bloom

Scabiosa 'Butterfly Blue'

White Iceland Poppy

 

Camellia 'Setsugekka'

What a winter lovely...

This is Camellia sasanqua 'Setsugekka', a lovely doublish white blooming Camellia. I planted two of these in large ceramic containers on either side of my front door. They make for a wonderful homecoming each day as they are highly fragrant, something we often forget about certain Camellia varieties.

I'm partial to the C. sasanqua hybrids because they often perform better in our climate and soils and are a very sturdy upright specimens. This particular variety grows to about 10' tall, but can be kept shorter. A perfect evergreen for containers. Will bloom through December into January.

Sometimes Camellia flower buds can be nipped in a hard freeze, so I do use frost cloth or Plankets to cover my Camellia in pots while they are in bud. The plants themselves generally don't need protecting, but you don't want to lose your flower buds.

Just thought you might enjoy some flower shots on this dreary day...

'Plentifall' Pansy...not just for hanging baskets!

I'll admit...even after 20 years in the biz, I still never tire of pansies and violas. They look so beautiful for so long in our N. Texas climate, how can you not love them? Plus, the fragrance is divine. I'm still in love with the newish 'Plentifall' trailing pansies too. This year, I planted them all along the front border of my driveway ornamental bed. I realized that many folks might think these trailers are just for baskets or containers..not so! They will spread in a clump when you plant them in the landscape...basically covering an area that 3 or 4 traditional viola or pansy plants would cover. Not a bad deal. So don't be afraid to use this trailing bloomers in your garden beds in place of traditional pansy varieties. You just won't need as many! You can buy in Dallas at North Haven Gardens in quart sizes.

    Photo, Steve Bender, The Grumpy Gardener

Pansies and violas are here!

YAY...it's really starting to feel like fall around Dallas. What with the bit of rain we've finally gotten and the wonderful temps we're having today (and this weekend), it's really time to hit the fall garden projects. Pansies and violas have even arrived...

Tough Summer Bloomers: Cone Flowers

Here are some of the lovely Cone Flowers, Echinacea spp., blooming in my garden right now. While many plants are literally melting away in the heat, these tough perennials are comign into their own. They show best when it's nice and hot outside...

Echinacea 'Mama Mia'

Echinacea 'Summer Sky'

Echinacea 'Summer Sun'

Echinacea 'Tangerine Dream'

Interestingly, many of these new varieties of cone flower have the most wonderful fragrance, which you don't get in the species or older cultivars. It's always a unexpected surprise to walk by them and get a waft of their sweet scent.

Tough Summer Bloomers: Pride of Barbados

I'll be posting a series of photos of plants that are beating the heat in my summer garden. With the hottest June on record just past and no end in sight for the 103+ temps it's good to know which plants can take the heat and still look beautiful in the garden.

Here is a lovely Pride of Barbados, Caesalpinia pulcherrima, I keep in a large container on the front porch. It gets scalding hot Western sun in the afternoon. But it's beautiful!

New Echinacea in bloom...

I'm obsessed with all the new lovely Coneflower (Echinacea spp.) varieties on the market these days. I wrote a feature on them this spring for Neil Sperry's Gardens magazine and have planted many in my own garden. Here are a couple of my favorites in bloom right now...

Echinacea 'Secret Lust' - a lovely pom pom bloom with peach to pink blooms

Echinacea 'Tangerine Dream' Large orange blooms with burgundy center