Groundhog Day What's In Bloom List

This post, “Groundhog Day What’s In Bloom List” was written by Annie in Austin for her Transplantable Rose blog. 

My neighborhood had some cold nights recently but I’m pretty sure the temperature hasn’t dropped below 28F and there are still flowers around the yard. I think many of these blooms will be frozen in the expected next round of cold weather. Instead of waiting for the 15^th, it seems like a better idea to make a Ground Hog Day bloom list. This is what I saw outside today.

Abutilon hybridum 'Patrick's', flowering maple, think it's named after Patrick Kirwin

Antirrhinum majus, Yellow snapdragons

Asclepias curassavica, tropical milkweed that had been cut back has regrown

Bryophyllum daigremontianum syn. Kalanchoe daigremontiana  AKA Mother of Thousands, Alligator Plant – blossoms just opening.

Camellia japonica 'Pius IX', rose-red camellia a few buds showing color, but also showing damage from cold.

Clerodendrum ugandense – Blue butterfly flower, rooted cutting on windowsill. A few buds.

Cuphea llavea – small pink & lavender form, possibly 'Twinkle Pink' still blooming

Gaura lindheimeri, self-seeded, some pink flowers, some white flowers in two borders.

Justicia brandegeana, Pink Shrimp plant blooming in Secret Garden & Gateside garden. Flowers slightly damaged by frosts

Justicia spicigera/ Mexican Honeysuckle many buds and partially open flowers

Kalanchoe blossfeldiana? Florist's Kalanchoe, two of three plants blooming in breakfast room window.

Lantana, unknown varieties blooming in both lavender and trailing white

Mahonia bealei Oregon grape holly, 3 blooming stalks on plant in large container

Narcissus tazetta?/ unlabelled paperwhite hybrids just finishing

Narcissus tazetta ‘Grand Primo/ small daffodil, highly recommended for Austin area by Scott Ogden, many buds and opened flowers in front near steps.

Narcissus, unnamed yellow daffodil, came with house. Blooming in front Butterfly bed and Parkway

Osmanthus fragrans/Sweet olive four shrubs, three established, one in large container, one new near herb patio

Oxalis crassipes 'Alba' (dotted around and in containers)

Oxalis regnellii 'Atropurpurea' (dotted around and in containers)

Punica granatum 'Nana'/ dwarf pomegranate in container

Rosa 'Belinda's Dream', Pink shrub rose faded flowers and a couple of buds

Rosa ‘Champagne’ mini rose, couple of fading flowers

Rosa 'Climbing Iceberg', couple of fading flowers at top of arch

Rosa 'Julia Child', one flower and one bud 

Rosa mutabilis back a few flowers, many buds; front some buds

Rosa 'Red Cascade', mini-climber bought in spring 2010, one flower, a few buds

Rosmarinus officinalis 'Prostratus' - Prostrate Rosemary w pale blue flowers.

Rosemarinus officianalis, upright Rosemary in container

Salvia coccinea Deep coral plant near patio, pale coral in Secret Garden

Salvia elegans/Pineapple sage 3 plants blooming

Salvia leucantha, Mexican Bush Sage still in bloom at corner of garage.

Salvia madrensis AKA Forsythia Sage, edges of some leaves are browned, earlier flowers have browned edges but newer flowers are pure yellow.

Salvia microphylla 'Hot Lips', front plant in light bloom

Schlumbergera truncata, Thanksgiving cactus – near end of bloom in breakfast room

Tecoma capensis Cape honeysuckle, in container, tender perennial blooming in garage

Tradescantia pellucida syn Gibasis pellucida, white flowering groundcover in light bloom

Viola spp– annuals, various hybrids of Pansies and violas in containers and hanging baskets

Viola self-seeded; probable ID Viola odorata in Yaupon bed.

This post, “Groundhog Day What’s In Bloom List” was written by Annie in Austin for her Transplantable Rose blog.

Garden Bloggers Bloom Day, February 2015

When May Dreams Carol proposed her idea of bloggers everywhere posting photos of what was in bloom each month, I was up for it, and made a post for the first Garden Bloggers Bloom Day on February 15th, 2007. That was a long time ago by internet-standards... Carol's idea has staying power!

Sometimes I post for GBBD, sometimes not - but I wanted to be part of the 8th anniversary. This winter has been relatively normal, bringing some rain and multiple freezes, with the lowest temperature in my garden about 20F. That was cold enough  to knock off many tender plants. Then some recent warm days spurred plants into bloom - these daffodils began opening last week. The clump has increased - there were only 3 flowers in 2007.

Yesterday was mild with strong winds fluttering the leaves and petals as I tried to take photos. A cold front arrived this morning, dropping temperatures 30 degrees in an hour, with a good chance it will freeze tonight and tomorrow night.

As I formatted yesterday's photos and wrote about the weather, the feeling of déjà vu was so strong it made me dizzy. I reread that first GBBD post from 2007 and realized that most of the plants that bloomed eight years ago are blooming now. They've have some bad springs and some good springs, but they're still in the game.

Here's the Carolina Jessamine/Gelsemium sempervirens. Yes, those individual flowers may freeze, but the vine has thousands of buds in various stages of development, so reserved buds can still live to bloom later.

 

More of the yellow daffodils grow in front, with the clump increasing slowly. A light freeze won't ruin them - but they'll collapse if a February heat wave pops up and fries them.

These bulbs of Narcissus tazetta 'Grand Primo' were blooming for the first time in 2007. They look happy and quite pretty in this spot near the veranda steps. However, you may like them better in a photo than up close in real life. Some people call them fragrant, but I think they stink.

In Texas we buy pansies and violas in late autumn and enjoy their flowers until the heat gets them in late spring.

Texas Mountain Laurel is a beloved native shrub here in Austin, bearing clusters of fragrant, deep violet-blue flower. We eagerly await their bloom every year. In some parts of Austin they are trouble-free, but I've learned not to hope too hard for flowers in my far NW neighborhood, where a shrub covered in buds can lose every floret over one cold night.

That 'Fantasia Salmon' geranium blooming in the breakfast room in February 2007? Not blooming today, but it has buds, and May Dreams Carol says buds count! It's grown taller, too.

Just as in 2007, Rosemary is in bloom, along with the Sweet Olives outside. But now there are multiple varieties of Rosemary and double the number of Sweet Olives. Zoom in on the geranium photo and you can see buds, flowers and tiny lemons developing on the Meyers lemon, and a holiday cactus/Schlumbergia still in bloom.

Missing from 2007 is the Coral Honeysuckle, alive but not thriving in increasing shade with competition from  tree roots. Adding some gaudy to the list of blooms for February 2015 is the just-past-prime Pius X Camellia.

And with luck this old Cemetery Iris will still be able to open

and the buds of Four Nerve daisy will raise their bright faces to the sun

ready to shine for Garden Bloggers Bloom day in March. 

If your garden is under snow and winter seems endless take heart - it may be slow but it will come!

This post was written by Annie in Austin for her Transplantable Rose blog.

February Daffodils

The no-ID daffodil bulbs were planted in the parking strip by someone else, some other person who lived in this house - perhaps ten years ago or more. One or two flowers struggled up through the liriope edging each spring so when bulbs appeared during our Divas of the Dirt project in September 2009, I knew what they were. We turned that parched and ugly strip into a native-and adapted bed, taking out most of the liriope, adding penstemon, rosemary, Blackfoot Daisies, a tiny Texas Mountain Laurel, lantana, Gulf Muhly grass, Skullcap & Silver-leaved germander. Here it is in September 2009:

Some of the daffodil bulbs that turned up were replanted in the renewed & amended parking strip - some were planted in the central bed made where an Arizona Ash used to stand. They didn't do much last year but today I counted 18 daffodils in bloom with a few buds coming along... more daffodils than I've seen at a single time in a dozen years.
After inflicting photos of pitiful frozen daffodil buds upon you in the last couple of posts it only seemed right to share the happy daffodils with you today.

Happy Un-GBBD!

Garden Bloggers Bloom Day for February 2011

Four years ago on February 15, 2007, May Dreams Carol invited us to post for the first-ever Garden Bloggers Bloom Day . The only flowers I could find were a few blossoms on the Carolina Jessamine and Coral Honeysuckle, a few yellow daffodil buds and 'Grand Primo' narcissus, some pansies, barely developed buds of Texas Mountain Laurel and a salmon geranium on the windowsill. Wouldn't you think there would now be more, rather than less?

The Carolina Jessamine/Gelsemium sempervirens began to flower 2 weeks ago -then was badly hit by the recent cold spell. Most of the plant looks like this A few of the interior vines were more protected and look like this - my guess is that the buds that are browned will fall off but the yellow ones will open.
I planted hyacinths near the yellow daffodils and very warm 80º F weather in early February spurred them to show buds. The temperature dropped rapidly from the 70's to the 20's -not that unusual here - but then it stayed below freezing for several days and dipped to 14º F, which is not usual. The stems of the daffodils had broken but a few heads seemed OK -so as our GBBD Inspiration Elizabeth Lawrence might have done, I cut the stems and took them inside, hoping they'll open in a vase of water.

For the first time since 2005 the flowers on these Narcissus 'Grand Primo' won't open.
The containers of pansies look much same as they did 10 days ago, but the Coral Honeysuckle lost not only flower buds but most of its leaves. And that 'Fantasia Salmon' geranium in flower for the first GBBD? I bought that plant on sale back in February 2006! I was quite pleased when it lived through the first winter, never expecting to someday look in the window and see a 5-year old plant still in bloom. That's it, May Dreams Carol! Maybe you'll get a better GBBD next month. The bloggers with the inside bulbs have the flowers this time.