Late spring lull
Pale echinaceas
The late-spring flush of flowers in my garden, on display last Bloom Day, is fading. The roses are resting, the damianita has gone to seed, the vines are finished except for star jasmine and a few clematis. While the salvias are still blooming their heads off, the summer perennials are just barely getting started. But it won’t be long. Perhaps by next Bloom Day, heat lovers like Mexican oregano, vitex, gaura, rock penstemon, bulbine, ‘Indigo Spires’ salvia, and cuphea will be the stars of the garden.
Not that I’m ready for summer’s heat. We’ve enjoyed a remarkably long, cool, rainy spring in Austin this year, even into this first week of May. Here are some pictures from yesterday afternoon, in between rain showers.
Spineless prickly pear growing through the wire fence. It looks eager, doesn’t it, as if it wants to be taken home by someone, or maybe escape from jail.
A small butterfly on the star jasmine
This mourning dove sits on her nest in the cedar elm all day. I wonder when her eggs will hatch?
Purple oxalis contrasts with the chartreuse foliage of purple lantana and blue mistflower by the container pond
Dreamily resting on the front fence are two of the remaining ‘Belinda’s Dream’ roses.
So pretty!
Does your Belinda’s Dream tumble over with the weight of the blooms like mine does? It starts out such a nice tidy shrub, and then it starts blooming and just flops over like a fallen souffle…
Yes, it does—this year anyway. I don’t remember it doing that last year. I wonder if our rainy spring has had something to do with the floppiness. Kind of annoying, though, isn’t it?
Thanks for commenting, Martha. —Pam
Everything looks so clean and fresh in your last days of spring. I am looking forward to seeing what summer looks like in your garden.
Thank you, Carol. Part of me dreads summer’s heat the way you perhaps dread winter’s chill. Still, the plants can take it without complaint, so I will try to do the same. 🙂 —Pam
Love that sweet little dove nesting in your garden. Lucky you. Will there be pics of the baby birdies later on?
BTW still having trouble with commenting on your blog. Just tried to leave a comment on your nerina post 3 times, but no go, I’m afraid. Hopefully this one will work.
I will certainly take baby dove photos if I am able.
I’m sorry about the comment difficulties. I will ask my computer guru to look into it. I suspect the problem stems from the anti-spam code we inserted recently. Drat those spammers and the trouble they cause! Anyway, thank you for not giving up, YE! —Pam
It is hard to believe that you are well over the cool weather and on to the heat when here, in the NE, it is just barely warming up! It is a nice prelude to what we have coming, though. Love the bird and all the lovely garden pictures! Thanks!
It is amazing how variable the weather patterns can be across our country. Thanks for dropping by, Layanee. —Pam
Beautiful, Pam!
Is that the rose that has pretty rosehips later in the year? I’m still rosehip hunting here.
🙂
Dawn
No, the one with the rose hips is ‘Carefree Beauty.’ They’re quite pretty in the fall. —Pam
Hi Pam,
A lot of plants seem to be topheavy this year – not so compact as in other springs. I think you’re right – that it’s a result of extra rain and less sun right when they started growing.
Sometimes I can’t tell whether the verifier is asking for a capital letter ‘O’ or a number zero and have to try a few times. Your setup is unusual in asking for a combination of numbers along with both capital and lowercase letters…. but at least the letters aren’t all squiqley like the blogspot Captchas!
Annie at the Transplantable Rose
Annie, I’m just going to have to jettison that verifier. I love not getting the spam, but I definitely do not love knowing that people like you are having trouble commenting. Maybe I can find one made for WordPress that works better. Thanks for not giving up! —Pam
Wonderful pictures, Pam! The purple oxalis looks beautiful there… it has never done so well for me. I love the shot of the mourning dove, although I hate seeing their nests. They’re such terrible nest-builders! 🙂
Are they? This one’s nest looks kind of small. Mama dove sits in it as if perched on a small ottoman. Is that typically their problem? —Pam
I love all of the textures in your garden. Somehow, I totally lack the ability to put things together that way.
Oh, I don’t know about that, R. Your front bed sure looked interesting during our Ground Robin, and I only wished I had had more time to get a better look at it. —Pam
Thanks for reminding me of The Name of the Rose, Pam. 🙂 I’m going to order a Carefree Beauty ASAP, before I forget again.
BTW, I just realized that I took some photos of the very same kind of little butterfly on my crepe myrtle that you have in your photo above. I wonder what kind it is. It has two little antenna-like tails on its backend. Cute!
🙂
Dawn
The echinaceas are simply beautiful! Seeing these made me realize that this is something that my garden is missing (oh no! such a trajedy! the greediness of obsessive gardening!). ‘Belinda’s Dream’ looks an awful lot like an old rose that a friend gave me, called ‘Climbing Pinkie’ – although I think pinkie has a much looser form. Our gardens in the southeast have been thwarted by drought this season – I’m not sure that the flowering or growth could be considered normal – I still have many roses in bloom, but I noticed this morning that many of them have petals edged in brown. Oh – the star jasmine is out in full force though. Good luck with the baby doves! I’m guessing that the eggs should be hatching soon.
I’m sorry about your drought, Pam. Austin has certainly suffered through its share of droughts in recent years, which has made me doubly grateful for this spring’s rains. I know what you mean about the greediness of gardening. I’m always seeing plants on other people’s blogs or on garden tours that I simply must have—immediately! —Pam