A few days ago I posted about a new ‘Yaku Jima’ miscanthus I’d planted. Well, since it started blooming, I think I can safely say it’s not a ‘Yaku Jima.’ As you can see below, my other ‘Yaku Jima’ has a much different inflorescence.

Will the real ‘Yaku Jima’ please stand up? I’m pretty sure this is the real thing. Its inflorescence is flatter and golden brown, as seen here, not bottlebrushy and blond, like the one pictured at top.
Sigh. I bought both grasses, at different times, at Barton Springs Nursery. But the most-recently purchased one was in an unlabeled pot and had obviously found its way into the wrong section. I’m surprised and a little annoyed not to have gotten what I wanted. But not entirely, for the new grass is quite beautiful as well. I just wish I knew what it was. I worry that it’ll turn into a huge monster of a grass that won’t fit, ultimately, into my small garden. Time will tell, I suppose.

This is my other pavonia, aka rock rose (Pavonia lasiopetala ). Yesterday I posted about my new pale pavonia, but this native variety is the one most often seen around Austin. Both pavonias have flowers that open in the morning and close in the late afternoon.

Here’s another little native-Texas plant, called pigeonberry (Rivina humilis ). I bought a couple in 4″ pots last fall at the Wildflower Center’s native-plant sale. It has a split personality on color, like Barbados cherry : it flowers candy-pink and then has true-red berries. Sometimes the colors overlap, as now, when this little guy is also berrying up. I like both pink and red, but I don’t put them next to each other. So why did I plant both pigeonberry and Barbados cherry? Who can account for taste? They just spoke to me. Anyway, I’ve planted them next to evergreens and am letting them do what they do.

Pink skullcap (Scutellaria suffrutescens ) is starting to rebloom. The little flowers, frosting the top of the evergreen, mounding plant, remind me of salvia blooms.

This is turning into a front-garden tour. Here is cigar plant (Cuphea ignea ), blooming its head off now that we’ve got sun and heat again.

How’s the cattle-trough planter doing after all the rain? The plants have filled in nicely; in fact, the black sweet-potato vine is trying to take over. Though the purple heart looks a little puny, I’m really happy with the manfreda and the squid agave. I’m still waiting for the gopher plant (on the right) to bloom. And who could resist the cascading waterfall of cute silver ponyfoot? Not me.