For those of us who have posted for GBBD from its beginnings in February 2007, this is the fifth time that we're showing our May blooms. Participation in this ritual may now require alcohol ... one drink to celebrate those parts of the garden that are better after 5 seasons... and a second glass raised as consolation after viewing GBBD photos of dead-and-gone lovelies.
Woe for the Passionvine, the 'Happy Returns' daylily, the Sweet Peas, the
Malva zebrina AKA French hollyhocks, the gardenia, the single mockorange, the aloe in flower!
Most of my flowers are the same plants that have appeared here every May - their return is comforting and rhythmic, giving the illusion of stability in the garden, even in the erratic climate of Austin,Texas.
'Best of Friends' daylily from
Pam seems happy and established:
The small rebloomer known as 'Vi's Apricot' has been divided into several plants, adding repetition to the borders. A GBBD photo reminds me to appreciate the individual flowers:
Hemerocallis 'Devonshire' has been here a couple of years and so has the orange Ditch Lily kindly passed along by
Lori the Gardener of Good and Evil. The larkspur is an annual - first added in 2005. Last year there were just a few reseeded plants but this year it appeared everywhere!
After 5 years the 'Little Gem' magnolia has filled out. It was not quite in bloom for April GBBD but there have been dozens of fragrant flowers in the past four weeks. Today's bloom now fades as new buds swell:
Four weeks ago the reddish purple Clematis by the back door was in full bloom. The very last flower opened today.
On the other side of the back door there are Tropical Milkweed plants in bloom and the first flowers of the blue plumbago. The plumbago dies to the ground each winter. The milkweed can survive a mild winter but last February was not mild. I bought a couple of new plants in early spring and since then seedlings have appeared from last summer's plants - they'll catch up soon.
Salvia guaranitica grew near the back fence when we bought this house - we brought Salvia 'Black and Blue' with us in a deck pot and introduced them to each other in 2005:
With those two blues as background, a patriotic May border just sort of happened. The Shasta daisies came from the previous house, a pure red
Salvia greggii was a passalong from my Divas of the Dirt friend Mindy.
Salvia elegans/Pineapple sage seemed to fit in easily. A visit to the garden of
Jill Nokes made me seek out Salvia 'Hot Lips'. Seeing 'Diamond Frost' Euphorbia in the garden of Pam/Digging made me want it- growing the Euphorbia last year turned me into a fan.
'Blue River II' Hibiscus grew in our Illinois garden, survived 5 years in the previous deck garden, and is now established here. It isn't in bloom yet but the buds promise many large white flowers.
The Bluebonnets & Texas Paintbrush that looked good for
April GBBD are still flowering in the mini-meadow, joined now by the reseeding orange cosmos.
Last year I let too many self-seeded sunflowers grow wherever they sprouted. One of them shaded two small orchid-purple
Salvia greggii plants at the end of the meadow bed, stunting their growth. This year the sunflowers are confined to another spot. The salvias are already responding to the space & light.
Another plant also appreciates the new Sunflower rules. Last year this Perovskia/Russian sage grew sideways in the shade - this year it stands upright, making a see-through mist of tiny blue-purple flowers. The magenta and white flowers of Rose of Sharon are barely visible at back-top of the fence.
Between the Rose of Sharon and the lavender-blue Perovskia is another small-flowered plant tending more to pinky-lilac in color -
Poliomintha bustamanta/Mexican Oregano
Up front in the Pink Entrance Garden the pink skullcaps/
Scutellaria suffrutescens have rebounded after winter's deadwood was snipped off:
A native skullcap blooms in the parkway strip, Purple skullcap/
Scutellaria wrightii. It's done so well that I bought a few starter plants to try in other places.
Last winter the 'Patrick' abutilon froze in its pot in the Secret Garden so this replacement 'Patrick' will come inside when it gets cold. The 2010 Patrick grew as one single stalk but this year's plant has been cut back to see if it will make multiple stems. I gave Patrick a Torenia for company.
Two plants surprised me this month - both native plants. For the April GBBD I photographed a newly planted
Salvia regla/Mountain sage in bloom - but it had buds when I bought it so that wasn't the surprise. Now the established older plant has bloomed- it's
never made flowers in spring before - only in autumn. Is this a result of our odd weather or did something about the new one having flowers trigger the bloom?
Fragrant mistflower/
Ageratina havanensis has always been an autumn bloomer, too - but this May I'm seeing Mistflower with Larkspur.
A recent surprise wasn't a flower - it was another bird sighting to add to those in the last few posts. Local bird expert
Mikael Behrens identified this green visitor to the birdbath fountain for me... it's a female Painted Bunting. Seeing a colorful male would also be fun.
I'll bet you'll find many more surprises in the posts linked at
Carol/May Dreams Gardens Garden Bloggers Bloom Day Roundup.
(added abt 3 PM on May 16th - complete bloom day LIST with botanical names and more photos
has been posted at Annie's Addendum Broke 100 this month!)
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