Garden Bloggers Bloom Day, November 2008

The developing Angel Trumpets/Brugmansia flowers seen in the last post opened fully and scented the air last night - determined to appear for November Garden Bloggers Bloom Day, a monthly listing of what's in bloom, begun by Carol of May Dreams garden and celebrated by gardeners all over the world.

I'd hoped the Camellia sasanqua 'Shishi Gashira', also in development in the last post, would last until December, or at least until Thanksgiving, but all the flowers are opening now!

'Julia Child' rose has a few open flowers and a dozen buds developing. Her stems look a little bare right now because she needed grooming before her closeup - quite a few blackspotted leaves had to be taken off and discarded - not composted.

The leaves on my pecans are mostly green but on the other side of the fence my neighbor's crepe myrtle has put on autumn red. It's a pleasant background now for the buttery yellow of the Julia Child Rose and the Mexican Mint Marigold/Tagetes lucida and white Zinnia linearis.

In the Pink Entrance bed that leads to the gate, this pink variety of Gaura lindheimerii still blooms nonstop, draped over the also nonstop Pink Skullcap/Scutellaria suffrutescens. In the same bed, a 'Belinda's Dream' rose overslept and missed Bloom Day - she's just getting around to making buds.

In the same bed one plant surprised me - only one of three Durantas survived last winter. It grew just a little in summer and made no flowers. With cooler temperatures this Duranta had a growth sprurt, producing three sprays of violet flowers.

In the Central Front Bed the birdbath is surrounded by flowers - the Mutabilis Rose, Yellow Bulbine, Gregg's Mistflower, 'Black & Blue' Salvia, lantana and a white gaura.

Another Mutabilis blooms in a container back on the patio. Moonflowers are done for the year - now photographing Rosa chinensis 'Mutabilis' is my obsession!

The unnamed climbing rose on the housewall inside the gate has one bud. See that bump? This rose is just a few feet away from the clematis with bumps. In a comment, Entangled suggested the clematis had thrips... maybe the rose does, too?

Around the other end of the house in the Secret Garden a "rose" blooms in a pot - well, it's called Confederate Rose, but the botanical name gives it away; Hibiscus mutabilis. Another name is Cotton Rose. This bloom is about 4 inches in width.


Frost may come soon but the insects found plenty of flowers in bloom today - I found bees on the Mexican Bush Sage/Salvia leucantha

and dozens of bees on the cupheas - here's a rather large bee on a pink and lavender Cuphea llaeva.

I have two Meyer's Lemon trees - the larger tree planted in the ground has no blossoms yet but the small tree in a container is covered in flowers - and the fragrant flowers are covered in bees!

The loquat flowers are scenting the patio this week - those lucky bees can fly a few feet from the lemon to the loquat, rolling in both pollens.

I think the Loquat must have nectar as well as pollen because butterflies like this Gulf Fritillary are attracted to it, too. ( Meems says it's a male Queen butterfly and of course she's right...the fritillary photo I'd taken was deleted for being out-of-focus, and I forgot to change the name when I changed photos. Thank you, Meems!)

If a Fritillary wants its host plant - it can fly around the corner to the fence in the Secret Garden, where a shy Passion Flower waits.

The complete list (including botanical names) of what's in bloom at Circus~Circus this month will be posted at my Annie's Addendum blog.
To visit Bloom Day all over the world, go to Carol's Bloom Day roundup at May Dreams Gardens.